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Seed plants

3,306 articles

Hydnocarpus kurzii

Hydnocarpus kurzii, commonly called chaulmoogra, is a dioecious evergreen tree native from Assam to Peninsular Malaysia whose seed oil was a standard historical treatment for leprosy.

Hydrangea

Hydrangea, a genus of shrubs and climbers including H. macrophylla, arborescens, paniculata, and quercifolia; pH-sensitive flower color, old-wood versus new-wood pruning, and RHS trial results.

Hydrangea macrophylla (紫陽花)

Hydrangea macrophylla (紫陽花), bigleaf or French hydrangea, a Japanese deciduous shrub with mophead or lacecap flower heads; blue in acidic soil, pink in alkaline, blooming on old wood with reblooming cultivars like Endless Summer.

Hydrilla

Hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata), or waterthyme, is an invasive submerged aquatic plant of Hydrocharitaceae with whorled serrated leaves, tubers, and turions; introduced via the aquarium trade, it infests 28 US states and is a Federal Noxious Weed.

Hydrocharitaceae

Hydrocharitaceae, the frog's-bit or tape-grass family (Najadaceae synonym), is a cosmopolitan family of 14 genera and about 136 fully aquatic monocot herbs in Alismatales, with 3 marine seagrass genera, water pollination, and an Asian Late Cretaceous origin.

Hydrocotyle

Hydrocotyle (pennywort) is a cosmopolitan genus of creeping aquatic and wetland herbs in Araliaceae, transferred from Apiaceae after molecular work; about 130–180 species, with all annual species endemic to Australia.

Hydrophyllaceae

Hydrophyllaceae R.Br., the waterleaf family, is a Boraginales family of about 12 genera and 250 species centered in western North America; APG IV merges it into Boraginaceae, while Luebert et al. 2016 recognize it.

Hylotelephium telephium

Hylotelephium telephium (orpine, live-forever, formerly Sedum telephium) is a succulent Crassulaceae perennial native from Europe to the Russian Far East and N. China, parent of the garden hybrid 'Autumn Joy'.

Hymenaea

Hymenaea (jatobá) is a genus of resin-producing legume trees of tropical America and East Africa; H. courbaril yields hard timber, edible pulp, and copal resin, and Hymenaea resin produced Mexican, Dominican, and Ethiopian Miocene ambers.

Hymenaea courbaril

Hymenaea courbaril (jatobá, West Indian locust) is a 30-50 m Neotropical legume tree from Mexico to southeastern Brazil, yielding copal resin, dense timber, and starchy edible pod pulp; formerly six varieties, split into three species in 2014.

Hyoscyamus

Hyoscyamus (henbane) is a Solanaceae genus of about 23 herb species native from Macaronesia and Africa to temperate Eurasia, source of tropane alkaloids hyoscyamine, scopolamine, and tropine; sister genus Anisodus, type species H. niger.

Hyoscyamus niger

Hyoscyamus niger (black henbane, stinking nightshade, tian xian zi) is a poisonous Solanaceae herb native from the Mediterranean to Iran, containing the tropane alkaloids hyoscyamine and scopolamine, used since antiquity as a sedative and analgesic.

Hyparrhenia

Hyparrhenia (thatching grass) is an African-centered genus of about 58 accepted C4 grasses in tribe Andropogoneae, family Poaceae, valued for thatch and young forage, with H. rufa, H. hirta, and H. filipendula the best-known species.

Hypericaceae

Hypericaceae, the St. John's wort family (Hypericaceae Juss., 1789), is a Malpighiales family of herbs and shrubs with gland-dotted leaves; its dominant genus Hypericum holds 521 species, and sister family is Podostemaceae.

Hypericum

Hypericum (St. John's worts), genus of Hypericaceae with about 500 yellow-flowered species of herbs and shrubs, cosmopolitan mainly in temperate regions; includes medicinal H. perforatum and invasive weeds.

Hypericum perforatum

Hypericum perforatum (St. John's wort, Klamath weed) is a perennial Hypericaceae herb native from Europe to China and NW Africa, used for mild to moderate depression; extracts show efficacy near standard antidepressants but induce CYP3A4 and P-glycoprotein, causing major drug interactions.

Hyphaene

Hyphaene (doum palms), genus of dioecious coryphoid palms native from tropical and southern Africa to Sri Lanka, unique for dichotomously branching trunks; about 8 species, edible fruits, Eocene origin, difficult taxonomy with many synonyms.

Hyphaene thebaica

Hyphaene thebaica, the doum or gingerbread palm (دوم), is a branching dioecious African palm from West Africa to Arabia, with hard edible fruits rich in fiber, potassium, and phenolics, sacred in ancient Egypt.

Hyptis

Hyptis (Jacq., 1787) is a conserved Lamiaceae genus of 169 accepted species native to tropical and subtropical America, introduced across Africa and Asia; aromatic, terpene-rich, including H. suaveolens and H. capitata, the type species.

Hyssopus officinalis

Hyssopus officinalis (hyssop), Mediterranean mint-family herb with blue-violet flowers; culinary flavoring and Chartreuse ingredient; pinocamphone-containing essential oil is convulsant; one asthma trial.

Iberis

Iberis, commonly candytuft, is a Mediterranean genus of about 30 species in Brassicaceae, tribe Iberideae, native from western Europe to Iran; I. sempervirens is the familiar evergreen white-flowered ground cover.

Icacinaceae

Icacinaceae Miers (1851), a pantropical family of woody flowering plants in Icacinales; trees, shrubs, and lianas with unilocular ovaries and two pendulous ovules, split from a polyphyletic circumscription into Icacinaceae s.s., Stemonuraceae, Cardiopteridaceae, and Pennantiaceae.

Iizuka Shōkansai

Iizuka Shōkansai (飯塚 小玕斎, 1919–2004), real name Iizuka Shigetoshi, was a Japanese bamboo weaving artist named a Living National Treasure in 1982, the second bamboo artist so honored.

Ilex

Ilex, the hollies, is the sole genus of the flowering plant family Aquifoliaceae, with about 730 dioecious, mostly evergreen tree and shrub species, including yerba mate.

Ilex aquifolium

Ilex aquifolium, common or English holly (欧洲冬青), an evergreen dioecious Aquifoliaceae tree native to Europe, NW Africa and W Asia; spiny leaves, red drupes, IUCN Least Concern, invasive in Pacific Northwest, New Zealand, SE Australia.

Illicium

Illicium (anisetree, star anise) is a genus of about 40 aromatic evergreen shrubs and trees in Schisandraceae, order Austrobaileyales, native from the Himalaya to Japan and the southeastern United States to Mexico and the Caribbean; only I. verum is edible, other species contain neurotoxic sesquiterpene lactones such as anisatin.

Illicium verum (八角)

Illicium verum (八角, ba jiao hui xiang), star anise or Chinese star anise, an evergreen Schisandraceae tree native to southern China and northeast Vietnam; its dried star fruit yields trans-anethole oil and shikimic acid for oseltamivir, and is adulterated by toxic I. anisatum.

Impatiens

Impatiens (balsams, touch-me-nots), genus of Balsaminaceae with 1,187 accepted species, native to the Old World and the Americas, known for explosive seed capsules, ornamental busy Lizzies, and invasive Himalayan balsam.

Impatiens balsamina

Impatiens balsamina (凤仙花), garden balsam or rose balsam, is an annual Balsaminaceae herb native to India and Sri Lanka, grown worldwide as an ornamental and medicinal plant with explosive seed pods and over 307 identified compounds.

Imperata cylindrica

Imperata cylindrica, cogongrass or alang-alang, is a rhizomatous Poaceae grass, one of the world's worst weeds, covering about 2,000,000 km2 in the tropics, yet used for thatch, rope, paper, and traditional medicine.