Seed plants

Canarium

Canarium L. is a genus of about 120 dioecious tropical trees in Burseraceae, native from tropical Africa to the western Pacific; includes pili nut (C. ovatum), canarium nut (C. indicum), and Manila elemi (C. luzonicum), distinct from the mollusc genus Canarium Schumacher, 1817.

Canary seed

Canary seed (Phalaris canariensis), also called alpiste, is a Poaceae cereal long used as birdseed; hairless Canadian varieties approved in 2015-2016 are gluten-free, high-protein (20-22%) human food grain.

Canavalia

Canavalia (jack bean genus), Fabaceae legume genus with 73 accepted species native to the tropics and subtropics; includes Canavalia ensiformis (jack bean) and C. gladiata (sword bean), source of concanavalin A and canavanine.

Canavalia ensiformis

Canavalia ensiformis, commonly known as the jack bean, is a tropical legume grown as a cover crop, green manure, and forage; its seeds are protein-rich but toxic unless processed.

Canna (plant)

Canna (canna lily, Indian shot), sole genus of Cannaceae in Zingiberales, native to tropical and subtropical America; about 12 species of rhizomatous herbs grown as ornamentals and for edible Andean starch rhizomes (achira, Canna edulis = C. indica).

Canna indica

Canna indica (Indian shot, achira) is a rhizomatous herb native to tropical and subtropical America, described by Linnaeus in 1753, with 166 synonyms including Canna edulis; grown for ornament and starch, invasive in some regions.

Cannabaceae

Cannabaceae (Martinov 1820, nom. cons.; synonyms Celtidaceae, Lupulaceae) is a Rosales family of 10–11 genera, about 117–170 species, including hemp (Cannabis), hops (Humulus), and hackberry trees, wind-pollinated with achenes, drupes, or samaras.

Cannabis

Cannabis (marijuana, hemp; Cannabis sativa L.) is a Cannabaceae genus domesticated in East Asia about 12,000 years ago, debated as one or several species, defined by THC content, and now partly legalized and reclassified medically.

Cannabis indica

Cannabis indica, named by Lamarck in 1785 from Indian specimens, is a contested cannabis taxon now usually treated as C. sativa subsp. indica or subsumed into a monotypic, highly diverse species; vernacular indica labels do not reliably predict chemistry.

Cannabis ruderalis

Cannabis ruderalis Janisch., a putative third cannabis species described by Janischevsky in 1924, now usually a synonym of Cannabis sativa; source of the day-neutral autoflowering trait via Autoflower1/Autoflower2 loci.

Cannabis sativa

Cannabis sativa (hemp, marijuana) is an herbaceous annual Cannabaceae crop domesticated in Central Asia ~12,000 years ago; cannabinoids like THC and CBD are made in female-flower trichomes, and the 0.3% THC threshold legally separates hemp from marijuana.

Caper

Capparis spinosa, the caper bush or caper, is a spiny perennial Capparaceae subshrub native from the Mediterranean to Central Asia and the Pacific, whose pickled flower buds are the condiment capers; rich in rutin and other flavonoids.

Capparaceae

Capparaceae (caper family), Capparaceae Juss., a woody flowering-plant family in Brassicales with about 15 genera and 500 tropical species, including Capparis spinosa; distinguished from Brassicaceae and Cleomaceae by fleshy replum-less fruits and a gynophore.

Capparales

Capparales, also called the mustard-oil order, is a historical plant order name now treated as a synonym of Brassicales, containing Brassicaceae, Capparaceae, and Cleomaceae among 17 glucosinolate-producing families.

Capparis

Capparis (caper genus) is the largest genus of Capparaceae, about 142 Old World tropical and subtropical species from Africa and the Mediterranean to Asia, Australia, and the Pacific; includes Capparis spinosa, the source of culinary capers.

Caprifoliaceae

Caprifoliaceae, the honeysuckle family, is a Dipsacales family of shrubs, climbers, and herbs with opposite leaves, fused petals, and an inferior ovary; broad APG circumscription includes Dipsacaceae and Valerianaceae, about 960 species in 33-41 genera including Lonicera, Dipsacus, and Valeriana.

Capsella

Capsella is a small genus of flowering plants in the mustard family and a wild relative of Arabidopsis, containing five species including shepherd's purse (C. bursa-pastoris).

Capsella bursa-pastoris

Capsella bursa-pastoris, shepherd's purse, a worldwide Brassicaceae weed and medicinal herb; recent allopolyploid related to Arabidopsis, serious wheat weed in China with ALS herbicide resistance, EU traditional medicine for heavy menstrual bleeding.

Capsicum

Capsicum is the Solanaceae genus of chili and bell peppers, native from Mexico to tropical America, with about 43 accepted species, five independently domesticated (annuum, chinense, frutescens, baccatum, pubescens), and pungency from capsaicinoids.

Capsicum annuum

Capsicum annuum is the most widespread domesticated chili pepper species, covering bell peppers, jalapeños, and cayenne. Domesticated in Mexico over 6,500 years ago from wild var. glabriusculum, it reached Europe in the late 15th century and now anchors global pepper breeding.

Capsicum pubescens

Capsicum pubescens (rocoto, locoto, manzano) is the only one of the five domesticated chile peppers known solely in cultivation, with black seeds, purple flowers, hairy leaves, about 175,000 SHU, and an inferred origin in central-western Bolivia.

Caragana

Caragana (锦鸡儿属), peashrub, a Fabaceae genus of spiny shrubs native from eastern Europe to temperate Asia; 63-105 species, arid Miocene origin in the Junggar Basin, nitrogen-fixing windbreak shrubs like the Siberian peashrub.

Caraway

Caraway (Carum carvi), also meridian fennel or Persian cumin, is a biennial Apiaceae herb of temperate Eurasia whose aromatic fruits, rich in d-carvone and limonene, season rye bread and liqueurs and serve as a traditional carminative remedy.

Cardamine

Cardamine (bittercress, toothwort) is a Brassicaceae genus of about 264 accepted species published by Linnaeus in 1753, type species C. pratensis, with explosive siliques, heavy polyploidy, and model species such as C. hirsuta.

Carduus

Carduus (plumeless thistles) is a spiny Asteraceae genus published by Linnaeus in 1753, with about 80-90 species native to temperate Eurasia and North Africa; several, like Carduus nutans and C. pycnocephalus, are invasive weeds.

Carex

Carex, the sedges, is a genus of about 2,100 species in Cyperaceae, defined by the perigynium and unisexual flowers, cosmopolitan but cold-temperate-rich, with holocentric chromosomes (n = 6 to 56) and a 2015 monophyletic circumscription absorbing Kobresia, Uncinia, Schoenoxiphium, and Cymophyllus.

Caricaceae

Caricaceae, the papaya family, is a small Brassicales family of tropical American trees, shrubs, and herbs plus African Cylicomorpha; sister to Moringaceae; includes Carica papaya, the fourth most important tropical fruit crop.

Carlina

Carlina (carline thistles) is a genus of about 30 spiny Asteraceae herbs in tribe Cardueae, subtribe Carlininae, named by Linnaeus in 1753, native from Macaronesia and North Africa to Siberia and Iran, with yellow discoid heads and papery radiating bracts.

Carlina acaulis

Carlina acaulis L., stemless carline thistle or silver thistle, a stemless Asteraceae perennial of European mountains; root essential oil (91.5–99% carlina oxide) studied as antimicrobial and botanical insecticide.