edgepedia

Plants and algae

4,295 articles

Sida

Sida (fanpetals) is a pantropical genus of herbs and shrubs in Malvaceae, tribe Malveae, with about 200-277 species, type species Sida rhombifolia; weedy, medicinal, and polyphyletic per recent phylogenetics.

Siddu (bread)

Siddu (सिद्दू), also called Khobli in Shimla, is a Himachali steamed fermented wheat bread stuffed with poppy seed, walnut, or black gram paste, served with ghee, dal, or chutney; a winter staple of Shimla and Kullu, possibly from Tibetan tse-doe.

Sideritis

Sideritis (ironwort, Greek mountain tea, τσάι του βουνού) is a Lamiaceae genus of 148 species from Europe to China; four species hold an EU traditional herbal monograph for cough, cold, and mild gastrointestinal complaints.

Silene

Silene (campion, catchfly) is a large Caryophyllaceae genus of about 870-891 species, centered in the Mediterranean and W Asia, with three subgenera, twice-evolved sex chromosomes, and model status in ecology.

Silica in Equisetum: deposition and biomineralization

Silica in Equisetum (horsetails): amorphous SiO2 biomineralization from silicic acid, up to 25% of dry matter, deposited via callose templating and NIP aquaporin transporters, distinguishing horsetails from grasses.

Silver fern

Silver fern (ponga; Alsophila dealbata, formerly Cyathea dealbata): a New Zealand-endemic tree fern up to 10 m with white frond undersides, common in drier lowland forest, Not Threatened, and a national symbol of New Zealand.

Silybum

Silybum (milk thistle genus), two Asteraceae thistle species including Silybum marianum, Mediterranean-native medicinal herb source of silymarin, naturalized worldwide and used for liver remedies for over 2000 years.

Silybum marianum

Silybum marianum (milk thistle, Mary thistle, holy thistle) is a Mediterranean Asteraceae herb, 1-2 m tall with purple flower heads, whose seed extract silymarin is a widely used but clinically unproven liver supplement.

Simaba cedron

Simaba cedron (cedron, cedrón; now Homalolepis cedron), a Simaroubaceae tree from Costa Rica to South America; bitter quassinoid seeds used traditionally against fevers and snakebite.

Simarouba

Simarouba (aceituno, bitterwood) is a genus of six dioecious Neotropical trees in Simaroubaceae, type species Simarouba amara, native from Mexico and Florida to South America, introduced to India, and rich in medicinal quassinoids.

Simaroubaceae

Simaroubaceae, the tree-of-heaven or quassia family, is a pantropical Sapindales family of about 20 genera and 110 species of bitter-barked trees and shrubs, sister to Rutaceae and Meliaceae in the SRM clade.

Simazine

Simazine (CAS 122-34-9), a chlorotriazine pre-emergence herbicide introduced in 1956 and first triazine registered in the US, inhibits photosynthesis in weeds; persistent, mobile, detected in groundwater, EU-banned since 2004.

Sinapis

Sinapis (mustard) is a genus of three accepted Brassicaceae species native from temperate Eurasia to North Africa; its species Sinapis alba, white or yellow mustard, is a major condiment and cover crop.

Sinapis alba

Sinapis alba (white mustard, yellow mustard, syn. Brassica hirta), an annual Brassicaceae herb with 2n=24 (SS genome), grown for condiment seed rich in sinalbin, green manure, forage, and oil.

Sinapis arvensis

Sinapis arvensis, charlock or wild mustard (synonym Brassica kaber, NCBI name Mutarda arvensis), is an annual Brassicaceae weed of Eurasian and North African origin, naturalized worldwide, with light-requiring coat-imposed seed dormancy and ALS-inhibitor-resistant Turkish biotypes.

Sino-Himalayan spruces of section Serrae

The Sino-Himalayan spruces of section Serrae are five East Asian Picea species, including dragon spruce and Taiwan spruce, distinguished by four-sided needles and centered on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.

Siraitia grosvenorii

Siraitia grosvenorii (monk fruit, luo han guo, 罗汉果), a Cucurbitaceae vine native to southern China, produces mogroside V, a cucurbitane triterpene glycoside about 300 times sweeter than sucrose, used as a zero-calorie sweetener and Chinese food-medicine.

Sisal

Sisal, from Agave sisalana, is a stiff pale leaf fibre native to Mexico's Yucatan, used for rope, twine, and carpets; Brazil, Tanzania, and Kenya lead production of about 234,000 tonnes a year.

Sison

Sison L. is a genus of three accepted Apiaceae species, including stone-parsley (Sison amomum), native from western and southern central Europe to the Mediterranean, with seeds used as flavoring.

Sisymbrium

Sisymbrium (hedge mustards, rockets) is a genus of Brassicaceae herbs published by Linnaeus in 1753, lectotype S. altissimum; about 41-90 species, Miocene origin in the Irano-Turanian region, yellow flowers and 3-nerved linear siliques.

Sisyrinchium

Sisyrinchium (blue-eyed grass), genus of annual and perennial herbs in Iridaceae, native from Hawaii and the Americas to the Falkland Islands, with about 212 accepted species, ten phylogenetic sections, and oil-producing flowers in some lineages.

Sitka spruce

Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis), also called tideland spruce, is the largest spruce, growing on the Pacific coast from Alaska to California and exceeding 100 m.

Sium

Sium (water parsnips), Apiaceae genus of glabrous perennial wetland herbs of the temperate Northern Hemisphere, about 9-10 species including skirret (S. sisarum) and S. suave.

Sium sisarum

Sium sisarum, skirret (crummock, Zuckerwurzel), a tuberous Apiaceae perennial native from Central and Southeast Europe to SW Siberia and N Afghanistan, grown on a small scale for its sweet clustered roots, 2n=12, IUCN Least Concern.

Smallanthus

Smallanthus is a genus of about 20-23 tuberous-rooted Asteraceae (Millerieae, Espeletiinae) from the USA to Argentina, named by Mackenzie in 1933; its best-known species is yacon, Smallanthus sonchifolius.

Smilacaceae

Smilacaceae (catbrier or greenbrier family) is a monocot family in Liliales of climbing, prickly, tendril-bearing vines, now usually one genus Smilax with about 200-370 species, dioecious with berry fruits, cosmopolitan and richest in Asia.

Smooth Cayenne

Smooth Cayenne, also known as Giant Kew, is a pineapple cultivar introduced from French Guiana in 1820 that supplied over 70% of world pineapple production at its peak.

Snap pea

Snap pea (sugar snap pea, Pisum sativum var. macrocarpon): edible-podded pea crossed from snow pea and garden pea in the 1970s; thick, sweet, rounded pods eaten whole without shelling.

Snow pea

Snow pea (Pisum sativum var. saccharatum), also called sugar pea or mange-tout, is an edible-podded pea with flat pods picked before seeds fill, eaten whole in Chinese stir-fries; a cool-season crop storing at 0 degrees C for up to 2 weeks.

Sod

Sod is farm-grown turfgrass harvested as squares or rolls with soil attached for instant lawns and erosion control; faster but costlier than seed, with an eight-hour post-harvest installation window.