Plants & Trees Encyclopedia

Buckthorn — The Buckthorns (Rhamnus) are a genus (or two genera, if Frangula is treated as distinct) of about 100 species of shrubs or small trees from 1-10 m tall (rarely to 15 m), in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae. They are native throughout the temperate and subtropical Northern Hemisphere, and also more locally in the subtropical Southern Hemisphere in parts …

Buckeye — The genus Aesculus comprises 20–25 species of deciduous trees and shrubs native to the temperate northern hemisphere, with 7–10 species native to North America and 13–15 species native in Eurasia; there are also several natural hybrids. They have traditionally been treated in their own usually monogeneric family Hippocastanaceae, but genetic evidence has led to this family, along with …

Brussels Sprouts — The Brussels (or brussels or brussel) sprout (Brassica oleracea Gemmifera Group) of the Brassicaceae family, is a cultivar group of Wild Cabbage cultivated for its small (typically 2.5 – 4cm, 1 – 1.5 inches diameter) leafy green heads, which resemble miniature cabbages. The name stems from the original place of cultivation, not because of the vegetable’s popularity …

Broccoli — Broccoli is a plant of the Cabbage family, Brassicaceae (formerly Cruciferae). It is classified as the Italica Cultivar Group of the species Brassica oleracea. Broccoli possesses abundant fleshy flower heads, usually green in colour, arranged in a tree-like fashion on branches sprouting from a thick, edible stalk. The large mass of flower heads is surrounded by leaves. Broccoli …

Bristlecone pine — The bristlecone pines are a small group of pine trees (Family Pinaceae, genus Pinus, subsection Balfourianae) that can reach an age far greater than that of any other single living organism known, up to nearly 5,000 years. Bristlecone pines grow in isolated groves at and just below the tree line. Because of cold temperatures, dry soils, high …

Brazil Nut — The Brazil nut is a South American tree Bertholletia excelsa in the family Lecythidaceae, and also the name of the tree’s commercially harvested edible seeds. The Brazil nut tree is the only species in the genus Bertholletia. It is native to the Guianas, Venezuela, Brazil, eastern Colombia, eastern Peru and eastern Bolivia. It occurs as scattered trees …

Boxwood — Buxus is a genus of about 70 species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box (majority of English-speaking countries) or boxwood (North America). The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost South America, Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean, with the majority of species tropical or subtropical; only …

Box Elder — Acer negundo is a species of maple native to North America. Boxelder, Boxelder Maple, and Maple Ash are its most common names in the United States. Other English names such as Ash Maple, Ash-leaf Maple, Black Ash, California Boxelder, Cutleaf Maple, Cut-leaved Maple, Negundo Maple, Red River Maple, Stinking Ash, Sugar Ash, Three-leaved Maple, and Western Boxelder. …

Bougainvillea — Bougainvillea is a genus of flowering plants native to South America from Brazil west to Peru and south to southern Argentina (Chubut Province). Different authors accept between four and 18 species in the genus. The name comes from Louis Antoine de Bougainville, an admiral in the French Navy who discovered the plant in Brazil in 1768. They are …

Blueberry — Blueberries are flowering plants in the genus Vaccinium, sect. Cyanococcus. The species are native only to North America. They are shrubs varying in size from 10 cm tall to 4 m tall; the smaller species are known as “lowbush blueberries”, and the larger species as “highbush blueberries”. The leaves can be either deciduous or evergreen, ovate to lanceolate, …