Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,100 staff. Its board of trustees is chaired by Dame Amelia Fawcett.
Campanula rotundifolia, the harebell, Scottish bluebell, or bluebell of Scotland, is a species of flowering plant in the bellflower family Campanulaceae. This herbaceous perennial is found throughout the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. In Scotland, it is often known simply as bluebell. It is the floral emblem of Sweden where it is known as small bluebell. It produces its violet-blue, bell-shaped flowers in late summer and autumn.
Rondeletia odorata is a species of flowering plant in the coffee family. It is native to Cuba and Panama. It is cultivated elsewhere. Common names include rondeletia, Cleveland Sunrise, and Panama-rose.
Avicennia marina, commonly known as grey mangrove or white mangrove, is a species of mangrove tree classified in the plant family Acanthaceae. As with other mangroves, it occurs in the intertidal zones of estuarine areas.
Heracleum sphondylium, commonly known as hogweed or common hogweed, is a herbaceous perennial plant in the carrot family Apiaceae, which includes fennel, cow parsley, ground elder and giant hogweed. It is native to most of Europe, western Asia and northern Africa, but is introduced in North America and elsewhere. Other common names include cow parsnip or eltrot. The flowers provide a great deal of nectar for pollinators.
The World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) is a biogeographical system developed by the international Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) organization, formerly the International Working Group on Taxonomic Databases. The WGSRPD standards, like other standards for data fields in botanical databases, were developed to promote "the wider and more effective dissemination of information about the world's heritage of biological organisms for the benefit of the world at large". The system provides clear definitions and codes for recording plant distributions at four scales or levels, from "botanical continents" down to parts of large countries. The codes may be referred to as TDWG geographical codes. Current users of the system include the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), and Plants of the World Online (POWO).
Aglaia lawii is a species of tree in the family Meliaceae. As well as the autonym species, there are two subspecies accepted.
Campylospermum serratum is a plant in the family Ochnaceae. The specific epithet serratum is from the Latin meaning "with teeth", referring to the leaf margin. It is found in Tropical Asia, from Sulawesi, Indonesia to Hainan, Zhōngguó/China and over to southwester India. Gomphia serrata was a previous common name for the species. The plant is used for it wood and its sap is used in folk medicine and in the past for teeth-blackening.
Phalaenopsis amabilis, commonly known as the moon orchid, moth orchid, or mariposa orchid, is a species of flowering plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae. It is widely cultivated as a decorative houseplant. It is an epiphytic or lithophytic herb with long, thick roots, between two and eight thick, fleshy leaves with their bases hiding the stem and nearly flat, white, long-lasting flowers on a branching flowering stem with up to ten flowers on each branch.
Chrysocephalum semipapposum, commonly known as clustered everlasting is a perennial shrub native to Australia. Clustered everlasting belongs to the family Asteraceae. C. semipapposum produces terminal flowers heads in clusters, mainly between spring and early summer with silver-grey appearing stems and branches. It grows up to 40cm high and 60 cm high, although there have been some varieties which can grow up to 1 m. C. semipapposum is often confused with Chrysocephalum apiculatum or 'yellow buttons', due to their similar appearances. C. semipapposum has 4 different subspecies, however they lack distinctive qualities and are often hard to identify. C. semipapposum is endemic to Australia and can be found in multiple states, most notably within Victoria. The plant is found in a variety of habitats including dry rocky regions. Clustered everlasting often grows sparsely and is rarely found in abundance and can be mistaken for a weed. Clustered everlasting has many uses, including as a source of nectar for butterflies, cut flowers or as an addition to a garden.
Solidago altissima, the tall goldenrod or late goldenrod, is a North American species of goldenrod in the family Asteraceae which is widespread across much of Canada, the United States, and northern Mexico. It is common in much of its range and fairly tolerant of landscapes which have been disturbed by humans. It has become naturalized in many parts of the world.
Bongardia is a very small genus of plants belonging to the family Berberidaceae, and first described in 1831. There are only two known species, Bongardia chrysogonum C.A.Mey., native to North Africa, Greece, and the Middle East and B. margalla R.R.Stewart ex Qureshi & Chaudhri, native to Pakistan. The genus was monotypic until 1996, when the Pakistani populations were recognised by Govaerts as belonging to a second, distinct species.
Zanthoxylum armatum, also called winged prickly ash or rattan pepper in English, is a species of plant in the family Rutaceae. It is an aromatic, deciduous, spiny shrub growing to 3.5 metres (11 ft) in height, endemic from Pakistan across to Southeast Asia and up to Korea and Japan. It is one of the sources of the spice Sichuan pepper, and also used in folk medicine, essential oil production and as an ornamental garden plant.
Pimelea spinescens, commonly known as plains rice-flower, spiny rice-flower or prickly pimelea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to Victoria. It is a spreading undershrub with elliptic leaves arranged in opposite pairs, and heads of white, cream-coloured or yellow flowers surrounded by 4 elliptic, leaf-like involucral bracts.
Suaeda vera, also known as shrubby sea-blite, shrubby seablight or in the USA sometimes as alkali seepweed, is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae. It is a small shrub, with very variable appearance over its wide range. It is a halophyte, and occurs in arid and semi-arid saltflats, salt marshes and similar habitats.
Urtica gracilis, commonly known as the slender nettle, tall nettle, or American stinging nettle, is a perennial plant plant without woody stems that is well known for the unpleasant stinging hairs on its leaves and stems. It is native to much of the North America from Guatemala northwards and temperate areas of South America. It is easily confused with the visually very similar Eurasian species Urtica dioica and is still listed in some resources as a subspecies of this plant. However, genetic analysis and experiments show that they are genetically distinct.
The Somali montane xeric shrublands is a desert and xeric scrubland ecoregion in Somalia. The ecoregion lies in the rugged Karkaar Mountains, which run parallel and close to Somalia's northern coast on the Gulf of Aden, and follows coast from Cape Guardafui south to Eyl on the Arabian Sea.
Protea madiensis, commonly known as the tall woodland sugarbush, is a flowering shrub which belongs to the genus Protea. It is native to the montane grasslands of Sub-Saharan Africa.
Grewia tenax, called the phalsa cherry, white crossberry, raisin bush, gangara, gangu, or kanger, is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae. It is native to Africa, from the Sahara to Tanzania and parts of southern Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and on to the Indian Subcontinent. The ripe fruit is edible and is consumed by local peoples either fresh, dried, or powered in drinks.
