Plants & Trees Encyclopedia

Beet — Beta vulgaris, commonly known as beet or beetroot, is a flowering plant species in the family Chenopodiaceae. Several cultivars are valued around the world as edible root vegetables, fodder (mangel) and sugar-producing sugar beet. Beta vulgaris is a herbaceous biennial or rarely perennial plant with leafy stems growing to 1-2 m tall. The leaves are heart-shaped, 5-20 cm …

Beech European — The European Beech or Common Beech (Fagus sylvatica) is a deciduous tree belonging to the beech family Fagaceae. The natural range extends from southern Sweden (with some isolated locations in southern Norway) to central Italy, west to France, northern Portugal, and central Spain, and east to northwest Turkey, where it intergrades with the Oriental Beech (F. orientalis), …

Bedstraw — Galium is a large genus of annual and perennial herbaceous plants in the family Rubiaceae, with about 400 species occurring in the temperate zones of both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Most species are known as bedstraw. The Field Madder (Sherardia arvensis) is a close relative and may be confused with a tiny bedstraw. Asperula ise also a …

Beauty Bush — Kolkwitzia amabilis is a species of flowering plant in the honeysuckle family known by the common name Beauty Bush. The plant originated in Central China and was named for Richard Kolkwitz, a professor of botany in Berlin. The plant is an arching, spreading shrub, with brown flaky bark and graceful hanging branches, that can grow up to …

Beardtongue — Penstemon (Beard-tongue) is a large genus of North American and East Asian plants traditionally placed in the Scrophulariaceae family. Due to new genetic research it has now been placed in the vastly expanded family Plantaginaceae. They have opposite leaves, partly tube-shaped and two-lipped flowers and seed capsules. The most distinctive feature of the genus is the prominent staminode, …

Bean — Bean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genera of the family Fabaceae (formerly Leguminosae) used for human food or animal feed. Although “beans” usually means the seeds of bean plants, it can also mean (especially in the US) the whole young pods of bean plants, which if picked before the pods ripen and dry, …

Bayberry — Myrica is a genus of about 35-50 species of small trees and shrubs in the family Myricaceae, order Fagales. The genus has a wide distribution, including Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America, and missing only from Australasia. Some botanists split the genus into two genera on the basis of the catkin and fruit structure, restricting Myrica …

Baobab — Baobab is the common name of a genus (Adansonia) containing eight species of trees, native to Madagascar (the centre of diversity, with six species), mainland Africa and Australia (one species in each). The mainland African species also occurs on Madagascar, but it is not a native of that country. Other common names include boab, boaboa, bottle tree and …

Basswood American — Tilia americana is a species of Tilia, native to eastern North America, from southeast Manitoba east to New Brunswick, southwest to northeast Texas, and southeast to South Carolina, and west along the Niobrara River to Cherry County, Nebraska. Common names include Basswood (also applied to other species of Tilia in the timber trade) and American Linden or …

Basil — Basil (Ocimum basilicum) of the Family Lamiaceae, is also known as Sweet Basil or Tulsi. It is a tender low-growing herb that is grown as a perennial in warm, tropical climates. Basil is originally native to India and other tropical regions of Asia, having been cultivated there for more than 5,000 years. It is prominently featured in varied …