Coffea is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. Coffea species are shrubs or small trees native to tropical and southern Africa and tropical Asia. The seeds of some species, called coffee beans, are used to flavor various beverages and products. The fruits, like the seeds, contain a large amount of caffeine, and have a distinct sweet taste and are often juiced. The plant ranks as one of the world's most valuable and widely traded commodity crops and is an important export product of several countries, including those in Central and South America, the Caribbean and Africa.
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern subregion of a single continent called America.
The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at 23°26′11.0″ (or 23.4364°) N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at 23°26′11.0″ (or 23.4364°) S; these latitudes correspond to the axial tilt of the Earth. The tropics are also referred to as the tropical zone and the torrid zone. The tropics also includes everywhere on Earth which is a subsolar point at least once during the solar year. Thus the maximum latitudes of the tropics have the same value positive and negative. Likewise, they approximate, due to the earth not being a perfect sphere, the "angle" of the Earth's axial tilt. The "angle" itself is not perfectly fixed due chiefly to the influence of the moon, but the limits of tropics are a geographic convention, being an averaged form, and the variance is very small.
Xylosma is a genus of flowering plants in the willow family, Salicaceae. It contains around 100 species of evergreen shrubs and trees commonly known as brushhollies, xylosmas, or, more ambiguously, "logwoods". The generic name is derived from the Greek words ξύλον (xylon), meaning "wood," and ὀσμή (osmé), meaning "smell," referring to the fragrant wood of some of the species. The Takhtajan system places it in the family Flacourtiaceae, which is considered defunct by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group.
Portulaca (, is the type genus of the flowering plant family Portulacaceae, with over 100 species, found in the tropics and warm temperate regions. They are known as the purslanes.
Tropical rainforests are rainforests that occur in areas of tropical rainforest climate in which there is no dry season – all months have an average precipitation of at least 60 mm – and may also be referred to as lowland equatorial evergreen rainforest. True rainforests are typically found between 10 degrees north and south of the equator ; they are a sub-set of the tropical forest biome that occurs roughly within the 28-degree latitudes. Within the World Wildlife Fund's biome classification, tropical rainforests are a type of tropical moist broadleaf forest that also includes the more extensive seasonal tropical forests.
The Lecythidaceae comprise a family of about 20 genera and 250–300 species of woody plants native to tropical South America, Africa, Asia and Australia.
Heart of palm is a vegetable harvested from the inner core and growing bud of certain palm trees, most notably the coconut, juçara, açaí palm, palmetto, and peach palm. Harvesting of many uncultivated or wild single-stemmed palms results in palm tree death. However, other palm species are clonal or multi-stemmed plants and moderate harvesting will not kill the entire clonal palm. Heart of palm may be eaten on its own, and often it is eaten in a salad.
Tabernaemontana is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apocynaceae. It has a pan-tropical distribution, found in Asia, Africa, Australia, North America, South America, and a wide assortment of oceanic islands. These plants are evergreen shrubs and small trees growing to 1–15 m tall. The leaves are opposite, 3–25 cm long, with milky sap; hence it is one of the diverse plant genera commonly called "milkwood". The flowers are fragrant, white, 1–5 cm in diameter.
Alchornea is a plant genus of the family Euphorbiaceae first described as a genus in 1788. It is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, South Asia, Australia, Latin America, and various oceanic islands. Molecular phylogenetic analyses suggest that Bocquillonia from New Caledonia is nested in Alchornea.
Rauvolfia is a genus of evergreen trees and shrubs, commonly known as devil peppers, in the family Apocynaceae. The genus is named to honor Leonhard Rauwolf. The genus can mainly be found in tropical regions of Africa, Asia, Latin America, and various oceanic islands.
Mikania is a genus of about 450 species in the Eupatorieae (boneset) tribe within the Asteraceae (sunflower) family.
Olacaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Santalales. They are woody plants, native throughout the tropical regions of the world. As of July 2021, the circumscription of the family varies; some sources maintain a broad family, others split it into seven segregate families.
Linderniaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales, which consists of about 25 genera and 265 species occurring worldwide. Vandellia micrantha is eaten in Laos, but tastes bitter. Best known are the wishbone flowers Torenia fournieri and Torenia thouarsii, which are used as bedding plants especially in the tropics. Micranthemum is sold as an aquarium plant when it is called 'baby tears'.
Floscopa is a genus of plant in family Commelinaceae first described in 1790. It is widespread in tropical + subtropical areas: Africa, Madagascar, the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, China, Queensland, Central + South America.
Gmelina is a genus of plants in the family Lamiaceae. It consists of about 35 species in Australia, New Guinea, New Caledonia, Southeast Asia, India and a few in Africa. Some species such as G. arborea have been planted and/or become naturalised in India, Africa and Australia. It was named by Carl Linnaeus in honour of botanist Johann Georg Gmelin.
Werner Rauh was an internationally renowned German biologist, botanist and author.
Flacourtia is a genus of flowering plants in the willow family, Salicaceae. It was previously placed in the now defunct family Flacourtiaceae. The generic name honors Étienne de Flacourt (1607–1660), a governor of Madagascar. It contains 15 species of shrubs and small trees that are native to the African and Asian tropics and subtropics. Several species, especially F. indica, are cultivated as ornamentals and for their fruits. The trunks of small trees are often guarded by branching spines.
Helicia nortoniana, also named Norton's silky oak, is a species of rainforest trees, of northeastern Queensland, Australia, from the flowering plant family Proteaceae.
Temperate South America is a biogeographic region of the Earth's seas, comprising the temperate and subtropical waters of South America, including both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of the continent and adjacent islands. It also includes the remote Gough Island and Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic Ocean.
