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.
Muscari is a genus of perennial bulbous plants native to Eurasia that produce spikes of dense, most commonly blue, urn-shaped flowers resembling bunches of grapes in the spring. The common name for the genus is grape hyacinth, but they should not be confused with hyacinths. A number of species of Muscari are used as ornamental garden plants.
Paepalanthus bromelioides is a species in the flowering plant family Eriocaulaceae. This family is placed in the Poales, close to the Bromeliaceae, whose morphology this genus shares. Paepalanthus bromelioides is native to Cerrado. There is some speculation that the occasional insects trapped in the urn of this plant are evidence of its being a carnivorous plant or protocarnivorous, possible deriving nutrients from termite mounds that termites frequently make in the plants' roots.
Actinocladum is a South American genus of bamboo in the grass family.
The Eriocaulaceae are a family of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the order Poales, commonly known as the pipewort family. The family is large, with about 1207 known species described in seven genera. They are widely distributed, with the centers of diversity for the group occurring in tropical regions, particularly the Americas. Very few species extend to temperate regions, with only 16 species in the United States, mostly in the southern states from California to Florida, only two species in Canada, and only one species in Europe. They tend to be associated with wet soils, many growing in shallow water. This is also reported from the southern part of India and the regions of Western Ghats hot spots.
Lanaria is a monotypic genus of flowering plants containing a single species, Lanaria lanata, endemic to the southern coast of South Africa where it is associated with the fynbos belt. Lanaria lanata is commonly known as Cape edelweiss or lambtails. The genus is placed in the monotypic family Lanariaceae, a family only recently recognized by taxonomists. The APG IV system of 2016 does recognize this family.
Coccothrinax is a genus of palms in the family Arecaceae. There are more than 50 species described in the genus, plus many synonyms and subspecies. A new species was described as recently as 2017. Many Coccothrinax produce thatch. In Spanish-speaking countries, guano is a common name applied to Coccothrinax palms. The species are native throughout the Caribbean, the Bahamas, extreme southern Florida and southeastern Mexico, but most of the species are known only from Cuba.
Daphniphyllum is the sole genus in the flowering plant family Daphniphyllaceae and was described as a genus in 1826. The genus includes evergreen shrubs and trees mainly native to east and southeast Asia, but also found in the Indian Subcontinent and New Guinea.
Latania, commonly known as latan palm or latania palm, is a genus of flowering plant in the palm tree family, native to the Mascarene Islands in the western Indian Ocean.
Tonina fluviatilis is a plant species in the Eriocaulaceae. It is the sole species in the monotypic genus Tonina, native to southern Mexico, Central America, northern South America, Cuba and Trinidad.
Kerriodoxa elegans, the white backed palm, is the only species of palm tree in the genus Kerriodoxa, in the family Arecaceae.
Butia paraguayensis is a species of Butia palm tree found in the cerrado region of South America. Its natural range runs from Mato Grosso do Sul and São Paulo in southern Brazil through Paraguay to northern Argentina and Uruguay. It was given the name dwarf yatay palm in English by 2000, and it is locally known as yata'i in Guaraní in Paraguay, or butiá-do-cerrado in Portuguese in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Ophiochloa is a genus of Brazilian plants in the grass family.
John Dransfield is an honorary research fellow and former head of palm research at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom, as well as being an authority on the phylogenetic classification of palms.
Actinocephalus is a genus of plants in the Eriocaulaceae, first described in 2004. The entire genus is endemic to Brazil. It was formerly regarded as part of the related genus Paepalanthus, but recent studies have suggested that the two groups are better separated.
Lachnocaulon (bogbutton) is a genus of plants in the Eriocaulaceae. It contains 7 known species, native to Cuba and to the southeastern United States.
Rondonanthus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Eriocaulaceae. It is endemic to northern South America.
Pseudolycopodium is a genus of lycophyte in the family Lycopodiaceae with only one species, Pseudolycopodium densum, known as the bushy clubmoss. In the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016, the genus is placed in the subfamily Lycopodioideae. Some sources do not recognize the genus, sinking it into Lycopodium. Pseudolycopodium densum is native to Australia, the North Island of New Zealand and New Caledonia. It is a spore-bearing vascular plant and grows up to a metre high. It is found in a wide variety of situations, often in high rainfall areas on sandy soils.
