2,112 articles
Tansy
Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare), also common tansy or bitter buttons, is a thujone-containing Asteraceae perennial herb native to temperate Eurasia, historically a medicinal herb, introduced to North America by 1631 and now an invasive weed with insecticidal and metal-bioindicator uses.
Taproot
A taproot is a large, central, dominant root growing straight down into the soil, typical of dicots such as carrot, turnip, and mesquite, while monocots have fibrous roots.
Taraxacum
Taraxacum (dandelion), Asteraceae genus of latex-bearing rosette herbs with beaked, wind-dispersed achenes; 50-250 sexual species plus up to 2,500 apomictic triploid microspecies; diploids sexual, polyploids apomictic; used as food, medicine, and rubber source.
Taraxacum officinale
Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion), Asteraceae perennial native to Europe to Siberia and NW Africa; apomictic triploid microspecies complex, wind-dispersed seeds, widespread invasive lawn weed, edible and medicinal herb.
Tarragon
Tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus, estragon) is a perennial Asteraceae herb. French tarragon (var. sativa) has the anise flavor but is sterile and grown from divisions; seed-sold tarragon is the bland Russian form.
Tecoma
Tecoma is a genus of Bignoniaceae shrubs and small trees native to tropical and subtropical America, best known for Tecoma stans (yellow bells), a medicinal and ornamental plant that is invasive in several regions.
Tectona
Tectona (teak genus), Lamiaceae; three Asian tree species, type T. grandis; 2n=36; natural teak forests ~29 Mha, planted 4.35–6.89 Mha; prized durable timber.
Telfairia
Telfairia Hook. is a genus of three accepted Cucurbitaceae climbing vines native to tropical Africa, Comoros, and Madagascar; its best-known species is the fluted pumpkin (Telfairia occidentalis), a West African leafy vegetable and oilseed crop.
Telfairia occidentalis
Telfairia occidentalis, commonly called fluted pumpkin, fluted gourd, or ugu, is a dioecious climbing vine of the gourd family grown in West Africa for its edible leaves and seeds.
Telopea speciosissima
Telopea speciosissima, the New South Wales waratah, is a Proteaceae shrub native to eastern NSW with red flower heads; NSW floral emblem since 1962, IUCN Least Concern, grown as a cut flower.
Tephrosia
Tephrosia (hoarypea) is a conserved genus of about 350-400 pantropical legumes in Fabaceae, tribe Millettieae, richest in Africa-Madagascar; many species produce rotenone and are used as fish poisons, green manure, and medicine.
Terminalia
Terminalia L. is a genus of tropical trees and shrubs in Combretaceae, first published in 1767, with roughly 200-278 accepted species. Known for Terminalia-type branching, winged fruits, valuable timber, and medicinal species such as T. chebula and T. catappa.
Terminalia arjuna
Terminalia arjuna (arjuna, arjun tree), a Combretaceae tree native to the Indian subcontinent to Myanmar; its bark is an Ayurvedic cardiotonic studied in heart failure and angina trials.
Terminalia catappa
Terminalia catappa (tropical almond, Indian almond, ketapang) is a coastal Combretaceae tree native to the Indo-Pacific, grown for shade and edible seeds, with buoyant salt-tolerant seeds that make it invasive in Florida and the Caribbean.
Terminalia chebula
Terminalia chebula (haritaki, chebulic myrobalan), Combretaceae tree of South Asia; dried fruit Chebulae Fructus used in Ayurveda, TCM, and Triphala; rich in hydrolyzable tannins like chebulagic acid.
Terminalia ivorensis
Terminalia ivorensis (framire, idigbo, black afara) is a Vulnerable West African Combretaceae timber tree from Guinea to Cameroon, grown in plantations for oak-like wood, shade, medicine, and dye.
Terminalia superba
Terminalia superba (limba, fraké) is a large West and Central African Combretaceae timber tree, a light-demanding pioneer traded as one of Africa's major timbers and used in traditional medicine.
Terrarium
Terrarium: a sealed or partly sealed glass container growing plants as a miniature ecosystem, also called a Wardian case after inventor Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward (1829); recycles water, needs watering only every 3-6 months.
Tetradium ruticarpum
Tetradium ruticarpum (吳茱萸, Wu Zhu Yu, evodia; formerly Euodia ruticarpa) is a Rutaceae tree of the Himalaya to China and Taiwan whose dried fruit is a traditional East Asian medicine for headache and gastrointestinal disorders.
Teucrium
Teucrium (germander), Lamiaceae genus published by Linnaeus in 1753; about 250–300 species, cosmopolitan with Mediterranean center of diversity, 1-lipped corolla, neo-clerodane diterpenoids, paraphyletic without Teucridium, Spartothamnella, Oncinocalyx.
Teucrium chamaedrys
Teucrium chamaedrys (wall germander), Lamiaceae subshrub native to Europe to Iran, used in folk medicine and as a slimming remedy; its diterpenoid teucrin A causes documented hepatitis.
Teucrium polium
Teucrium polium (mountain germander), Lamiaceae medicinal plant of the Mediterranean and Middle East, used for diabetes and lipids; documented cause of hepatitis, liver failure, and kidney toxicity.
Teucrium scorodonia
Teucrium scorodonia, known as wood sage or woodland germander, is a perennial subshrub in the mint family native to Europe, Madeira, and Tunisia, despite not being a true sage.
Thalictrum
Thalictrum, meadow-rue, is a genus of about 200–217 perennial Ranunculaceae herbs with petal-less flowers, worldwide mainly temperate distribution, repeated wind-pollination evolution, and medicinal benzylisoquinoline alkaloids.
Thapsia
Thapsia (deadly carrots) is a western Mediterranean Apiaceae genus of toxic perennial herbs; Thapsia garganica yields thapsigargin, a subnanomolar SERCA inhibitor used in calcium signaling research and prodrug anticancer development.
The Great Banyan
The Great Banyan, a 270-year-old Ficus benghalensis in the AJC Bose Indian Botanic Garden, Howrah, near Kolkata, lives without its main trunk (removed 1925) and spreads a roughly 4-acre canopy on over 4,000 prop roots.
Theaceae
Theaceae, the tea family (Camelliaceae), is an Ericales family of trees and shrubs including Camellia sinensis (tea), C. oleifera (oil), and ornamentals; eight accepted genera, Asia and the Americas, absent from Africa.
Theobroma
Theobroma is a Neotropical genus of about 20-23 Malvaceae trees, named by Linnaeus in 1753 ('food of the gods'); type species T. cacao, source of chocolate, plus cupuaçu and pataxte.
Theobroma cacao
Theobroma cacao, the cacao or cocoa tree, is a Malvaceae evergreen whose seeds give chocolate. Upper Amazon origin, use from ~5,300 years ago, 71% of output from Africa, record 2023/24 prices.
Thesium
Thesium (Santalaceae) is a genus of about 350 root hemiparasitic herbs and shrubs described by Linnaeus in 1753, centered in southern Africa; Thesium chinense is its most-used medicinal species.