The Crassulaceae, also known as the stonecrop family or the orpine family, are a diverse family of dicotyledon flowering plants characterized by succulent leaves and a unique form of photosynthesis, known as Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM). Flowers generally have five floral parts. Crassulaceae are usually herbaceous but there are some subshrubs, and relatively few treelike or aquatic plants. Crassulaceae are a medium-sized monophyletic family in the core eudicots, among the order Saxifragales, whose diversity has made infrafamilial classification very difficult. The family includes approximately 1,400 species and 34–35 genera, depending on the circumscription of the genus Sedum, and distributed over three subfamilies. Members of the Crassulaceae are found worldwide, but mostly in the Northern Hemisphere and southern Africa, typically in dry and/or cold areas where water may be scarce, although a few are aquatic.
Violaceae is a family of flowering plants established in 1802, consisting of about 1000 species in about 25 genera. It takes its name from the genus Viola, the violets and pansies.
Sedum is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Crassulaceae, members of which are commonly known as stonecrops. The genus has been described as containing up to 600 species, subsequently reduced to 400–500. They are leaf succulents found primarily in the Northern Hemisphere, but extending into the southern hemisphere in Africa and South America. The plants vary from annual and creeping herbs to shrubs. The plants have water-storing leaves. The flowers usually have five petals, seldom four or six. There are typically twice as many stamens as petals. Various species formerly classified as Sedum are now in the segregate genera Hylotelephium and Rhodiola.
The Polygalaceae or the milkwort family are made up of flowering plants in the order Fabales. They have a near-cosmopolitan range, with about 27 genera and ca. 900 known species of herbs, shrubs and trees. Over half of the species are in one genus, Polygala, the milkworts.
Sarcobatus is a North American genus of two species of flowering plants, formerly considered to be a single species. Common names for S. vermiculatus include greasewood, seepwood, and saltbush. Traditionally, Sarcobatus has been treated in the family Chenopodiaceae, but the APG III system of 2009 recognizes it as the sole genus in the family Sarcobataceae.
Martín Sessé y Lacasta was a Spanish botanist, who relocated to New Spain during the 18th century to study and classify the flora of the territory. The standard author abbreviation Sessé is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.
Mayaca is a genus of flowering plants, often placed in its own family, the Mayacaceae. In the APG II system of 2003, it is assigned to the order Poales in the clade commelinids. The Cronquist system, of 1981, also recognised such a family and placed it in the order Commelinales in the subclass Commelinidae.
José Mariano Mociño Suárez Lozano, or simply José Mariano Mociño, was a naturalist from Mexico.
Atanasio Echeverría y Godoy was an 18th-century Mexican botanical artist and naturalist who trained at the Royal Art Academy in Mexico. The genus Echeveria was named in his honour by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle.
Solanum lanceolatum, with the common names orangeberry nightshade and lanceleaf nightshade, is a species of nightshade. It is native to regions of South America, including the Cerrado ecoregion of the Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome, primarily in Brazil.
Ceanothus pauciflorus, known by the common name Mojave ceanothus, is a species of flowering shrub in the buckthorn family, Rhamnaceae. It is native to the Southwestern United States and Mexico, where it grows primarily in shrubland communities at moderate to high elevations. It is characterized by oppositely arranged leaves, corky stipules and white flowers. It was formerly known as Ceanothus greggii.
The Surianaceae are a family of plants in the order Fabales with five genera and eight known species. It has an unusual distribution: the genus Recchia is native to Mexico, and the sole member of Suriana, S. maritima, is a coastal plant with a pantropical distribution; and the remaining three genera are endemic to Australia.
Calamovilfa is a genus of North American plants in the grass family native to the United States and Canada.
The Royal Botanical Expedition to New Spain was a scientific expedition to survey the flora and fauna of the territories of New Spain between 1787 and 1803 and to establish a botanical garden. It was sponsored by King Charles III of Spain and headed by physician Martín Sessé y Lacasta, who led a team of botanists that included José Mariano Mociño and is part of the crown's general program of economic revitalization, known as the Bourbon Reforms. The expedition, commonly referred to by botanists as the Sessé and Mociño expedition, identified many species new to science and brought back a large trove of valuable botanical illustrations. The expedition was "an undertaking that was to signal Spain's reassertion of its colonial might and of its relevance to the Enlightenment."
Jean-Christophe [Kumpfler] Heyland, was a Swiss engraver, watercolourist, and illustrator, who produced the plates for many botanical works such as the 1825-27 Plantes Rares du Jardin de Geneve by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle. He lived in Geneva from 1803, and produced all illustrations for botanical memoirs published by Geneva botanists after 1820. He also illustrated the work of Benjamin Delessert, Philip Barker-Webb, Giuseppe Giacinto Moris, Pierre Edmond Boissier and others.
Erechtites glomeratus, common name New Zealand fireweed, or cutleaf burnweed, or fireweed or Cluster-headed fireweed, is a species of plant in the sunflower family. It is native to Australia and New Zealand, and also naturalized on the Pacific Coast of the United States.
Bursera lancifolia is a Mexican species of trees in the frankincense family in the soapwood order. It is widespread in western Mexico from Sonora to Oaxaca.
Bursera penicillata is a Mexican species of trees in the frankincense family in the soapwood order. It is widespread in much of Mexico from Sonora and Chihuahua to Oaxaca and Veracruz.
Allioideae is a subfamily of monocot flowering plants in the family Amaryllidaceae, order Asparagales. It was formerly treated as a separate family, Alliaceae. The subfamily name is derived from the generic name of the type genus, Allium. It is composed of about 18 genera.
Delphinium menziesii, the Puget Sound larkspur, northern dwarf larkspur, or Menzies' larkspur, is a species of flowering plant in the family Ranunculaceae. It is native to British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon. A perennial reaching 75 cm (30 in), it is hummingbird pollinated.
