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Schizachyrium
Schizachyrium (little bluestem genus) is a genus of about 60-64 Andropogoneae grasses published by Nees in 1829, type S. condensatum, native to Africa, Asia, and the Americas; shown polyphyletic.
Schizolobium parahyba
Schizolobium parahyba (guapuruvu, paricá, Brazilian firetree) is a fast-growing Fabaceae pioneer tree from S. Mexico to S. Tropical America, with very light wood, golden flowers, and invasive behavior outside its native forest.
Schlumbergera
Schlumbergera, the holiday or Christmas cactus genus (formerly Zygocactus), is a group of seven epiphytic cactus species native to southeastern Brazil, named by Lemaire in 1858 for Frédéric Schlumberger; its hybrids bloom in winter after 12–14 hour nights.
Schoenoplectus
Schoenoplectus (Rchb.) Palla, the naked-stemmed bulrushes, is a sedge genus in Cyperaceae tribe Schoenoplecteae, sister to Actinoscirpus, with terete spikelets, spirally arranged glumes, and fungiform embryos; about 27 species in temperate to tropical wetlands, segregated from Scirpus.
Schoenus
Schoenus (bog rushes) is a cosmopolitan genus of about 155 tussock-forming sedges in Cyperaceae, tribe Schoeneae, centered in Australia and South Africa, originating in Western Australia in the Paleocene.
Scirpophaga incertulas
Scirpophaga incertulas, the yellow stem borer, is a monophagous Crambidae moth whose larvae bore into rice stems, causing dead hearts and whiteheads; a major Asian rice pest with 30–40% yield losses, managed via Trichogramma releases, vetiver trap crops, and Bt rice.
Scirpus
Scirpus (bulrushes) is a genus of about 47 perennial sedges in Cyperaceae, native from the temperate Northern Hemisphere to southern South America, once much broader before splitting into Schoenoplectus, Schoenoplectiella, Bolboschoenus, and Trichophorum, and widely planted in constructed wetlands.
Scleranthus
Scleranthus, or knawel, is a genus of about 12 petal-less herbs in Caryophyllaceae, native from Europe to Siberia and Iran and in Australasia, with hard indehiscent fruits and type species S. annuus.
Scleria
Scleria (nutrush, razor grass) is a pantropical genus of about 250-280 sedge species in Cyperaceae, tribe Sclerieae, with unisexual flowers, hard globose nutlets with a hypogynium, and silicified razor-sharp leaf margins.
Sclerocarya birrea
Sclerocarya birrea, or marula, a dioecious Anacardiaceae savanna tree of sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar, up to 18 m, with vitamin C-rich yellow fruit used for food, beer, Amarula liqueur, medicine, and seed oil.
Scleroderris canker
Scleroderris canker (Brunchorstia dieback), a conifer disease caused by the fungus Gremmeniella abietina; races European, North American, Asian; kills shoots, cankers stems, devastated over 400,000 ha of Swedish pine from 2001.
Scolymus
Scolymus (goldenthistle) is a genus of three spiny Asteraceae herbs native from Macaronesia and Europe to Iran and NE. Tropical Africa; S. hispanicus is the edible Spanish salsify, distinct from Cynara scolymus, the globe artichoke.
Scoparia
Scoparia: two accepted genera share the name, Scoparia L. (Plantaginaceae, 20 tropical American plant species incl. medicinal S. dulcis) and Scoparia Haworth, 1811 (crambid moths, 26 Chinese species); scoparia also a broom-like species epithet.
Scrophularia
Scrophularia (figworts) is a genus of about 250-292 species in Scrophulariaceae, native to temperate Eurasia, Macaronesia, Africa, and North America; S. ningpoensis (Xuanshen) is a major traditional Chinese medicine root rich in iridoids.
Scrophulariaceae
Scrophulariaceae, the figwort family (Lamiales), once the order's largest family with over 5,000 species, was found polyphyletic in 1995; its genera now span seven families, leaving 59 genera and about 1,880 species.
Scutellaria
Scutellaria (skullcaps), a cosmopolitan Lamiaceae genus of roughly 360-485 species, defined by the scutellum calyx appendage; medicinal species S. baicalensis, S. barbata, S. lateriflora yield flavonoids baicalein, baicalin, wogonin.
Scutellaria baicalensis
Scutellaria baicalensis (Huangqin, Chinese or Baikal skullcap), a Lamiaceae perennial herb of Siberia to Vietnam; its dried root, rich in baicalin and baicalein, is a major traditional Chinese medicine with limited human clinical evidence.
Seagrass
Seagrass: about 72 species of submerged marine flowering plants in four families, forming coastal meadows covering ~0.1% of the seafloor; key blue carbon sinks (138 ± 38 gC m⁻² yr⁻¹) and fish nurseries, declining 20–35% since 1970.
Secale
Secale is a Poaceae genus of Triticeae grasses including cultivated rye (Secale cereale), domesticated from weedy rye, grown on 4.1 million ha mostly in northeastern Europe, high in dietary fiber, and a gluten and allergen source.
Sedge meadows and tussock tundra
Sedge meadows and tussock tundra are wetland ecosystems dominated by sedges such as Carex stricta and Eriophorum vaginatum, which build peat and store large amounts of carbon.
Sedges of North America
Sedges of North America describes the sedge family Cyperaceae north of Mexico: 843 species in 27 genera, with Carex alone holding 480 species, about 57% of the flora.
Sedges of the British Isles
The sedges of the British Isles are the sedges, cotton-grasses, club-rushes, and allies of Britain and Ireland, about 85 species, covered by the BSBI's 2007 handbook of the same name.
Sedum
Sedum (stonecrop) is the largest genus of Crassulaceae, about 499 accepted succulent species native from temperate to tropical mountain regions; non-monophyletic, with Hylotelephium, Phedimus, and Petrosedum segregated, and many species using CAM photosynthesis on green roofs.
Sedum acre
Sedum acre (biting stonecrop, goldmoss stonecrop) is a mat-forming succulent Crassulaceae herb native from Greenland and Europe to the Caucasus, type species of Sedum, used on green roofs and naturalized widely.
Seed
Seed: the plant reproductive unit containing embryo, nutritive tissue, and protective coat; gymnosperm and angiosperm seeds, double fertilization, dormancy, Devonian origin, and seed banks like Svalbard and Kew's Millennium Seed Bank.
Seed dispersal
Seed dispersal, also called seed distribution, is the movement of seeds or seed-bearing fruits away from the parent plant by animals, wind, water, or the plant itself.
Seedless fruit
Seedless fruit develops without mature seeds via parthenocarpy (fruit set without fertilization) or stenospermocarpy (seed abortion after fertilization), as in seedless grapes, bananas, citrus, and watermelon, controlled by auxin, gibberellin, and cytokinin.
Seitan
Seitan (wheat meat, miànjīn 面筋) is cooked wheat gluten used as a meat substitute, made by washing starch from wheat flour dough. Not gluten-free; named by George Ohsawa in 1961.
Self-pollination
Self-pollination (autogamy, geitonogamy, cleistogamy) is pollen transfer within a flower or between flowers of the same plant, enabling self-fertilization; the most common evolutionary transition in flowering plants, favored by reproductive assurance and transmission advantage but limited by inbreeding depression.
Sempervivum
Sempervivum, houseleeks or hen-and-chicks, is a Crassulaceae succulent genus of 51 accepted species native from Europe to Iran and Morocco, grown for evergreen rosettes that die after flowering and spread by stolons.