| Your Home Page | Contact Us |

• Taxonomy
• Genera
• Bibliography
• Footnotes
• Sources
• Keep Exploring

Taxonomy

Genera

Abacaria

At least 7 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Abacaria.

More info about the Genus Abacaria may be found here.

Abies

Trees evergreen, crown usually spirelike to conic, sometimes flat to round topped in age. Bark initially thin, smooth, bearing resin blisters, in age furrowed and/or flaking in plates. Branches whorled, irregular internodal branches occasionally produced by epicormic sprouting (growing from a dormant bud) ; short (spur) shoots absent; leaf scars prominent, ± circular to broadly elliptic, flush with twig surface, slightly depressed, or slightly raised evenly all around. Buds ovate or oblong, resinous or not, apex rounded or pointed. Leaves borne singly, persisting 5 or more years, spirally arranged but often proximally twisted so as to appear either 1-ranked (pointing up like toothbrush bristles) or 2-ranked, sessile, typically constricted and often twisted above the somewhat broadened base, sheath absent; leaves on vegetative branches flattened, frequently grooved adaxially, usually notched to rounded at apex; leaves on fertile branches sometimes appearing 4-sided, upright, sharp-pointed to rounded at apex; resin canals 2. Cones borne on year-old twigs. Pollen cones grouped, ovate or oblong-cylindric, leaving gall-like protuberances after falling, yellow to red, green, blue, or purple. Seed cones maturing in 1 season, erect, ovoid to oblong-cylindric or cylindric, not falling whole but scale by scale, cone axis persisting as an erect "spike" on branch; scales shed individually, fan-shaped, lacking apophysis and umbo; bracts included to exserted. Seeds winged, the wing-seed juncture bearing resin sac; cotyledons 4--10. x =12.^[1] [more]

At least 527 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Abies.

More info about the Genus Abies may be found here.

Abroma

Abroma is a genus in the Sterculiaceae family of two species from Asia and Australia. [more]

At least 21 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Abroma.

More info about the Genus Abroma may be found here.

Abromeitiella

Deuterocohnia (named for Ferdinand Julius Cohn, German botanist and bacteriologist) is a genus of the botanical family Bromeliaceae, subfamily Pitcairnioideae. Plants once described as belonging to the genus Abromeitiella have been reevaluated and reclassified within Deuterocohnia following modern DNA analysis. [more]

At least 9 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Abromeitiella.

More info about the Genus Abromeitiella may be found here.

Abrotanella

Abrotanella is a genus in the family Asteraceae, of about 20 species, native to New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand and temperate South America. [more]

At least 28 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Abrotanella.

More info about the Genus Abrotanella may be found here.

Abrus

Abrus is a genus of 13–18 species in the family Fabaceae, best known for one species, Abrus precatorius, Jequirity. The seeds of that species are used in beading and are infamous for their toxicity. [more]

At least 43 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Abrus.

More info about the Genus Abrus may be found here.

Abutilon

Herbs, subshrubs, shrubs, or small trees. Stipules usually caducous; leaf blade usually entire (lobed in A. pictum), palmately veined, base cordate, margin crenate or serrate. Flowers axillary or subterminal, solitary, paired or in small cymes, often aggregated into terminal panicles. Epicalyx absent. Calyx campanulate, lobes 5. Corolla mostly yellow or orange (red in A. roseum), often with dark center, campanulate to wheel-shaped, rarely ± tubular (A. pictum) ; petals 5, basally connate and adnate to filament tube. Anthers many, clustered at filament tube apex. Ovary (5-) 7-20-loculed; ovules 2-9 per carpel; style branches as many as carpels. Fruit a schizocarp, often blackish when mature, subglobose to hemispherical; mericarps (5-) 7-20, eventually dehiscent, apex rounded or acute, sometimes 2-awned, pericarp leathery. Seeds reniform, glabrous or slightly pubescent.^[2] [more]

At least 855 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Abutilon.

More info about the Genus Abutilon may be found here.

Acer

At least 2,652 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Acer.

More info about the Genus Acer may be found here.

Actinostrobus

Actinostrobus is a genus of coniferous trees in the Cupressaceae (cypress family). Common names include cypress and cypress-pine, the latter name shared by the closely related genus Callitris. There are three species in the genus, all endemic to southwestern Western Australia: [more]

At least 7 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Actinostrobus.

More info about the Genus Actinostrobus may be found here.

Afrocarpus

Afrocarpus is a genus of conifers belonging to the podocarp family Podocarpaceae. Afrocarpus was designated a genus in 1989, when several species formerly classified in Podocarpus and Nageia were reclassified. Six species are recognized. [more]

At least 8 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Afrocarpus.

More info about the Genus Afrocarpus may be found here.

Allium

Herbs, perennial, scapose, from tunicate bulbs, with onion odor and taste. Bulbs solitary or clustered, dividing at base, or on rhizomes, reforming annually; outer coats generally brown or gray, smooth, fibrous, or with cellular reticulation (generally important in identification) ; inner coats membranous. Leaves generally withering from tip by anthesis, usually persistent, 1-12, basal; blade usually linear, terete, channeled, or flat (carinate in A. sativum, A. praecox, A. tuberosum, A. rotundum, A. neapolitanum, A. triquetrum, A. unifolium, and A. lacunosum), straight or ± falcate (coiled or circinate in A. nevadense and A. atrorubens), broader in A. victorialis and A. tricoccum, not petiolate (except in A. tricoccum and A. victorialis) . Scape usually persistent, terete or flattened. Inflorescences umbellate, flowering centripetally (centrifugally in A. schoenoprasum), sometimes replaced totally or partially by bulbils, subtended by spathe bracts; bracts conspicuous, ± fused, usually 3+-veined, equaling pedicel except in some introduced species, membranous. Flowers erect (pendent in A. triquetrum) ; tepals 6, in 2 similar whorls, ± distinct, petallike, usually becoming becoming dry and persisting; stamens 6, epipetalous; filaments in all but 1 native species broad at base, fused into ring (some introduced species and A. victorialis appendaged), linear, generally glabrous (A. rotundum and A. hoffmanii papillose to ciliate proximally) ; anthers and pollen variously colored; ovary superior, 3-lobed, sometimes crested with processes, 3-locular, usually 2 ovules per locule (6-8 in A. nigrum), crest processes 3 or 6, smooth except in A. haematochiton, A. sharsmithiae, and A. lacunosum; style 1; stigma capitate to ± 3-lobed; pedicel erect or spreading (lax in A. triquetrum) . Fruits capsular, dehiscence loculicidal. Seeds black, obovoid, finely cellular-reticulate, cells smooth or minutely roughened, with 1-8 papillae, without caruncle except in A. triquetrum. x = 7, 8, 9.^[3] [more]

At least 2,795 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Allium.

More info about the Genus Allium may be found here.

Amorphophallus

Amorphophallus (from Ancient Greek amorphos, "without form, misshapen" + phallos, "penis") is a large genus of some 170 tropical and subtropical tuberous herbaceous plants from the Arum family (Araceae). [more]

At least 251 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Amorphophallus.

More info about the Genus Amorphophallus may be found here.

Arctostaphylos

The genus Arctostaphylos, the manzanitas and bearberries, are shrubs or small trees characterised by smooth, orange or red bark and stiff, twisting branches. [more]

At least 462 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Arctostaphylos.

More info about the Genus Arctostaphylos may be found here.

Aster

Perennials [subshrubs, shrubs], 3-300 cm (rhizomatous, rhizomes long or short, plants sometimes with branched caudices) . Stems ascending to erect, simple, ± densely hairy [glabrous], sometimes stipitate-glandular. Leaves basal and/or cauline; sessile or petiolate; blades 1-nerved, spatulate, obovate (mainly basal), oblanceolate, lance-oblong, lanceolate, or linear, distal often reduced, margins entire or serrate [lobed], faces hairy. Heads radiate, borne singly or in corymbiform [paniculiform] arrays. Involucres broadly campanulate or hemispheric [cylindro-campanulate], 15-25 mm diam. Phyllaries persistent, 25-50 in 2-4 series, 1-nerved (flat), ovate to lanceolate, unequal to subequal, bases ± scarious, herbaceous distally or not, green zones along midnerves, margins scarious to hyaline, densely villous, strigillose, or glabrous, sometimes ± short-stipitate-glandular. Receptacles flat or convex, pitted, epaleate. Ray florets 14-55(-100) [-150] in 1 series, pistillate, fertile; corollas white, pink, purple, blue, or violet. Disc florets 20-100+, bisexual, fertile; corollas usually yellow (sometimes reddening), slightly ampliate [tubular], tubes shorter than to equaling funnelform or campanulate throats, lobes 5, usually erect to spreading, rarely reflexed, lanceolate; style-branch appendages lanceolate. Cypselae obconic, compressed, 2 marginal ribs, faces ± densely strigillose [glabrous], sometimes short-stipitate-glandular; pappi persistent, of 20-30 white to tawny, ± equal, barbellate, apically usually attenuate, sometimes ± clavate bristles in 1-2 series. x = 9.^[4] [more]

At least 2,755 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Aster.

More info about the Genus Aster may be found here.

Begonia

Perennial succulent herbs, rarely subshrubs. Stem erect, frequently rhizomatous, or plants tuberous and either acaulescent or shortly stemmed, rarely lianoid or climbing with adventitious roots, or stoloniferous. Leaves simple, rarely palmately compound, alternate or all basal; blade often oblique and asymmetric, rarely symmetric, margin often irregularly serrate and divided, occasionally entire, venation usually palmate; petiole long, weak; stipules membranous, usually deciduous. Flowers unisexual, plants monoecious, rarely dioecious, (1 or) 2-4 to several, rarely numerous, in dichotomous cymes, sometimes in panicle, with pedicels and bracts. Staminate flower: tepals 2 or 4 and decussate, usually outer ones larger, inner ones smaller; stamens usually numerous; filaments free or connate at base; anthers 2-celled, apical or lateral; connectives extended at apex, sometimes apiculate. Pistillate flower: tepals 2-5(-10) ; pistil composed of 2-5(-7) carpels; ovary inferior, 1-3(-7) -loculed; placentae axile or parietal; styles 2 or 3(or more), free or fused at base, forked once or more; stigma turgid, spirally twisted-tortuous or U-shaped, capitate or reniform, setose-papillose. Capsule dry, sometimes berrylike, unequally or subequally 3-winged, rarely wingless and 3- or 4-horned; seeds very numerous, pale brown, oblong, minute, testa reticulate.^[5] [more]

At least 3,926 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Begonia.

More info about the Genus Begonia may be found here.

Cedrus

Trees evergreen, monoecious; branchlets strongly dimorphic: long branchlets growing several cm each year and bearing very slow-growing, lateral short branchlets; winter buds small, scales persistent. Leaves spirally arranged and radially spreading on long branchlets, shorter and very densely clustered on short branchlets, needlelike, triangular or ± quadrangular in cross section, stiff, stomatal lines present both adaxially and abaxially, most numerous abaxially, vascular bundles 2, almost fused, resin canals 2, small, marginal. Cones borne on apex of short branchlets, solitary, erect. Pollen cones with many spirally arranged microsporophylls; microsporangia 2; pollen not saccate. Seed cones erect, light purple at fertilization, maturing in 2nd(or 3rd) year; ovulate scales spirally arranged, sessile, with small bracts and 2 ovules adaxially. Seed scales closely arranged, large, woody, those at base and apex of cone sterile, deciduous at maturity. Bracts minute, falling together with seed scales at maturity from persistent, central axis. Seeds with large, membranous wing. Cotyledons usually 6-10. Germination epigeal. 2n = 24.^[6] [more]

At least 170 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Cedrus.

More info about the Genus Cedrus may be found here.

Centaurium

Annuals. Stems erect, obscurely 4angled. Leaves opposite. Cymes pseudodichotomous, sometimes spicate. Flowers [4 or] 5merous. Calyx lobed nearly to base. Corolla salverform, lobes shorter than tube. Stamens inserted at throat of corolla tube; filaments filiform, erect at first, helically coiled later; anthers dehiscing longitudinally. Ovary partly 2-locular. Style linear; stigma lobes orbicular. Capsules 2valved, many seeded. Seed coat alveolate.^[7] [more]

At least 275 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Centaurium.

More info about the Genus Centaurium may be found here.

Cephalorrhynchus

At least 25 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Cephalorrhynchus.

More info about the Genus Cephalorrhynchus may be found here.

Cephalotaxus

Morphological characters and geographical distribution are the same as those for the family.^[8] [more]

At least 85 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Cephalotaxus.

More info about the Genus Cephalotaxus may be found here.

Daphne

Shrubs or subshrubs, evergreen or deciduous. Branches glabrous or pubescent. Leaves mostly alternate, sometimes opposite; petiole short. Inflorescence usually terminal, sometimes axillary, capitate or shortly racemose, sometimes paniculate, racemose, or spicate, with or without involucre; peduncle short or absent. Flowers bisexual or unisexual (plants sometimes dioecious), 4- or 5-merous. Calyx tube white, pink, or yellow, rarely mauve, campanulate, cylindric, or slightly funnel-shaped, exterior glabrous or pubescent; lobes 4 or 5, erect or spreading, alternately longer and shorter. Petaloid appendages absent. Stamens twice as many as calyx lobes, in two series; filaments short or absent; anthers oblong, included; connectives indistinct. Disk absent or annular, cup-shaped, sometimes elongated on one side. Ovary usually sessile or slightly stipitate, ovoid, 1-loculed; style terminal, short; stigma capitate. Fruit a succulent berry or dry and leathery, sometimes enclosed by persistent calyx, sometimes naked, usually red or yellow. Seed testa crustaceous, endosperm scanty or absent; cotyledons fleshy.^[9] [more]

At least 740 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Daphne.

More info about the Genus Daphne may be found here.

Datura

Shrubs or annual or perennial herbs; pubescence of simple sometimes glandular hairs. Leaves petiolate; leaf blade simple, entire or sinuate-dentate. Inflorescences solitary flowers in leaf axils or in branch forks; peduncle, bracts, and bracteoles absent. Flowers actinomorphic, large. Pedicel often stout. Calyx long tubular or cylindric, often circumscissile near base. Corolla elongated, funnelform; lobes sometimes cuspidate. Anthers mostly elongated, dehiscing longitudinally, included. Ovary 2-4-locular. Fruit a dry capsule, 4-valved or irregularly dehiscent, prickly or unarmed, often subtended by remnants of persistent calyx. Seeds numerous, laterally compressed; embryo curved.^[10] [more]

At least 160 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Datura.

More info about the Genus Datura may be found here.

Davidia

Trees deciduous, polygamous. Leaf blade ovate, membranous, base cordate, margin serrate. Heads terminal, globose, pedunculate; bracts 2(or 3), white, 7-16 × 3-5 cm, larger one pendulous. Staminate flowers without perianth; stamens 1-7, inserted on receptacle; filaments slender, glabrous; anthers introrse, purple. Pistillate or bisexual flower 1, inserted at top of head; perianth segments small, unequal in size; ovary inferior, connected to receptacle, 6-10-loculed, ovule 1 per locule; style short, stout, 6-10-lobed; stigmas inflated. Drupe purple-green or pale brown, with yellowish dots, oblong-ovoid to ellipsoidal; mesocarp fleshy; endocarp bony, sulcate. Seeds 3-5; embryo erect, radicle terete, cotyledons oblong.^[11] [more]

At least 13 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Davidia.

More info about the Genus Davidia may be found here.

Galanthus

Herbs, perennial, scapose, from brown, tunicate, ovoid to globose bulbs; offset bulbs often present. Leaves 2(-3), basal, opposite, with sheathing blade, vernation flat and parallel, or convolute; nonsheathing blade erect to recurving at maturity, grayish green, linear-oblanceolate, glaucous; sheathing blade white, tubular, membranous, enclosing leaf bases and scape. Scape erect in flower, prostrate in fruit, green, solid. Inflorescences pendulous, 1-flowered, spathaceous; spathe bracteate, membranous; bracts 2, connate, split on 1 side. Flowers nodding, fragrant; perianath 2.5 cm or shorter; tepals 6, distinct, unequal; outer tepals spreading, white, narrowly obovate to almost orbicular, larger than inner; inner tepals overlapping, appearing tubular, green-spotted at apex only or apex and base, straight to semiorbicular, apex notched; stamens 6, inserted at bases of tepals, distinct; anthers