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Taxonomy

Genera

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.^[1] [more]

At least 849 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Abutilon.

More info about the Genus Abutilon may be found here.

Acantholyda

At least 31 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Acantholyda.

More info about the Genus Acantholyda may be found here.

Adenophora

Adenophora is a genus of flowering plant within the family Campanulaceae. [more]

At least 284 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Adenophora.

More info about the Genus Adenophora may be found here.

Alaus

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

More info about the Genus Alaus may be found here.

Arctomecon

Herbs, perennial, evergreen, cespitose, scapose or very short-caulescent and subscapose, from taproots. Stems (caudices) when present leafy, erect, branching, covered with marcescent leaf bases. Leaves all or mostly basal and rosulate, petiolate; blade cuneate to fan-shaped, 1×-lobed distally, glaucous, long-pilose, hairs flexuous, barbed; margins entire; lobes acute, long-bristled. Inflorescences terminal, cymiform, simple or branching; bracts present; buds nodding. Flowers: sepals 2 or 3, distinct; petals persistent, 4 or 6; stamens many; pistil 3-6-carpellate; ovary 1-locular; style 1 and short, or absent; stigmas 1 per carpel, connate, capitate, cordately 2-lobed. Capsules erect, 3-6-valved, dehiscing from apex leaving persistent placental ribs unseparated at apex, valve tips recurving. Seeds several to many, dark brown, shining, ovoid, 1.5-3 mm, aril present. x = 12.^[2] [more]

At least 6 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Arctomecon.

More info about the Genus Arctomecon may be found here.

Ardisia

Trees, shrubs, suffrutescent [or rarely herbs]. Leaves alternate or pseudoverticillate, usually punctate or punctate-lineate. Inflorescences paniculate, cymose, corymbose, or umbellate, rarely racemose. Flowers bisexual, often punctate, 5- or rarely 4-merous. Calyx campanulate or cupular; sepals free or barely united at base, imbricate or quincuncial, usually punctate or punctate-lineate. Corolla campanulate, often punctate; lobes united at base, overlapping to right or very rarely to left, imbricate, or quincuncial, often conical in bud. Stamens attached at base or middle of corolla tube; filaments very short, broad at base; anthers dehiscing longitudinally or by apical pores. Ovary ovoid or subglobose, as long as or longer than petals; ovules 3 to many. Style base persistent; stigma minute, apiculate. Fruit drupaceous, 1-seeded, punctate, sometimes longitudinally ribbed, with somewhat fleshy exocarp and crusty or slightly bony endocarp. Seeds covered by membranous remnants of placenta.^[3] [more]

At least 1,492 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Ardisia.

More info about the Genus Ardisia may be found here.

Arenaria

Herbs annual or perennial, rarely biennial. Stems erect or rarely creeping, often caespitose or pulvinate. Leaves opposite, rarely whorled; leaf blade linear to elliptic, ovate, or orbicular, usually flat, margin entire. Flowers solitary or numerous in cymes, actinomorphic. Sepals 4 or 5, apex entire, rarely emarginate. Petals 4 or 5, sometimes absent, apex entire to toothed, 2-cleft, or fimbriate. Stamens (2--5 or 8 or) 10. Ovary 1-loculed; ovules numerous. Styles 2 or 3(--5) . Capsule ovoid, obovoid, or globose, usually shorter than persistent sepals, rarely equaling or longer than them, 3- or 6-valved. Seeds reniform or subovoid, flattened, smooth, tuberculate, or narrowly winged.^[4] [more]

At least 1,185 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Arenaria.

More info about the Genus Arenaria may be found here.

Arethusa

Herbs, perennial. Roots few, slender, fleshy. Stems scapose, at base a bulbous corm. Leaves solitary, basal; blade subtended by 2-3 tubular sheaths, obscurely plicate, linear-lanceolate, developing during and after anthesis. Inflorescences terminal; floral bracts minute. Flowers solitary (rarely 2), resupinate, erect, showy; anther with pair of soft yellow-green pollinia; stigma emergent, with free lateral lobes. Fruits capsules, erect.^[5] [more]

At least 40 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Arethusa.

More info about the Genus Arethusa may be found here.

Argyrocytisus

Brooms are a group of evergreen, semi-evergreen, and deciduous shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the legume family Fabaceae, mainly in the three genera Chamaecytisus, Cytisus and Genista, but also in five other small genera (see box, right). All genera in this group are from the tribe Genisteae (syn. Cytiseae). These genera are all closely related and share similar characteristics of dense, slender green stems and very small leaves, adaptations to dry growing conditions. Most of the species have yellow flowers, but a few have white, orange, red, pink or purple flowers. [more]

More info about the Genus Argyrocytisus may be found here.

Arisaema

Herbs, terrestrial or wetland. Corms [rhizomes] nearly globose. Leaves usually appearing with flowers, 1--2(--3), erect; petiole longer than blade; blade medium to dark green, sometimes glaucous adaxially, palmately or pedately [radiately] divided, not peltate, leaflet elliptic to broadly ovate or oblanceolate, base rounded to obtuse or attenuate, apex obtuse or acute to acuminate; primary lateral veins of each leaflet pinnate. Inflorescences: peduncle erect, nearly equal to leaves [to very short], apex not swollen; spathe variously colored or striped, distal part open at maturity, exposing tip to 1/2 or more of spadix appendage; spadix ± cylindric, surmounted by sterile appendage of variable shape. Flowers unisexual, staminate and pistillate on same or different spadix; pistillate flowers congested; staminate flowers usually scattered, distal to pistillate flowers when both are present; perianth absent. Fruits not embedded in spadix, glossy orange to bright red. Seeds 1--6, mucilage sometimes present (not present in Arisaema triphyllum). x = 13, 14.^[6] [more]

At least 447 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Arisaema.

More info about the Genus Arisaema may be found here.

Aristolochia

Herbs or lianas, perennial. Stems erect, twining, or procumbent. Leaves alternate, 2-ranked (evident on young growth, becoming obscure with age in some species) ; true stipules absent; pseudostipules absent [present]; petiole sometimes very short. Leaf blade membranous to leathery. Inflorescences on new growth or on older stems, axillary, racemes or solitary flowers; bracts present. Flowers: calyx usually mixture of purple, brown, green, or red, bilaterally symmetric, tubular, usually bent or curved, 1- or 3-lobed, not fleshy, base with utricle (basal, inflated portion of calyx surrounding or containing gynostemium) ; tube narrowed, sometimes extended proximally as cylindric syrinx (tubular or ringlike structure at juncture of tube and utricle, projecting into utricle cavity) and distally as annulus (circular flange at juncture of tube and limb) on limb; corolla absent; stamens 5-6, adnate to styles and stigmas, forming gynostemium; ovary inferior, 3-, 5-, or 6-locular; styles 3, 5, or 6, connate in column. Capsule dry, dehiscent. Seeds flattened or rounded, sometimes winged. x = 6, 7, 8.^[7] [more]

At least 898 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Aristolochia.

More info about the Genus Aristolochia may be found here.

Arnebia

Plants annual or perennial, bristly or pubescent. Roots frequently containing purple dye. Stems erect or prostrate. Leaves alternate. Cymes bracteate. Flowers often heterostylous. Calyx 5-parted to base, slightly enlarged, base sometimes hardened. Corolla funnelform, usually with hairs outside; tube straight or slightly curved; throat unappendaged; limb usually shorter than tube; lobes spreading. Ovary 4-lobed. Style 2- or 4-branched, each branch terminated with 1 stigma. Gynobase flat. Long-styled flowers with included stamens inserted at middle of corolla tube; style long, slightly exserted. Short-styled flowers with stamens inserted at throat; style shorter, reaching to middle of corolla tube. Nutlets oblique-ovate, tuberculate, adaxially flat or slightly concave; attachment scar at base.^[8] [more]

At least 78 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Arnebia.

More info about the Genus Arnebia may be found here.

Arracacia

Arracacia is a genus of flowering plant in the Apiaceae, with more than 50 species. It is endemic to the Americas. The most important member of the genus economically is the arracacha, Arracacia xanthorrhiza. [more]

At least 78 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Arracacia.

More info about the Genus Arracacia may be found here.

Austrocactus

Austrocactus is a genus of cacti. [more]

At least 12 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Austrocactus.

More info about the Genus Austrocactus may be found here.

Betula

Trees or shrubs, to 30 m; trunks often several, branching excurrent, becoming deliquescent. Bark of trunks and branches dark brown to chalky white, smooth, often exfoliating; lenticels dark, prominent, sometimes horizontally expanded. Wood nearly white to reddish brown, light and soft to moderately heavy and hard, texture fine. Branches, branchlets, and twigs nearly 2-ranked; young twigs differentiated into long and short shoots, sometimes with taste and odor of wintergreen. Winter buds sessile, slender, terete, apex acute; scales several, imbricate, smooth. Leaves mostly on short shoots, nearly 2-ranked. Leaf blade ovate to deltate, elliptic, or nearly orbiculate, 0.5--10(--14) × 0.5--8 cm, thin, margins doubly serrate or serrate (or crenate to shallowly round-lobed in dwarf northern species) ; surfaces glabrous to tomentose, sometimes abaxially resinous-glandular. Inflorescences: staminate catkins mostly terminal on branchlets, solitary or in small racemose clusters, formed previous growing season and often exposed during winter, expanding with leaves; pistillate catkins proximal to staminate catkins, mostly solitary, erect, ovoid to cylindric, firm; scales and flowers crowded, enclosed within buds during winter, expanding with leaves. Staminate flowers in catkins 3 per scale; stamens (1--) 2--3(--4), filaments divided below anthers, nearly to base. Pistillate flowers (1--) 3 per scale. Infructescences erect or pendulous; scales usually deciduous with release of fruits (although persisting into winter in a few species), (1--) 3-lobed, thickened or leathery but not woody. Fruits samaras, lateral wings 2, moderately wide to broad, membranaceous. x = 14.^[9] [more]

At least 589 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Betula.

More info about the Genus Betula may be found here.

Biarum

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

More info about the Genus Biarum may be found here.

Brassica

Herbs annual, biennial, or perennial, rarely subshrubs or shrubs, often glaucous. Trichomes absent or simple. Stems erect or ascending, simple or branched, leafy or rarely leafless. Basal leaves petiolate, rosulate or not, simple, entire, dentate, lyrate-pinnatifid, or pinnatisect. Cauline leaves petiolate or sessile, base cuneate, attenuate, auriculate, sagittate, or amplexicaul, margin entire, dentate, or lobed. Racemes ebracteate, elongated in fruit. Fruiting pedicels ascending, divaricate, or reflexed. Sepals ovate or oblong, erect, ascending, or rarely spreading, base of lateral pair saccate or not. Petals yellow, rarely white or pink; blade obovate, spatulate, or rarely oblanceolate, apex obtuse or emarginate; claw distinct, subequaling or longer than sepals. Stamens 6, tetradynamous; anthers ovate or oblong, obtuse at apex. Nectar glands 4, median and lateral, rarely 2 and lateral. Ovules 4-50 per ovary. Fruit dehiscent siliques, linear or rarely oblong, terete, 4-angled, or latiseptate, sessile or shortly stipitate, segmented; valvular segment dehiscent, 4-46-seeded, longer than terminal segment, smooth or torulose, valves with a prominent midvein and obscure lateral veins; terminal segment seedless or 1(-3) -seeded; replum rounded; septum complete, translucent or opaque, veinless or with a distinct midvein; style obsolete or distinct; stigma capitate, entire or 2-lobed. Seeds uniseriate or rarely biseriate, wingless, globose or rarely oblong, plump or rarely slightly flattened; seed coat reticulate, mucilaginous or not when wetted; cotyledons conduplicate.^[10] [more]

At least 2,213 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Brassica.

More info about the Genus Brassica may be found here.

Callinectes

Callinectes is a genus of crabs, including the blue crab, C. sapidus. Members of the genus Callinectes have a pair of flat rear legs (pereiopods) shaped like oars. Callinectes species also have a flat, broad carapace with a series of distinct teeth along the front, around the eyes and terminal spines. The largest teeth are the "frontal teeth," between four and six teeth located between the eyes. Crabs in this genus are characteristically olive-green or blue on the back and white underneath, with blue or red areas covering the relatively small claws. Some species vary in claw size, spines and coloration. [more]

At least 17 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Callinectes.

More info about the Genus Callinectes may be found here.

Cephalcia

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

More info about the Genus Cephalcia may be found here.

Chamaedorea

Plants small, usually low-growing, unarmed. Stems clustered [solitary], erect [creeping, lianoid], slender, unarmed. Leaves: sheaths tubular, unarmed, forming crownshaft; blade pinnate [undivided], with leaf segments regularly spaced along unarmed rachis, in 1 plane [many planes]; plication reduplicate; segments linear-lanceolate, apical pair of segments sometimes wider than others. Inflorescences axillary below crown of leaves, ascending, with 1 order of branching [spicate or 2 orders]; prophyll small; peduncular bracts 5--6, tubular, papery; rachillae green at anthesis, turning orange in fruit. Flowers unisexual, sessile, staminate and pistillate flowers on different plants. Staminate flowers borne singly, partially sunken into fleshy rachillae; sepals 3, briefly connate at base [distinct]; petals 3, ovate, basally briefly connate [connate by tips]; stamens 6, distinct; anthers dorsifixed; pistillode minute. Pistillate flowers borne singly, slightly sunken into fleshy rachillae; sepals 3, free; petals 3, free, ovate; staminodes 6, minute; pistil 1, 3-loculate; ovules 1 per locule; style indistinct; stigmas minute. Fruits drupes, globose; stigmatic scar basal, exocarp black, smooth; mesocarp thin; endocarp bony. Seeds globose; endosperm homogeneous; embryo subapical; eophyll 2-cleft [pinnate], segments linear. nx = 13.^[11] [more]

At least 233 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Chamaedorea.

More info about the Genus Chamaedorea may be found here.

Chelydra

The Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) is a large freshwater turtle of the family Chelydridae. Its natural range extends from southeastern Canada south, west to the Rocky Mountains (and beyond, where introduced), throughout Mexico, and as far south as Ecuador. This species and the larger Alligator Snapping Turtle are both widely referred to as snapping turtles or snappers (though the Common Snapping Turtle, as its name implies, is much more widespread overall). [more]

At least 12 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Chelydra.

More info about the Genus Chelydra may be found here.

Coronilla

The genus Coronilla contains Old World shrubs and herbs. [more]

At least 126 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Coronilla.

More info about the Genus Coronilla may be found here.

Correa

At least 167 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Correa.

More info about the Genus Correa may be found here.

Corryocactus

Corryocactus is a genus of cactus. The genus was formerly placed in the tribe Notocacteae. [more]

At least 47 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Corryocactus.

More info about the Genus Corryocactus may be found here.

Cotoneaster

Shrubs, rarely small trees, erect, decumbent, or prostrate, deciduous, semievergreen, or evergreen. Branchlets mostly terete, rarely slightly angulate, unarmed. Winter buds small; scales several, imbricate, exposed. Leaves alternate, simple, shortly petiolate; stipules caducous, usually subulate, small; margin of leaf blade entire,