Plants and algae

Milicia

Milicia (Moraceae) is a genus of two dioecious tropical African timber trees, M. excelsa and M. regia, both traded as iroko; durable hardwood, near threatened/vulnerable, constrained by Phytolyma lata psyllid.

Milicia excelsa

Milicia excelsa (iroko, African teak, mvule) is a large dioecious Moraceae tree of tropical Africa, 30–50 m tall, yielding a valuable teak-substitute timber; IUCN Lower Risk/near threatened, heavily logged, plantations hindered by Phytolyma galls.

Milium

Milium (milletgrass) is a small genus of Poaceae grasses, published by Linnaeus in 1753, native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere with six accepted species including the woodland grass Milium effusum.

Milium effusum

Milium effusum (wood millet, American milletgrass, 粟草) is a perennial Poaceae grass native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere, a shade-tolerant deciduous woodland herb up to 1.8 m with open effuse panicles, 2n=14/28, and the cultivar 'Aureum'.

Millet

Millets are a group of small-seeded cereal grasses, among the first plants domesticated, and a staple for millions in the drylands of sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, with India the largest producer.

Millettia

Millettia (崖豆藤属) is a genus of Fabaceae legume trees, shrubs, and lianas of the tropical and subtropical Old World, with about 128 accepted species. Molecular studies show it is polyphyletic; Asian and African species are being split into Millettia s.str., Pongamia, Otosema, and other genera. Sources of wenge timber, rotenoid fish poisons, and traditional medicines.

Miltonia spectabilis

Miltonia spectabilis Lindl. is an orchid species native to southeast Brazil, described by John Lindley in 1837. A pseudobulbous epiphyte with single flowers to 10 cm; its former variety moreliana is now the separate species Miltonia moreliana.

Milwaukee public museum herbarium

Milwaukee Public Museum Herbarium (MIL), the plant, fungi, and lichen collection of the Milwaukee Public Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; about 200,000 specimens, over half from Wisconsin, begun with an 1883 donation of 5,190 specimens, with the Huron H. Smith ethnobotanical collection among its notable holdings.

Mimosa

Mimosa is a pantropical legume genus of over 400 prickly, touch-sensitive plants, type species Mimosa pudica, the sensitive plant whose leaflets fold within seconds via pulvinar turgor loss and action potentials.

Mimosa pudica

Mimosa pudica, the sensitive plant or touch-me-not, is a Fabaceae herb native to Mexico and tropical America whose leaves fold when touched; it is a tropical invasive weed and medicinal plant.

Mimosa tenuiflora

Mimosa tenuiflora (Willd.) Poir., synonym Mimosa hostilis, jurema-preta or tepezcohuite, is a Fabaceae shrub or tree from Mexico to Brazil whose tannin-rich bark is used for wounds and burns; clinical trial results in venous ulcers conflict.

Mimulus

Mimulus (monkeyflowers), a Phrymaceae genus of roughly 160-200 species with radiations in western North America and Australia; a classic model system for adaptation, speciation, and pollinator-shift studies, later split into Erythranthe and Diplacus.

Mimusops

Mimusops, a Sapotaceae tree genus of 49 Old World tropical species including M. elengi and M. zeyheri; native Africa to Australia, introduced to Florida and Hawaii; distinct from Diospyros mimusops.

Mirabelle plum

Mirabelle plum, a small sweet yellow plum of Prunus domestica, also called mirabelle de Lorraine; IGP fresh fruit since 1996, AOC eau-de-vie, centered on Lorraine, France.

Mirabilis jalapa

Mirabilis jalapa, the four o'clock flower or marvel of Peru, is a Nyctaginaceae perennial native from Mexico to Nicaragua whose fragrant betalain-pigmented flowers open about 4 p.m.; roots and seeds are toxic.

Miscanthus

Miscanthus, also known as silvergrass, is a genus of about 12 perennial C4 grasses native to Eastern Asia, valued as ornamental garden plants and biomass crops for renewable energy.

Miscanthus × giganteus

Miscanthus × giganteus (giant miscanthus) is a sterile triploid C4 hybrid grass of M. sinensis and M. sacchariflorus, introduced to Denmark in 1935, grown as a high-yielding low-input bioenergy crop with cold-tolerant photosynthesis.

Mistletoe

Mistletoe: hemiparasitic flowering plants of Santalales (c. 18 families, 2,200+ species), including Viscum album, attached to tree branches by a haustorium, bird-dispersed, a keystone resource for woodland biodiversity, and a toxic Christmas plant.

Mitragyna

Mitragyna Korth. (1839) is a Rubiaceae genus of African and Asian trees; its species M. speciosa is kratom, source of the opioid-receptor alkaloids mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine.

Mitragyna speciosa

Mitragyna speciosa (kratom, ketum) is a Southeast Asian Rubiaceae tree whose leaves contain mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine, opioid-active alkaloids; traditionally chewed or brewed, now regulated, with concentrated 7-OH products targeted for US Schedule I.

Mniaceae

Mniaceae (Schwägr., 1830) is a moss family in Bryales, type genus Mnium, with about 12 genera and 92 species, broad bordered leaves, hexagonal laminal cells, and a double peristome; nearly worldwide, circumtemperate to circumboreal.

Modiola caroliniana

Modiola caroliniana, Carolina bristlemallow or red-flowered mallow, a prostrate node-rooting Malvaceae herb native to South America, introduced worldwide as a weed, with red-orange flowers and a wheel-shaped bristly schizocarp fruit.

Molinia

Molinia (Schrank, 1789) is a genus of two accepted perennial grasses in Poaceae, native from Europe to Ethiopia; Molinia caerulea, purple moor-grass, dominates wet heaths and uplands and expands when mowing or grazing ceases.

Molinia caerulea

Molinia caerulea, purple moor-grass (Moor grass), a tufted Poaceae perennial native from Europe to W. Siberia and Ethiopia; a strong competitor dominating moors, fens, and degraded peatlands, managed by cutting, grazing, and mowing.

Mollugo

Mollugo (carpetweed genus) is a genus of annual herbs in Molluginaceae, Caryophyllales, published by Linnaeus in 1753; 13 accepted species native to the New World, Angola, Cape Provinces, India, and Sri Lanka, including the weedy green carpetweed Mollugo verticillata.

Momordica

Momordica, a genus of about 50 climbing Cucurbitaceae herbs native to the Old World tropics, includes bitter melon (M. charantia), gac, and spine gourd, valued as vegetables and for cucurbitane triterpenoid phytochemicals.

Momordica charantia

Momordica charantia (bitter melon, bitter gourd, balsam pear) is a Cucurbitaceae vine of African origin domesticated in Asia, grown for its bitter edible fruit, used in folk medicine for diabetes, though meta-analyses find no significant clinical metabolic benefit.