3,306 articles
Isatis tinctoria
Isatis tinctoria (woad, dyer's woad, pastel) is a Brassicaceae biennial native from SE and E Europe to Türkiye, the historical European source of indigo dye via precursors indican and isatan B, displaced by tropical indigo and synthetic indigo.
Ischaemum
Ischaemum (murainagrass), grass genus in Poaceae, Andropogoneae, Ischaeminae; established by Linnaeus 1753, lectotype I. muticum; about 70-100 tropical species, mainly Asian, including rice weed I. rugosum.
Isocupressic acid
Isocupressic acid (ICA) is a labdane diterpene resin acid found in conifers such as ponderosa pine, whose needles cause abortion in cattle during late pregnancy.
Isodon
Isodon (Benth.) Schrad. ex Spach, formerly Rabdosia, is a Lamiaceae genus of about 116-150 perennial herb species native to the tropical and subtropical Old World, rich in ent-kaurane diterpenoids such as oridonin used in Chinese and Japanese medicine.
Isotoma
Isotoma (R.Br.) Lindl., an accepted genus of about 10 Australasian Campanulaceae herbs with milky sap and equal corolla lobes; several former species moved to Lithotoma and Lobelia.
Ixia
Ixia (African cornlily) is a Cape-endemic genus of cormous Iridaceae perennials with showy star-shaped flowers, about 100 species, insect-pollinated, cultivated as ornamentals and naturalized in several continents.
Ixora
Ixora is a pantropical genus of about 545 Rubiaceae shrubs and small trees, also called flame of the woods or jungle geranium (I. coccinea), known for showy 4-merous tuberous flower clusters, ornamental hedges, and Ayurvedic medicinal use.
Ixora coccinea
Ixora coccinea (flame-of-the-woods, jungle geranium, scarlet jungleflame) is a Rubiaceae shrub native from India to Indo-China, grown tropically worldwide for red flower clusters, with folk-medicinal root and flower uses.
Jabuticaba
Jabuticaba (jaboticaba, Brazilian grape tree, Plinia cauliflora) is a slow-growing Myrtaceae fruit tree from Brazil whose dark purple berries and white flowers grow directly on the trunk (cauliflory); grown in zones 9a-11, fruiting in 8-10 years from seed.
Jacaranda
Jacaranda Juss. is a Neotropical genus of about 51 tree and shrub species in Bignoniaceae, native from tropical America to northern Argentina; Jacaranda mimosifolia, with blue-violet flowers, is a famous ornamental street tree worldwide.
Jacaranda mimosifolia
Jacaranda mimosifolia, the blue jacaranda, a South American Bignoniaceae tree with lavender-blue trumpet flowers, widely planted as a street tree but an environmental weed in Australia and South Africa.
Jaggery (गुड़)
Jaggery (गुड़, gur) is unrefined non-centrifugal sugar made by boiling sugarcane juice or palm sap. India produces over 70% of the world's jaggery; it contains 65–85% sucrose and retains minerals and polyphenols absent from refined sugar.
Japanese bamboo weaving
Japanese bamboo weaving (竹編み): the craft of interlacing split or whole bamboo culms into baskets and sculpture, practiced since the Jomon period and centered in Kyoto, Beppu, Osaka, and Kantō, with six Living National Treasure masters.
Japanese rice
Japanese rice: short-grain japonica Oryza sativa grown nationwide, staple of the Japanese diet. About 300 varieties planted; Koshihikari (1956) leads at 33.4%. Prices doubled in the 2024-25 shortage.
Jasione
Jasione, or sheep's bit, is a genus of about 14-16 Campanulaceae herbs native to Europe and the Mediterranean, with blue flower heads, two diversity centers (Iberia-Morocco and Balkans-Anatolia), and Jasione montana as its best-known species.
Jasmine
Jasminum, the jasmine genus, is a group of about 200 accepted Oleaceae shrubs and vines native to the Old World tropics, with fragrant white or yellow tubular flowers, including cultivated species like J. sambac.
Jasmine rice (ข้าวหอมมะลิ)
Jasmine rice (ข้าวหอมมะลิ), officially Thai Hom Mali Rice, is Thailand's fragrant long-grain rice from varieties KDML105 and RD15, defined by law at 92% purity, 7 mm kernels, and 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline aroma.
Jasminum officinale
Jasminum officinale, common or poet's jasmine (su fang hua), a scrambling Oleaceae shrub native from Transcaucasus to south-central China, long cultivated for fragrant flowers used in perfume, medicine, and food.
Jasminum sambac
Jasminum sambac, Arabian jasmine or sampaguita, is a South Asian Oleaceae shrub used for jasmine tea, perfume, and religious garlands; national flower of the Philippines and Indonesia.
Jatropha
Jatropha, a Euphorbiaceae genus of about 150 tropical species including the physic nut (Jatropha curcas), a toxic-seeded oil crop promoted for biodiesel whose large plantations proved barely financially viable.
Jatropha curcas
Jatropha curcas, physic nut or piñón de purga, a toxic Euphorbiaceae shrub native from Mexico to tropical America, grown as hedges and promoted as a biodiesel feedstock; seeds contain phorbol esters and curcin, making the oil non-edible.
Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi (ජය ශ්රී මහා බෝධි)
Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi (ජය ශ්රී මහා බෝධි) is the sacred fig tree in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, planted in 288 BC by Sanghamitta from the original Bodhi tree; the oldest human-planted tree with a known planting date.
Jerusalem artichoke
Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus, sunchoke, topinambour) is a North American perennial sunflower grown for inulin-rich tubers; hexaploid, hybrid origin, food, feed, and biofuel crop.
Job's tears
Job's tears (Coix lacryma-jobi, adlay, coix seed, 薏苡) is an Asian grass grown as a minor cereal, medicine, fodder, and bead plant; soft-shelled var. ma-yuen yields grain, hard-shelled var. lacryma-jobi yields ornamental beads.
Jojoba
Jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis), a dioecious desert shrub native to Arizona, California, and Mexico, whose seeds yield about 50% liquid wax ester oil used in cosmetics, lubricants, and biodiesel research.
Jojoba oil
Jojoba oil, from Simmondsia chinensis seeds, is a liquid wax ester (97% monounsaturated C16-C26 esters) used in cosmetics, dermatology, and pharmaceuticals; about 40% of world production is Israeli.
Jollof rice
Jollof rice, also called thieboudienne, ceebu jen, benachin, or riz au gras, is a West African one-pot rice dish cooked in a fried tomato-onion-pepper base, originating with the Wolof people of Senegambia and fueling the Ghana-Nigeria "Jollof Wars".
Judean date palm
Judean date palm, a lost Phoenix dactylifera population of ancient Judea, revived from ~2,000-year-old seeds including Methuselah, Adam, and Hannah; genetics show Middle Eastern and North African mixing with Cretan palm introgression.
Juglandaceae
Juglandaceae, the walnut family (DC. ex Perleb, 1818), is a Fagales family of trees including Juglans, Carya, Pterocarya, and Rhoiptelea, with compound leaves, catkins, and one-seeded nuts, source of walnuts, pecans, and valuable timber.
Juglans
Juglans, the walnut genus of Juglandaceae, has 21 accepted species including J. regia, J. nigra, and J. cinerea, native from the Americas to East Asia; threatened by thousand cankers disease and butternut canker.