Plants & Trees Encyclopedia

Carnation — Dianthus caryophyllus (Clove Pink) is a species of Dianthus. It is probably native to the Mediterranean region but its exact range is unknown due to extensive cultivation for the last 2,000 years. It is the wild ancestor of the garden Carnation. It is a herbaceous perennial plant growing to 80 cm tall. The leaves are glaucous greyish green …

Caraway — Caraway or Persian cumin (Carum carvi) is a biennial plant in the family Apiaceae, native to Europe and western Asia. The plant is similar in appearance to a carrot plant, with finely divided, feathery leaves with thread-like divisions, growing on 20-30 cm stems. The main flower stem is 40-60 cm tall, with small white or pink flowers in …

Caper — The caper (Capparis spinosa L.) is a perennial spiny shrub that bears rounded, fleshy leaves and big white to pinkish-white flowers. A caper is also the pickled bud of this plant. The bush is native to the Mediterranean region, growing wild on walls or in rocky coastal areas throughout. The plant is best known for the edible bud …

Candytuft — Iberis is a genus of flowering plant belonging to the family Brassicaceae. It comprises herbs and subshrubs of the Old World. These species are commonly known as candytufts. Used in Homeopathy for nervousness and muscle soreness. According to the US Dispensatory (1918)the leaves, stem, and root are said to possess medicinal properties, but the seeds are most efficacious. …

Cacao — Cacao (Theobroma cacao) is a small (4-8 m tall (15-26 ft)) evergreen tree in the family Sterculiaceae (alternatively Malvaceae), native to the deep tropical region of the Americas. There are two prominent competing theories about the origins of the original wild Theobroma cacao tree. One group of proponents believe wild examples were originally distributed from southeastern Mexico to …

Cabbage — The cabbage (Brassica oleracea Capitata Group) is a plant of the Family Brassicaceae (or Cruciferae). It is a herbaceous, biennial, and dicotyledonous flowering plant with leaves forming a characteristic compact cluster. Cabbages grown late in autumn and in the beginning of winter are called coleworts. The cabbage is derived from a leafy wild mustard plant, native to the …

Butternut — The Butternut (Juglans cinerea), also occasionally known as the White Walnut, is a species of walnut native to the eastern United States and southeast Canada, from southern Quebec west to Minnesota, south to northern Alabama and southwest to northern Arkansas. It is a deciduous tree growing to 20 m tall, rarely 30 m, and 40-80 cm stem diameter, …

Burning Bush — Euonymus alatus, known variously as Winged Spindle, Winged Euonymus or Burning Bush, is a deciduous shrub native to eastern Asia, in central and northern China, Japan, and Korea. The shrub grows to 2.5 m tall (8.2 feet), often wider than tall. The stems are notable for their four corky ridges or “wings”. The leaves are 2-7 cm …

Bugbane — Actaea (baneberry or bugbane) is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Ranunculaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The genus is closely related to Cimicifuga and Souliea, and many botanists include those genera within Actaea (e.g. Compton et al. 1998, Compton & Culham 2002, Gao et al. 2006, RHS Plant Finder, 2007) based …

Buckwheat — Buckwheat refers to plants in two genera of the family Polygonaceae: the Eurasian genus Fagopyrum, and the North American genus Eriogonum. The crop plant, common buckwheat, is Fagopyrum esculentum. Tartary buckwheat (F. tataricum Gaertn.) or “bitter buckwheat” is also used as a crop, but it is much less common. Despite the common name and the grain-like use of …