edgepedia

Plants and algae

4,295 articles

Christia

Christia (island pea; 蝙蝠草属) is a Fabaceae genus of herbs established by Moench in 1802, native from tropical Asia to northern Australia, with about 11 species including the ornamental butterfly-leaf C. vespertilionis.

Chromolaena

Chromolaena (Siam weed, triffid weed) is a genus of 166 Asteraceae species native to tropical and subtropical America, split from Eupatorium in 1987; C. odorata is both a medicinal plant and a major invasive weed.

Chromolaena odorata

Chromolaena odorata (Siam weed, devil weed; formerly Eupatorium odoratum) is an Asteraceae shrub native to tropical America, invasive across Africa, Asia, and Australia, and a traditional medicinal plant for wounds and malaria.

Chrysanthemum

Chrysanthemum, or mums (菊花, Ju Hua), a genus of about 40 Asteraceae species native to temperate Eurasia; includes Chrysanthemum morifolium, the ancient Chinese medicinal, tea, and ornamental garden chrysanthemum with roughly 20,000 cultivars.

Chrysobalanaceae

Chrysobalanaceae (cocoa plum family), pantropical trees and shrubs in Malpighiales, about 500 species, mostly Neotropical; gynobasic style, drupaceous fruit, silica-rich wood; formerly placed in Rosaceae.

Chrysogonum virginianum

Chrysogonum virginianum (green-and-gold, goldenstar, golden knee) is a semi-evergreen Asteraceae perennial native to the eastern US, forming low yellow-flowered ground cover mats in USDA zones 5-9.

Chrysophyllum

Chrysophyllum (star apple genus), Sapotaceae family; evergreen tropical trees including C. cainito and C. albidum; golden-haired leaves, 5-merous flowers, edible berries, nyatoh timber; narrowed to 25-30 Neotropical species in 2023.

Chrysopogon

Chrysopogon Trin. (false beardgrass) is a genus of about 51 accepted Poaceae grasses in tribe Andropogoneae, native from the tropical Old World to the Pacific and southern USA; includes vetiver, Chrysopogon zizanioides, used for erosion control and perfumery.

Chrysopogon zizanioides

Chrysopogon zizanioides, commonly known as vetiver or khus, is a perennial aromatic grass native to northeast India whose deep fragrant roots supply vetiver oil for perfumery and are planted worldwide for soil conservation.

Chusquea

Chusquea Kunth (1822) is the most diverse genus of Neotropical woody bamboos (Poaceae, Bambusoideae, Chusqueinae), with about 200 species from Mexico to southern South America, solid culms, and long-interval mass flowering.

Cibotium

Cibotium, sole genus of the tree-fern family Cibotiaceae (established 1820), about 9-12 species in Asia, Hawaii, and Central America; hairy trunks, two-lobed indusia; C. barometz is the medicinal golden chicken fern on CITES Appendix II.

Cichorium

Cichorium (chicory, endive) is a genus of seven Asteraceae species native from Macaronesia and Africa to Central Asia; C. intybus and C. endivia are cultivated for salad leaves, roasted root coffee, and inulin.

Cichorium endivia

Cichorium endivia, sold as endive (curly-leaved) and escarole (broad-leaved), is a leafy salad plant in the daisy family Asteraceae grown for its dense rosette of bitter leaves.

Cicuta

Cicuta (water hemlock, cowbane) is a genus of four highly poisonous Apiaceae herbs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere, containing the GABA-blocking convulsant cicutoxin concentrated in tuberous roots.

Cider apple

Cider apple: apple cultivars of Malus domestica grown for fermented cider rather than fresh eating, classified by the Long Ashton system into sharp, sweet, bittersweet, and bittersharp classes by juice tannin and acidity.

CIMMYT

CIMMYT, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, is a Mexico-based nonprofit agricultural research organization, founded in 1966, that breeds improved maize and wheat varieties distributed worldwide.

Cinchona

Cinchona, Andean Rubiaceae tree genus (quina, fever tree), source of quinine bark used against malaria since the 1630s; 24 species, Java plantations, 1942 Cinchona Missions.

Cinna

Cinna (woodreeds) is a small genus of perennial Poaceae grasses in subtribe Cinninae, first published by Linnaeus in 1753, with single-flowered compressed spikelets, native to Europe, temperate Asia, and the Americas.

Cinnamomum

Cinnamomum (laurel family genus, source of cinnamon, cassia and camphor): about 350 species of scented evergreen trees native to tropical and subtropical Asia and the western Pacific, taxonomically polyphyletic, with many threatened species.

Cinnamomum camphora

Cinnamomum camphora (樟), the camphor tree or camphor laurel, is an East Asian Lauraceae evergreen up to 30 m, the main natural source of camphor; now often treated as Camphora officinarum and invasive in Florida and Australia.

Cinnamomum cassia

Cinnamomum cassia, also called Cinnamomum aromaticum or Chinese cassia, is the laurel-family tree behind cassia cinnamon, the most common cinnamon in North America; bark oil is 70-95% cinnamaldehyde and coumarin content is the main safety concern.

Cinnamomum verum (කුරුඳු)

Cinnamomum verum (කුරුඳු), Ceylon or true cinnamon, is a laurel-family tree native to Sri Lanka and the main source of cinnamon spice, distinguished from cassia by trace coumarin levels and Sri Lanka's dominant export share.

Circaea

Circaea, enchanter's nightshade, is a Linnaean 1753 genus of Onagraceae herbs of the temperate Northern Hemisphere with 2-petaled, 2-stamened flowers and hooked-bristle bur fruits; sister to Fuchsia.

Cirsium

Cirsium, the plume thistles, is a genus of about 500 spiny Asteraceae herbs native from temperate Eurasia to North America; includes invasive Canada thistle (C. arvense) and bull thistle (C. vulgare) and many rare native species.

Cirsium arvense

Cirsium arvense, creeping or Canada thistle, is a dioecious perennial Asteraceae weed native to temperate Eurasia, introduced worldwide, that spreads via deep creeping roots and is notoriously hard to control.

Cirsium vulgare

Cirsium vulgare, bull thistle or spear thistle, is a spiny biennial Asteraceae herb native to Europe, western Asia, and NW Africa, reproducing only by seed, with over 4,000 seeds per plant, invasive in North America and Japan, edible roots and stems.

Cissus quadrangularis

Cissus quadrangularis (veldt grape, Hadjod, Asthisamharaka) is a climbing succulent in Vitaceae native from Africa to Myanmar, used in Ayurveda for bone fractures; clinical evidence supports fracture-related benefit but remains low certainty.

Cistaceae

Cistaceae, the rockrose family, is a Malvales family of eight genera and about 180 species of aromatic shrubs and herbs, concentrated in the Mediterranean, including Cistus, Helianthemum, Fumana, Halimium, and Tuberaria.

Cistanche

Cistanche (desert hyacinth, desert ginseng; Rou Cong Rong) is a genus of holoparasitic Orobanchaceae desert plants from Macaronesia to China, used for millennia in herbal medicine, taxonomically confused, with C. deserticola CITES-listed and cultivated in Inner Mongolia.

Cistus ladanifer

Cistus ladanifer, known as common gum cistus, gum rockrose, or jara, is a shrub native to the western Mediterranean whose sticky exudate, labdanum, is used as a fixative in perfumes.