Seed plants

Lonicera japonica

Lonicera japonica, Japanese honeysuckle or Jin Yin Hua, is an Asian twining honeysuckle vine used in traditional Chinese medicine and one of the worst invasive plants in eastern North America.

Lonicera periclymenum

Lonicera periclymenum, European honeysuckle or woodbine, is a deciduous twining vine native to Europe and Morocco, with fragrant white-to-yellow flowers, red berries, and two accepted subspecies.

Lonicera xylosteum, fly honeysuckle or dwarf honeysuckle, is a deciduous Caprifoliaceae shrub native from Europe to Central Siberia and NE Türkiye, with hollow twigs, paired yellowish-white flowers, red berries, 2n=18, and invasive status in parts of North America.

Loose smut

Loose smut, caused by Ustilago nuda in barley and U. tritici in wheat, is an internally seed-borne smut disease that replaces grain with wind-dispersed teliospores; controlled by certified seed and systemic fungicides.

Lophira

Lophira Banks ex C.F.Gaertn. is a genus of two African tree species in the Ochnaceae family, native from western tropical Africa to Uganda, first published in 1805.

Lophophora

Lophophora, or peyote cactus genus (Lophophora williamsii), spineless low-growing Cactaceae from Texas and Mexico; four accepted species, mescaline-bearing, IUCN Vulnerable, CITES Appendix II.

Lotus

Lotus L. (trefoils, birdsfoot trefoil) is an Old World Fabaceae genus of herbs and shrublets in tribe Loteae, published 1753, with Lotus corniculatus as major forage and Lotus japonicus as a model legume; unrelated to Nelumbo, the sacred lotus.

Lotus corniculatus

Lotus corniculatus, known as bird's-foot trefoil, is a perennial flowering legume of the pea family, native to temperate Eurasia and grown as forage that does not cause bloat in livestock.

Lotus seed

Lotus seed, the edible seed of Nelumbo nucifera (sacred lotus, lianzi), a long-lived aquatic crop seed eaten as paste, soups, and flour; notable for 1300-year viability record, hard impermeable coat requiring scarification, and food-medicine status in China.

Lovage

Lovage (Levisticum officinale, Maggi plant, Liebstöckel) is a tall Apiaceae perennial herb native to Iran-Afghanistan, with a strong celery-parsley, umami flavor from ligustilide; once a Roman staple in Apicius, now largely replaced by celery and parsley.

Lucuma

Lucuma (Lucuma bifera, formerly Pouteria lucuma), the Andean "Gold of the Incas" fruit tree of Sapotaceae; sweet ovoid fruit from Peru, Chile and Ecuador, grown to 3,000 m, milled into flour for desserts and ice cream.

Ludwigia

Ludwigia is a genus of about 87 species of flowering plants in the evening-primrose family, mostly annual or perennial herbs of wet places with usually yellow flowers.

Luma

Luma A.Gray is a genus of two Myrtaceae tree species, L. apiculata (arrayán, Chilean myrtle) and L. chequen, native to Chile and western Argentina, grown ornamentally and for honey, fruit, and hard timber.

Lunaria

Lunaria (honesty, money plant, silver dollar) is a European Brassicaceae genus with three species, L. annua, L. rediviva, and L. telekiana, known for silvery disc-like seed pods and erucic and nervonic acid rich seed oil.

Lunaria annua

Lunaria annua, honesty or annual honesty (money plant, silver dollar plant), is a biennial Brassicaceae herb native to south-central and southern Europe, grown for pink spring flowers and papery coin-like silicles used in dried arrangements.

Lupinus

Lupinus, commonly known as lupins or lupines, is a genus of herbs and shrubs in the legume family, Fabaceae, first published by Linnaeus in 1753.

Lupinus albus

Lupinus albus (white lupin, white lupine; synonym Lupinus termis) is an annual Mediterranean Fabaceae legume domesticated 3,000–4,000 years ago, with 38–44% seed protein, cluster roots for phosphate uptake, and subspecies albus and graecus.

Lupinus angustifolius

Lupinus angustifolius, narrow-leafed or blue lupin, Australian Sweet Lupin: annual Mediterranean legume domesticated from 1929, first WA cultivar 1967, over 95% of WA lupin grain, protein-rich seed used for feed and food.

Lupinus luteus

Lupinus luteus (yellow lupin, European yellow lupine) is an annual Mediterranean legume grown on sandy acidic soils for forage, feed, and green manure; domesticated for low alkaloids in 20th-century Germany.

Lupinus mutabilis

Lupinus mutabilis (tarwi, chocho, Andean lupin) is an Andean domesticated lupin with the highest protein (44%) and oil (18%) content among cultivated lupins, comparable to soybean, requiring debittering to remove quinolizidine alkaloids.

Lutheria splendens

Lutheria splendens, the flaming sword bromeliad, formerly Vriesea splendens, is an epiphytic tank bromeliad from eastern Colombia to Trinidad-Tobago, with banded leaves, scarlet-bracted spikes, and leaf-trichome-based absorption.

Luzula

Luzula (woodrushes) is a cosmopolitan genus of about 80–125 accepted species in the rush family Juncaceae, perennial grass-like herbs with ciliate leaves, closed sheaths, and three-seeded capsules, published by de Candolle in 1805.

Lychee

Lychee (Litchi chinensis, 荔枝, litchi) is the sole species of its genus in the soapberry family, a tropical tree native to southern China with over 2,000 years of cultivation; Asia grows over 95% of the roughly 2-million-tonne world crop, led by China and India.

Lycium

Lycium (goji, wolfberry) is a Solanaceae genus of 75–101 spiny shrub species with red, black, or yellow berries, cosmopolitan in arid regions, including the medicinal L. barbarum and salt-tolerant L. ruthenicum.

Lycopus

Lycopus (bugleweed, water-horehound), a Lamiaceae genus of wetland perennials native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere and Australia; about 14–19 species; L. virginicus used traditionally as an antithyroid herb.

Lycopus europaeus

Lycopus europaeus, gypsywort or European bugleweed, is a perennial Lamiaceae wetland herb native from the Azores and NW. Africa to Siberia and the W. Himalaya, introduced in North America and New Zealand, IUCN Least Concern, rich in rosmarinic acid.

Lycoris (plant)

Lycoris is a genus of about 25 bulbous amaryllis-family plants native from Nepal to Japan, known for leafless flower stalks that emerge suddenly in late summer.

Lycoris radiata

Lycoris radiata (ヒガンバナ, higanbana; 石蒜), the red spider lily, is an Amaryllidaceae bulb native from Nepal to Japan, blooming red spider-like umbels in late summer; Japanese triploid strains are sterile, while fertile diploid var. pumila occurs in China.

Lysiloma

Lysiloma (false tamarind, tzalam, sabicu) is a genus of eight dry-forest legume trees native from Arizona and Florida to Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, sister to Hesperalbizia.