edgepedia

Plants and algae

4,295 articles

Neera

Neera (padhaneer, Kalparasa) is the fresh, unfermented sap tapped from coconut, palmyra, or date palm inflorescences, drunk as a sweet non-alcoholic beverage; it ferments within hours into toddy (5–8% alcohol) unless preserved with anti-fermentation agents, pasteurization, or freezing.

Nelumbo

Nelumbo is the sole genus of Nelumbonaceae (Proteales), the true lotuses, with two species, Asian N. nucifera and American N. lutea; distinct from Nymphaea water lilies in leaves, fruit, and alkaloids, with seeds viable for over a millennium.

Nelumbo nucifera

Nelumbo nucifera, the sacred lotus (荷花, ハス, padma), is an aquatic perennial of Nelumbonaceae cultivated over 3,000 years in China for edible rhizomes, seeds, medicine, and religious symbolism; national flower of India and Vietnam.

Nemesia

Nemesia (Cape snapdragon) is a southern African genus of about 62–77 annual and perennial herbs in Scrophulariaceae, tribe Hemimerideae, with spurred two-lipped flowers; type species Nemesia strumosa, widely grown as bedding ornamentals.

Neolamarckia cadamba

Neolamarckia cadamba (kadamba, kadam, jabon, kelempayan, burflower tree) is a fast-growing evergreen Rubiaceae timber tree native from south China to tropical Asia, used for pulp, plywood, pencils, and matches.

Neomacounia

Neomacounia is an extinct monospecific moss genus in Neckeraceae from Ontario, Canada, described by Ireland in 1974 and named for John Macoun; its sole species, Neomacounia nitida, is known only from 1862 and 1864 specimens.

Neoregelia

Neoregelia (blushing bromeliads) is a genus of about 100-116 tank bromeliads in Bromelioideae, native to South America, named for von Regel, grown for colorful foliage and flower once, then produce pups.

Neottia

Neottia, including the twayblades formerly placed in Listera, is a genus of 87 terrestrial orchid species native to the temperate and subarctic Northern Hemisphere, best known for the leafless bird's-nest orchid.

Neottieae

Neottieae (type genus Neottia) is a basal tribe of Epidendroideae orchids with about 150–200 species in six to seven genera across northern temperate forests, notable for repeated independent evolution of mycoheterotrophy and stepwise plastome degradation.

Nepenthes

Nepenthes, tropical pitcher plants of the paleotropics (c. 150-160 species), trap prey in fluid-filled pitcher leaves with acidic, sometimes viscoelastic digestive fluid; some species use bat or treeshrew coprophagy or detritivory instead of insects.

Nepenthes × hookeriana

Nepenthes × hookeriana, or Hooker's Pitcher-Plant, is a natural hybrid pitcher plant between N. ampullaria and N. rafflesiana, widespread in Borneo, Sumatra, and Peninsular Malaysia.

Nepenthes × ventrata

Nepenthes × ventrata (Nepenthes ventricosa × alata) is a natural Philippine hybrid pitcher plant, a nomen nudum name by Fleming 1979, widely tissue-cultured as a beginner carnivorous plant and a transcriptomics model.

Nephelium

Nephelium is a Sapindaceae genus of 22 tropical Asian tree species from Indo-China to western Malesia, including rambutan (N. lappaceum) and pulasan (N. ramboutan-ake), fruit trees with arillate seeds.

Nephrolepis

Nephrolepis (sword ferns, Boston ferns) is a pantropical fern genus of Nephrolepidaceae, about 19 to 30 species, with kidney-shaped indusia, stolons, and the 1894 'Bostoniensis' Boston fern cultivar.

Nephrolepis exaltata

Nephrolepis exaltata, sword fern or Boston fern (N. exaltata 'Bostoniensis'), a tropical American fern grown as a foliage crop and houseplant; arching-frond mutant found in Boston in the 1890s, IUCN least concern.

Neptunia

Neptunia (water mimosa genus) is a pantropical legume genus in Fabaceae, Caesalpinioideae, Mimoseae, with about 20-22 species, two fully aquatic species (N. oleracea, N. plena), touch-sensitive bipinnate leaves, and the edible Thai vegetable water mimosa.

Nerine

Nerine (Guernsey lily) is a genus of about 25 accepted species of autumn-flowering bulbous Amaryllidaceae endemic to southern Africa, cultivated as ornamentals and a source of 53 Amaryllidaceae alkaloids including lycorine.

Nerium

Nerium (oleander, rose-bay) is a monotypic Apocynaceae genus whose single species, Nerium oleander L., is a toxic evergreen Mediterranean-to-Myanmar ornamental shrub containing cardiac glycosides, mainly oleandrin.

Neroli

Neroli is the steam-distilled essential oil of bitter orange (Citrus aurantium var. amara) blossoms, named after the Princess of Nerola; key note of eau de cologne, ~0.1% yield, mainly from Tunisia.

New Caledonian Araucaria

New Caledonian Araucaria: 13-14 endemic monkey puzzle tree species (Araucaria, section Eutacta) on New Caledonia, a recent 19-3 Ma radiation on nickel-rich ultramafic soils, with 11 of 14 species threatened by mining and fire.

New Mexico chile

New Mexico chile (chile de Nuevo México) is a group of Capsicum annuum cultivars bred at NMSU since 1888, first standardized as 'New Mexico No. 9' in 1913; grown green and red, it supplies about 45 percent of US chile and anchors the Hatch chile brand.

Nian gao (年糕)

Nian gao (年糕) is a Chinese glutinous rice cake steamed and eaten at Lunar New Year; its name puns on 'higher year'. Cantonese sweet brown-sugar, Shanghai savory, and millet northern variants; offered to sweeten the kitchen god's mouth.

Nicandra

Nicandra Adans. (shoo-fly plant, apple-of-Peru) is a Solanaceae genus native to Peru and southern South America with three accepted species, the best known being Nicandra physalodes, an ornamental with an inflated fruiting calyx.

Nicolaus von Wirén

Nicolaus von Wirén is a German-Swedish agricultural biologist who studies nutrient uptake in crops, and has been Managing Director of the IPK plant genetics institute in Gatersleben since 2023.

Nicotiana

Nicotiana (tobacco genus), Solanaceae flowering plants named for Jean Nicot; 60–109 species native to the Americas, Australia, and Namibia; source of nicotine, with polyploid species including N. tabacum and model plant N. benthamiana.

Nicotiana benthamiana

Nicotiana benthamiana, an Australian solanaceous model plant, is prized for viral susceptibility from a nonfunctional NbRDR1 gene, agroinfiltration and VIGS tools, and use as a biofactory for recombinant proteins and vaccines.

Nicotiana glauca

Nicotiana glauca (tree tobacco, wild tobacco) is a South American Solanaceae shrub, 2–6 m tall, naturalized worldwide as a noxious weed; its leaves are dominated by toxic anabasine, causing fatal human and livestock poisoning.

Nicotiana glutinosa

Nicotiana glutinosa (glutinosa tobacco) is a viscid Andean Nicotiana species, Galapagos to W. Bolivia, described by Linnaeus 1753; source of the N gene for TMV resistance in commercial tobacco and a local-lesion indicator host.

Nicotiana rustica

Nicotiana rustica (Aztec tobacco, wild tobacco) is a South American allotetraploid tobacco species (2n=48, from N. paniculata and N. undulata) with 4–9.5% leaf nicotine, far stronger than N. tabacum, used for chewing tobacco, snuff, and nicotine extraction.

Nicotiana tabacum

Nicotiana tabacum, common tobacco, is an allotetraploid Solanaceae herb (2n=48) from Bolivia, derived from N. sylvestris and N. tomentosiformis; the leading commercial tobacco species, grown for nicotine-rich cured leaves.