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Spergula
Spergula (spurry) is a Caryophyllaceae genus of annual herbs, published by Linnaeus in 1753, native to temperate Eurasia and southern South America; S. arvensis, corn spurrey, is a cereal weed producing 5,000-10,000 seeds per plant.
Spergula arvensis
Spergula arvensis (corn spurrey, corn spurry, sandweed) is an annual Caryophyllaceae weed of sandy acid arable land, native from Europe to NW. India and tropical Africa, with tiny whorled linear leaves, white flowers, a persistent seed bank, and ALS-herbicide-resistant biotypes in Norway.
Spergularia
Spergularia, sand-spurreys or sea-spurreys, a conserved genus of about 60-67 herbs in Caryophyllaceae, type S. rubra, diverse in the Mediterranean and temperate South America, mostly in saline coastal habitats.
Spermacoce alata
Spermacoce alata Aubl. (syn. Borreria alata, S. latifolia), broadleaf buttonweed, a Rubiaceae herb native from Colombia to northern South America and W. Brazil, naturalized weed and medicinal plant in Asia, Africa, and Oceania.
Spice
Spice: dried plant parts (fruits, seeds, bark, rhizomes, buds) used for flavor, color, preservation, or medicine; allspice (Pimenta dioica) is the only major spice native to the New World, with Jamaica producing about 70% of world supply.
Spikenard
Spikenard (Nardostachys jatamansi, jatamansi, Sumbul-ut-Tib) is a critically endangered Himalayan aromatic herb, CITES Appendix II listed, used in Ayurveda and Unani medicine, with Nepal supplying most global rhizome trade.
Spinach
Spinach (Spinacia oleracea), an Amaranthaceae leafy vegetable domesticated in ancient Persia, spread to 7th-century China and Moorish Spain; dioecious cool-season crop, ~26.7 Mt production, high oxalate, downy mildew breeding.
Spinacia
Spinacia (spinach genus) is a small Amaranthaceae genus, formerly Chenopodiaceae, published by Linnaeus in 1753, native from West and Central Asia to SW Siberia; type species Spinacia oleracea, cultivated spinach.
Spiraea
Spiraea (spirea, bridal-wreaths), a Rosaceae shrub genus published by Linnaeus in 1753, native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere with about 100 accepted species, most diverse in eastern Asia; Japanese spiraea is invasive in the US.
Spiranthes
Spiranthes (ladies'-tresses) is a genus of about 44 accepted terrestrial orchid species with small white to pink flowers spirally arranged on a spike; centered in North America, dispersed to Eurasia about 7 million years ago, and prone to hybrid speciation.
Spirodela
Spirodela (giant duckweed) is a genus of four free-floating aquatic plants in Araceae, Lemnoideae, the most ancestral duckweed genus, used in wastewater phytoremediation and genomics, with Spirodela polyrhiza the type species.
Spondias
Spondias (mombins, hog plums, umbu, ambarella) is a genus of 18 Anacardiaceae fruit-tree species native to tropical America, Madagascar, and Asia, type genus of Spondioideae, cultivated for fruit and long used in traditional medicine.
Spondias dulcis
Spondias dulcis, also called ambarella, golden apple, or Polynesian plum (synonym Spondias cytherea), is an Anacardiaceae fruit tree native to E. Malesia to the Santa Cruz Islands, widely introduced across the tropics for its edible drupe.
Spondias mombin
Spondias mombin, yellow mombin, hog plum, jobo, or Brazilian cajá, is a tropical Anacardiaceae fruit tree native from Mexico to South America, with yellow edible drupes used fresh, processed, and in traditional medicine; IUCN Least Concern.
Sporobolus
Sporobolus (dropseed) is a cosmopolitan genus of about 225 C4 grasses in Poaceae, Chloridoideae, defined by one-flowered awnless spikelets and seed-ejecting pericarps; includes turf, forage, and invasive weed species.
Sporobolus cryptandrus
Sporobolus cryptandrus (sand dropseed), a warm-season perennial C4 bunchgrass of Poaceae native from Canada to northern Mexico; drought resistant, fair livestock forage, used for erosion control, and an invasive transformer species in Eurasian sand grasslands.
Sporobolus diandrus
Sporobolus diandrus (Indian dropseed, 双蕊鼠尾粟), a tufted Poaceae grass native from Socotra and Arabia to tropical Asia, naturalized in the southern US and Pacific; two-stamened, a fodder grass and serious weed in India.
Sporobolus wrightii
Sporobolus wrightii (big sacaton, giant sacaton) is a tall perennial bunchgrass of Poaceae native to the southwestern U.S. and Mexico, tolerant of alkaline, saline, and flooded soils; its floodplain grasslands now cover about 5 percent of their original range.
Sprouting
Sprouting: germinating seeds (alfalfa, mung bean, broccoli, radish) and eating the whole young sprout. Nutrient-dense but a known foodborne illness vehicle; FDA recorded 52 sprout outbreaks, 1996-2020.
Spruce
Spruce, genus Picea, 40-50 evergreen conifer species of the Northern Hemisphere with peg-attached needles and pendant cones; includes Norway and Sitka spruce, major softwood timber trees threatened by bark beetles and drought.
Spruce cultivation and ornamental horticulture
Spruce cultivation and ornamental horticulture: growing Picea species such as Colorado blue, Norway, and white spruce as landscape, dwarf, and Christmas trees; site selection, watering, dwarf cultivar classes, and pest management.
Spruce forest ecology
Spruce forest ecology is the study of forests dominated by spruce trees (genus Picea), covering how these evergreen conifers regenerate, interact with soil fungi, and respond to climate change.
Spruce hybrids and introgression
Spruce hybrids are natural crosses between Picea species where ranges meet, producing introgression, the movement of genes between species; despite hybridization lasting at least 21,000 years, spruce species remain genetically distinct.
Spruce pests and diseases
Spruce pests and diseases are the insects, fungi, and fungus-like organisms that injure or kill spruce trees, led by the spruce beetle in North America.
Spruce Production Division
Spruce Production Division, a U.S. Army command of World War I (1917-1918) under Brig. Gen. Brice P. Disque, using about 30,000 soldiers in Pacific Northwest logging camps to produce aircraft-grade Sitka spruce, reaching 143 million board feet.
Spruce silviculture and timber
Spruce silviculture and timber covers the plantation management, harvesting, and wood utilization of spruce, chiefly Norway and Sitka spruce, used for construction timber, pulp, and tonewood.
Stachys
Stachys (woundwort) is a large cosmopolitan genus of Lamiaceae herbs, about 300-450 species centered in the Mediterranean and Turkey, with two-lipped flowers, debated Betonica taxonomy, and medicinal herbal-tea uses.
Stamen
Stamen: the male reproductive organ of a flower, made of an anther that produces pollen and a filament stalk; collectively the androecium. Differs from the pistil (female) and from gymnosperm pollen organs, which lack thecae.
Stanhopea
Stanhopea (J.Frost ex Hook.) is a Neotropical epiphytic orchid genus in subtribe Stanhopeinae, native from Mexico to southern tropical America and Trinidad, with roughly 55–78 accepted species, pendent few-flowered inflorescences, and euglossine bee pollination via fragrant osmophores.
Stapelia
Stapelia (carrion flowers) is a genus of about 30 southern African stem succulents in Apocynaceae, with foetid, nectarless, fly-pollinated flowers from 1 cm to 40 cm across.