3,306 articles
Khat
Khat (Catha edulis, qat, miraa) is an evergreen Celastraceae shrub of East Africa and Yemen whose fresh leaves, containing the amphetamine-like alkaloid cathinone, are chewed as a stimulant by about 20 million people.
Khaya
Khaya (African mahogany) is a genus of six large Meliaceae tree species native to tropical Africa, traded as high-value timber, with all assessed species IUCN Vulnerable and CITES Appendix II listing since 2023.
Khaya senegalensis
Khaya senegalensis (Senegal mahogany, African mahogany), Meliaceae tree from West Africa to northern Uganda; Vulnerable IUCN, timber, fodder, and medicinal bark, poor natural regeneration, attacked by Hypsipyla shoot borer.
Khorasan wheat
Khorasan wheat (Triticum turgidum subsp. turanicum, Kamut brand wheat) is a tetraploid ancient wheat from the Persian province of Khorasan, marketed under the KAMUT trademark and studied in clinical trials versus modern wheat.
Kigelia
Kigelia (sausage tree, Kigelia africana, worsboom, muratina) is a monotypic African Bignoniaceae genus with large toxic sausage fruits up to 90 cm, bat-pollinated night flowers, and about 150 characterized phytochemicals used in African traditional medicine and skin products.
Kiidk'yaas
Kiidk'yaas, the Golden Spruce (Picea sitchensis 'Aurea'), was a sacred 300-year-old golden-needled Sitka spruce on the Yakoun River, Haida Gwaii, felled in January 1997 by Grant Hadwin as logging-industry protest; cuttings survive in Port Clements.
Kiwifruit (猕猴桃)
Kiwifruit (猕猴桃, yangtao/mihoutao), the Chinese gooseberry berry of Actinidia vines, taken to New Zealand in 1904 and renamed kiwifruit in 1959; green 'Hayward' and gold 'Hort16A' cultivars, world production, nutrition, and allergy.
Knautia
Knautia (scabious) is a Caprifoliaceae genus of about 40-61 herb species native from Europe to Siberia and Central Asia; best known is field scabious (Knautia arvensis), a gynodioecious, ant-dispersed, insect-pollinated perennial prone to hybridisation and polyploidy.
Kniphofia
Kniphofia (red hot poker, torch lily, tritoma) is an African genus of about 70 rhizomatous Asphodelaceae perennials with torch-like red-to-yellow flower spikes, named by Moench in 1794 for Johann Hieronymus Kniphof and widely grown as garden cultivars.
Kobresia
Kobresia (bog sedge), a Cyperaceae genus described by Willdenow in 1805, now a synonym of Carex (C. subg. Euthyceras, c. 60 species); K. pygmaea dominates 450,000 km² of Tibetan alpine pasture at 3000–6000 m.
Koeleria
Koeleria (hair grass, Junegrass) is a Poaceae grass genus published by Persoon in 1805, with tufted perennials, narrow leaves, and dense spikelike glistening panicles; about 75 accepted species across temperate and mountain regions, taxonomically difficult due to morphological plasticity and polyploidy.
Kokia
Kokia is a genus of four rare, endangered small trees in Malvaceae (cotton tribe Gossypieae), endemic to the Hawaiian Islands, described by Lewton in 1912; Kokia cookei survives only as clones of one plant. Not the singer Kokia.
Kola nut
Kola nut (Cola acuminata, Cola nitida), the caffeine-rich seed chewed in West Africa and once flavoring Coca-Cola; contains 1.5–3.8% caffeine, GRAS status, 280,000 t produced in 2016.
Kudzu in the United States
Kudzu (Pueraria montana var. lobata), an Asian legume vine introduced at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, covers about 7 million acres of the southeastern US after New Deal erosion-control planting; it grows up to a foot per day and is a Federal Noxious Weed.
Kumquat
Kumquat (金柑; Citrus japonica, formerly Fortunella) is a small cold-hardy citrus from southeastern China, eaten whole with its sweet peel; main types Nagami, Marumi, and Meiwa.
Lablab purpureus
Lablab purpureus (hyacinth bean, Dolichos lablab), an African-origin climbing legume grown for grain, forage, and green manure; South African origin, East African domestication, seeds about 25% protein, drought-resilient biomass.
Laburnum
Laburnum (golden chain, golden rain) is a small European legume genus of two species, L. alpinum and L. anagyroides, plus the hybrid L. x watereri 'Vossii', grown for yellow pendulous racemes and poisonous cytisine-containing seeds.
Laburnum anagyroides
Laburnum anagyroides, common laburnum or golden chain tree (syn. Cytisus laburnum), a Fabaceae shrub or tree to 7 m native to S. Central and SE Europe, with yellow June–July racemes and cytisine-poisonous seeds; IUCN least concern.
Lactuca
Lactuca (lettuce genus), Asteraceae tribe Cichorieae, 117 accepted Kew species with white latex and yellow or blue heads; includes cultivated Lactuca sativa, domesticated from L. serriola near the Caucasus.
Lactuca serriola
Lactuca serriola, known as prickly lettuce or compass plant, is an annual or biennial herb in the daisy family, native to Europe and now an invasive weed.
Lactuca virosa
Lactuca virosa, wild or bitter lettuce (Giftlattich, laitue vireuse), is a European and North African Asteraceae herb whose latex (lactucarium, lettuce opium) contains sedative sesquiterpene lactones and which contributed to Crisphead lettuce breeding.
Lactucarium
Lactucarium, or lettuce opium, is the dried latex of Lactuca virosa and related lettuces, named by Andrew Duncan. Its main compounds are the sesquiterpene lactones lactucin and lactucopicrin; sedative and mild analgesic effects are shown in mice, with little human evidence.
Laeliinae
Laeliinae, a Neotropical orchid subtribe of tribe Epidendreae with about 40-50 genera and roughly 1,500 species, includes Cattleya, Laelia, Epidendrum, Encyclia, Brassavola, and Prosthechea; molecular phylogeny shows low sequence variation and polyphyletic former genera.
Lagarostrobos franklinii
Lagarostrobos franklinii, Huon pine (formerly Dacrydium franklinii), a slow-growing Tasmanian endemic conifer in Podocarpaceae; dioecious riverbank rainforest tree to 30 m, living stems to 2,500 years, Mt Read male clone possibly over 10,000 years, oil-rich durable timber, IUCN Least Concern.
Lagenaria
Lagenaria is an African genus of six cucurbit vine species, home of the bottle gourd Lagenaria siceraria (calabash), among the oldest domesticated plants, used as containers, utensils, and instruments, with disputed arrival in the Americas.
Lagerstroemia
Lagerstroemia (crape myrtle genus), Lythraceae, ~50 accepted species of Asian-Australian trees and shrubs; ornamental L. indica, L. speciosa; timber like teak; crinkled petals, winged seeds.
Lagerstroemia speciosa
Lagerstroemia speciosa (banaba, queen's crape myrtle, pride of India) is a tropical Asian Lythraceae tree with large pink-mauve panicles, native from Yunnan to Malesia, used as timber, ornamental, and antidiabetic herbal medicine.
Lamiaceae
Lamiaceae (Labiatae), the mint family, is a cosmopolitan Lamiales family of about 236 genera and over 7,000 species, sixth largest among angiosperms, with opposite leaves, four-stamened zygomorphic flowers, and major culinary and aromatic uses.
Lamiales
Lamiales, also known as Scrophulariales or Lamiiflorae, is a large order of flowering plants with over 20,000 species worldwide, including mints, olives, sesame, and foxgloves, named in 1993.
Lamium
Lamium (dead-nettles) is a genus of annual or perennial herbs in the mint family, Lamiaceae, native to temperate Eurasia, Macaronesia to Ethiopia. About 32 accepted species; nettle-like leaves that do not sting; two-lipped flowers; includes L. album, L. purpureum, L. galeobdolon.