2,112 articles
Samanea
Samanea (Benth.) Merr., a Fabaceae genus of Central and South American trees with 3 accepted species; its rain tree (S. saman, syn. Albizia saman) is a nitrogen-fixing shade tree up to 60 m tall with an 80 m crown.
Samanea saman
Samanea saman (rain tree, cow-tamarind; synonym Albizia saman), a Fabaceae tree native from Central America to Venezuela and Ecuador, widely planted in the tropics for shade, timber, and fodder, invasive in Fiji and Hawaii, and a model plant for nyctinastic leaf movement.
Sambucus
Sambucus (elder, elderberry) is a genus of about 20-22 accepted species in Viburnaceae, native to temperate and tropical-mountain regions worldwide; includes S. nigra, S. canadensis, and S. cerulea, used for food and medicine but toxic except ripe fruit and flowers.
Sambucus canadensis
Sambucus canadensis, American elderberry (sureau du Canada), a Viburnaceae shrub native from North America to Venezuela and Bolivia; also treated as Sambucus nigra subsp. canadensis; cooked purple-black berries edible, used in food, medicine, and wildlife plantings.
Sambucus nigra
Sambucus nigra, black elder or European elderberry, a Viburnaceae shrub native to Europe to W. Iran, grown for elderflower cordial, berries, and medicine; clinical evidence for cold and flu benefit is uncertain.
Sambucus racemosa
Sambucus racemosa, the red elderberry or red-berried elder, is a deciduous shrub of North America and Eurasia with white flower clusters and toxic-when-raw red berries.
Sandalwood
Sandalwood, chiefly Santalum album (Indian sandalwood), is a hemiparasitic tree whose fragrant heartwood oil, rich in santalols, is used in perfume, incense, and carving; IUCN lists it vulnerable, with Australia now a leading supplier.
Sanguinaria canadensis
Sanguinaria canadensis, bloodroot or red puccoon, a monotypic Papaveraceae perennial of eastern North America with red rhizome sap, toxic sanguinarine alkaloids, early-spring white flowers, and use in black salve.
Sanguisorba minor
Sanguisorba minor, salad burnet or small burnet, a Rosaceae perennial herb native from Europe to the W. Himalaya; cucumber-flavored salad herb, rangeland forage with high protein, tannins, and drought tolerance.
Sanguisorba officinalis
Sanguisorba officinalis (great burnet, di yu, 地榆) is a perennial Rosaceae herb of the temperate Northern Hemisphere, 30–150 cm tall with dark red petalless flower spikes; its dried root (Sanguisorbae Radix) is a Traditional Chinese Medicine hemostatic, and it is IUCN Least Concern.
Sanicula
Sanicula (sanicle, black snakeroot) is a genus of about 40 perennial woodland herbs in Apiaceae subfamily Saniculoideae, established by Linnaeus in 1753 with type species S. europaea, with diversity centers in China and North America and hooked-prickled fruits.
Santalaceae
Santalaceae R.Br. (sandalwood family), the mistletoe family Viscaceae included as synonym, is a nearly cosmopolitan family of hemiparasitic flowering plants in Santalales, including Santalum sandalwoods, Viscum mistletoe, and the large genus Thesium.
Santalales
Santalales, the sandalwood and mistletoe order of parasitic eudicots, about 18 families, 160 genera, 2,200+ species; aerial parasitism evolved five times; classification revised by Nickrent 2010 and Cauz-Santos 2025.
Santalum album
Santalum album, Indian sandalwood or chandan, is a Vulnerable hemiparasitic Santalaceae tree native to India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and northern Australia, prized for heartwood oil (6–10%, santalols) used in perfumery and carving.
Santolina
Santolina (lavender-cotton) is a genus of about 28 accepted species of dwarf aromatic evergreen shrubs in Asteraceae, native to the western Mediterranean Basin, Europe to the Caucasus and NW Africa; widely grown drought-tolerant ornamentals with button-like yellow flowers.
Sapindaceae
Sapindaceae, the soapberry family (Juss., 1789), is a Sapindales family of about 1,900 species in roughly 140-147 genera, now including maples (Aceraceae) and horse chestnuts (Hippocastanaceae); it yields lychee, longan, rambutan, guarana, and maple syrup.
Sapindales
Sapindales (Juss. ex Bercht. & J.Presl) is an APG IV order of flowering plants including Sapindaceae (soapberries, maples) and Meliaceae (mahogany); example species Sapindus saponaria, NCBI taxid 41937.
Sapindus
Sapindus (soapberry, soapnut, reetha) is a genus of about 20 accepted Sapindaceae trees native from Chad and Asia to the Pacific and the Americas, whose saponin-rich fruit pericarp is used as a natural detergent and whose seed oil suits biodiesel.
Sapindus mukorossi
Sapindus mukorossi (soapnut, Chinese soapberry, reetha, wu huan zi) is a Sapindaceae tree native to southern China whose saponin-rich pericarp is used as a natural detergent and in traditional medicine; IUCN Least Concern.
Sapium
Sapium is a genus of flowering plants in the spurge family Euphorbiaceae, with about 27 accepted species of monoecious trees and shrubs native to tropical and subtropical America.
Saponaria officinalis
Saponaria officinalis, soapwort or bouncing bet, is a Caryophyllaceae perennial native to Europe and the Caucasus whose saponin-rich roots foam as natural soap, and whose seed protein saporin is studied as an anticancer agent.
Sapotaceae
Sapotaceae, the sapodilla family (Sapotaceae Juss., 1789), is a pantropical family of latex-bearing trees and shrubs in Ericales with about 65-75 genera and 1,300 species, including Pouteria, Chrysophyllum, and Manilkara, sources of chicle, gutta-percha, and tropical fruits.
Saraca
Saraca L. (ashoka, Jonesia) is a genus of about 12 Asian legume trees and shrubs in Fabaceae subfamily Detarioideae, petal-less flowers with petaloid yellow-to-red calyx, ranging from India to Sulawesi; S. asoca is a vulnerable Ayurvedic medicinal tree.
Saraca asoca (सरका अशोक)
Saraca asoca (सरका अशोक), the ashoka tree, Fabaceae, is a vulnerable evergreen medicinal tree of South Asia whose bark is used in Ayurveda for gynecological disorders; wild Western Ghats populations are fragmented and overexploited.
Sarcobatus vermiculatus
Sarcobatus vermiculatus, black greasewood (greasewood, saltbush, seepwood), a spiny halophytic shrub of western North American saline-alkaline soils, family Sarcobataceae, with oxalate toxicity to livestock and forage value.
Sarracenia
Sarracenia, the American pitcher plants, a genus of 8-11 carnivorous perennial herbs in Sarraceniaceae native to eastern North American bogs, with hooded pitfall traps, microbe-assisted digestion, and several endangered species.
Sassafras
Sassafras (Sassafras albidum), white sassafras or mitten tree, an aromatic eastern North American laurel-family tree with three leaf shapes on one plant; root-bark oil (safrole) banned in food since 1960, and laurel wilt now threatens it.
Sassafras albidum
Sassafras albidum (white sassafras, ague tree), eastern North American laurel-family tree with entire, mitten-shaped, and three-lobed leaves on one plant; source of filé powder and safrole-restricted oil of sassafras; IUCN Least Concern but threatened by laurel wilt.
Satureja
Satureja (savory) is a Lamiaceae genus of aromatic Mediterranean-to-Central-Asian herbs including summer savory (S. hortensis) and winter savory (S. montana), rich in thymol and carvacrol essential oils used culinarily and medicinally.
Saxifraga
Saxifraga (saxifrages), largest genus of Saxifragaceae, about 375 arctic-alpine herbs of the Northern Hemisphere, Andes, and Ethiopian mountains; North American origin around 74 Ma, lime-secreting hydathodes, and confirmed carnivory in S. candelabrum.