3,306 articles
Lysimachia arvensis
Lysimachia arvensis (scarlet pimpernel, formerly Anagallis arvensis) is a Mediterranean annual herb of Primulaceae with red or blue flowers, a widespread introduced weed, tetraploid and self-compatible, mildly toxic to livestock.
Lysimachia vulgaris
Lysimachia vulgaris, yellow or garden loosestrife, is a rhizomatous Primulaceae perennial native from Europe to Siberia and the W. Himalaya, invasive in North American wetlands and a Washington Class B noxious weed.
Lythraceae
Lythraceae, the loosestrife family (Myrtales), is a family of 28 genera and ca. 625 species of herbs, shrubs, and trees, including pomegranate (Punica), henna (Lawsonia), crepe myrtle (Lagerstroemia), and water chestnut (Trapa).
Lythrum
Lythrum, the loosestrifes, is a genus of about 35-40 Lythraceae herbs of the temperate Northern Hemisphere, often heterostylous; its species L. salicaria (purple loosestrife) is a major North American wetland invader.
Macadamia
Macadamia is a genus of four subtropical rainforest trees in the Proteaceae family, native to eastern Australia and cultivated worldwide for its edible macadamia nut.
Macaranga
Macaranga (Thouars, 1806) is a genus of about 300 dioecious Euphorbiaceae trees and shrubs of the Old World tropics, sister to Mallotus, with 3-4-locellate anthers, hollow-twig ant-plant symbioses, and pioneer secondary-forest ecology.
Macaroni
Macaroni, known in Italian as maccheroni, is dry pasta shaped like narrow tubes, made from wheat semolina or flour and water, associated especially with Naples and best known in macaroni and cheese.
Maclura
Maclura is a genus of about 13 spiny, dioecious trees, shrubs, and woody climbers in the mulberry family, Moraceae, native to Asia, Africa, the Pacific, and the Americas.
Maclura pomifera
Maclura pomifera, osage-orange or hedge-apple (bois-d'arc), a thorny dioecious Moraceae tree native to Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas, famous as pre-barbed-wire prairie hedgerows, with decay-resistant wood, and invasive in parts of Australia.
Macroptilium
Macroptilium (Benth.) Urb., a genus of 23 accepted herbaceous legumes in Fabaceae native to tropical and subtropical America, close to Phaseolus; includes siratro (M. atropurpureum), burgundy bean, and llanos macro, used as forage, cover crops, and green manure.
Macroptilium atropurpureum
Macroptilium atropurpureum (siratro, purple bean, atro; synonym Phaseolus atropurpureus) is a Fabaceae forage legume native from Mexico to western South America, with dark purple flowers, trifoliate leaves, cultivars Siratro and Aztec, and drought-avoidance physiology.
Macrotyloma
Macrotyloma (Wight & Arn.) Verdc., a genus of 24 legume species in Fabaceae tribe Phaseoleae, subtribe Phaseolinae, native from Africa to Myanmar; includes horse gram (M. uniflorum) and Kersting's groundnut (M. geocarpum).
Macrozamia
Macrozamia is a genus of about 41 cycad species endemic to Australia, its largest cycad genus, known as zamia palm despite not being a true palm.
Madhuca
Madhuca (mahua, Indian butter tree) is a Sapotaceae tree genus of about 100-160 species from South and Southeast Asia; M. longifolia seeds yield mahua butter (50-61% lipid) and hard Madhuca timber.
Madhuca longifolia
Madhuca longifolia (mahua, Hindi महुआ), a Sapotaceae tree native to the Indian subcontinent and Myanmar; two varieties, oil-rich seeds (50-60%), flowers fermented into liquor, central to tribal livelihoods.
Madia
Madia, commonly called tarweeds, is a genus of sticky-hairy annual herbs in the sunflower family, established in 1782 and native to western North and South America.
Maesa
Maesa, a genus of roughly 180–200 Old World tropical trees, shrubs, and scramblers in Primulaceae, sister to all other genera; identified by semi-inferior ovaries, paired bracteoles, and black glandular lines.
Magnolia
Magnolia is a genus of more than 200 species of evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs in the Magnoliaceae family, prized for large, showy, often fragrant flowers.
Magnolia champaca
Magnolia champaca (黄兰), formerly Michelia champaca, is a Southeast Asian magnolia tree up to 50 m with fragrant yellow-orange flowers yielding champaca absolute for perfumery, attar, timber, and Ayurvedic medicine; IUCN Least Concern.
Magnolia grandiflora
Magnolia grandiflora (southern magnolia, bull bay), evergreen Magnoliaceae tree native SE USA to Texas, 1759 Linnaeus name, 60-80 ft, fragrant white flowers to 25 cm, USDA zones 7A-10A, IUCN Least Concern, beetle-pollinated, widely planted ornamental.
Magnolia officinalis
Magnolia officinalis (厚朴, houpo), Houpu magnolia, is a Chinese magnolia tree whose bark yields the neolignans magnolol and honokiol; used in traditional medicine, endangered in the wild, preclinical anti-Alzheimer's activity.
Magnoliaceae
Magnoliaceae, the magnolia family, is a magnoliid flowering plant family with two genera, Magnolia and Liriodendron, over 300 species in Asia and the Americas, spirally arranged tepaloid flowers, beetle pollination, and many threatened species.
Magnoliales
Magnoliales is an order of magnoliid flowering plants with six APG IV families (Annonaceae, Magnoliaceae, Myristicaceae, Degeneriaceae, Eupomatiaceae, Himantandraceae), about 3,000 species, Cretaceous fossils, and crown age 164–115 Myr.
Mahogany
Mahogany: aromatic reddish hardwood of Swietenia (3 tropical American Meliaceae species) and African Khaya; prized for furniture since 1680, CITES-listed after depletion of S. mahagoni and S. macrophylla.
Mahonia
Mahonia (Oregon grape) is a genus of about 100 evergreen Berberidaceae shrubs with spiny compound leaves, yellow flowers, and blue-black berries, native to East Asia and western North America; long debated against Berberis, resolved into four genera by Yu and Chung in 2017.
Maize
Maize (Zea mays, corn), C4 cereal grass domesticated from teosinte in Mexico's Balsas valley ~9,000 years ago; world's largest grain crop (~1.25 billion tonnes), grown for feed, ethanol, and food; kernel types dent, flint, sweet, popcorn.
Maize diseases and pests
Maize diseases and pests are the pathogens and insects attacking maize, which lose about 22.5% of global yield, including rusts, tar spot, maize streak virus, and fall armyworm.
Makgeolli (막걸리)
Makgeolli (막걸리), also called takju, is Korea's milky, cloudy fermented rice wine made from rice, nuruk starter, and water, with 6-8% alcohol, live lactic acid bacteria, a Goryeo-era history, and the classic pajeon pairing.
Mallotus
Mallotus is a genus of about 122 species of dioecious shrubs and trees in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native from tropical Africa to the western Pacific.
Malpighia
Malpighia (acerola, Barbados cherry genus) is the type genus of Malpighiaceae, Neotropical shrubs and small trees with three-stoned red drupes; about 110 accepted species, best known for vitamin-C-rich Malpighia emarginata fruit.