4,295 articles
Violaceae
Violaceae (violet family), Batsch 1802, a Malpighiales family of herbs, shrubs, and trees, mostly pantropical; largest genus Viola (violets, pansies) with about 700 accepted species; fruit a 3-valved capsule.
Virola
Virola Aubl., a genus of 74 accepted dioecious trees in Myristicaceae (nutmeg family), native from southern Mexico to southern tropical America and Trinidad, marked by red bark exudate, some species hallucinogenic.
Viscaceae
Viscaceae, the Christmas mistletoe family (Batsch 1802), is a Santalales group of parasitic shrubs including Viscum, Phoradendron, and Arceuthobium; now usually merged into Santalaceae.
Viscum
Viscum is a genus of about 70 to 120 Old World hemiparasitic shrubs in Santalaceae, the true mistletoes, including European mistletoe (Viscum album); species attach to host branches via haustoria and are dispersed by birds.
Viscum album
Viscum album, European mistletoe, an evergreen hemiparasitic shrub of Santalaceae attaching to tree branches via haustoria; wide host range (452 host taxa), bird-dispersed sticky seeds, five subspecies, toxic lectins and viscotoxins used in herbal medicine.
Vitaceae
Vitaceae, the grape family, is a family of about 16 genera and 950 species of tropical lianas with leaf-opposed tendrils, in the order Vitales; it includes Vitis vinifera, the wine grape.
Vitales
Vitales, the grape order, is an order of eudicot flowering plants in the rosids containing Vitaceae (and sometimes Leeaceae), with about 950 species, leaf-opposed tendrils, and the economically central grape Vitis vinifera.
Vitellaria paradoxa
Vitellaria paradoxa, the shea tree (karité), sole species of Vitellaria in Sapotaceae, is a Vulnerable African savanna tree from Senegal to Uganda whose kernels yield shea butter used in chocolate, cosmetics, and local cooking.
Vitex
Vitex (chaste tree genus) is a genus of about 250 species of trees and shrubs in Lamiaceae, pantropical and warm temperate, with palmate compound leaves and drupaceous fruits; type species Vitex agnus-castus, used for timber and herbal medicine.
Vitex agnus-castus
Vitex agnus-castus (chaste tree, chasteberry, monk's pepper) is a Lamiaceae shrub of the Mediterranean to Central Asia whose dried fruit (agni casti fructus) is an EU-approved herbal medicine for premenstrual syndrome, acting via dopaminergic prolactin reduction.
Vitex negundo
Vitex negundo (huang jing, nirgundi, lagundi) is an Asian Lamiaceae shrub used in Ayurveda and Chinese medicine; 120 compounds isolated, and Philippine lagundi leaf preparations are FDA-approved for cough and asthma.
Vitis riparia
Vitis riparia, the riverbank grape, is a cold-hardy wild grape of eastern and central North America, a principal parent of phylloxera-resistant grapevine rootstocks such as SO4, Kober 5BB, and Couderc 3309.
Vitis vinifera
Vitis vinifera, the Eurasian grapevine (subsp. vinifera/sativa and wild sylvestris), is the species behind over 90% of world grapes; domesticated in the South Caucasus around 6000 BC, with ~10,000 varieties.
Vittaria
Vittaria (shoestring ferns), a genus of eight accepted epiphytic fern species in Pteridaceae, native to tropical America and Africa; narrowed by molecular work after Old World species moved to Haplopteris.
Vittaria appalachiana
Vittaria appalachiana, the Appalachian shoestring fern (Appalachian gametophyte), is a Pteridaceae fern of the eastern United States existing only as a gametophyte, reproducing via gemmae, with no sporophyte ever observed; autopolyploid, n=120, Pleistocene origin.
Vittarioideae
Vittarioideae (vittarioid or shoestring ferns), formerly Vittariaceae, is a Pteridaceae subfamily of 100–130 species of simplified tropical epiphytic ferns, sister to Adiantum, with about 11–12 genera including Antrophyum, Haplopteris, Vittaria, and Antrophyopsis.
Vochysiaceae
Vochysiaceae A.St.-Hil., a family of Myrtales trees and shrubs, sister to Myrtaceae, with zygomorphic one-stamen flowers and spurred sepal; Neotropical with a few West African species, about 200 species in 7-9 genera.
Voltziales
Voltziales, an extinct order of transitional conifers (walchian and voltzian types) ranging from the Pennsylvanian to the Late Cretaceous, intermediate between Cordaitales and modern conifers.
Volvox
Volvox is a genus of multicellular freshwater green algae forming hollow spherical colonies with specialized reproductive cells, widely studied as a model for the evolution of multicellularity.
Vomitoxin
Vomitoxin, or deoxynivalenol (DON), is a type B trichothecene mycotoxin from Fusarium graminearum and F. culmorum that contaminates cereals, binds the 60S ribosome, and causes vomiting and feed refusal in swine.
Wakame (ワカメ)
Wakame (ワカメ, Undaria pinnatifida) is an edible cold-temperate kelp native to the northwest Pacific, farmed in Japan, Korea, and China, used in miso soup and salads, and listed among the world's 100 worst invasive species.
Walnut
Walnut (Juglans regia, Persian or English walnut): a long-lived wind-pollinated tree native from Xinjiang to the Caucasus, spread by humans since the Bronze Age; major nut crop (2.67 M MT in-shell 2023/24, China 51%) rich in polyunsaturated fats.
Walnut cultivars
Walnut cultivars are named, propagated selections of the Persian or English walnut tree, judged for kernel color, shell seal, and harvest date; 'Chandler' alone accounts for 74.2% of Californian production.
Waltheria indica
Waltheria indica (syn. W. americana), sleepy morning or 'uhaloa, a Malvaceae subshrub native to tropical America, pantropical weed used in traditional medicine for asthma, inflammation, and pain.
Wardian case
Wardian case, invented by Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward in 1829, a sealed wood-and-glass plant transporter and terrarium forerunner that enabled global plant transfer, including tea, rubber, and cinchona, from 1833 until the 1960s.
Wasabi (山葵)
Wasabi (山葵, Eutrema japonicum) is a Japanese Brassicaceae herb grown for its grated rhizome's isothiocyanate pungency; cultivation began in Keicho-era Shizuoka, whose terraced spring-water fields are a FAO heritage site.
Washburn university herbarium
Washburn University herbarium (WASH), Topeka, Kansas, founded 1878, holds about 12,500 Great Plains plant specimens, mostly collected 1861-1920, digitized via iDigBio and Great Plains Herbaria.
Water caltrop
Water caltrop (Trapa natans), also called water chestnut or singhara, is an annual floating-leaved aquatic plant with horned edible fruits, native to Eurasia and Africa, a protected crop in Asia and Europe but a noxious invasive weed in North America and Australia.
Water conduction in bryophytes
Water conduction in bryophytes is the movement of water through mosses, liverworts, and hornworts without roots or xylem, mostly via external capillary films, with internal hydroid strands in a few mosses like Polytrichum.
Water transport and hydraulics of Equisetum
Water transport and hydraulics of Equisetum describes how horsetails, lacking vessels and secondary growth, move water through primary xylem and internal canals, with root pressure driving guttation and embolism refilling.