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Taxonomy

Genera

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 517 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Abies.

More info about the Genus Abies may be found here.

Acacia

Trees, shrubs, rarely herbs, often prickly or spinose. Leaves bipinnate; leaflets small and numerous or leaves reduced to phyllodes; petiolar glands often present; stipules generally spinescent. Inflorescence cylindric spike or globose head; peduncle solitary axillary or fasciculate or paniculate at the end of branches; bracts often two, scale like, situated on the peduncle at various levels. Flowers small, 3-5-merous, bisexual or plants polygamous. Calyx campanulate, dentate, lobed or polysepalous. Petals usually more or less united, rarely absent. Stamens indefinite, free or shortly and irregularly connate at the base; anthers small, eglandular. Ovary sessile or stipitate, with 2 or more ovules. Fruit ovate to linear, straight, arcuate or contorted, membranous to woody, rarely articulated or moniliform. Seed large, with a filiform funicle or fleshy aril.^[2] [more]

At least 2,914 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Acacia.

More info about the Genus Acacia may be found here.

Acer

At least 2,630 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Acer.

More info about the Genus Acer may be found here.

Aciphylla

Aciphylla is a genus of about 40 species of plants in the Apiaceae family, endemic to New Zealand and Australia. They generally grow as tall spikes surrounded by rosettes of stiff, pointed leaves. [more]

At least 61 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Aciphylla.

More info about the Genus Aciphylla may be found here.

Aconitum

Herbs, perennial, from tubers or elongate, fascicled roots. Leaves basal and cauline, proximal leaves petiolate, distal leaves sessile or nearly so; cauline leaves alternate. Leaf blade palmately divided into 3-7 segments, ultimate segments narrowly elliptic or lanceolate to linear, margins incised and toothed. Inflorescences terminal, sometimes also axillary, 1-32(-more) racemes or panicles, to 28 cm; bracts leaflike, not forming involucre. Flowers bisexual, bilaterally symmetric; sepals not persistent in fruit; lower sepals (pendents) 2, plane, 6-20 mm; lateral sepals 2, round-reniform; upper sepal (hood) 1, saccate, arched, crescent-shaped or hemispheric to rounded-conic or tall and cylindric, usually beaked, 10-50 mm; petals 2, distinct, bearing near apex a capitate to coiled spur, concealed in hood, long-clawed; nectary present, on spur; stamens 25-50; filaments with base expanded; staminodes absent between stamens and pistils; pistils 3(-5), simple; ovules 10-20 per pistil; style present. Fruits follicles, aggregate, sessile, oblong, sides prominently transversely veined; beak terminal, straight, 2-3 mm. Seeds deltoid, usually with small, transverse, membranous lamellae. x =8.^[3] [more]

At least 1,259 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Aconitum.

More info about the Genus Aconitum may be found here.

Aeonium

Aeonium is a genus of about 35 species of succulent, subtropical plants of the family Crassulaceae. Most of them are native to the Canary Islands. Some species are found in Madeira, Morocco and in eastern Africa (for example in the Semien Mountains of Ethiopia). [more]

At least 215 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Aeonium.

More info about the Genus Aeonium may be found here.

Agropyron

Plants perennial, with creeping rhizomes or culms tufted. Culms erect or geniculate at base. Sheaths of vegetative shoots often closed almost throughout their length, usually with lanceolate auricles; leaf blade flat or involute. Spike linear-oblong or ovoid; rachis tough, pubescent. Spikelets 1 per node, divergently or pectinately arranged, sessile, laterally compressed, with 3-10 florets; rachilla disarticulating above glumes and between florets. Glumes linear to narrowly ovate, hardened, 1-5-veined, 1-keeled to base, tapering to an acuminate or shortly awned tip in which veins converge. Lemma lanceolate-oblong, leathery, 5-7-veined, glabrous or pilose, apex acute or with straight awn; midvein slightly keeled; callus very short. Palea ± equaling lemma, pilose along keels, rarely smooth and glabrous, apex usually 2-toothed. Lodicules ciliate at margin. Caryopsis somewhat adherent to lemma and palea. x = 7.^[4] [more]

At least 757 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Agropyron.

More info about the Genus Agropyron may be found here.

Ajania

At least 75 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Ajania.

More info about the Genus Ajania 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.^[5] [more]

At least 2,758 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Allium.

More info about the Genus Allium may be found here.

Allocasuarina

Allocasuarina is a genus in the flowering plant family Casuarinaceae. They are endemic to Australia, occurring primarily in the south. Like the closely related genus Casuarina, they are commonly called sheoaks or she-oaks, they are notable for their long, segmented branchlets that function as leaves. Formally termed cladodes, these branchlets somewhat resemble pine needles, although sheoaks are actually flowering plants. The leaves are reduced to minute scales encircling each joint. Fallen cladodes form a dense, soft mat beneath sheoaks, preventing the development of undergrowth and making sheoak woods remarkably quiet. [more]

At least 106 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Allocasuarina.

More info about the Genus Allocasuarina may be found here.

Alstroemeria

Herbs, perennial, from fascicles of fusiform tubers. Stems mostly simple; fertile stems to 1 m or more; sterile stems shorter, more leafy. Leaves alternate; petiole often twisted so as to invert leaf; blade parallel-veined, linear to ovate, margins entire. Inflorescences terminal, umbellate [or 1-flowered]. Flowers slightly zygomorphic; tepals 6, distinct, red, orange, purple, green, or white, frequently spotted, to 5 cm; stamens 6, inserted on perianth base, declinate, usually unequal; ovary inferior; style slender; stigma 3-lobed, filiform. Fruits capsular, 3-valved, dehiscence loculicidal.^[6] [more]

At least 774 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Alstroemeria.

More info about the Genus Alstroemeria may be found here.

Ampelocissus

Climbers, woody or herblike, hermaphroditic or polygamo-dioecious. Tendrils unbranched or bifurcate. Leaves simple or compound. Inflorescence a panicle, compound dichasium, or thyrse, leaf-opposed and tendril-bearing. Petals 4 or 5, spreading, free. Stamens 4 or 5. Disk well developed, angular, adnate to ovary, often 5-10-grooved. Style usually short and conical, with ca. 10 ridges; stigma inconspicuously expanded. Berry spheroid or elliptic, 1-4-seeded. Seeds obovoid, suborbicular, or elliptic-oblong, raphe linear, chalazal knot somewhat spatulate in shallow depression; endosperm T-shaped in cross-section. 2n = 40.^[7] [more]

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

More info about the Genus Ampelocissus may be found here.

Androsace

Herbs perennial, annual, or biennial, acaulescent, rarely caulescent with ascending or decumbent shoots from a caudex. Leaves forming a rosette, rarely alternate; rosettes solitary or clustered, forming lax mats or compact cushions. Inflorescences umbellate, rarely a solitary flower, with bracts. Flowers 5-merous, homostylous. Calyx campanulate to subglobose, shallowly to deeply lobed. Corolla white, pink, purple, or dark red, rarely yellow; tube usually ± inflated, ca. as long as to shorter than calyx; throat constricted; lobes entire or emarginate. Stamens included, inserted on corolla tube; filaments very short; anthers ovate, apex obtuse. Style not longer than corolla tube. Capsule subglobose, dehiscing nearly to base. Seeds few to many.^[8] [more]

At least 515 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Androsace.

More info about the Genus Androsace may be found here.

Angelica

Herbs, biennial or perennial. Root often stout, conic or cylindric. Leaves petiolate, petiole sheaths conspicuously inflated; blade 1-4-pinnate or 1-3-ternate-pinnate. Umbels compound, terminal and lateral; bracts many or a few, rarely absent; rays many to several; bracteoles many or a few, entire. Calyx teeth obsolete or ovate-triangular. Petals white, rarely pink or dark purple, ovate to obovate, apex incurved. Stylopodium short-conic. Fruit ovoid to orbicular, dorsally compressed; dorsal ribs filiform, lateral ribs broad- or narrow-winged, separated when mature; vittae often 1-2 in each furrow, 2-4 on commissure. Seed face plane or slightly concave. Carpophore 2-cleft to base.^[9] [more]

At least 355 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Angelica.

More info about the Genus Angelica may be found here.

Anolis

Anolis is a genus of lizards belonging to the family Iguanidae. With nearly 400 species, Anolis represents the world's most species rich amniote genus. Several species of Anolis are occasionally incorrectly referred to the genus Norops. The Green Anole (Anolis carolinensis) has recently become the first non-avian reptile to have its complete genome sequenced. [more]

At least 604 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Anolis.

More info about the Genus Anolis may be found here.

Anthemis

Annuals (biennials) [perennials, subshrubs], mostly 5-90 cm (often aromatic). Stems 1-5+, erect to decumbent, usually branched, strigillose or strigoso-sericeous to villous (hairs medifixed), glabrescent [glabrous or sericeous to lanate]. Leaves mostly cauline; alternate; petiolate or sessile; blades ± obovate to spatulate, 1-3-pinnately lobed, ultimate margins dentate to lobed, faces glabrous or strigillose to villous [glabrous or sericeous to lanate]. Heads radiate [discoid], borne singly or in lax, corymbiform arrays (peduncles sometimes clavate and/or curved in fruit). Involucres obconic to hemispheric or broader, 5-13[-20] mm diam. Phyllaries persistent, mostly 21-35+ in 3-5 series, distinct, deltate to lanceolate, oblong, or elliptic, unequal, margins and apices (hyaline and colorless or brownish [black]) scarious. Receptacles hemispheric to narrowly conic, paleate (wholly or only distally) ; paleae ± flat, scarious to indurate (subulate or elliptic to obovate with mucronate to acuminate-spinose tips). Ray florets [0 or 2-]5-20[-30+], pistillate and fertile or styliferous and sterile; corollas usually white, rarely yellow or pink, laminae mostly oblong (tubes sometimes hairy). Disc florets (60-) 100-300+, bisexual, fertile; corollas usually yellow, rarely pink, tubes ± cylindric (usually proximally dilated, ± spongy in fruit, sometimes hairy, not saccate), throats funnelform, lobes 5, ± triangular (abaxially minutely crested). Cypselae obovoid to obconic or turbinate (circular or 4-angled in cross section), ribs usually 9-10 (0) and smooth or tuberculate, faces glabrous (pericarps with myxogenic cells) ; pappi 0 or coroniform. x = 9.^[10] [more]

At least 794 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Anthemis.

More info about the Genus Anthemis may be found here.

Aptosimum

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

More info about the Genus Aptosimum may be found here.

Ara

ARA may refer to: [more]

At least 49 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Ara.

More info about the Genus Ara 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 417 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Arctostaphylos.

More info about the Genus Arctostaphylos may be found here.

Arenaria

Herbs annual or perennial, rarely biennial. Stems erect or rarely creeping, often caespitose or pulvinate. Leaves opposite, rarely whorled;