3,306 articles
Coelogyne cristata
Coelogyne cristata (crested coelogyne) is a Himalayan orchid species described by Lindley in 1824, native from West Himalaya to Bangladesh, growing at 1,500-2,600 m, with large fragrant white winter flowers and 2n=40.
Coffea
Coffea is a genus of flowering plants in the madder family (Rubiaceae) whose roasted seeds yield coffee, with about 133 species native to Africa and tropical Asia.
Coir
Coir (Malayalam kayar) is fiber from coconut husks, a by-product of copra production, used for ropes, mats, geotextiles, composites, and coco peat growing medium; produced mainly in India and Sri Lanka.
Colchicum autumnale
Colchicum autumnale (autumn crocus, meadow saffron) is a toxic European Colchicaceae geophyte flowering leafless in autumn; source of colchicine, used for gout and familial Mediterranean fever, and often mistaken for wild garlic or saffron.
Coleus
Coleus is a genus of about 320 species of aromatic herbs and shrubs in the mint family, native to the Old World tropics and Australia.
Coleus amboinicus
Coleus amboinicus (syn. Plectranthus amboinicus), Indian borage, is an aromatic Lamiaceae perennial herb native to Africa, Arabia, and India, used as a culinary and medicinal plant with phenolic, terpenoid, and flavonoid phytochemistry.
Colocasia
Colocasia (taro genus) is an Asian aroid genus in Araceae, tribe Colocasieae; its species C. esculenta is the ancient staple crop taro, grown over 10,000 years, invasive in Florida, and distinguished from Alocasia by peltate leaves and parietal placentation.
Colophospermum mopane
Colophospermum mopane (mopane, turpentine tree, butterfly tree) is a Fabaceae tree dominating over 500,000 km² of south-central African savanna, host of edible mopane worms, drought- and fire-tolerant, IUCN least concern.
Colubrina
Colubrina, known in English as nakedwood, is a genus of about 45 species of shrubs and trees in the buckthorn family, native to the tropics and subtropics worldwide.
Column (botany)
Column (gynostemium): the fused male-and-female reproductive structure at the center of orchid flowers, with anther at the tip, stigma beneath, and pollinia; found otherwise only in Pauridia and Corsia.
Colutea
Colutea (bladder senna) is a genus of about 28 deciduous legume shrubs from the Mediterranean to China and NE Africa, with inflated bladder-like pods, yellow or reddish pea flowers, and ornamental, forage, and erosion-control uses.
Combretaceae
Combretaceae R.Br., the combretum or terminalia family, is a pantropical Myrtales plant family of 10 genera and about 568 species, sister to the rest of the order, with Combretum and Terminalia its largest genera and mangrove members Lumnitzera, Conocarpus, and Laguncularia.
Combretum
Combretum (bushwillows) is a genus of about 290 accepted Combretaceae species, trees, shrubs, and woody climbers native to the tropics and subtropics with African diversity center; formerly separate genera such as Quisqualis are now included, and many species are used in African traditional medicine.
Commelina
Commelina (dayflowers), largest genus of Commelinaceae with roughly 170–230 species, pantropical herbs with blue, unequal petals and spathaceous bracts; includes weedy C. benghalensis and dye plant C. communis.
Commelinaceae
Commelinaceae, the dayflower or spiderwort family, is a family of monocot flowering plants, about 650 species in 41 genera, including dayflowers (Commelina) and spiderworts (Tradescantia).
Commelinales
Commelinales: monocot order of five families (Commelinaceae, Haemodoraceae, Hanguanaceae, Philydraceae, Pontederiaceae), about 1,000 pantropical species, sister to Zingiberales within commelinids.
Commiphora
Commiphora is a genus of about 182 arid-adapted trees and shrubs in Burseraceae, the frankincense and myrrh family, native from Africa to Sri Lanka and South America; it is the source of myrrh resin and guggul.
Common sunflower
Common sunflower (Helianthus annuus, mirasol), a North American annual aster domesticated in eastern North America ~4,000-5,000 years ago; major oilseed crop with heliotropic young heads, 40-50% oil in modern hybrids.
Common wheat
Common wheat (Triticum aestivum), or bread wheat, is an allohexaploid cereal (AABBDD, 2n=42) formed from emmer and Aegilops tauschii about 8,000-11,000 years ago; the world's leading wheat for bread flour.
Cone (botany)
Cone (botany), or strobilus: the reproductive shoot of gymnosperms such as pines, cycads, and ginkgo, with separate pollen and seed cones; a pine cone is not a fruit because gymnosperm ovules sit naked on cone scales, not in an ovary.
Conifer
Conifer: cone-bearing gymnosperm trees and shrubs with naked seeds on cone scales, mostly evergreen needle or scale leaves, wind pollinated; about 650 species, fossil record over 300 million years, dominant in boreal forests.
Coniferous forest ecoregions by continent
A continent-by-continent survey of the WWF's named coniferous forest ecoregions, covering boreal taiga, Pacific temperate rainforest, Mexican pine-oak woods, Valdivian forest, and threatened New Caledonian conifers.
Conium maculatum
Conium maculatum, poison hemlock, deadly hemlock or poison parsley, is a toxic biennial Apiaceae herb with purple-spotted hollow stems, containing coniine and gamma-coniceine; it killed Socrates and poisons livestock and humans.
Conocarpus
Conocarpus (button mangrove, Damas tree) is a two-species Combretaceae genus of mangrove-like trees native to tropical America and West Africa; C. erectus is salt-tolerant, widely introduced, and invasive in Pakistani cities.
Conservation of Cycas
Conservation of Cycas covers threats to the cycad genus Cycas: habitat destruction, harvesting for leaves and horticulture, invasive pests, and illegal trade that bypasses CITES protections.
Conservation of Torreya and Amentotaxus
Conservation of Torreya and Amentotaxus covers programs protecting two threatened yew-family conifers: the endangered Florida torreya, down over 98% since the 1900s, and the rare Asian catkin yews.
Convolvulaceae
Convolvulaceae, the morning-glory or bindweed family, is a family of about 1,700 to 2,000 twining flowering plants, sister to the nightshade family and including the sweet potato.
Convolvulus
Convolvulus (bindweeds) is a genus of about 228 accepted species of twining or erect herbs in Convolvulaceae, published by Linnaeus in 1753, native to temperate and subtropical regions, with Calystegia nested within it and field bindweed (C. arvensis) its best-known weed.
Convolvulus arvensis
Convolvulus arvensis, field bindweed or wild morning glory, is a perennial Convolvulaceae vine weed with roots to 30 feet, 1-inch root fragments that regrow, seeds viable for decades, and documented 2,4-D resistance.
Copaifera
Copaifera, first published in 1762, is a genus of about 41 accepted legume tree species of tropical America, Africa, and Borneo, known for the copaiba oleoresin tapped from their trunks.