3,306 articles
Crepis
Crepis (hawksbeards) is a genus of about 200 Asteraceae herbs of the Northern Hemisphere and tropical African mountains, type species C. biennis, shown by molecular data to be polyphyletic as circumscribed by Babcock's 1947 monograph.
Crescentia cujete
Crescentia cujete, the calabash tree (calabazo, totumo, cuieira), is a bat-pollinated Bignoniaceae tree native from Mexico to Venezuela and the Caribbean, bearing 15–30 cm hard-shelled fruits used as bowls, containers, and musical instruments; IUCN least concern.
Crinum
Crinum (Cape lily, giant lily) is a pantropical genus of about 65–130 bulbous Amaryllidaceae species with umbels of lily-like flowers, alkaloid-rich bulbs used in traditional medicine, and the ornamental hybrid Crinum × amabile.
Crithmum maritimum
Crithmum maritimum, known as rock samphire or sea fennel, is a perennial coastal plant in the carrot family, native from western Europe to the Mediterranean and valued as an edible halophyte.
Crocosmia
Crocosmia, also known as montbretia, is a genus of about 10 cormous perennials in the iris family, native from Sudan to South Africa and grown for arching summer flower spikes.
Crocus
Crocus, genus of corm-bearing Iridaceae perennials native from the Mediterranean to Xinjiang, 257 accepted species; includes saffron Crocus sativus, a sterile triploid derived from Crocus cartwrightianus, domesticated in Bronze Age Greece.
Crocus sativus
Crocus sativus, the saffron crocus, is a sterile triploid Iridaceae herb domesticated in ancient Greece from C. cartwrightianus; its hand-picked red stigmas yield saffron, graded by ISO 3632 via crocin, picrocrocin, and safranal.
Cronartium ribicola
Cronartium ribicola, white pine blister rust, is an Asian-origin rust fungus of five-needle pines requiring Ribes alternate hosts; introduced to North America around 1910, it causes lethal cankers and drove a vast, failed eradication program ending in 1967.
Crotalaria
Crotalaria (rattlebox) is a genus of about 717 accepted legume species (Fabaceae, tribe Crotalarieae) native from the tropics and subtropics to central and eastern USA, centered in Africa and Madagascar, containing toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids and including the crop sunn hemp (Crotalaria juncea).
Crotalaria juncea
Crotalaria juncea (sunn hemp, Indian hemp) is a tropical Fabaceae annual legume from Afghanistan to Indo-China, grown for bast fiber, green manure, and weed- and nematode-suppressing cover crops, fixing 50–60 kg N/ha in 60–90 days.
Croton (plant)
Croton (plant): large Euphorbiaceae genus published by Linnaeus in 1753, about 1,100–1,300 species, mostly Neotropical; diterpenoid-rich, medicinal, and often confused with the ornamental Codiaeum variegatum.
Croton lechleri
Croton lechleri (sangre de grado, dragon's blood) is a South American Euphorbiaceae tree whose red latex yields crofelemer (Mytesi), an FDA-approved antidiarrheal for HIV/AIDS patients.
Crown rust
Crown rust, or oat crown rust, is a fungal disease of oats caused by Puccinia coronata f. sp. avenae, spread by buckthorn alternate hosts, causing 10-40% yield losses worldwide and distinguished from oat stem rust by small orange pustules.
Cryptocarya
Cryptocarya R.Br. (synonym Ravensara) is a pantropical genus of about 250-364 evergreen laurel trees and shrubs in Lauraceae, recognized by fruit fully enclosed in the accrescent floral tube, rich in alkaloids and alpha-pyrones.
Cryptomeria
Cryptomeria, known as Japanese cedar or sugi (スギ), is a monotypic genus of evergreen conifers native to Japan and China and Japan's most widely planted timber tree.
Cucumis
Cucumis, a Cucurbitaceae genus described by Linnaeus in 1753, includes cucumber (C. sativus) and melon (C. melo); molecular phylogenetics recircumscribed it to include five former genera, extending its range to Australia.
Cucumis metuliferus
Cucumis metuliferus, the kiwano or African horned melon, is a spiny annual Cucurbitaceae vine from Africa whose orange-red horned fruit is eaten and whose nematode and virus resistance makes it a melon rootstock.
Cucurbita maxima
Cucurbita maxima (winter squash; Hubbard squash, buttercup squash, giant pumpkin) is a domesticated Cucurbitaceae species of exclusively South American origin, with wild progenitor C. andreana, spread worldwide in the 19th century.
Cucurbitaceae
Cucurbitaceae, the gourd family, is a plant family of about 95 genera and 1,000 species of tendril-bearing vines in Cucurbitales, supplying cucumber, melon, watermelon, squash, and pumpkin; Asian Late Cretaceous origin, crops domesticated from c. 11,000 years ago.
Cucurbitales
Cucurbitales, the gourd and begonia order of flowering plants, a fabid rosid order of seven or eight families including Cucurbitaceae and Begoniaceae, sister to Fagales, with mostly unisexual flowers and major crops like squash, cucumber, and watermelon.
Culantro
Eryngium foetidum, culantro, recao, chadon beni, sawtooth or Mexican coriander: a spiny-leaved biennial Apiaceae herb native to tropical America, coriander-flavored via eryngial ((E)-2-dodecenal), used as a culinary and medicinal herb across the tropics.
Cullen
Cullen Medik. is a genus of about 32-35 legume species (Fabaceae, tribe Psoraleeae), segregate of Psoralea, native from the Old World tropics to Australia, containing furanocoumarins and evaluated as dryland pasture.
Cumin
Cumin (Cuminum cyminum L.), also called jeera or kammūn, is an annual Apiaceae herb from Iraq to Afghanistan grown for aromatic seeds used since antiquity; India dominates exports, and meta-analyses report modest cholesterol-lowering effects.
Cuminum
Cuminum is a small Apiaceae genus of annual herbs from the Mediterranean to southwest Asia; its type species Cuminum cyminum (cumin) yields the spice seed, native Iraq to Afghanistan, cultivated widely.
Cunninghamia
Cunninghamia (Chinese fir, 杉木属) is a genus of two East Asian conifer species in Cupressaceae, sister to all other living members, a Jurassic lineage, and a major Chinese timber tree.
Cunninghamia lanceolata
Cunninghamia lanceolata (杉木), Chinese fir or China fir, a Cupressaceae conifer native to southern China, cultivated over 1,000 years; plantations cover about 10 million hectares and supply 20-30% of Chinese timber.
Cunoniaceae
Cunoniaceae R.Br. (1814, nom. cons.) is a family of Oxalidales trees and shrubs with 27 genera and about 335 species, centered in eastern Australia and New Caledonia; largest genus Weinmannia.
Cuphea
Cuphea (waxweed), Lythraceae genus of about 250-260 American species; largest genus in its family; seed oils rich in medium-chain fatty acids; includes ornamentals like C. ignea and oilseed cultivar PSR23.
Cupressaceae
Cupressaceae, the cypress family (formerly including Taxodiaceae), is a conifer family of about 30 genera and 140 species on all continents except Antarctica, including redwoods, junipers, cypresses, and arborvitae, with fused bract-scale cones bearing 1-20 ovules.
Cupressus
Cupressus, the true cypresses, is a Linnaean 1753 genus of evergreen Cupressaceae trees, now restricted to Old World species after the New World species moved to Hesperocyparis; 16 accepted species, Mediterranean to Himalaya.