2,112 articles
Spiraea
Spiraea (spirea, bridal-wreaths), a Rosaceae shrub genus published by Linnaeus in 1753, native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere with about 100 accepted species, most diverse in eastern Asia; Japanese spiraea is invasive in the US.
Spondias
Spondias (mombins, hog plums, umbu, ambarella) is a genus of 18 Anacardiaceae fruit-tree species native to tropical America, Madagascar, and Asia, type genus of Spondioideae, cultivated for fruit and long used in traditional medicine.
Spondias dulcis
Spondias dulcis, also called ambarella, golden apple, or Polynesian plum (synonym Spondias cytherea), is an Anacardiaceae fruit tree native to E. Malesia to the Santa Cruz Islands, widely introduced across the tropics for its edible drupe.
Spondias mombin
Spondias mombin, yellow mombin, hog plum, jobo, or Brazilian cajá, is a tropical Anacardiaceae fruit tree native from Mexico to South America, with yellow edible drupes used fresh, processed, and in traditional medicine; IUCN Least Concern.
Sprouting
Sprouting: germinating seeds (alfalfa, mung bean, broccoli, radish) and eating the whole young sprout. Nutrient-dense but a known foodborne illness vehicle; FDA recorded 52 sprout outbreaks, 1996-2020.
Stachys
Stachys (woundwort) is a large cosmopolitan genus of Lamiaceae herbs, about 300-450 species centered in the Mediterranean and Turkey, with two-lipped flowers, debated Betonica taxonomy, and medicinal herbal-tea uses.
Stamen
Stamen: the male reproductive organ of a flower, made of an anther that produces pollen and a filament stalk; collectively the androecium. Differs from the pistil (female) and from gymnosperm pollen organs, which lack thecae.
Stapelia
Stapelia (carrion flowers) is a genus of about 30 southern African stem succulents in Apocynaceae, with foetid, nectarless, fly-pollinated flowers from 1 cm to 40 cm across.
Star gooseberry
Star gooseberry (Sauropus androgynus, katuk, sweet leaf; accepted name Breynia androgyna) is a Southeast Asian leafy shrub eaten as a nutritious vegetable but linked to bronchiolitis obliterans when raw juice is consumed excessively.
Starch
Starch (amylum): plant storage polysaccharide of amylose and amylopectin; over 50 million tons produced yearly from maize, rice, potatoes; used in food, paper, textiles, glucose, and bioplastics.
Stelechocarpus burahol
Stelechocarpus burahol, kepel or burahol, an Annonaceae tree native to Borneo and southern Malesia, grown mainly in central Java for an aromatic fruit once reserved for Javanese royalty as a natural perfume.
Stellaria
Stellaria (starworts, chickweeds) is a genus of ~110–150 Caryophyllaceae herbs, type S. graminea, Miocene origin in northern Eurasia; best-known species is common chickweed (Stellaria media), an edible weed used in traditional medicine.
Stellaria media
Stellaria media, common chickweed, is a Caryophyllaceae winter annual weed native to temperate Eurasia and North Africa, producing up to 15,000 seeds per plant, edible but invasive, with ALS herbicide resistance confirmed in Ireland.
Sterculia
Sterculia L. is a pantropical genus of about 170 to 300 tree and shrub species in Malvaceae (Sterculioideae), source of karaya gum from Sterculia urens and widely used in traditional medicine.
Sterculia urens
Sterculia urens (karaya gum tree, Indian tragacanth, ghost tree) is a large deciduous Malvaceae tree native from the Indian Subcontinent to Indo-China, source of gum karaya (E 416), used in food, pharma, and textiles, endangered in parts of India.
Stevia
Stevia: Stevia rebaudiana, the Paraguayan sweet-leaf shrub, its steviol glycoside sweeteners (200-300x sucrose), production, JECFA/EU/FDA regulation, ADI 4 mg/kg bw, and health evidence.
Stevia rebaudiana
Stevia rebaudiana (caa-ehe) is a Paraguayan and Brazilian Asteraceae herb whose leaves contain steviol glycosides such as stevioside and rebaudioside A, sweeteners 40–300 times sweeter than sucrose with an ADI of 4 mg/kg bw/day.
Streptocarpus
Streptocarpus (Cape primrose), genus of ~160 African and Madagascan herbs in Gesneriaceae, type species S. rexii (1828); since 2015 includes African violets (Saintpaulia), with twisted capsules and major horticultural importance.
Streptocarpus ionanthus
Streptocarpus ionanthus, the African violet (formerly Saintpaulia ionantha), is a lithophytic Gesneriaceae herb native to Kenya and Tanzania, divided into nine subspecies, widely cultivated as an ornamental houseplant.
Striga hermonthica
Striga hermonthica (purple witchweed), Orobanchaceae hemiparasitic annual weed native to Africa, parasitizes maize, sorghum, and millets via strigolactone-triggered germination and haustoria, causing 30–80% cereal yield losses across sub-Saharan Africa.
Strobilanthes
Strobilanthes (Blume, 1826) is a large Asian genus of Acanthaceae, about 200 to 473 species, known for periodical 6- to 12-year mass flowering, indigo-yielding S. cusia, and a broad synonymized taxonomy.
Strophanthus
Strophanthus DC. (Apocynaceae), a genus of about 38-39 liana and shrub species from Africa to Malesia, source of cardiac glycosides such as ouabain, used as arrow poison and in heart medicine.
Strophanthus kombe
Strophanthus kombe (kombe arrow poison) is an East and southern African Apocynaceae liana whose glycoside-rich seeds served as arrow poison and yielded the heart medicine strophanthin-K, distinct from S. gratus (ouabain).
Strychnos
Strychnos L., a pantropical genus of about 200 species in Loganiaceae (trees, shrubs, spiny lianas), source of strychnine from Strychnos nux-vomica seeds; strongly monophyletic with 12 clades, most sections non-monophyletic.
Strychnos nux-vomica
Strychnos nux-vomica (maqianzi, Kupilu, Tumdgha), the strychnine tree of Loganiaceae, is a tropical Asian tree whose seeds yield strychnine and brucine, used in Ayurvedic, Chinese and Tibetan medicine after detoxification processing.
Stryphnodendron
Stryphnodendron (barbatimão) is a Neotropical Fabaceae genus of tannin-rich trees and suffrutices from Nicaragua to southern Brazil, split in 2022 into Stryphnodendron s.str., Gwilymia, and Naiadendron, with bark used in Brazilian folk medicine.
Stylosanthes
Stylosanthes (stylo) is a genus of about 49 tropical legume species in Fabaceae, tribe Dalbergieae, including S. guianensis, S. hamata, S. humilis, and S. scabra, widely grown as pasture, hay, and green-manure forage.
Stylosanthes guianensis
Stylosanthes guianensis (stylo, Brazilian lucerne) is a perennial tropical forage legume native to Mexico to South America, grown for ruminant feed and soil improvement; the anthracnose-tolerant accession CIAT 184 underpins cultivars such as Reyan in China.
Styrax
Styrax (安息香属) is a genus of about 130 shrub and tree species in Styracaceae, native from the Americas to Europe and Asia, best known as the source of benzoin resin (Siam and Sumatra types) used in incense, flavoring, and medicine.
Succisa
Succisa (devil's-bit scabious genus) is a Caprifoliaceae genus of perennial herbs with hemispheric flower heads, native from Madeira and Cameroon to Siberia; type species Succisa pratensis hosts the marsh fritillary butterfly.