4,295 articles
Cnidoscolus
Cnidoscolus (spurge nettle, chaya) is an American Euphorbiaceae genus of about 93–99 stinging-haired species centered in Mexico and Brazil, used in folk medicine and as the leafy vegetable chaya, which must be boiled to remove cyanogenic glycosides.
Coca
Coca (Erythroxylum coca, E. novogranatense; Spanish coca, 古柯) is a South American shrub whose cocaine-bearing leaves have been chewed for 8,000 years; four cultivated varieties contain 0.11-1.02% cocaine.
Coccinia
Coccinia (ivy gourd genus, Cucurbitaceae, Benincaseae) is a genus of dioecious African climbing gourds with scarlet berries; 25 species per Holstein's 2015 monograph, with Coccinia grandis naturalized across the tropics and used medicinally against diabetes.
Coccinia grandis
Coccinia grandis, ivy gourd or scarlet-fruited gourd (Cucurbitaceae), is a dioecious perennial tuberous climber to 20 m native from tropical Africa to Asia, eaten as a vegetable, studied as an antidiabetic herb, and a noxious invasive weed in Hawaii.
Coccolithophore
Coccolithophore: unicellular haptophyte marine algae (about 200 species) covered in calcite coccolith plates; major calcifying phytoplankton driving the ocean carbonate pump, forming turquoise satellite-visible blooms, sensitive to ocean acidification.
Coccoloba
Coccoloba (sea grape genus) P.Browne, Polygonaceae; ~150-400 neotropical tree, shrub, and liana species; type species Coccoloba uvifera, the seagrape, a salt-tolerant Caribbean beach tree with grape-like edible fruit clusters.
Coccothrinax
Coccothrinax is a Caribbean-centered palm genus (Arecaceae), described 1899, with fan-shaped silvery-backed leaves; species counts range 14–56, a 2023 revision recognizes 39, and many Cuban endemics are threatened.
Coccothrinax argentata
Coccothrinax argentata, Florida silver palm or silver palm, a small solitary Arecaceae palm of south Florida, the Bahamas, Mexico, and Colombia, with silver leaf undersides, IUCN Least Concern status, and thatch and ornamental uses.
Cocculus
Cocculus DC., a genus of dioecious climbing plants in Menispermaceae (moonseed family), native from Eritrea to southern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula to western Indo-China; alkaloid-rich medicinal plants, with C. hirsutus the type species and a taxonomically disputed circumscription.
Cochlearia
Cochlearia (scurvy-grass) is a Brassicaceae genus of cold-adapted coastal and alpine plants of temperate Eurasia and subarctic America, named for spoon-shaped leaves, with polyploid evolution, Pleistocene Arctic diversification, and vitamin C-rich C. officinalis once eaten by sailors against scurvy.
Cocoa butter
Cocoa butter, the fat of Theobroma cacao beans, is the continuous phase of chocolate, ~30% of the product, with POS/SOS/POP TAGs, six polymorphs, Form V tempering, and CBE/CBR/CBS alternatives.
Cocobolo
Cocobolo, the heartwood of Dalbergia retusa, a Central American rosewood tree from Mexico to Colombia; dense, oily, figured timber for instruments and luxury furniture; CITES Appendix II and IUCN Critically Endangered.
Coconut
Coconut (Cocos nucifera), the coconut palm's fruit, a tropical drupe with fibrous husk, three-eyed shell, and liquid-filled seed cavity; independently domesticated in Indian and Pacific Ocean basins, grown for copra oil, coir, and food.
Coconut sugar
Coconut sugar, or coconut palm sugar, is a brown granulated sweetener made by evaporating coconut palm flower sap. Substitutes 1:1 for cane sugar; GI of 35 is unreplicated; major production in Banyumas, Indonesia.
Coconut water
Coconut water is the liquid endosperm of the coconut (Cocos nucifera), high in potassium (~50–55 mmol/L) and low in sodium. Trials show rehydration roughly equal to water or sports drinks; sodium-enriched versions restore plasma volume better.
Codiaeum variegatum
Codiaeum variegatum, the garden croton (garden croton, fire croton, Joseph's Coat), is an Euphorbiaceae shrub native from Malesia to the SW Pacific, grown for variegated foliage in over 300 cultivars; mildly toxic sap, IUCN least concern.
Codonopsis
Codonopsis (党参, Dangshen) is a Campanulaceae genus of about 49 Asian perennial herbs whose dried roots are a qi-tonifying traditional Chinese medicine and food, rich in polyacetylenes, alkaloids, and polysaccharides.
Coelogyne cristata
Coelogyne cristata (crested coelogyne) is a Himalayan orchid species described by Lindley in 1824, native from West Himalaya to Bangladesh, growing at 1,500-2,600 m, with large fragrant white winter flowers and 2n=40.
Coffea
Coffea is a genus of flowering plants in the madder family (Rubiaceae) whose roasted seeds yield coffee, with about 133 species native to Africa and tropical Asia.
Coir
Coir (Malayalam kayar) is fiber from coconut husks, a by-product of copra production, used for ropes, mats, geotextiles, composites, and coco peat growing medium; produced mainly in India and Sri Lanka.
Colchicum autumnale
Colchicum autumnale (autumn crocus, meadow saffron) is a toxic European Colchicaceae geophyte flowering leafless in autumn; source of colchicine, used for gout and familial Mediterranean fever, and often mistaken for wild garlic or saffron.
Coleus
Coleus is a genus of about 320 species of aromatic herbs and shrubs in the mint family, native to the Old World tropics and Australia.
Coleus amboinicus
Coleus amboinicus (syn. Plectranthus amboinicus), Indian borage, is an aromatic Lamiaceae perennial herb native to Africa, Arabia, and India, used as a culinary and medicinal plant with phenolic, terpenoid, and flavonoid phytochemistry.
Collard (plant)
Collard (Brassica oleracea var. acephala), a non-heading leafy cabbage grown for large edible leaves; cold-hardiest cabbage-family crop, Southern US soul food staple, 30.66 kcal and 3.39 g fiber per 100 g raw.
Colocasia
Colocasia (taro genus) is an Asian aroid genus in Araceae, tribe Colocasieae; its species C. esculenta is the ancient staple crop taro, grown over 10,000 years, invasive in Florida, and distinguished from Alocasia by peltate leaves and parietal placentation.
Colophospermum mopane
Colophospermum mopane (mopane, turpentine tree, butterfly tree) is a Fabaceae tree dominating over 500,000 km² of south-central African savanna, host of edible mopane worms, drought- and fire-tolerant, IUCN least concern.
Colubrina
Colubrina, known in English as nakedwood, is a genus of about 45 species of shrubs and trees in the buckthorn family, native to the tropics and subtropics worldwide.
Column (botany)
Column (gynostemium): the fused male-and-female reproductive structure at the center of orchid flowers, with anther at the tip, stigma beneath, and pollinia; found otherwise only in Pauridia and Corsia.
Colutea
Colutea (bladder senna) is a genus of about 28 deciduous legume shrubs from the Mediterranean to China and NE Africa, with inflated bladder-like pods, yellow or reddish pea flowers, and ornamental, forage, and erosion-control uses.
Combretaceae
Combretaceae R.Br., the combretum or terminalia family, is a pantropical Myrtales plant family of 10 genera and about 568 species, sister to the rest of the order, with Combretum and Terminalia its largest genera and mangrove members Lumnitzera, Conocarpus, and Laguncularia.