Plants & Trees Encyclopedia

Mushroom — A mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name “mushroom” is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus, hence the word mushroom is most often applied to fungi (Basidiomycota, Agaricomycetes) that have a stem (stipe), a cap (pileus), and gills …

Mullein — The Mulleins (Verbascum) are a genus of about 250 species of flowering plants in the figwort family (Scrophulariaceae). They are native to Europe and Asia, with the highest species diversity in the Mediterranean region. They are biennial or perennial plants, rarely annuals or subshrubs, growing to 0.5-3 m tall. The plants first form a dense rosette of leaves …

Mulberry — Mulberry (Morus) is a genus of 10–16 species of deciduous trees native to warm, temperate, and subtropical regions of Asia, Africa, and the Americas, with the majority of the species native to Asia. The closely related genus Broussonetia is also commonly known as mulberry, notably the Paper Mulberry Broussonetia papyrifera. Mulberries are fast-growing when young, but soon become …

Morning Glory — Morning glory is a common name for over 1,000 species of flowering plants in the family Convolvulaceae. As the name implies, morning glory flowers, which are funnel-shaped, open in the morning, allowing them to be pollinated by hummingbirds, butterflies, bees, and other daytime insects and birds as well as Hawkmoth at dusk for longer blooming variants. The …

Monkey Puzzle Tree — Monkey-puzzle (Pehuen or Araucaria araucana) is the hardiest species in the conifer genus Araucaria. It is native to central Chile and west central Argentina, and is an evergreen tree growing to 40 m tall and 2 m trunk diameter. Because of species’ great age it is sometimes described as a living fossil. Araucaria araucana is the …

Mistletoe — Mistletoe is the common name for a group of hemi-parasitic plants in the order Santalales that grow attached to and within the branches of a tree or shrub. Parasitism evolved only nine times in the plant kingdom; of those, the parasitic mistletoe habit has evolved independently five times: Misodendraceae, Loranthaceae, Santalaceae (formerly considered the separate family Eremolepidaceae), and …

Millet — The millets are a group of small-seeded species of cereal crops or grains, widely grown around the world for food and fodder. They do not form a taxonomic group, but rather a functional or agronomic one. Their essential similarities are that they are small-seeded grasses grown in difficult production environments. It was millets, rather than rice, that formed …

Melon — Muskmelon (Cucumis melo) is a species of melon that has been developed into many cultivated varieties. These include smooth skinned varietes, such as honeydew, and different netted cultivars known as cantaloupes (some of which, confusingly, may be particularly identified as “muskmelon”). The variety of cultivars from one species is similar to the wild cabbage, though less differentiated in …

Maple, Sugar — The tree species Acer saccharum is commonly known as the sugar maple. It is a prominent tree in the hardwood forests of northeastern North America. This maple normally reaches heights of 15 m (50 feet) to 24 m (80 feet) tall, and exceptionally up to 45 m (150 feet). The leaves are deciduous, 8-15 cm long and …

Maple, Silver — Acer saccharinum (Silver Maple; also occasionally Creek Maple, River Maple, Silverleaf Maple, Soft Maple, Water Maple, or White Maple) is a species of maple native to eastern North America in the eastern United States and adjacent parts of southeast Canada. It is a relatively fast-growing deciduous tree, commonly reaching a height of 20-30 m, exceptionally 35 m. …