4,295 articles
Macrothelypteris torresiana
Macrothelypteris torresiana, Mariana maiden fern or Torres' fern, a terrestrial Thelypteridaceae fern native from the Indian Ocean through tropical Asia to the Pacific, naturalised in the Americas and Africa, with 94% spore germination and inter-gametophytic reproduction.
Macrotyloma
Macrotyloma (Wight & Arn.) Verdc., a genus of 24 legume species in Fabaceae tribe Phaseoleae, subtribe Phaseolinae, native from Africa to Myanmar; includes horse gram (M. uniflorum) and Kersting's groundnut (M. geocarpum).
Macrotyloma uniflorum
Macrotyloma uniflorum (horse gram; kollu, kulthi) is a drought-tolerant Fabaceae pulse native to India and Africa, domesticated twice in ancient India, grown mainly in South India for food, forage, and medicine.
Macrozamia
Macrozamia is a genus of about 41 cycad species endemic to Australia, its largest cycad genus, known as zamia palm despite not being a true palm.
Madhuca
Madhuca (mahua, Indian butter tree) is a Sapotaceae tree genus of about 100-160 species from South and Southeast Asia; M. longifolia seeds yield mahua butter (50-61% lipid) and hard Madhuca timber.
Madhuca longifolia
Madhuca longifolia (mahua, Hindi महुआ), a Sapotaceae tree native to the Indian subcontinent and Myanmar; two varieties, oil-rich seeds (50-60%), flowers fermented into liquor, central to tribal livelihoods.
Madia
Madia, commonly called tarweeds, is a genus of sticky-hairy annual herbs in the sunflower family, established in 1782 and native to western North and South America.
Maesa
Maesa, a genus of roughly 180–200 Old World tropical trees, shrubs, and scramblers in Primulaceae, sister to all other genera; identified by semi-inferior ovaries, paired bracteoles, and black glandular lines.
Magnolia
Magnolia is a genus of more than 200 species of evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs in the Magnoliaceae family, prized for large, showy, often fragrant flowers.
Magnolia × soulangeana
Magnolia × soulangeana (saucer magnolia), hybrid of M. denudata × M. liliiflora raised at Fromont, France, c. 1820 by Soulange-Bodin; deciduous 15–33 ft tree with pink-purple cup-and-saucer spring flowers, zones 4–9, frost-vulnerable bloom, 50+ cultivars.
Magnolia champaca
Magnolia champaca (黄兰), formerly Michelia champaca, is a Southeast Asian magnolia tree up to 50 m with fragrant yellow-orange flowers yielding champaca absolute for perfumery, attar, timber, and Ayurvedic medicine; IUCN Least Concern.
Magnolia grandiflora
Magnolia grandiflora (southern magnolia, bull bay), evergreen Magnoliaceae tree native SE USA to Texas, 1759 Linnaeus name, 60-80 ft, fragrant white flowers to 25 cm, USDA zones 7A-10A, IUCN Least Concern, beetle-pollinated, widely planted ornamental.
Magnolia officinalis
Magnolia officinalis (厚朴, houpo), Houpu magnolia, is a Chinese magnolia tree whose bark yields the neolignans magnolol and honokiol; used in traditional medicine, endangered in the wild, preclinical anti-Alzheimer's activity.
Magnoliaceae
Magnoliaceae, the magnolia family, is a magnoliid flowering plant family with two genera, Magnolia and Liriodendron, over 300 species in Asia and the Americas, spirally arranged tepaloid flowers, beetle pollination, and many threatened species.
Magnoliales
Magnoliales is an order of magnoliid flowering plants with six APG IV families (Annonaceae, Magnoliaceae, Myristicaceae, Degeneriaceae, Eupomatiaceae, Himantandraceae), about 3,000 species, Cretaceous fossils, and crown age 164–115 Myr.
Mahogany
Mahogany: aromatic reddish hardwood of Swietenia (3 tropical American Meliaceae species) and African Khaya; prized for furniture since 1680, CITES-listed after depletion of S. mahagoni and S. macrophylla.
Mahonia
Mahonia (Oregon grape) is a genus of about 100 evergreen Berberidaceae shrubs with spiny compound leaves, yellow flowers, and blue-black berries, native to East Asia and western North America; long debated against Berberis, resolved into four genera by Yu and Chung in 2017.
Maize
Maize (Zea mays, corn), C4 cereal grass domesticated from teosinte in Mexico's Balsas valley ~9,000 years ago; world's largest grain crop (~1.25 billion tonnes), grown for feed, ethanol, and food; kernel types dent, flint, sweet, popcorn.
Maize diseases and pests
Maize diseases and pests are the pathogens and insects attacking maize, which lose about 22.5% of global yield, including rusts, tar spot, maize streak virus, and fall armyworm.
Makgeolli (막걸리)
Makgeolli (막걸리), also called takju, is Korea's milky, cloudy fermented rice wine made from rice, nuruk starter, and water, with 6-8% alcohol, live lactic acid bacteria, a Goryeo-era history, and the classic pajeon pairing.
Mallotus
Mallotus is a genus of about 122 species of dioecious shrubs and trees in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native from tropical Africa to the western Pacific.
Malpighia
Malpighia (acerola, Barbados cherry genus) is the type genus of Malpighiaceae, Neotropical shrubs and small trees with three-stoned red drupes; about 110 accepted species, best known for vitamin-C-rich Malpighia emarginata fruit.
Malpighia emarginata
Malpighia emarginata (acerola, Barbados cherry), a Malpighiaceae shrub native from Mexico to northern Colombia, grown for fruit with 1,000–3,500 mg vitamin C per 100 g pulp; Brazil is the largest producer.
Malpighiaceae
Malpighiaceae (Barbados cherry family), a Malpighiales family of trees, shrubs, and lianas; 72 genera, 1,499 species, mostly Neotropical; oil-secreting sepals pollinated by oil-collecting bees; 2024 monophyletic classification.
Malpighiales
Malpighiales is a large order of flowering plants (about 16,000 species, 36-42 families) in the rosid fabids, including Euphorbiaceae, Salicaceae, Malpighiaceae, and Rafflesiaceae; its deep phylogeny, long unresolved, was clarified by plastid phylogenomics.
Malting
Malting: controlled germination of cereal grains, chiefly barley (Hordeum vulgare), through steeping, germination, and kilning to produce malt for brewing, distilling, and food; quality measured by extract, diastatic power, and beta-glucan.
Malus
Malus (apple genus, crabapples) is a Rosaceae genus of 39 accepted species native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere; the domesticated apple M. domestica derives from M. sieversii of the Tian Shan via the Silk Road.
Malus pumila
Malus pumila Mill. (1768) is a botanical name for the cultivated apple, now a rejected synonym of Malus domestica; covers its nomenclature, Miller's Paradise Apple sense, and apple domestication from Malus sieversii.
Malus sylvestris
Malus sylvestris, the European wild apple or crab apple, is a small deciduous Rosaceae tree native to Europe and Türkiye, IUCN Data Deficient, and a major secondary genomic contributor to the cultivated apple Malus domestica.
Malva
Malva (mallows) is a genus of Malvaceae herbs first published in 1753, with about 54-60 species native from the Old World to Australia and SW USA to NW Mexico; includes M. sylvestris and M. neglecta, used as food, ornamentals, and traditional medicine.