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Withania somnifera (अश्वगन्धा)
Withania somnifera (ashwagandha, Indian ginseng, winter cherry) is a Solanaceae shrub used in Ayurveda; withanolide-containing root extracts show trial evidence for stress, insomnia, and anxiety, with rare liver injury reported.
Wollemia
Wollemia, commonly the Wollemi pine, is a genus of conifer in the Araucariaceae family, unknown to science until 1994 and now critically endangered in the wild in New South Wales, Australia.
Wood
Wood (secondary xylem) is the structural tissue trees form via the vascular cambium; used as fuel, timber, and paper feedstock. Key facts: Kalambo Falls 476,000-year-old structure, 3,905 million m³ roundwood in 2024, orthotropic mechanics.
Wood ferns of East Asia and Malesia
Wood ferns of East Asia and Malesia covers the Dryopteridaceae, the largest fern family with over 2,100 species, whose diversity peaks in temperate East Asia and tropical Southeast Asian mountains.
Wood ferns of Europe
Wood ferns of Europe, the genus Dryopteris, includes 27 species native to the continent. They are known for their complex evolution and thrive in shady boreal-temperate forests.
Wood ferns of North America
Wood ferns of North America, genus Dryopteris, are ferns in the Dryopteridaceae family. They include 13 to 14 sexual species and 29 named sterile hybrids.
Woodsia
Woodsia (cliff ferns) is a genus of small to medium sized ferns in the family Aspleniaceae, comprising 52 accepted species, first published by Robert Brown in 1810.
World Bamboo Organization
World Bamboo Organization (WBO), U.S. 501(c)(6) trade association formed 2005, successor to the International Bamboo Association (1992); runs World Bamboo Congresses, World Bamboo Day (Sept 18), led by Michel Abadie.
Xanthium
Xanthium (cocklebur) is a genus of annual Asteraceae herbs with spiny two-seeded burs dispersed by animal fur and water; taxonomically contested, toxic to livestock via carboxyatractyloside, and used in Chinese medicine as Cang-Er-Zi.
Xanthium strumarium
Xanthium strumarium (cocklebur, Cang-Er-Zi), Asteraceae annual herb; fruits are a Chinese Pharmacopoeia medicine for rhinitis, while seeds and seedlings contain toxic carboxyatractyloside.
Xanthosoma
Xanthosoma (cocoyam, tannia, malanga, new cocoyam) is a genus of Araceae herbs native from Mexico to tropical America, first published 1832; X. sagittifolium is a starchy root crop distinguished from taro by non-peltate leaves.
Xanthosoma sagittifolium
Xanthosoma sagittifolium, known as cocoyam, tannia, yautia, or malanga, is a tuberous herb of the arum family native to tropical America and widely grown across the tropics for its edible, starchy tuber.
Xeranthemum annuum
Xeranthemum annuum (annual everlasting, immortelle) is an Asteraceae annual native from Central and SE Europe to Central Asia and Iran, with papery pink or white flower heads used in dried arrangements and studied for antioxidant polyphenols.
Xerophyte
Xerophyte: a plant adapted to survive in very dry habitats such as deserts. Also called dry plants; includes succulents, ephemerals, and resurrection plants with CAM or C4 photosynthesis, thick cuticles, sunken stomata, and deep roots.
Xipe Totec
Xipe Totec, "Our Lord the Flayed One," ancient Mesoamerican god of spring, war, and goldsmiths, honored in the Tlacaxipehualiztli festival through captive sacrifice, flaying, and 20-day ritual wearing of victims' skins.
Xylem
Xylem is the vascular tissue conducting water and minerals from roots to leaves and forming wood. Key facts: tracheids and vessels, cohesion-tension sap ascent, cavitation and embolism, angiosperm-gymnosperm hydraulic trade-offs.
Xylopia
Xylopia (Guinea pepper genus) is a pantropical genus of about 160–197 Annonaceae trees and shrubs, second largest in its family, of African origin, with dehiscent multi-carpellate fruits, beetle or thrips pollination, bird and monkey seed dispersal, and the spice species Xylopia aethiopica.
Xyridaceae
Xyridaceae, the yellow-eyed-grass family, is a family of flowering plants in the monocot order Poales, with five genera and about 400 species, mostly in South America.
Yacón
Yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius, yacón) is an Andean Asteraceae root crop storing sweet fructooligosaccharides instead of starch; low-GI syrup source, prebiotic FOS, grown from Colombia to Argentina and beyond.
Yam (vegetable)
Yam (Dioscorea spp., Dioscoreaceae) is a tropical monocot vine grown for starchy tubers, domesticated independently in Asia, Africa, and the Americas; West Africa's yam belt produces 97% of African output, led by Nigeria, and US "yam" labels usually mean sweet potato.
Yangzhou fried rice
Yangzhou fried rice (扬州炒饭, Yeung Chow fried rice) is a Huaiyang egg fried rice from Yangzhou, Jiangsu, with ham, shrimp, and peas, no soy sauce, codified by a 2002 eight-ingredient standard and Jiangsu intangible heritage listing.
Yermo xanthocephalus
Yermo xanthocephalus (desert yellowhead) is a monotypic, federally threatened perennial aster endemic to two BLM populations in Fremont County, Wyoming; discovered in 1990, described by Robert Dorn in 1991, with extremely low seed viability.
Yew toxicity
Yew toxicity is poisoning by taxine alkaloids found in all parts of yew trees except the red aril, often causing sudden death in livestock within hours.
Yucca
Yucca is a genus of more than 25 woody Asparagaceae plants native to North and Central America and Bermuda, known for spine-tipped leaves and obligate pollination by yucca moths (Tegeticula, Parategeticula), a mutualism at least 40 million years old.
Yucca brevifolia
Yucca brevifolia, the western Joshua tree, is a tree-like Mojave Desert yucca pollinated only by Tegeticula moths; sister species Y. jaegeriana, fire-vulnerable, habitat projected to decline up to 90% by 2070–2099.
Yucca elata
Yucca elata, soaptree yucca (palmilla, izote forrajero), a treelike Asparagaceae yucca of the Chihuahuan Desert from Arizona to west Texas and northern Mexico, pollinated obligately by yucca moths and rated Least Concern.
Yukon Gold potato
Yukon Gold is a yellow-fleshed Canadian potato cultivar bred at the University of Guelph by Gary Johnston from Norgleam x W5279-4, selected 1966, registered 1980; known for pink eyes, buttery yellow flesh, and decline since the 2000s.
Yuzu (柚子)
Yuzu (柚子, Citrus × junos) is an aromatic acid citrus hybrid from the upper Yangtze, grown mainly in Japan and Korea and used for its fragrant peel and sour juice in ponzu, garnishes, and yuzu baths.
Zamia
Zamia, a New World cycad genus of Zamiaceae (about 80+ species), ranges from Florida to Bolivia; sister to Microcycas, with Caribbean/Mesoamerican origin, weevil push-pull pollination, and high morphological convergence.
Zamia chigua
Zamia chigua (chigua, chigua macho) is a Near Threatened cycad of Zamiaceae from western Colombia's Chocó and Valle del Cauca and Panama, described by Seemann in 1854, with prickly fernlike leaves and a trunk to 2 m.