Abelia is a genus of flowering plants in the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae. The genus currently includes six species native to China, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
Menispermaceae is a family of flowering plants. The alkaloid tubocurarine, a neuromuscular blocker and the active ingredient in the 'tube curare' form of the dart poison curare, is derived from the South American liana Chondrodendron tomentosum. Several other South American genera belonging to the family have been used to prepare the 'pot' and 'calabash' forms of curare. The family contains 78 genera with some 440 species, which are distributed throughout low-lying tropical areas with some species present in temperate and arid regions.
Grass jelly, also known as leaf jelly or herb jelly, is a jelly-like dessert originating in China. It is commonly consumed in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is created by using Chinese mesona and has a mild, slightly bitter taste. Grass jelly was invented by the Hakka people who historically used the food to alleviate heat stroke after long days working in the field. The dish was introduced to Southeast Asia by the Chinese diaspora. It is served chilled, with other toppings, such as fruit, or in bubble tea or other drinks. Outside Asia, it is sold in Asian supermarkets.
Melastoma affine, also known by the common names blue tongue, straits rhododendron or native lassiandra, is a shrub of the family Melastomataceae. Distributed in tropical and sub-tropical forests of India, South-east Asia and Australia, it is a plant of rainforest margins. Bees are the principal pollinators of this species.
Themeda triandra is a species of C4 perennial tussock-forming grass widespread in Africa, Australia, Asia and the Pacific. In Australia it is commonly known as kangaroo grass and in East Africa and South Africa it is known as red grass and red oat grass or as rooigras in Afrikaans. Kangaroo grass was formerly thought to be one of two species, and was named Themeda australis.
The taxonomy of Banksia integrifolia has a long and complex history, the result of confusion caused by the species' great variability, and similarities with some closely related species. The existence of hybrids between B. integrifolia and related species as well as early attempts to classify the species based on dried specimen material have also contributed to the confusion.
Salvia microphylla, synonyms including Salvia grahamii, Salvia lemmonii and Salvia neurepia, the baby sage, Graham's sage, or blackcurrant sage, is an evergreen shrub found in the wild in southeastern Arizona and the mountains of eastern, western, and southern Mexico. It is a very complex species which easily hybridizes, resulting in numerous hybrids and cultivars brought into horticulture since the 1990s. The specific epithet microphylla, from the Greek, means "small leaved". In Mexico it is called mirto de montes, or "myrtle of the mountains".
Platostoma palustre, commonly known as Chinese mesona, is a species of plant belonging to the genus Platostoma of the mint family. The species grows extensively in East Asia such as south east China, Japan and Taiwan preferring ravines, grassy, dry, and sandy areas. The plants are from 15 to 100 cm high with hairy stems and leaves. The leaves are tear-drop shaped and serrated.
Melastoma malabathricum, known also as Malabar melastome, Indian rhododendron, Singapore rhododendron, planter's rhododendron and senduduk, is a flowering plant in the family Melastomataceae native to Seychelles, tropical and subtropical Asia to Australia and western Pacific islands. Despite its common names, it does not have any connection to actual rhododendrons, and belongs to the Rosids clade as opposed to the Asterids clade. This plant is usually found at elevations between 100 m and 2,800 m in grassland and sparse forest habitats. It has been used as a medicinal plant in certain parts of the world, but has been declared a noxious weed in the United States. M. malabathricum is a known hyperaccumulator of aluminium, and as such can be used for phytoremediation.
Platostoma is a genus of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae, first described as a genus in 1818. It is native to tropical parts of Africa, southern Asia, Papuasia, and Australia. Mesona and Acrocephalus has been known as its synonyms.
Zamia integrifolia, also known as coontie, is a small, tough, woody cycad native to the southeastern United States, the Bahamas, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, and Puerto Rico.
Premna microphylla is a tree in the mint family (Lamiaceae).
Premna puberula is a species of plant in the family Lamiaceae that is endemic to Central and South China. Known colloquially in South China as fairy tofu tree (神仙豆腐樹) or more simply as tofu tree (豆腐樹), the extract from the leaves of this plant, with its high pectin content, is used to make a jelly dish served in a similar manner as Chinese Liangfen. The leaves of Premna microphylla are used similarly, as are other grass jelly plants.
Acaena microphylla, the bidibid or piripiri, and outside New Zealand, New Zealand-bur, is a small herbaceous, prostrate perennial flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae, native to both the North and South Islands of New Zealand. There are two varieties:
Hippocratea is a genus of flowering plants in the family Celastraceae, usually lianas, native to tropical and subtropical North America, South America and Africa.
Terminalia rostrata is a large tree found only on the Mariana Island of Asuncion. It is a part of the "Terminalia and ravine forest" on the western and southwestern slopes of the island, consisting of scattered Terminalia rostrata in association with Premna serratifolia, Morinda citrifolia,Hibiscus tiliaceus, and Pandanus tectorius. This forest type is described as the best-developed forest in the Mariana Islands north of Saipan, owing to its protection on the lee side of the mountain. The leaves of Terminalia rostrata are most similar to Terminalia catappa, but they have soft hairs similar to that of Terminalia samoensis. It is otherwise most similar to Terminalia foetidissima, although differing in various ways. The species name refers to the strongly beaked fruit. Fruit bats feed on the husks of the seeds. The species was first discovered by Marjorie V. C. Falanruw during an expedition to the far northern Mariana islands in 1972 and was first described by Francis Raymond Fosberg in the journal Phytologia in 1974.
