Curcuma is a genus of about 100 accepted species in the family Zingiberaceae that contains such species as turmeric and Siam tulip. They are native to Southeast Asia, southern China, the Indian Subcontinent, New Guinea and northern Australia. Some species are reportedly naturalized in other warm parts of the world such as tropical Africa, Central America, Florida, and various islands of the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans. Generally, most curcuma grows well in loose and sandy soil in shaded areas.
Mahonia is a genus of approximately 70 species of evergreen shrubs and, rarely, small trees in the family Berberidaceae, native to eastern Asia, the Himalaya, North and Central America. They are closely related to the genus Berberis and botanists disagree on whether to recognize a separate Mahonia. Many botanists prefer to classify Mahonia as a part of Berberis because several species in both genera are able to hybridize, and because there are no consistent morphological differences between the two groups other than the leaf pinnation. However, recent DNA-based phylogenetic studies retain the two separate genera, by clarifying that unifoliolate-leaved Berberis s.s. is derived from within a paraphyletic group of shrubs bearing imparipinnate evergreen leaves, which are then divided into three genera: Mahonia, Alloberberis, and Moranothamnus ; a broadly-circumscribed Berberis would also be monophyletic.
Passiflora tarminiana is a species of passionfruit. The yellow fruits are edible and their resemblance to small, straight bananas has given it the name banana passionfruit in some countries. It is native to the uplands of tropical South America and is now cultivated in many countries. In Hawaii and New Zealand it is now considered an invasive species. It was given the name banana passionfruit in New Zealand, where passionfruit are also prevalent. In Hawaii, it is called banana poka. In its Latin American homeland, it is known as curuba, curuba de Castilla, or curuba sabanera blanca (Colombia); taxo, tacso, tagso, tauso (Ecuador); parcha, taxo (Venezuela), tumbo or curuba (Bolivia); tacso, tumbo, tumbo del norte, trompos, tintin or purpur (Peru).
Castanea mollissima, also known as the Chinese chestnut, is a member of the family Fagaceae, and a species of chestnut native to China, Taiwan, and Korea.
Dichroa is a genus of 12 species of flowering plants in the family Hydrangeaceae, native to eastern and southeastern Asia. They are deciduous shrubs growing to 1–3 m tall, with their leaves arranged in opposite pairs. The flowers are produced in a broad inflorescence similar to that of the related genus Hydrangea. The fruit is a glossy metallic purple-blue berry.
Tetrastigma is a genus of plants in the grape family, Vitaceae. The plants are lianas that climb with tendrils and have palmately compound leaves. Plants are dioecious, with separate male and female plants; female flowers are characterized by their four-lobed stigmas. The species are found in subtropical and tropical regions of Asia, Malaysia, and Australia, where they grow in primary rainforest, gallery forest and monsoon forest and moister woodland. Species of this genus are notable as being the sole hosts of parasitic plants in the family Rafflesiaceae, one of which, Rafflesia arnoldii, produces the largest single flower in the world. Tetrastigma is the donor species for horizontal gene transfer to Sapria and Rafflesia due to multiple gene theft events.
Gnathothlibus erotus, the white-brow hawkmoth, is a moth of the family Sphingidae. The species was first described by Pieter Cramer in 1777.
The genus Cayratia comprises approximately 45 species of plants, some of which have utility value to people. It is found in tropical and subtropical areas of Asia, Africa, Australia, and islands of the Pacific Ocean.
Archidendron is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae.
Passiflora tripartita also called curuba, tumbo, curuba de Castilla and tumbo serrano is a species of Passiflora from Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, and Brazil in areas at elevations of 2000 – 3200 meters.
Cayratia geniculata is a species of plant native to Asia. It has woody vines and 3-foliolate leaves.
Cayratia japonica is a species of herbaceous plant native to Australia and Asia. It is used as a traditional Chinese medicine to relieve swelling and heat, and to enhance diuresis and detoxification.
Cayratia trifolia commonly known as bush Grape, fox-grape, three-leaved wild vine or threeleaf cayratia is a species of liana plant native to Australia and Asia. It has black-colored berries, and its leaves contain several flavonoids, such as cyanidin and delphinidin. Hydrocyanic acid is present in the stem, leaves and roots.
Theretra japonica is a moth of the family Sphingidae first described by Jean Baptiste Boisduval in 1869.
Cayratia clematidea, known as the native grape or slender grape, is a common Australian vine in the grape family. Growing in or on the edges of rainforest, from the Shoalhaven River gorges north to Queensland. Tendrils form opposite the leaf.
Acosmeryx anceus is a moth of the family Sphingidae. It was described by Caspar Stoll in 1781, and it is known from India, New Guinea, and Queensland, Australia.
Rhagastis mongoliana is a moth of the family Sphingidae. It is found from China, north to Mongolia, Korea and the Primorsky Krai in Russia, and east to Taiwan and Japan.
Kaempferia is a genus of plants in the ginger family. It is native to China, India, and Southeast Asia.
Pearl bodies are small, lustrous, pearl-like food bodies produced from the epidermis of leaves, petioles and shoots of certain plants. They are rich in lipids, proteins and carbohydrates, and are sought after by various arthropods and ants, that carry out vigorous protection of the plant against herbivores, thus functioning as a biotic defence. They are globose or club-shaped on short peduncles, easily detached from the plant, and are food sources in the same sense as Beltian bodies, Müllerian bodies, Beccarian bodies, coccid secretions and nectaries. They occur in at least 19 plant families (1982) with tropical and subtropical distribution.
