4,295 articles
Bulbophyllum beccarii
Bulbophyllum beccarii Rchb.f. (1879) is a large climbing epiphytic orchid from Borneo, with a bristly creeping rhizome, cup-shaped detritus-trapping leaves up to 50 cm, and pink flowers smelling of rotting flesh.
Bulbophyllum fletcherianum
Bulbophyllum fletcherianum J.G.Fowler, the tongue orchid, a giant New Guinea orchid described in 1914, with leaves to 1.8 m and fetid deep red flowers; synonyms include Cirrhopetalum fletcherianum and B. spiesii.
Bulgur
Bulgur (bulgar, bulghur, burgul) is parboiled, dried, partially debranned wheat, usually durum, sold cracked or whole; a Middle Eastern staple, tabbouleh base, and Turkey-dominated trade (HS 190430) with GI about 55-65.
Bulnesia
Bulnesia (lignumvitae, guayacán, palo santo) is a South American Zygophyllaceae genus described by Gay in 1846, native Peru to southern South America, with hard aromatic wood; B. sarmientoi is CITES Appendix II listed.
Bún bò Huế
Bún bò Huế (bún bò Huế, Hue beef noodle soup) is a spicy Vietnamese noodle soup from Huế, built on lemongrass, fermented shrimp paste, and chili oil, with thick round noodles, beef shank, and pork hock, distinct from pho.
Burl
Burl: a large woody, rounded swelling on a tree trunk or branch with contorted, swirling grain, caused by stress such as insects, bacteria, fungi, or injury; benign, prized as burl wood, and distinct from galls and lignotubers.
Bursera
Bursera is an American genus of resinous, deciduous trees and shrubs in Burseraceae, centered in Mexico, with about 80-120 species yielding copal incense resin; B. simaruba is widespread, B. hollickii critically endangered.
Bursera graveolens
Bursera graveolens, palo santo or incense tree, is a dry-forest tree from Mexico to Peru, burned as incense and distilled for limonene-rich essential oil; IUCN Least Concern but Critically Endangered under Peruvian law.
Bursera simaruba
Bursera simaruba (gumbo limbo, West Indian birch, palo mulato) is a Burseraceae tree native from Mexico to Brazil and the Caribbean, with peeling coppery bark, IUCN Least Concern status, and medicinal, fencepost, and fuel uses.
Burseraceae
Burseraceae Kunth, a conserved name published in 1824, is a pantropical family of resin-producing trees and shrubs in Sapindales, best known as the source of frankincense, myrrh, and copal.
Butea
Butea (palash, flame-of-the-forest) is a Fabaceae genus of five accepted species native from the Indian subcontinent to Indo-China, known for orange-scarlet bird-pollinated flowers, lac insect host use, and Ayurvedic medicine.
Butea monosperma
Butea monosperma (Palash, पलाश, Flame of the Forest, Dhak) is a Fabaceae tree of the Indian subcontinent and Indochina with scarlet flowers, sacred in Hinduism, used in Ayurveda, IUCN Least Concern.
Butia
Butia (Becc.) Becc. is a South American palm genus (Arecaceae, Arecoideae, Cocoeae) of about 25 accepted species from Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina, forming Pampa palm groves, with several threatened species and underutilized edible fruit.
Butomus
Butomus, flowering rush (Butomus umbellatus), a genus of two aquatic plant species native to temperate Eurasia and NW Africa; B. umbellatus is a high-risk invasive ornamental in North America with diploid and triploid cytotypes.
Butternut squash
Butternut squash, a cultivar group of Cucurbita moschata, is a winter squash with sweet orange flesh; the shortnecked type arose in the 1930s from a crookneck cultivar, Waltham is the standard cultivar, and it stores best at 15°C.
Buxaceae
Buxaceae (boxwood family), order Buxales; evergreen trees and shrubs including Buxus, Sarcococca, Pachysandra; petals absent, capsule or drupe fruits; APG IV merged Haptanthaceae into it.
Buxbaumia
Buxbaumia (buxbaumia moss, shield-moss) is a genus of about 12 protonema-dominant mosses in Buxbaumiaceae, recognized by large oblique capsules; B. viridis is Habitats Directive Annex II listed.
Buxbaumia viridis
Buxbaumia viridis, green shield-moss (Moug. ex DC.) Brid., an Annex II EU Habitats Directive moss of decaying deadwood, with 4–6 million spores per capsule, short-lived green spores, and Least Concern European but nationally threatened status.
Buxus
Buxus (box, boxwood), a genus of evergreen Buxaceae shrubs native to Europe, Asia, Africa, Mexico, and the Caribbean, prized for hedging and topiary and threatened by boxwood blight and the box tree moth.
Buxus sempervirens
Buxus sempervirens, common box or boxwood, an evergreen European-to-Iranian shrub used since Roman times for hedges and topiary; threatened by boxwood blight, box tree moth, and psyllid.
Byrsonima
Byrsonima (murici, nance) is a Neotropical genus of about 160 species of trees and shrubs in Malpighiaceae, native from Florida and Mexico to Paraguay, with fleshy bird-dispersed drupes, medicinal and edible species such as B. crassifolia, and savanna diversification since the mid-Miocene.
C4 carbon fixation
C4 carbon fixation is a photosynthetic pathway, first modeled by Hatch and Slack in 1966, that concentrates CO2 around Rubisco via four-carbon acids in Kranz anatomy; it evolved independently at least 60 times and boosts efficiency in warm climates.
Cabbage
Cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata, kanran 甘藍) is a head-forming brassica crop domesticated from wild European coastal cabbage, with green, red, savoy, and Napa types, grown in cool 15-18 °C conditions.
Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon, historically also called Vidure, is a red wine grape and the world's most widely planted variety, central to Bordeaux and grown from Napa Valley to China.
Cactaceae
Cactaceae (cactus family), Caryophyllales family defined by areoles; nearly all New World succulents with centers in Mexico, the Andes, and eastern Brazil; 31% of evaluated species are threatened, and a 2025 phylogenomic classification recognizes six subfamilies and 155 genera.
Cactus
Cactus (family Cactaceae): about 2,000 species of American succulent plants defined by areoles, spines as modified leaves, and CAM photosynthesis; convergent with African Euphorbia; whole family CITES-listed since 1975.
Caesalpinia
Caesalpinia Plum. ex L. is a genus of about ten neotropical legume trees and shrubs, once a pantropical genus of c. 150 species, split by 2016 phylogenetics into 26 genera including Paubrasilia.
Caesalpinia pulcherrima
Caesalpinia pulcherrima (L.) Sw., pride of Barbados or peacock flower (formerly Poinciana pulcherrima), is a prickly leguminous shrub native to SE Mexico to Central America, widely grown in tropics for red-orange flowers; medicinal, toxic seeds, national flower of Barbados.
Caesar salad
Caesar salad, also called Aviator salad, is a green salad of romaine, croutons, and Parmesan, created in Tijuana, Mexico, in 1924 by restaurateur Caesar Cardini.
Cajanus
Cajanus, a Fabaceae genus of 34 species native to the tropical Old World to north Australia; its sole cultivated species, Cajanus cajan (pigeonpea, arhar), was domesticated in India from C. cajanifolius.