Oregon State University, LANDSCAPE PLANTS, Vol. 2
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Landscape Plants
Images, Identification, and Information
Volume 2  Copyright ©, Oregon State University, 1999-2009 
      Trying to identify a woody plant?  See the new woody plant data base.

This is Volume 2 of Oregon State University's Landscape Plants web site.   Landscape plants (mostly woody, i.e., shrubs and trees) in this volume are listed in alphabetical order by genus, from F (Fagus) through O (Oxydendrum).  From the list below select a letter which corresponds to the first letter of the genus you wish to view or, if listed, the genus itself (or search the Common Name List).
First letter of genus (or a Genus itself)
Volume 1 A  Abies  Acer  Aesculus  Alnus  Amelanchier  Arbutus  Arctostaphylos  Aucuba
  B  Berberis  Betula  Buddleia  Buxus
  C  Calocedrus  Camellia  Carpinus  Castanea  Catalpa  Ceanothus  Cedrus  Cercis
  Chaenomeles  Chamaecyparis  Chionanthus  Cistus  Clematis  Cornus
  Corylus  Cotinus  Cotoneaster  Crataegus  Cupressus  Cytisus
  D  Daphne  Deutzia  E  Elaeagnus  Escallonia  Eucalyptus  Euonymus
 Volume 2
current		   F  Forsythia  Fraxinus  G  Gaultheria  Ginkgo  Gleditsia  Grevillea  Gymnocladus
  H  Hamamelis  Hebe  Hibiscus  Hydrangea  Hypericum
  I  Ilex  J  Juglans  Juniperus  K  Kerria  Koelreuteria
  L  Lagerstroemia  Larix  Ligustrum  Liquidambar  Liriodendron  Lonicera
  M  Magnolia  Mahonia  Malus  Myrica
  N  Nyssa  O  Osmanthus  Ostrya  Oxydendrum
 Volume 3
P  Parthenocissus  Philadelphus  Photinia  Physocarpus  Picea  Pinus
  Pittosporum  Platanus  Populus  Prunus  Pseudotsuga  Pyrus
  Q  Quercus  R  Rhaphiolepis  Rhododendron  Rhus  Ribes  Rosa  Rubus
  S  Sambucus  Sequoia  Sorbus  Spiraea  Stewartia  Syringa   T  Taxus  Thuja  Tilia  Tsuga
  U  Ulmus  V  Vaccinium  Viburnum  W  Y  Z  Zelkova
For a limited number of herbaceous annuals or perennials see:
 Volume 4  Herbaceous Ornamental Plants
Some additional items:
Fagus       Fagaceae
Beech       FA-gus
A genus of about 10 species of monoecious (male and female flowers borne on the same plant), deciduous trees with smooth bark and slender shoots.  Leaves are simple, alternate, 2-ranked, entire to dentate.  Flowers are small.  Fruit a stiff hairy capsule which splits into 4 sections to release 2, rarely 3, glossy tan-brown nuts.  Native northern temperate regions.  Only one species, F. sylvania, is widely grown outside of its native range.
Fagus: the Greek and Latin name for these trees.
  • Fagus grandifolia      [American Beech]      Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (leaves)  (leaves, comparison)  (leaf and margin (May), comparison)
          (male and female flowers)  (leaves and fruit)  (leaves and fruit)  (leaves, fall)
          (winter buds, comparison)  (trunk, bark)  (info)
  • Fagus sylvatica      [European Beech]      Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (leaves)  (leaves, comparison)  (leaf and margin, comparison)
          (male and female flowers)  (leaves, fruit and buds)  (leafy twig and fruit)  (branches, fall)
          (leaves, fall)  (plant habit (winter), trunk, bark)  (winter buds, comparison)  (info)

       Several selections of Fagus sylvatica:
      Fallopia japonica  [Japanese Knotweed, Mexican Bamboo]   see  Polygonum cuspidatum
    × Fatshedera       Araliaceae
    Fatshedera       fatz-HED-er-a
    A single intergeneric hybrid, the result of a cross between Fatsia japonica (Japanese Fatsia) and Hedera helix (English Ivy). (see below).
    Fatshedera: name derived from the two genera from which it was developed, namely Fatsia and Hedera.
  • × Fatshedera lizei      [Fatshedera]       Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (leaves)  (flower clusters)  (info)
    • Fatsia       Araliaceae
    Fatsia       FAT-see-a
    A genus of 3 species of evergreen shrubs or small trees with foliage crowed at the branch tips.  Leaves very large, leathery, palmately 7-11 lobes.  Flowers in terminal clusters, in umbels, some unisexual, 5 petals.  Native to eastern Asia, especially Japan, Taiwan.
    Fatsia: an adaptation of the Japanese name fatsi, for F. japonica.
  • Fatsia japonica      [Japanese Fatsia]     Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (leaves)  (leaf)  (leaves and flower cluster)  (flower cluster)  (info)
    • Feijoa       Myrtaceae
    Feijoa       fe-HO-a
    Two species of evergreen shrubs.  Leaves opposite.  Flowers solitary in leaf axils, 4 petals, many stamens.  Fruit an oblong berry, remnants of the calyx on the tip.
    Feijoa: after Don da Silva Feijoa, 19th-century Brazilian botanist..
  • Feijoa sellowiana    (syn. Acca sellowiana)     [Pineapple Guava, Feijoa]      Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (leaves)  (leaves, flower buds and flower)  (stem, bark)  (info)
    • Firmiana       Sterculiaceae
          fir-me-AH-na
    A genus of 9 species of shrubs and trees.  Leaves simple, alternate, margins entire or lobed, long petiole.  Flowers unisexual, 5-parted, in terminal or axillary clusters (panicles or racemes), calyx yellow, petals absent.  Fruit leaflike, leathery, dehiscing before mature, seed globose.  Native to east Asia and one species in east Africa.
    Firmiana: after Karl von Firmian, governor of Lombardy region of Italy and supporter of the botanic garden of Padua.
  • Firmiana simplex      [Chinese Parasol Tree]     Common Name List
          (expanding leaves, spring)  (plant habit, early summer and fall)  (leaves)
          (leaf)  (fruit)  (leaf, fall)  (trunk, bark)  (twig, bud, winter)  (info)
    Forsythia       Oleaceae
    Forsythia       for-SITH-ee-a
    About 6 species of deciduous shrubs, its branches are gold-green, have chambered pith or hollow, and covered with lenticels.  Leaves opposite, usually simple, serrate or entire.  Flowers are yellow and appear before leaves, corolla deeply divided into 4 parts, united as a short tube.  Native to central Europe and eastern Asia.
    Forsythia: after William Forsyth (1737-1804), Scottish gardener and writer, he became the superintendent of Royal Gardens, Kensington, Palace.
  • Forsythia × intermedia      [Border Forsythia]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, early spring flowering)  (older plant habit, flowering)  (flowering branches)
          (flowers)  (plant habit, winter, spring, and summer)  (leafy shoot)  (leaves)
          (plant habit, fall)  (leaves, fall)  (young stem)  (info)
  • Forsythia viridissima 'Bronxensis'    [Bronxensis Greenstem Forsythia]   Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (flowers)  (info)
    • Fothergilla       Hamamelidaceae
    Fothergilla, Witch Alder       foth-er-GIL-a
    A genus of two deciduous shrub species (F. gardenii and F. major) that are native to southeastern U.S.  Most noticeable in spring when their bottle brush-spike flower heads appear before the leaves.

           The two species are similar but Fothergilla major, relative to F gardenii, grows to a larger size, its flower spikes tend to be larger, its leaves are about 50 percent larger, and the toothing on the leaf margin near the tip is more pronounced.  In addition, F. major does not sucker, whereas F. gardenii is moderately suckering and can in time form small spreading colonies (Paul Cappiello, Bernheim Arboretum, Clermont, Kentucky).

    Fothergilla: after John Fothergill (1712-80), English physician and gardener with an interest in growing American plants.
  • Fothergilla gardenii      [Dwarf Fothergilla]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, spring)  (flowers, spring)  (plant habit, summer)  (leaves)  (plant habit, fall)
          (plant habit, fall (again))  (leaves, fall)  (info)


    •    A selection of Fothergilla gardenii:
  • Fothergilla major      [Large Fothergilla]     Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (plant habit, flowering)  (flowering branches)  (flowers)
          (flower head and expanding leaf)  (info)
    • Fouquieria       Fouquieriaceae
          fo-KAIR-e-a
    Some 11 species of succulent spiny shrubs to trees.  Leaves simple, alternate, blades deciduous, petioles becoming spines, also with secondary leaves.  Flowers showy, red, purple to creamy yellow or white, tubular or campanulate.  Fruit a capsule, about 2.5 cm long.  Native to Mexico and adjacent U.S. states; Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.
    Fouquieria: after P. E. Fouquier (1776-1850), a French physician and medical consultant.
  • Fouquieria splendens    [Ocotillo]      Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (stems)  (leaves and thorns)  (flowering, in habitat and landscape)  (flower clusters)
          (opening flower clusters)  (flower cluster)  (info)
    Fragaria       Rosaceae
    Strawberry       fra-GARE-ree-a
    About 12 species of highly stoloniferous perennial plants.  Leaves alternate, compound, 3 leaflets.  Flowers white, 5-8 petals, 10-30 stamens, 10-80 carpels.  Fruit many small, glabrous with achenes on the surface of an enlarged, fleshy receptacle.  Native to the northern temperate zones and Chile.
    Fragaria: from the Latin fragrans, fragrant, alluding to the aroma of the fruit.
  • Fragaria chiloensis    [Sand, Beach or Chilean Strawberry]  Native List   Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (plant habit)  (leaves, flowers and stolons)  (info)
    • Franklinia       Theaceae   (Camellia Family)
          frank-LIN-ee-a
    Most authorities (e.g., Krüssmann, G. 1976; Griffiths, 1994) describe Franklinia as a monotypic genus only containing Franklinia alatamaha (see below).  The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening (Huxley, A., 1992), describes the genus as containing about 70 species of deciduous or evergreen shrubs or small trees native to southeast Asia and, at one time, southeastern North America.
    Franklinia: after Benjamin Franklin (1706-90).
  • Franklinia alatamaha      [Franklin Tree]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, summer)  (plant habit, again)  (leaves and flower buds)  (leaves and flowers, Sept.)
          (flower)  (plant habit, flower and leaves, late fall)  (winter twig and buds)  (info)
    • Fraxinus       Oleaceae  (Olive Family)
    Ash       FRAKS-i-nus
    A genus of some 65 species of shrubs and trees, mostly deciduous and native to temperate regions.  Leaves are opposite and compound (pinnate).  Flowers are small, bisexual or unisexual, not ornamental, and appear before the leaves.  Fruit is a 1-seeded samara ("key") with a flattened, thin wing (reminiscent of a canoe paddle).  Females of some species bear numerous large clusters of fruit, sometimes considered unattractive and messy.  Native to temperate North America, Europe, and Asia, with a few found in the tropics.
    Fraxinus: the Latin name for the ash.
    Caution:  Fraxinus species native to North America are threatened by the emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) an Asian insect first discovered in Detroit, Michigan in 2002.  It has since spread to other parts of Michigan and Windsor, Ontario, Canada and several locations in Indiana and Ohio.
  • Fraxinus americana     [White Ash]     Common Name List
          (plant habit, summer)  (leaves)  (leaf)  (leaflet)  (plant habit, early fall)
          (plant habit, fall)  (leaf, fall)  (trunk, bark)  (dormant twig)  (info)


    •   A popular cultivar of Fraxinus americana:
       Fraxinus angustifolia ‘Raywood’   see  Fraxinus oxycarpa ‘Raywood’
  • Fraxinus excelsior     [Euopean or Common Ash]     Common Name List
          (plant habit, several trees)  (leafy shoots)  (leaf)  (leaflets, underside)
          (immature fruit cluster and fruit)  (trunk, bark)  (buds)  (info)


    •   A popular cultivar of Fraxinus excelsior in the North America:
  • Fraxinus latifolia   [Oregon Ash]   Native List  Common Name List
          (male flowers, spring)  (female flowers, spring)  (expanding leaf)  (developing fruit, spring)
          (plant habit)  (plant habit, woods and landscape)  (leaf)  (leaves and fruit)  (leaflets and twig)
          (plant habit, fall)  (leaves, fall)  (leaf, fall)  (trunk, bark)  (twigs, bark, winter)  (info)
  • Fraxinus ornus       [Flowering Ash]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering (spring) and fall)  (leaves and flower clusters)  (flower cluster and leaves)
          (flowers)  (plant habit, summer)  (leaves and fruit)  (leaves and fruit)  (plant habit, fall)  (leaves, fall)
          (trunk, bark)  (twig, buds, winter)  (info)
  • Fraxinus oxycarpa ‘Raywood’       [Raywood Ash, Claret Ash]      Common Name List
          (row of trees)  (plant habit)  (canopy, open)  (leaves)  (leafy shoot)
          (fruit clusters)  (plant habit, fall)  (foliage and leaf, fall)  (leaves, fall)
          (trunk, bark)  (opening male flower buds, early spring)  (info)
  • Fraxinus pennsylvanica       [Green Ash]      Common Name List
          (male flowers, spring)  (plant habit, summer)  (leaf)  (leaves)  (leaflets and twig)
          (fruit (seed) clusters and fruit)  (plant habit, early fall)  (leaflets, fall)  (trunk, bark)
          (twigs and buds, fall and winter)  (buds, winter)  (info)


    •   Two selections of Fraxinus pennsylvanica:
      Comparison of two popular Ash cultivars:
                      Fraxinus americana Autumn Purple® and Fraxinus pennsylvanica ‘Marshall’
                      (leaves, summer)  (leaflets, summer)  (leaflets, underside and margin)  (trees, fall)  (leaves, fall)
  • Fraxinus quadrangulata       [Blue Ash]     Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (leaf)  (leaf)  (leaflet, underside)  (trunk, bark)  (winter twigs, buds, stems)
          (info)
  • Fraxinus sieboldiana       [Siebold Ash]     Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (leaves)  (flower clusters and leaves)  (flower clusters)  (info)
    Fremontodendron       Sterculiaceae
    Flannel Bush, Fremontia       free-mont-o-DEN-dron
    Two, or possibly three, species (F. californicum, F. mexicanum, and possibly F. decumbens) of more or less broad-leaved evergreen shrubs and trees.  Leaves alternate, unlobed or palmately 3-, 5-, or 7-lobed.  Flowers solitary, showy, calyx petaloid, 5-lobed, 3 bract at the base of the calyx, petals absent.  Native to Arizona, California and Mexico.
    Fremontodendron: after Major-General John C. Fremont, American explorer and plant collector in the western U.S.
  • Fremontodendron ssp.       [Flannel Bush]     Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (plant habit, flowering)  (flowering shoots)  (leaves and flower)
          (flower)  (trunk, bark)  (info)
    • Fuchsia       Onagraceae
    Fuchsia, Lady's Eardrops       FU-shah, fu-SHI-a, fu-K-si-a
    A genus of over 100 species of erect, procumbent, climbing shrubs, as well as epiphytes and small to medium trees.  Underground parts are sometimes tuberous or with swollen stems.  Leaves alternate, opposite or in whorls.  Flowers are mono or bisexual, on slender pedicels (stalks), often pendulous, perianth (calyx + corolla) tubular with a nectary at the base, 4 sepals spreading to recurved, 4 petals or absent, rolled together or spreading, 8 stamens in 2 unequal ranks.  Native to Central and South America, including Mexico and Tierra del Fuego, and New Zealand and Tahiti.  Most fuchsia cultivars are he result of breeding between many different species.
    Fuchsia: after Leonhart Fuchs, (1501-1566), German physician and herbalist.
  • Fuchsia magellanica       [Magellan Fuchsia, Hardy Fuchsia]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, summer)  (flowering branches)  (leaves)  (flowers)  (info)
    Garden Art  (courtesy of Associated Plumbers)
    Garrya       Garryaceae
    Silktassel, Tasseltree       GAR-i-a
    About 18 species of evergreen trees or shrubs, dioecious, branches usually ascending, 4-sided at first, pubescent when young.  Leaves opposite, simple, leathery, entire, short petiole.  Small flowers in pendulous female and male catkins.  Fruit is a round, leathery, dry, 2-seeded berry.
    Garrya: after Nicholas Garry (d. 1830) of the Hudson Bay Company, who helped David Douglas on this plant collecting trips to the Pacific Northwest.
  • Garrya elliptica    [Wavyleaf Silktassel, Coast Silktassel]  Native List  Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (male catkins and leaves)  (plant habit, after flowering)
          (leaves)  (leaves)  (leaves, comparison)  (info)
  • Garrya flavescens   [Yellowleaf Silktassel, Ash Silktassel]    Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (leaves)  (leaf)  (info)
  • Garrya fremontii    [Fremont Silktassel]  Native List  Common Name List
          (leaves and catkins, winter)  (shoots, leaves, catkins, early spring)  (plant habit and catkins)
          (branches)  (leafy shoot)  (leaves, comparison)  (plant habit, fruiting, and fruit cluster)
          (plant habit, fruiting, and ripe fruit cluster);  (info)
    Gaultheria       Ericaceae
          gawl-THEE-ree-a
    Some 170 species of evergreen, sometimes deciduous, shrubs, often spreading by underground stems.  Leaves simple, alternate, with a short petiole.  Flowers white, urn-shaped, usually appear in late spring or early summer.  Fruit is a capsule, often enclosed by a fleshy colored calyx.  Native to North and South America, West Indies, and Japan to Australia.
    Gaultheria: after Jean-François Gaulthier (1708-1758), botanist and physician of Quebec.
  • Gaultheria miqueliana      [Miquel's Spicywintergreen]   Common Name List
          (plant habit, summer flowering)  (plant habit, summer flowering)  (leaves and fruit)  (fruit cluster)  (info)
  • Gaultheria mucronata    (syn. Pernettya mucronata)   [Chilean Pernettya]   Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (flowers)  (fruit and leaves)  (info)


    •   A cultivar of Gaultheria mucronata:
  • Gaultheria procumbens       [Wintergreen]      Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (leaves)  (flowers and leaves)  (leaves and fruit, fall)  (fruit and leaves)  (info)
  • Gaultheria shallon    [Salal]  Native List  Common Name List
          (plant habit, spring)  (plant habit, late spring flowering)  (leaves)  (flowers)
          (plant habit, summer)  (shoot)  (plant habit, fruiting)  (ripening fruit)
          (fruit cluster and fruit)  (info)
  • Gaultheria tetramera         
          (plant habit, fruiting)  (leaves and fruit)  (leaves)  (fruit cluster)  (info)
    • Genista        Fabaceae, Leguminosae
    Broom, Woadwaxin       je-NIS-ta
    About 90 species of shrubs, often prostrate, and small trees, mostly deciduous, but may appear evergreen because of green, flattened branchlets.  Leaves simple to trifoliate, sometimes absent.  Flowers usually yellow and the fruit an elliptic, flat capsule, with 2 chambers, containing small winged seeds.  Native to Europe, Mediterranean to western Asia.
    Genista: classical Latin name for broom, used by Virgil.
  • Genista lydia       [Lydia Broom]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (flowering shoots)  (emerging shoots)  (info)
  • Genista pilosa       [Silkyleaf Woadwaxen, Silkyleaf Broom]     Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (flowers and leaves)  (plant habit, summer)  (leaves)
          (fruit and leaves)  (info)
    • Ginkgo       Ginkgoaceae
    Ginkgo       GINK-go
    A single species, a deciduous tree (Ginkgo biloba).  Based on fossil evidence, this species has existed almost unchanged for over 200 million years.  Native to China, and currently found wild in two locations.
    Ginkgo: from the Chinese yin-kuo, silver apricot, apparently from the Japanese pronunciation, ginko.
  • Ginkgo biloba      [Ginkgo, Maidenhair Tree]      Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (plant habit, open)  (emerging leaves)  (leafy shoot)  (leaf)  (leaves and fruit)
          (plant habit, fall)  (plant habit, fall)  (leaves and fruit, fall)  (ripe fruit)  (ripe fruit and seed)
          (plant habit, winter)  (trunk, bark)  (winter twigs, buds)  (info)
    • Gleditsia       Fabaceae, Leguminosae
    Honeylocust       gle-DITS-ee-a
    About 14 species of deciduous trees, usually with simple or branched thorns on the branches and trunks.  Leaves alternate, compound (pinnate or bipinnate), with as many as 30 leaflets.  Flowers small, green-white, perfect of unisexual, in axillary clusters (racemes).  Fruit oblong, flat to nearly cylindrical, with many rounded seeds.  Native to eastern Asia, North and South America, tropical Africa, and Iran.
    Gleditsia: after German botanist Gottlieb Gleditsch (1714-1786), director of the Berlin Botanical Garden and friend of Linnaeus.
  • Gleditsia macracantha            
          (plant habit)  (leaves)  (trunk, bark and thorns)  (info)
  • Gleditsia triacanthos      [Honeylocust]       Common Name List     
          (thorns on trunk)  (thorns on branches)  (info)

       A thornless form is more commonly used in landscapes:
    Grevillea       Proteaceae
    Spider Flower       gre-VIL-le-a
    Some 250 species of evergreen shrubs and trees.  Leaves alternate, often toothed or lobed.  Flower clusters terminal, flowers paired, tubular, subtended by a bract; often rich in nectar.  Hardiness varies, but generally rather tender, some tolerate frost.  A large number of hybrids and other garden forms (see the Sunset Western Garden Book for those available in California and southwestern U.S.).  Native to Australia.
    Grevillea: After Charles F. Greville (1749-1809), co-founder of the Royal Horticultural Society and once vice-president of the Royal Society of London.
  • Grevillea lanigera      [Woolly Grevillea]     Common Name List
          (info)


    •   A cultivar of Grevillea lanigera:
  • Grevillea rosmarinifolia      [Rosemary Grevillea]     Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (flower clusters and leaves)  (flower cluster and leaves)  (info)
  • Grevillea victoriae      [Royal Grevillea]     Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (leafy shoots)  (leaf)  (flower cluster, opening)
          (flower cluster)  (info)
    • Gymnocladus       Fabaceae, Leguminosae
           jim-NOK-ladus
    Five species of deciduous trees with thick, knotty, branches.  Leaves alternate, large, compound (bipinnate), leaflets ovate and thin.  Flowers green-white, in short clusters, calyx 5-lobed, 5 equal, oblong petals, 10 stamens.  Fruit oblong, ultimately woody, seeds flat and hard.  Native to the U.S. and China.
    Gymnocladus: from the Greek, gymnos, naked, and klados, branch, referring to its deciduous habit in which its stout branches are devoid of foliage for nearly half the year.
  • Gymnocladus dioica   (syn. G. dioicus)   [Kentucky Coffeetree]      Common Name List
          (emerging leaves)  (plant habit, summer)  (leaves)  (leaf)  (flower clusters)  (flowers)
          (plant habit, fruiting)  (leaves and fruit)  (plant habit and leaves, fall)  (plant habit and fruit, winter)
          (mature fruit and seed)  (trunks, young trees)  (trunk, bark)  (twig and buds, winter)  (buds, winter)
          (info)
    •           Trouble in the woods!
    Hakea       Proteaceae
    Pincushion Tree       HAK-ee-a
    About 110 species of shrubs and small trees.  Leaves alternate, leathery, often linear and needle-like, some are toothed and lobed.  Flowers in short axillary clusters, flowers-paired and subtended by a common bract, often with brightly colored protruding styles; often rich in nectar.  Fruit is a woody capsule containing two seeds.
    Hakea: for Baron Christian Ludwig von Hake (1745-1818), German patron of botany.
  • Hakea microcarpa       [Small-fruited Hakea]    Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (branches and leaves)  (leaves)  (info)
    Halesia       Styracaceae
    Silverbell       ha-LE-zhi-a
    Only 4-5 species of deciduous shrubs or small trees, branches cylindrical (round in cross section).  Leaves alternate, simple, thin petioles with stellate pubescence.  Flowers in axillary clusters, white, rarely pale rose, pendulous, corolla 4-parted or 4 lobed.  Fruit a dry oblong drupe with 2 or 4 longitudinal wings.  Native to eastern North America and China (1 species).
    Halesia: after Stephan H. Hales (1677-1761), English minister-naturalist, author of Vegetable Staticks; he surmised that plants obtain part of their nutrition from the air and that sunlight may play a role in "ennobling the priciples of vegetables."
  • Halesia tetraptera   (Halesia carolina)    [(Carolina) Silverbell]    Common Name List
          (plant habit, spring flowering)  (flowers and fruit)  (leaves)  (developing fruit)  (info)


    •    The following is now included in Halesia tetraptera, formely it was considered separate:
    Hamamelis       Hamamelidaceae
    Witchhazel       ham-a-MAY-lis
    Five species of deciduous shrubs or small trees; branches and buds with stellate pubescence.  Leaves resemble those of Corylus, simple, alternate, ovate to obovate, margins toothed, and base oblique, petioles short, large stipules.  Flowers appear in short, axillary clusters at or after leaf fall or before new growth in spring, fragrant, calyx 4-lobed and persistent, 4 petals, linear and crumpled in the bud, to 2 cm, mostly yellow, but also red and orange.  Fruit 2-parted, with 2 black seeds that are explosively released when ripe.  Native to North America, Europe and Asia.
    Hamamelis: from the Greek for pear-shaped fruit, but apparently applied to a different plant.
  • Hamamelis × intermedia       [Witchhazel (hybrid)]     Common Name List
         (plant habit, summer)  (leaves, summer)  (plant habit, fall)  (leaves, fall)  (buds, fall)
          (buds and fruit)  (plant habit, winter)  (flowers, winter)  (info)


    •   Several cultivars of Hamamelis × intermedia:
  • Hamamelis virginiana      [Common Witchhazel]       Common Name List
          (plant habit, summer)  (leafy shoot)  (leaves)  (plant habit, fall)  (leaves and flowers, fall)
          (plant habit, flowering, late fall)  (flowers)  (fruit and flowers)  (trunk, bark)  (info)
    • Hebe       Scrophulariaceae
    Hebe       HEE-be
    About 75 species of evergreen shrubs, or even small trees.  Leaves opposite, 2-ranked or decussate (leaf pairs at right angle to the pair above and below), rounded to lanceolate, short petiole or sessile, often somewhat fleshy or scale-like and closely appressed (superficially resembling a dwarf conifer in appearance, these are known as whipcord hebes).  Flowers in axillary or subterminal clusters, white to pink, mauve to lilac or blue, corolla short-tubular, limb expaned, 4-lobed; 2 stamens protruding beyond the corolla (exserted).   Most Hebe species are native to New Zealand, some are from Australia, Chile and isolated sites in the South Pacific.
          The classification of members of this genus is confused and confusing and Phillips and Barber (1981, p.154) have expressed this as followes: "Hebe was herself a goddess, but she was also a handmaid to the senior gods, whose goblets she was required to keep filled with nectar.  She seems to have been a bit of a tippler herself, for the plants she has godmothered are a pretty mixed up lot.  Their morals in their antipodean settlements are decidedly promiscuous and even the botanists of New Zealand, where most of them dwell, are puzzled about their lineages."
    Hebe: from the Greek hebe, youth.
  • Hebe ‘Emerald Gem’      [Emerald Gem Hebe, Green Globe Hebe]      Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (shoots, leaves)  (info)
  • Hebe ‘Hinerua’      [Hinerua Hebe]      Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (shoots, leaves)  (info)
  • Hebe ‘Karo Golden Esk’      [Karo Golden Esk Hebe]      Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (shoots, leaves)  (info)
  • Hebe ‘Patty's Purple’      [Patty's Purple Boxleaf Hebe, Patty's Purple Veronica]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (leaves)  (flowers)  (shoots, "portrait")  (info)
  • Hebe pinguifolia ‘Pagei’       [Pagei Hebe]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (flowers)  (leaves)  (info)
  • Hebe traversii       [Traversii Hebe]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (leaves and flowers)  (flowers)  (leaves and fruit)  (info)
  • Hebe ‘Wiri Joy’      [Wiri Joy Hebe]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (flower clusters and leaves)  (info)
    Hedera       Araliaceae
    Ivy       HED-er-a
    About 11 species of woody, evergreen, climbing or creeping plants, with distinct juvenile (sterile) and arborescent (mature, fertile) stages.  In the juvenile climbing stage plants are supported by aerial rootlets.  Leaves alternate, simple, sometimes lobed in the juvenile stage, more nearly entire in the arborescent stage, all leaves glabrous, frequently glossy.  Flowers perfect, in globose clusters, yellow-green, calyx 5-lobed, 5 stamens, alternate with petals.  Fruit 3-5 seeded, black to yellow berry.  Native to Europe, northern Africa, and Asia.
    Hedera: the Latin name for the plant.
  • Hedera helix     [English Ivy]      Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (juvenile form)  (adult form)  (adult and juvenile forms)  (adult, flowering and flowers)
          (plant habit, fruiting adult )  (flowers and developing fruit)  (info)
    Heptacodium       Caprifoliaceae
          hep-tuh-KOH-dee-um
    A single species in this genus (see below)
    Heptacodium: hepta seven, codium, heads; a reference to the seven flowers per whorl.
  • Heptacodium miconioides     [Seven Son Flower]      Common Name List
          (leaves, expanding, spring)  (mature leaves and flower buds)  (plant habit, flowering late summer)
          (leaves and flowers)  (flowers)  (flowers and red sepals)  (plant habit, fall)  (branch, bark)  (info)
    • Hibiscus       Malvaceae
    Mallow, Rose Mallow, Giant Mallow       hi-BIS-kus
    Some 200 or more species of shrubs and trees, as well as annuals, herbaceous perennials, and subshrubs.  Leaves alternate, palmately veined, with short petioles.  Flowers usually solitary and axillary, corolla broad campanulate, 5 petals, yellow, lavender, red, and other colors, often with a basal purple spot.  Fruit is a capsule, ovoid or oblong, 5-seeded.  Native to tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate regions.
    Hibiscus: the Greek name for mallow.
  • Hibiscus syriacus      [Rose of Sharon, Shrub Althea]      Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (plant habit, flowering)  (leaves)  (flower)  (flowers)  (flowers, double)
          (plant habit, fall)  (fruit and seeds)  (info)


    •     A few cultivars of Hibiscus syriacus:
    Holodiscus       Rosaceae
          ho-lo-DIS-kus
    Eight species of deciduous shrubs.  Leaves alternate, simple, pinnately lobed, dentate, tomentose.  Flowers small, numerous, usually in large, pendulous clusters (panciles), 5 petals, rounded, 20 stamens.  Fruit made up of 5 indehiscent achenes, 1-2 seeded.  Native to western North America to Columbia.
    Holodiscus: from the Green holo, whole; discus, disc, refers to the unlobed disc lining the hypanthium (cup around the ovary).
  • Holodiscus discolor    [Oceanspray]  Native List  Common Name List
          (plant habit, in the forest)  (plant habit, in landscape)  (flowers and leaves)  (leaves)
          (leaves)  (flower cluster)  (plant habit, Sept.)  (info)
    • Hovenia       Rhamnaceae
          ho-VE-ni-a
    Two species of woody, deciduous shrubs or trees.  Leaves alternate, simple, 3-veined from base, margin toothed or rarely entire.  Flowers 5 calyx lobes, 5 petals, white, very small and very concave, enclosing the 5 stamens.  Fruit 3 chambered, berrylike.  Native to Eastern and southern Asia.
    Hovenia: for David Hoven, an Amsterdam senator.
  • Hovenia dulcis      [Raisintree, Japanese Raisintree]      Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (leafy shoot)  (leaf)  (leaves and flower clusters)
          (flowers)  (leaves and fruit)  (trunk, bark)  (info)
    • Hydrangea       Hydrangeaceae
    Hydrangea       hi-DRAN-je-a
    About 100 species of evergreen or deciduous shrubs, also small trees or climbers, often with exfoliating bark when mature.  Leaves simple, opposite or in whorls of 3, usually rounded-ovate, entire or toothed.  Fertile flowers are rather inconspicuous, in contrast to showy infertile flowers which are usually arranged on the outer ring of the cluster (corymb or panicle).  Fertile flowers are bisexual with 4-5 sepals, 4-5 petals, small, white, blue, or pink.  The conspicuous part of infertile flowers is often enlarged, colored, petal-like sepals, true petals may be much reduced or absent.  Fruit is a many seeded capsule.  Native to China, Japan, and Himalaya, Philippines, Indonesia, and North and South America.
    Hydrangea: from Greek hydor, water. and aggeion, vessel; a reference to the cup-shaped fruit.
  • Hydrangea anomala var. petiolaris      [Climbing Hydrangea]     Common Name List
          (plant habit, before and at flowering)  (plant habit, flowering)  (flower clusters and leaves)
          (leaves)  (buds, winter)  (info)
  • Hydrangea paniculata       [Panicle Hydrangea]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (flower cluster)  (info)
  • Hydrangea quercifolia       [Oakleaf Hydrangea]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (plant habit, flowering)  (leaves)
          (leaves and immature flower clusters)  (flower clusters and leaves)
          (flowers)  (plant habit, after flowering)  (flowers clusters after bloom)
          (leaves and flowers, fall)  (bark)  (info)
    • Hypericum       Guttiferae, Hypericaceae
          hi-PER-i-kum
    A large and diverse genus, over 400 species, consisting of herbs, subshrubs, shrubs, and small trees, either evergreen or deciduous, the stems have pale or dark glands.  Leaves are opposite or in whorls, usually entire or sometime fringed with glands, short petioles.  Flowers solitary or in terminal or axillary clusters, bisexual, 5-parted calyx and corolla, petals yellow, numerous stamens in 5, rarely 4, equal bundles.  Fruit is usually a 3-5-celled capsule.  Found mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, only a few species are woody shrubs.
    Hypericum: the Greek name, apparently from Greek, hyper, above, and eikon, a picture, it was hung above pictures to ward off evil spirits.
  • Hypericum androsaemum      [Tutsan]       Common Name List
          (plant habit, fruiting)  (shoots, fruiting)  (flower, developing fruit, and leaves)
          (ripening fruit)  (info)
  • Hypericum calycinum      [Creeping St. John’s Wort, Aaron’s Beard]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (leaves and flower)  (flower)  (flower, comparison with H. 'Hidcote')
          (plant habit, after flowering)  (shoot)  (leaf, comparison with H. 'Hidcote')  (plant habit, fall)
          (winter, cold damage)  (info)
  • Hypericum ‘Hidcote’      [Hidcote Hypericum]     Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (flower and leaves)  (leaves)  (flower and leaves)  (flower)
          (flower, comparison with H. calycinum)  (leaves, comparison with H. calycinum)
          (info)
  • Hypericum kouytchense      [Kouytchense Hypericum]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (flower)  (info)
    • Iberis       Cruciferae
    Candytuft       i-BEE-ris
    About 30 species of low growing annuals, perennials, and subshrubs.  Leaves simple, alternate, linear or obovate.  Flowers in clusters (raceme or corymb), each with 4 sepals, 4 petals, outer ones larger than inner petals, white or purple.  Fruit broad, pod-like, often winged.
    Iberis: from Iberia, Spain, source of most species.
  • Iberis sempervirens      [Evergreen Candytuft]       Common Name List
          (leaves)  (flowers opening)  (plant habit, flowering)  (flowers)  (flowering)
          (plant habit, after flowering)  (info)
    • Idesia       Flacourtiaceae
    Iigiri, Ligiri, Wonder Tree       i-DE-ze-a
    A single species in this genus (see below). Idesia: after Eberhard Ysbrant Ides, a Dutch traveler in China (1691-95).
  • Idesia polycarpa      [Iigiri, Ligiri, Wonder Tree]       Common Name List
          (leaf blade)  (flowers,fruit, early July)  (winter twig, bud)  (info)
    • Ilex       Aquifoliaceae
    Holly       I-leks
    Over 400 species of deciduous and evergreen shrubs, trees, and climbers, even some epiphytes.  Leaves simple, alternate, rarely opposite, margins spiny, serrate, or entire; stipules present.  Flowers usually dioecious, small, axillary, solitary or in small clusters, 4-8 sepals fused at base, 3-8 petals fused at base, 4-8 stamens.  Fruit a berry.  Found most places, except in western North America and Australia.
    Ilex: from a similarity to the leaves of the evergreen oak, Quercus ilex.
  • Ilex aquifolium      [English Holly]     Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (leaves, "portrait")  (flowers, female and male)  (leaves and immature fruit)
          (fruiting branch,"portrait" )  (info)
  • Ilex cornuta      [Chinese Holly]     Common Name List
          (plant habit, sheared, flowering)  (plant habit, bonsai, flowering)  (flowers)  (info)

      Two cultivars of Ilex cornuta:
  • Ilex crenata       [Japanese Holly]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, hedge)  (shoot and leaves, "portrait")  (leaves, "enlarged portrait")
          (leafy shoots, comparison")  (info)


    •   A few cultivars of Ilex crenata:
  • Ilex glabra      [Inkberry, Gallberry]      Common Name List
          (info)

      A popular cultivar of Ilex glabra:
  • Ilex latifolia      [Lusterleaf Holly]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, fruiting)  (leaves and fruit)  (shoot)  (leaves)  (info)
  • Ilex × meserveae       [Meserve Hybrid Holly]      Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (branch with snow)  (leaves and fruit)  (stem and leaves)
          (leaves and fruit, "portrait")  (info)
  • Ilex verticillata      [Winterberrry, Winterberry Holly, Michigan Holly]     Common Name List
          (plant habit, summer)  (leaves)  (leaves and fruit, late summer)  (plant habit, fall fruiting)
          (fruiting branches)  (fruit)  (plant habit, late winter)  (info)


    •   A selection of Ilex verticillata:
    Illicium       Illiciaceae
    Anise Tree       i-LISS-i-um, il-LIK-ee-um
    About 40 species of broadleaf evergreen shrubs or trees, found in warm-temperature or subtropical regions.  Leaves alternate, simple, leathery, margin entire.  Flowers perfect, axillary, solitary, 3-6 sepals, petaloid, many petals.  Fruit star-shaped, a whorl of 1-seeded follicles, finally dehiscent.  Mostly native to southeast Asia, but two species in the US (I. floridanum and I. parviflorum).
    Illicium: from illicio, to attract, a reference to the fragrance.
  • Illicium floridanum      [Florida Anise Tree]      Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (leaves)  (info)
    • Itea       Grossulariaceae, Iteaceae
          i-TE-a
    About 10 species of evergreen and deciduous shrubs and trees; branches have chambered pith.  Leaves alternate, simple, dentate.  Flowers white, cream, or green-white, small, many per cluster (raceme or spike), 5 petals, 5 stamens.  Fruit, capsule, many seeded.  Native to northeastern Asia and eastern North America.
    Itea: Greek name for willow, a reference to the somewhat willow-like pendulous catkins.
  • Itea virginica       [Sweetspire, Virginia Sweetspire]      Common Name List
          (leaves, comparison)  (info)


    •   Two selection of Itea virginica:
    Jasminum       Oleaceae
          JAS-mi-num
    About 200 species of deciduous or evergreen upright, climbing or twining shrubs, branches angular or cylindrical, sometimes with green bark.  Leaves opposite or alternate, odd pinnate or reduced to only 1 leaflet.  Flowers yellow, white or red, fragrant, in terminal or axillary clusters at branch tips, corolla with a narrow tube, 4-9 lobes, 2 stamens.  Fruit a dark berry.  Found in the tropics and subtropics, one species in the U.S.
    Jasminum: a Latinized form of yasmin, the Persian name of the plant.
  • Jasminum mesnya   (syn. Jasminum primulinum)   [Primrose Jasmine]     Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (flowers)  (leaves)  (info)
  • Jasminum nudiflorum      [Winter Jasmine]     Common Name List
          (flowering habit and branches, winter)  (rounded shrub, winter)  (flowering branches, winter)
          (flowers)  (plant habit, summer)  (shoots and leaves)  (info)
  • Jasminum polyanthum      [Pink Jasmine]     Common Name List
          (flowers and leaves)  (leaf)  (flowers)  (info)
    • Juglans       Juglandaceae
    Walnut       JU-glanz
    Some 15 species of deciduous, monecious trees, rarely shrubs; branches have chambered pith.  Leaves alternate, compound (odd-pinnate), leaflets serrate or entire, aromatic.  Male flowers in axillary, long, pendulous, many flowered catkins and female flowers in few flowered, terminal spikes.  Fruit (nut) is a drupe, in an indehiscent, thick pericarp; the inner shell is hard and furrowed, the seed is furrowed, edible.  Native to North and South America, southeaster Europe, Asia.
    Juglans: from the Latin Jovi glans, from jovis, of Jupiter, and glans, acorn or nut.
  • Juglans ailantifolia      [Japanese Walnut]     Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (leafy branches)  (leaves)  (trunks, bark)  (info)
  • Juglans californica      [Southern California or California Walnut]     Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (leaves)  (leaf)  (info)
  • Juglans microcarpa      [Texas or Little Walnut]     Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (plant habit, young tree)  (leaves)  (leaves)  (leaf)
          (fruit and leaflets)  (winter twig, buds)  (info)
  • Juglans nigra      [Black Walnut]     Common Name List
          (plant habit, winter and summer)  (leaves)  (leaf)  (leaflets)  (leaf, comparison)  (male catkins, flowers)
          (female flowers)  (developing fruit)  (leaves and fruit)  (plant habit, fall)  (leaves and fruit, fall)
          (fruit and nut, fall)  (plant habit, winter)  (trunk, bark)  (winter twigs and buds)  (info)
  • Juglans regia       [English or Persian Walnut]      Common Name List
          (male catkins and female flowers)  (plant habit, summer)  (leafy branches)
          (developing fruit and leaves)  (leaves)  (plant habit, fall)  (leaves, fall)  (fruit and nut, fall)
          (trunk, bark)  (info)
  • Predator of Juglans nigra and Juglans regia fruit.
    • Juniperus            Cupressaceae
    Juniper                 ju-NIP-er-us
    Conifer, evergreen, trees or shrubs, wide variation in growth habit.  Bark of truck and main branches usually thin, shredding.  Leaves, opposite, needle-like or scale-like, always needle-like on young plants, mature plants may have both leaf forms.  Berry-like cones, maturing to a dark blue or bluish-black, ripening in second or third year.  They are some of the toughest evergreen landscape plants, and because of this they are often overused.
  • Juniperus cedrus        [Canary Island Juniper]     Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (branchlets)  (needles (leaves))  (info)
  • Juniperus chinensis       [Chinese Juniper]     Common Name List
          (plant habit and trunk, bark)  (plant habit, very old tree)  (trunk of very old tree)  (info)

      Some cultivars of Juniperus chinensis:
  • Juniperus communis   [Common Juniper]  Native List   Common Name List
          (prostrate habit in native habitat)  (plant habit, prostrate)  (plant habit, semi-upright)
          (plant habit, upright)  (leaves (needles))  (branches, needles, "portrait")  (info)


    •   Some cultivars of Juniperus communis:
  • Juniperus conferta       [Shore Juniper]      Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (plant habit)  (branch)  (branchlets)  (branchlets and fruit)
          (needles)  (branch, comparison with J. procumbens ‘Nana’)  (info)
  • Juniperus deppeana       [Alligator Juniper]      Common Name List
          (in habitat)  (in a landscape)  (branchlet and leaves)  (fruit)  (trunk, bark)  (info)
  • Juniperus ‘Grey Owl’        [Grey Owl Juniper]      Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (branches, needles)  (info)
  • Juniperus horizontalis       [Creeping Juniper]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, in habitat)  (plant habit, several cultivars)  (plant habit, separate plants)
          (elongating branches)  (branchlets with fruit)  (plant habit, winter)
          (branches, winter)  (info)
  • Juniperus monosperma       [Oneseed Juniper]     Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (branchlets, leaves)  (info)
  • (Juniperus Monster)    [Juniper Monster]     
  • Juniperus occidentalis    [Western Juniper]  Native List  Common Name List
          (in habitat)  (in habitat)  (plant habit)  (branchlets, spring)  (branchlets)  (branchlets, leaves)
          (branches, branchlets and fruit, fall)  (branchlets, leaves and fruit, fall)
          (young stem and trunk, bark)  (info)
  • J. × pfitzeriana ‘Wilhelm Pfitzer’   see Juniperus chinensis ‘Pfitzeriana’
  • Juniperus pingii        [Ping Juniper]      Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (branchlets)  (info)
  • Juniperus procumbens       [Japanese Garden Juniper]     Common Name List
          (info)

      The most common cultivar of Juniperus procumbens:
  • Juniperus sabina       [Savin Juniper]     Common Name List
          (info)

      A common cultivar of Juniperus sabina:
  • Juniperus scopulorum       [Rocky Mountain Juniper]  Native List   Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (branchlets)  (info)

      A few selections of Juniperus scopularum:
  • Juniperus squamata ‘Blue Star’      [Blue Star Singleseeded Juniper]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, several plants)  (plant habit)  (branchlets)  (branchlets)  (info)
  • Juniperus virginiana       [Eastern Redcedar]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, summer and winter)  (informal hedge)  (plant habit, container grown)
          (branch with fruit)  (fruit and branchlets)  (branchlets)  (leaves, male cones)
          (row of trees, winter)  (branchlets, winter)  (bark, trunk)  (info)
    • Kalmia       Ericaceae
          KAL-mee-a
    Seven species of evergreen or deciduous shrubs.  Leaves opposite, alternate, or in whorls, entire, leathery, occasionally sessile.  Flowers in terminal or axillary clusters, corolla is 5-lobed, pleated with 10 pouches, 10 stamens with an anther in each pouch.  Native to North America and Cuba.  There are two species native to the Pacific Northwest, the Bog Laurels, K. occidentalis and K. microphylla (syn. K. polifolia var. microphylla), which are low shrublets.
    Kalmia: after Peter Kalmia, Finnish student of Linnaeus.
  • Kalmia latifolia      [Mountain-laurel]       Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (flower buds and leaves)  (flowers)  (flowers, close-up)
          (shoot)  (leaves)  (leaves and fruit)  (info)
    • Kerria       Rosaceae
    Japanese Kerria, Japanese Rose       KER-e-a
    A single species in this genus (see below).
    Kerria: after William Kerr (died 1814), a gardener at Kew, who collected in East Asia.
  • Kerria japonica      [Japanese Kerria, Japanese Rose]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (flowers)  (info)
    • Kniphofia       Liliaceae
          nee-FOF-ee-a
    Nearly 70 species on perennials with short thick rhizomes forming large clumps or a few crowns from which arise linear grass-like leaves.  Form an erect scape (leafless flower stalk or peduncle) which carries a dense or lax flower cluster (raceme) on its apical quarter.  The tubular flowers range from white, yellow, green, orange, to bright red.
    Native to South Africa, mountains of east Africa, tropical Africa, Ethiopia, Madagascar and Yemen.
  • Kniphofia uvaria      [Red-hot Poker, Torchlily]       Common Name List
            (plant habit, flowering)  (flower clusters)  (info)
    • Koelreuteria       Sapindaceae
    Golden Raintree       kol-ru-TEE-ri-a
    Three species of flat topped, spreading, deciduous trees or shrubs.  Leaves alternate, simple or bipinnate.  Flowers yellow in large terminal clusters.  Fruit is a bladder-like inflated capsule.
    Native to China and Taiwan.
    Koelreuteria: after Joseph Gottlieb Koelreuter (1733-1806), German professor of botany.
  • Koelreuteria paniculata      [Golden Raintree]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, spring)  (young leaves)  (mature leaf)  (plant habit, flowering)  (plant habit, flowering)
          (plant habit, flowering)  (flower cluster, flower)  (flowers)  (plant habit, summer)  (mature fruit)
          (leaves, flowers and fruit)  (mature fruit)  (plant habit and leaves, fall)  (leaflets, fall)  (trunk, bark)
          (plant habit, winter)  (winter twigs and buds)  (info)


    •   An upright cultivar of Koelreuteria paniculata:
    Kolkwitzia       Caprifoliacease
    Beautybush       kolk-WIT-ze-a
    Only a single species in this genus (see below).
  • Kolkwitzia amabalis       [Beautybush]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (flowering, young and old plant)  (leafy shoot)  (flowers)
          (flower cluster)  (flowers, comparison)  (cluster remnants, late summer)
          (young shoot, comparison)  (leaves, fall)  (info)
    • Laburnum       Fabaceae
    Goldenchain Tree       la-BER-num
    Two species (L. alpinum and L. anagyroides) of deciduous shrubs or small trees with green bark.  Leaves alternate, compound (3-parted), leaflet nearly sessile (attached directly, without supporting stalk).  Flowers yellow in simple, terminal clusters (racemes).  Fruit is a several seeded pod.  Native to southern Europe and Asia Minor.
    Laburnum: the Latin name.
  • Laburnum × watereri      [Goldenchain Tree]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, spring flowering)  (flower cluster development)  (flower clusters)
          (leaves and flowers)  (fruit development)  (plant habit, flowering and fruiting)
          (leaves and fruit)  (plant habit, fall)  (trunk, bark)  (info)
    • Lagerstroemia       Lythraceae
    Crape Myrtle, Crepe Myrtle       la-ger-STRO-me-a
    About 50 species of deciduous or evergreen shrubs and trees.  Leaves opposite, however apical ones are frequently alternate, usually ovate, base rounded, margin entire.  Flowers in axillary or terminal clusters (panicles), 6 petals, often crumpled, margins undulate, rose, purple, to white, long style.  Fruit is a dehiscent capsule, winged seeds.
    Lagerstroemia: after Magnus von Lagerstrom (1691-1759), a Swedish merchant and friend of Linnaeus.
    The common name is spelt both Crape Myrtle and Crepe Myrtle.  The traditional Southern spelling is "Crepe" Myrtle because the delicate flowers resemble crepe paper.
  • Lagerstroemia fauriei      [Fauri Crape Myrtle]     Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (leaves)  (leaves and flower buds)  (trunk, bark)  (info)
  • Lagerstroemia indica      [Common Crape Myrtle]    Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (leaves)  (shoots)  (flowers)  (plant habit, fall)  (leaves, fall)
          (trunks, bark)  (trunk, bark)  (winter branch, twigs, buds)  (info)

  • Lagerstroemia Hybrid         [Hybrid Crape Myrtle]    Common Name List
          (info)

    Two Lagerstroemia Hybrid cultivars:
    Larix       Pinaceae
    Larch       LAR-iks
    About 12-15 species of deciduous coniferous trees with spreading or pendulous branches.  Leaves, needle-like, soft, thin, spiraling and widely spaced on long shoots, in dense clusters on short shoots.  Female cones erect, ripening is about 6 months, green, red, or purple, than brown.  Native to the Northern Hemisphere.
    Larix: the classical Latin name.
  • Larix decidua      [European Larch]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, summer)  (leaves)  (young cones and spur shoots)  (maturing cones)
          (branch with cone, "portrait")  (plant habit, fall)  (branches and leaves, fall)  (trunk, bark)  (info)
  • Larix gmelinii      [Dahurian Larch]    Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (branches)  (cones and leaves (needles))  (trunk, bark)  (info)


  • Larix kaempferi      [Japanese Larch]     Common Name List
          (plant habit, young tree)  (leaves)  (elongating shoot)  (info)


    •   Two cultivars of Larix kaempferi:
  • Larix laricina      [Tamarack, Eastern Larch]    Common Name List
          (native habitat, bog edge)  (plant habit)  (branches)  (leaves and cone)  (plant habit, fall)
          (branches with cones, fall)  (info)
  • Larix occidentalis   [Western Larch]  Native List   Common Name List
          (female cone and emerging shoots, spring)  (expanding leaves, spring)
          (plant habit, young and old, summer)  (branches with cones)  (leaf clusters)
          (developing cone and leaves)  (cone at seed release)  (leaves and cones)
          (trunk, bark)  (info)
  • Larix russica  (syn. L. sibirica)    [Siberian Larch, Russian Larch]    Common Name List
          (plant habit and leaves and cone)  (leaf (needle) custers)  (trunk, bark)  (info)
    • Larrea       Zygophyllaceae
    Creosote Bush       
    Five species of evergreen, xerophytic shrubs.  Leaves alternate, lobed or pinnate, have gummy secretions and a distinctive creosote-like odor, especially after a rain.  Flowers are solitary, yellow, 5 oblong spoon-shaped petals.  Fruit rounded, soft, hairy.  Native to the deserts of southwestern U.S. to South America.
    Larrea: after John Anthony Hernandez de Larrea, Spanish clergyman and benefactor of the sciences.
  • Larrea tridentata      [Creosote Bush]     Common Name List
          (in its habitat)  (plant habit)  (leafy shoot)  (plant habit, flowering)  (leaves, flowers and fruit)
          (flowers and fruit)  (fruit and leaves)  (stem, bark)  (info)
    • Laurus       Lauraceae
    Laurel       LA-rus
    Two species of broad-leaved evergreen shrub or trees.  Leaves alternate, simple, aromatic when crushed.  Flowers in axillary clusters, unisexual or sometimes bisexual, female flowers with 2-4 staminoides, and male flowers with at least 12 stamens.  Fruit is a black berry.  Native to southern Europe (L. nobilis) and Canary Islands and Azores (L. azorica).
    Laurus: the Latin name for these plants.
  • Laurus nobilis      [True Laurel, Bay Laurel, Sweet Bay]     Common Name List
          (leaves and flower buds)  (plant habit, flowering)  (leaves and flowers)
          (flower cluster and leaves)  (flowers)  (info)
    • Lavatera       Malvaceae
    Tree Mallow       lah-va-TEE-ra
    Some 25 species of annual, biennial, and perennial herbs or soft wooded shrubs.  Leaves simple, palmately angled or lobed, long petiole.  Flowers showy, calyx in 3-9 segments that are fused at the base to form a shallow cup, 5 petals, white or rose-purple.  Native to Mediterranean to northwest Himalaya, central Asia, eastern Siberia, Australia, and Baja California and California (including L. assurgentiflora, Malva Rosa).
    Lavatera: after the Lavater brothers, 16th century Zurich naturalists.
  • Lavatera thuringiaca      [Tree Lavatera]     Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (flowers)  (leaves)  (info)
    • Leucothoe       Ericaceae
          lu-KOTH-o-e
    About 45 species of deciduous and evergreen shrubs.  Leaves alternate, simple, oblong-lanceolate, and usually dentate.  Flowers in axillary or terminal clusters, calyx 5-parted, corolla ovate to tubular, white, 10 stamens.  Fruit a capsule, 5-valved, seeds small and numerous.
    Leucothoe: after Leucothoe of Greek mythology, daughter of Orchamus, king of Babylon, and "allegedly" (apparently not established in a court trial) changed into a shrub by her lover Apollo.
  • Leucothoe axillaris      [Coast Leucothoe]    Common Name List
          (plant habit, early spring)  (leaves, early spring)  (info)
  • Leucothoe davisiae      [Sierra Laurel, Western Leucothoe]  Native List  Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (leaves)  (flower clusters)  (info)
  • Leucothoe fontanesiana      [Drooping Leucothoe]     Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (flowering branch)  (flowers and leaves)  (new growth)  (info)
  • Leucothoe racemosa   (syn. Eubotrys racemosa)   [Sweetbells Leucothoe]     Common Name List
          (plant habit, spring flowering)  (flower clusters)  (leaves, spring)  (plant habit, summer)
          (leaves, summer)  (leaves, fall)  (fruit cluster)  (info)
    • Leycesteria       Caprifoliaceae
          li-ses-TE-ri-a, lest-E-ree-a
    Six species of deciduous or semi-evergreen suckering shrubs, stems arise from the base, cane-like, hollow, and becoming woody (lignified) in the second year.  Leaves simple, opposite, with petioles.  Flowers in terminal and axillary nodding clusters with colorful bracts, corolla tube usually 5-lobed, 5 stamens, 5 sepals.  Fruit is many-seeded berry  Native range from western Himalaya to southwestern China.
    Leycestria: after William Leycester, Chief Justice of Bengal during the early 19th century.
    Leycesteria formosa      [Pheasant-eye, Himalaya Honeysuckle]     Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (leaves and flowers)  (flower cluster)  (fruit clusters)  (info)
    Ligustrum       Oleaceae
    Privet       li-GUS-trum
    About 50 species of evergreen or deciduous shrubs or small trees.  Leaves opposite, simple, entire, glabrous, with short petioles.  Flowers small, white, in terminal clusters (panicles), corolla tubular, 4-lobed, 2 stamens.  Fruit a black, fleshy drupe, 1-4 seeded.  Native to Europe, northern Africa, eastern and southeastern Asia, Australia
    Ligustrum: the Latin name for privet.
  • Ligustrum japonicum      [Japanese Privet, Waxleaf Privet]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (large plant, flowering)  (leaves)  (shoot and leaves)
          (leaves and flowers)  (flowers)  (fruit and leaves)  (info)

    •        A variegated cultivar
                ‘Silver Star’
  • Ligustrum ovalifolium ‘Aureum’      [Golden Privet]      Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (leaves)  (flowering shoot)  (info)
  • Ligustrum sinense      [Chinese Privet]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (flowering branches)  (leaves and flowers)
          (flower cluster and flowers)  (flowers, fruit and leaves)  (leaves and immature fruit, Oct.)  (info)
    Lindera       Lauraceae
    Spicebush       lin-DER-a
    About 80 species of aromatic, evergreen or deciduous shrubs or trees.  Leaves alternate, margin entire or 3-lobed.  Dioecious – male and female plants.  Flowers yellow, in dense clusters (umbels), subtended by 4 bracts; male flowers with 9-12 anthers and female flowers with 9 staminoides.  Fruit a 1-seeded drupe, rounded, fleshy or dry.
    Lindera: after Johann Linder (1678-1723), Swedish botanist and physician.
  • Lindera benzoin      [Spicebush]     Common Name List
          (flowers and emerging leaves)  (leaves and developing fruit)  (plant habit, fruiting)
          (leafy branch and leaf)  (fruiting branches)  (plant habit and fruit, winter)
          (winter twig, bud)  (info)
    Liquidambar       Hamamelidaceae
    Sweet Gum       li-kwid-AM-bar
    Four species of deciduous trees, often with corky bark on young branches and a fragrant resin.  Leaves alternate, simple, long, slender stalked, palmately lobed, 3-7 lobes, margin serrate, glossy green.  Flowers unisexual, male flowers lacking a calyx or corolla, female flowers with a fused calyx, also lacking a corolla, ovaries of individual flowers fused.  Fruit composed of many capsules fused in a globose head.
    Liquidambar: from the Latin liquidus, liquid, and ambar, amber, a reference to its fragrant resin.
  • Liquidambar formosana      [Formosan Sweetgum]      Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (leaves)  (leaves, again)  (leaves, fall)  (info)
  • Liquidambar orientalis      [Oriental Sweetgum]      Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (shoots)  (leaves)  (info)
  • Liquidambar styraciflua      [American) Sweetgum]     Common Name List
          (plant habit, summer)  (leaves)  (leaf)  (flowers)  (fruit)  (leaves and fruit)
          (plant habit, fall)  (plant habit, fall)  (leaves, fall)  (leaf, fall)  (stems)
          (trunk, bark)  (fruit clusters, winter)  (seeds)  (seeds)  (winter buds)  (info)


    •   Two cultivars of Liquidambar styraciflua:
    Liriodendron       Magnolicaceae   (Magnollia Family)
    Tulip Tree       lir-ee-o-DEN-dron
    Two species of deciduous trees.  Leaves alternate, simple, broadly oblong, truncate at apex.  Flowers terminal, solitary, "tulip-shaped", 3 outspread sepals and 6 upright petals (Some authorities do not distinquish between the sepals and petals and the parts are listed as 9 tepals.), numerous stamens.  Fruit is cone-like, composed of numerous single-seeded, winged achenes.  Native to eastern North America (L. tulipifera) and China, Indochina (L. chinense).
    Liriodendron: from Greek, leiron, lily, and dendron, tree.
  • Liriodendron chinense      [Chinese Tuliptree]      Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (foliage)  (leaf)  (fruit)  (info)
  • Liriodendron tulipifera      [Tuliptree, Yellow Poplar, Tulip Poplar]      Common Name List
          (flowers and leaves, spring)  (flower and flower bud)  (flower development)  (flower)
          (plant habit, summer)  (leaf)  (leaves and fruit)  (fruit development)  (plant habit, fall)
          (leaves, fall)  (fruit, at seed drop, winter)  (mature fruit and seeds,winter)  (winter twig, buds)
          (trunks, bark)  (info)


    •   A cultivar of Liriodendron tulipifera:
    Lithocarpus       Fagaceae
    Tanoak, Tanbark Oak       lith-o-KAR-pus
    About 300 species of oak-like evergreen trees.  Leaves alternate, simple, leathery, entire (mostly) or dentate.  Flowers unisexual, male flowers in erect, simple or branched spikes, female flowers at the base of the male spikes or in special catkins, 4-5-lobed calyx, petals absent.  Fruit a hand shelled, acorn-like nut.  Native to southeast Asia and Indonesia, 2 species in Japan, and one in western North America (i.e., L. densiflorus).
    Lithocarpus: from the Greek lithos, hard, and carpos, fruit, a reference to the hard-shelled fruit.
  • Lithocarpus densiflorus   [Tanoak, Tanbark Oak]  Native List   Common Name List
          (plant habit, tree form)  (leaves)  (leaf)  (leaves, young catkins and fruit)  (developing fruit)
          (plant habit, shrub form)  (leaves, catkins and developing fruit)  (male catkin flowers)
          (leaves and developing fruit)  (leaves and maturing fruit)  (maturing fruit)  (info)
    • Lithodora       Boraginiaceae
    Lithodora       lith-o-DO-ra
    Seven species of low-growning, spreading, evergreen shrubs and subshrubs.  Leaves linear, lanceolate, to obovate, hairy.  Flowers 5-lobed, funnel-shaped, blue (often) or white.  Native range from southwestern Europe to southern Greece, Turkey, and Algeria.
    Lithodora: stone gift; rock dwelling.
  • Lithodora diffusa      [Lithodora]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, start of flowering)  (leaves and flowers)  (plant habit, flowering)
          (flowers and leaves)  (info)
    • Lonicera       Caprifoliaceae
    Honeysuckle       lon-ISS-er-a
    About 180 species of deciduous or evergreen, bushy, twining or creeping shrubs.  Leaves opposite, usually simple, entire, short petiole or sessile, upper leaf pairs often fused, forming a disc.  Flowers in axillary pairs or in whorls of 6 in terminal clusters, 5 sepals, corolla often tubular with 5 lobes.  Fruit is black, red, yellow, or white, many seeded.  Native to the Northern Hemisphere.
    Lonicera: after Adam Lonitzer (1528-86), a German naturalist and author of a popular herbal.
  • Lonicera ciliosa    [Western Trumpet Honeysuckle]  Native List  Common Name List
          (plant habit, in woods)  (flowering shoot)  (flowers and leaves)  (leaf margin)  (info)
  • Lonicera fragrantissima      [Winter Honeysuckle]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, winter)  (flowers)  (flower)  (mature leaves, winter)  (young leaves, spring)
          (plant habit, summer)  (leaves, summer)  (leaf and margin)  (info)
  • Lonicera involucrata    [Twinberry, Black Twinberry]  Native List  Common Name List
          (plant habit, spring)  (young shoots)  (leaves)  (leaf)  (plant habit, flowering)
          (flowers)  (plant habit, fruiting and fruit)  (fruit and leaves)  (info)
  • Lonicera nitida      [Box Honeysuckle]      Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (shoots)  (shoots, "portrait")  (leaves, comparison)  (info)


    •   A few cultivars of Lonicera nitida:
  • Lonicera pileata      [Privet Honeysuckle]     Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (plant habit, larger)  (branches)  (branch)  (new shoots and flowers)
          (fruit and leaves)  (leaves, comparison)  (info)
  • Lonicera tatarica       [Tatarian or Tartarian Honeysuckle]     Common Name List
          (info)

    Loropetalum       Hamamelidaceae  (Witch Hazel Family)
    Fringe Flower       lo-ro-PET-a-lum
    Two or three species of evergreen shrubs or small tree to 3 m.  Leaves simple, alternate, to 5 cm, entire, slightly asymmetrical at the base.  Flowers in terminal clusters of 6-8, calyx 4-lobed, 4 petals, whitish, long (to 2.5 cm) and strap-like.  Fruit a woody capsule.
    Loropetalum: from the Greek loron, thong, and petalon, petal; a reference to the long, narrow petals.
  • Loropetalum chinense      [Chinese Fringe-flower]     Common Name List
          (leaves and flowers)  (flowers)  (info)
  • Loropetalum chinense var. rubrum     [Pink-flowering (Chinese) Fringe-flower]     Common Name List
          (plant habit, spring flowering, sheared)  (habit of old plant, flowering)  (flowers and new leaves, spring)
          (plant habit, summer)  (flowering shoots)  (flower and leaves)  (info)
    • Luma       Myrtaceae
          LU-ma
    Four species of evergreen shrubs or small trees.  Leaves opposite, simple, often elliptic, pinnately veined.  Flowers single or in a cluster of three, four petals and calyx lobes.  Fruit a berry, slightly spongy.   Native to Argentina and Chile.    These plants are sometimes listed or placed in Eugenia, Myrceugenella, or Myrtus.
    Luma: native Chilean name.
  • Luma apiculata    (syn. Myrtus luma)  [Arrayan, Palo Colorado]     Common Name List
          (plant habit, small plants)  (shoots and leaves)  (plant habit, flowering)
          (flowering shoots and flowers)  (fruit and leaves)  (trunk, bark)  (info)
    • Maackia       Fabaceae
    Maackia       MAK-ee-a
    Six species of deciduous trees, leaves alternate, compound (odd-pinnate), leaflets opposite or nearly so, short stalked, margin entire.  Flowers white in dense upright culsters (racemes), fruit (pod), linear-oblong, 1-5 seeded.   Native to eastern Asia.
    Maackia: after Richard Maack, Russian naturalist (1825-1886)..
  • Maackia amurensis      [Amur Maackia]     Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (expanding leaves and leaflets)  (mature leaf)  (flower cluster and flowers)
          (developing fruit)  (small trunk, bark)  (winter twig, buds)  (info)
    Maclura       Moraceae
    Osage-orange       ma-KLU-ra
    About 12 species of deciduous shrubs, trees, and climbers with axillary thorns.  Leaves alternate, simple, and entire.  Female flowers in dense heads with long filamentous styles, and small male flowers in short spikes or racemes.  Fruit united into large large, globose, multiple fruit.  Native to south central U.S. and Asia and Africa.
    Maclura: after William Maclura (1763-1840), American geologist.
  • Maclura pomifera       [Osage-orange]      Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (branch with leaves)  (leaves)  (mature spines (thorns))  (flowers, male and female)
          (leaves and fruit)  (fruit)  (fruit, surface and internal)  (plant habit, fall)  (leaves, fall)
          (female tree, late fall)  (plant habit, winter)  (trunk, bark)  (winter branch and twigs)  (info)
    • Magnolia       Magnoliaceae
    Magnolia       mag-NO-li-a
    About 125 species of evergreen or deciduous trees or shrubs. Buds silver to gray pubescent.  Leaves alternate or clustered and appearing as if whorled, broadly elliptic to ovate, glossy, margin entire.  Flowers large, terminal, white, rose-pink, purple, some species yellow.  Native to east Asia, North and Central America, and Himalaya.
    Magnolia: after Pierre Magnolia (1638-1715), Professor of Botany and Director of Montpellier Botanic Gardens, France.
  • Magnolia acuminata      [Cucumber Magnolia]      Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (shoot)  (leaves and buds)  (flowers and leaves)  (green fruit, early summer)
          (mature fruit with emerging seed, fall.)  (plant habit, fall)  (trunk, bark)  (info)
  • Magnolia ‘Butterflies’      [Butterflies Magnolia]    Common Name List
          (flowering branches)  (flower)  (info)
  • Magnolia ‘Caerhays Belle’      [Caerhays Belle Magnolia]    Common Name List
          (flower bud, opening)  (flower)  (info)
  • Magnolia campbellii      [Campbell Magnolia]     Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (flower)  (flower)  (info)
  • Magnolia denudata      [Yulan Magnolia]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, spring)  (flowers)  (unopened flower)  (opening flower)
          (center of flower)  (leaves and fruit)  (info)
  • Magnolia ‘Elizabeth’      [Elizabeth Magnolia]    Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (flowering branches)  (unopened flower)
          (flowers)  (unopened flower and parts)  (flower near petal drop)  (info)
  • Magnolia grandiflora      [Southern Magnolia, Bullbay]      Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (leaves and flower bud)  (leaves and flower)  (leaves)  (flower)
          (center of flower)  (leaves and fruit)  (leaves and fruit, "portrait")  (trunk, bark)  (info)
  • Magnolia kobus      [Kobus Magnolia]      Common Name List
          (plant habit and flower buds, winter)  (plant habit, flowering)  (flower)  (leaves)
          (plant habit, summer)  (immature fruit and leaves)  (mature fruit and leaves)  (info)
  • Magnolia liliiflora      [Lily Magnolia]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, spring)  (flowers, before opening)  (flowers, opening)  (flower)  (plant habit, summer)
          (leaves and young fruit)  (leaves and fruit, fall)  (leaves, comparison)  (info)

    •        A cultivar of Magnolia liliiflora
                ‘Nigra’
  • Magnolia × loebneri      [Loebner Magnolia]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (flowers)  (flower)  (center of flower)  (info)
  • Magnolia macrophylla      [Bigleaf Magnolia]     Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (leaves and flower bud)  (leaf)  (leaf base and underside)
          (flower bud and opening flower)  (flower)  (info)
  • Magnolia ‘Randy’      [Randy Magnolia]     Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (flowers)  (info)
  • Magnolia sargentiana var. robusta       [Sargent's Magnolia]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (flowers)  (flower)  (info)
  • Magnolia × soulangiana      [Saucer Magnolia]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (plant habit, flowering (again))  (flowers)  (flowering branch)
          (flower, before and at opening)  (single flower)  (leaves)  (leaves, comparison)
          (immature and mature fruit)  (trunk, bark)  (info)
  • Magnolia ‘Star Wars’      [Star Wars Magnolia]    Common Name List
          (plant habit and flowering branches)  (info)
  • Magnolia stellata      [Star Magnolia]      Common Name List
          (flower buds, winter and spring)  (plant habit, flowering)  (young plants, flowering)  (flowers)
          (flowers, pink cultivar)  (leaves)  (leaves, comparison)  (leaves and developing fruit)
          (mature fruit releasing seeds)  (leaves and flower bud, fall)  (info)


    •  A cultivar of Magnolia stellata:
  • Magnolia tripetala      [Umbrella Magnolia]      Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (leaves)  ("umbrella" of leaves)  (flower and leaves)  (leaves and flower)
          (leaves and immature fruit)  (leaves and fruit)  (leaves, fall)  (info)
  • Magnolia virginiana      [Sweetbay Magnolia]      Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (branches)  (branch, leaves)  (leaves)  (flower bud and flower)
          (leaves and immature fruit)  (immature and mature fruit)  (trunk, bark)  (info)
    Mahonia       Berberidaceae
    Oregon Grape, Holly Grape, Grape Holly       ma-HO-ni-a
    About 70 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees.  This genus has now been included in the genus Berberis, however, in commercial horticulture these plants are still known as Mahonia.   Leaves are alternate or in whorls at the top of stems, compound (usually pinnate), leaflets are sharply spiny-serrate, in opposite pairs, often glossy.  Flowers are yellow, or white or maroon.  Fruit are berry-like, plum-red to black.  Native to the Americas and Asia.
    Mahonia: after Bernard McMahon (born 1816), American nurseryman.
  • Mahonia aquifolium (syn. Berberis aquifolium)  [Oregon Grape, Oregon Grape Holly]  
          Native List       Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (plant habit, flowering)  (leaves and flowers)  (leaf, "portrait")
          (leaves, comparison)  (flower cluster)  (immature fruit)  (plant habit, summer)  (fruit and leaves)
          (plant habit, winter, full sun)  (leaves in winter)  (info)

     A common cultivar of Mahonia aquifolium:
  • Mahonia lomariifolia      [Chinese Mahonia, Burmese Mahonia]     Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (leaf)  (flower clusters and leaves)  (flowers)  (fruit and leaves)  (info) 
  • Mahonia × media ‘Arthur Menzies’  [Arthur Menzies Mahonia]     Common Name List
          (plant habit, fruiting)  (leaves and fruit)  (info)
  • Mahonia nervosa (syn. Berberis nervosa)  [Longleaf Mahonia, Cascade Mahonia]  
          Native List       Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (plant habit, in woods)  (plant habit, in landscape)  (plant habit, flowering)
          (flower clusters)  (leaf)  (leaf)  (leaf, comparison)  (plant habit, winter)  (leaf, winter)  (info)
  • Mahonia pinnata   (syn. Mahonia pinnata subsp. pinnata)   [California Barberry, California Holly Grape]
           Common Name List
          (info)


    •   One of the subspecies:
  • Mahonia repens (syn. Berberis repens)  [Creeping Mahonia]  Native List   Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (leaves)  (fruit and leaves)  (leaves, "portrait")  (leaves, comparison)  (plant habit, winter)
          (leaf, winter)  (info)
    • Malus       Rosaceae
    Flowering Crabapple       MA-lus
    An apple (Malus) is considered a crabapple if the diameter of its fruit is 2 inches (5 cm) or less.   There are some 20-30 crabapple species.   Crabapples are usually cross-fertile and freely hybridize, a plant breeders dream.   The number of crabapple types (cultivars) is unknown, but it may be near 900, according to T. L. Green (Amer. Horticulturist. Feb., 1996), and some 200 are available from nursery sources.   About 50 crabapples are listed in the Oregon Association of Nurserymen Buyers Guide.   Crabapples are especially popular in the Midwest and eastern US. They are adaptable to varying soil conditions, but do best in a heavy loam that is well drained, moist, and acidic.   Common diseases and insect pests include fireblight, cedar apple rust, apple scab, powdery mildew, canker, scale, borers, and aphids.
    Malus: the Latin name for apple.
  • Malus × atrosanguinea      [Carmine Crabapple]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (flowering branches)  (flower buds and leaves)  (flowers)
          (leaves and flowers, after petal fall)  (leaves and fruit)  (trunk, bark)  (info)
  • Malus floribunda      [Japanese Flowering Crabapple]     Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (flower buds and leaves )  (flowers)  (leaves and fruit)
          (fruit, late summer)  (info)
  • Malus fusca   [Western Crabapple]   Native List  Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (fruiting branch)  (leaves, margin)  (fruit)  (info)
  • Malus hupehensis      [Tea Crabapple]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (plant habit, flowering)  (flowering branches)  (flowering branches)
          (flower buds and leaves)  (flowers)  (plant habit, summer)  (fruit, fall)  (info)
  • Malus ‘Prairifire’      [Prairifire Crabapple]     Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (flowering branches)  (flowers)  (new leaves, after flowering)
          (fruit and leaves)  (info)
  • Malus sargentii      [Sargent Crabapple]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (leaves, buds and opening flowers)  (flowering branch)  (flower)
          (flowers after petal fall)  (leaves on vigorous shoots)  (ripe fruit)  (plant habit, fall)
          (leaves, fall)  (leaves, fall)  (trunk, suckers)  (info)
  • Malus ‘Snowdrift’       [Snowdrift Crabapple]     Common Name List
          (flowering, in landscape)  (plant habit, flowering)  (plant habit, flowering)
          (flower buds and flowers)  (flowers)  (fruit and leaves)  (info)
    • Manglietia       Magnoliaceae
    Manglietia       
    Some 25 species of evergreen shrubs and trees, similar to Magnolia, however, leaf petiole bases appear swollen, flowers 9-lobed in 2 whorls, as many as 6 ovules per carpel. Native rnage from Malesia to southern China, eastern Himalaya.
    Manglietia: .
  • Manglietia insignis   [Red Lotus Tree]      Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (leaves)  (stems and buds, fall)  (trunk, bark)  (info)
    • Menziesia       Ericaceae
    Menziesia       men-zee-SHE-a
    About 7 species of small deciduous shrubs, leaves alternate, simple, entire.  Flowers, 4-5 or so, in terminal clusters, corolla campanulate or urn-shaped, 4-5 rounded lobes; fruit 4-5 valved, leathery.
    Menziesia: after Archibald Menzies (1745-1842), Scottish physician and naturalist who collected in the Pacific Northwest.
  • Menziesia ferruginea   [Rusty Menziesia, Fool's Huckleberry]    Native List   Common Name List
          (info)
    • Metasequoia       Taxodiaceae
    Dawn Redwood       met-a-se-KWOY-a
    Only 1 species (see below).
    Metasequoia: from the Greek meta, with, and Sequoia.
  • Metasequoia glyptostroboides      [Dawn Redwood]     Common Name List
          (plant habit, winter, early spring and spring)  (seed and pollen cones, early spring)
          (plant habit, summer)  (branches)  (branch with cone)  (needles, comparison)
          (cones and leaves, Sept.)  (plant habit, fall)  (branches, fall)  (main branches, comparison)
          (trunk, bark)  (info)
    • Microbiota       Cupressaceae
    Russian Arborvitae       mi-kro-bi-O-ta
    A single species (see below).
    Microbiota: the Latin name.
  • Microbiota decussata      [Russian Arborvitae, Siberian Cypress]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, summer)  (branches, summer)  (branchlets, summer)  (plant habit, winter)
          (branchlets, winter)  (leaves, winter)  (plant habit, spring)  (info)
    • Morus       Moraceae
    Mulberry       MO-rus
    Approximatel 12 species of deciduous,short-lived, fast growing trees and shrubs, often producing a milky sap (latex) when cut.  Leaves alternate, simple, unlobed to 2-5 lobed, short petiole, turning yellow in fall.  Flowers in unisexual clusters (catkins), male flowers deeply 4-parted, female flowers with a 4-part floral envelope (perianth), ovaries attached without a supporting stalk (sessile).  Fruit somewhat resembling that of a raspberry, green then orange or white and red and purple.  Native to North America and southen Europe to Japan and the lowland tropics of central Africa.
    Morus: Latin name for the balck mulberry Morus nigra.
  • Morus alba      [White or Common Mulberry]     Common Name List
          (flower clusters (catkins), May)  (plant habit, summer)  (leafy shoots)
          (leaves)  (leaves and margin)  (fruit, early summer)  (plant habit, winter)
          (trunk)  (winter twigs, buds)  (info)

      A contorted version of Morus alba:
    Myrica       Myricaseae
    Wax Myrtle       mi-RI-ka
    About 35 species of evergreen or deciduous shrubs or small trees, often aromatic.  Leaves simple, alternate, short petioled, usually oblanceolate.  Flowers unisexual, inconspicuous, without sepals or petals, in dense catkins.  Fruit is an ovoid or spherical drupe, gray-green to purple, sometimes covered with resinous or waxy bloom.
    Myrica: Greek name for Tamarix.
  • Myrica californica    [Pacific Waxmyrtle]  Native List   Common Name List
          (in a landscape)  (plant habit)  (shoots)  (leaves)  (leaf underside with glands)
          (leaves and stem, comparison)  (leaves and flowers, spring)  (flower catkins and leaves)
          (developing fruit and leaves)  (leaves and fruit)  (shoot, leaves and fruit)   (info)
  • Myrica gale    [Sweetgale, Bog Myrtle]  Native List   Common Name List
          (in bog habitat)  (plant habit)  (shoots, leaves)  (leaves)  (catkin)  (info)
  • Myrica pensylvanica      [Northern Bayberry, Candleberry]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, hedge, early spring)  (twig with buds, early spring)  (plant habit, spring)
          (leaves and flower buds, spring)  (plant habit, summer)  (plant habit, hedge)  (leafy shoot)
          (leaves, comparison)  (info)
  • Myrica rubra      [Chinese, Japanese or Red Bayberry]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, row of trees)  (leaves and male catkins)  (trunk, bark)  (info)
    • Nandina       Berberidaceae
    Heavenly Bamboo       nan-DE-na
    A single species (monotypic genus) of an evergreen shrub (see below).
  • Nandina domestica      [Heavenly Bamboo]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (leaf)  (flower cluster)  (plant habit, fruiting)  (in a landscape, fruiting)
          (leaves and fruit)  (fruit)  (plant habit, fall)  (leaf, fall)  (info)
           Some compact and dwarf forms
                   compact form, fall
               dwarf form, winter
               leaves, dwarf form
               fine-leafed dwarf form, ‘Filamentosa’
    Neviusia       Rosaceae
    Snowwreath       nev-i-U-si-a
    Long thought to contain a single species (Neviusia alabamensis), a monotypic genus, but a second species was discovered in California in 1992.  Deciduous shrubs with simple, alternate leaves, and with 5 green, outspread sepals, and 50-100 stamens.
    Neviusia: after Reverend D. R. Nevius (1827-1913), of Alabama, who collected N. alabamensis.
  • Neviusia cliftonii      [Shasta Snowwreath]      Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (leaves)  (flowers)  (info)
    • Nothofagus       Fagaceae
    Southern Beech       no-thoh-FAH-gus
    About 40 species in this genus, including evergreen and deciduous shrubs and trees.  Bark is generally smooth, purplish-brown and with distinct lenticels, becoming scaly or furrowed on older trees.  Leaves alternate, margin entire, wavy, or toothed, 4-22 pairs of veins, number of veins and teeth used in identification.  Male and female flowers.  Native to southern South America, New Zealand, eastern Australia, and New Guinea.
    Nothofagus: from the Greek nothos, false, and Fagus.  The genus is closely related to Fagus (Beech), differing in a many seeded involucre and lack of a true terminal bud.
  • Nothofagus antarctica      [Southern Beech, False Beech]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, young and older tree)  (foliage, leaves)  (branch, leaves)
          (plant habit and leaves, fall)  (young trunk, bark)  (info)
    • Nyssa       Nyssaceae
    Tupelo       NIS-a
    Five species of deciduous trees.  Leaves alternate, simple, entire or toothed.  Flowers inconspicuous, green, 5 petals, 10 stamens.  Fruit is an oblong drupe.  Native to eastern North America (N. aquatica, N. biflora, N. ogeche, N. sylvatica) and eastern Asia (N. sinensis).
    Nyssa: for Nyssa, a water nymph, N. aquitica grows in swamps.
  • Nyssa sylvatica      [Sour Gum, Black Gum, Black Tupelo, Pepperidge]      Common Name List
          (young leaves and unopened flowers)  (plant habit, summer)  (leaves)  (leafy shoot)  (leaves, comparison)
          (leaves and fruit)  (leaves, early fall)  (leaves and fruit, early fall)  (fruit and leaves, early fall)
          (plant habit, fall)  (leaves, fall)  (leaves, fall)  (leaves, fall)  (trunk, bark)  (winter twigs, buds)  (info)
    • Oemleria       Rosaceae
    Indian Plum, Oregon Plum, Oso Berry       ohm-LER-i-a
    A single species in this genus (see below).
    Oemleria: after Herr Oemler of Dresden who supplied American plants to the German botanist H.G.L. Reichenbach in the mid-1800s.
  • Oemleria cerasiformis    [Indian Plum]  Native List  Common Name List
          (in habitat, early spring flowering)  (in a landscape, flowering)  (flowering branches)
          (flower clusters and young leaves)  (flowers)  (leaf)  (fruit development)
          (plant habit, mid-summer)  (summer foliage)  (stem, bark)  (info)
    • Olea       Oleaceae
    Olive       O-lee-ah
    A genus of some 20 species of long-lived evergreen trees and shrubs.  Stems may be smooth, rough or spiny, and vary from golden-glabrous to silvery gray, initially very pliable, then firm and rigid, with advanced age they become gray-black and contorted.  Leaves are opposite, usually with an entire margin but occasionally toothed or lobed, often gray to dark green, paler below and often glandular and silvery.  The flowers are inconspicuous, white or off-white, and in terminal or axillary clusters (panicles).  Fruit is ovoid or globose with a single ellipsoid stone, to about 1.5 cm long.  Native to warm temperate and tropical regions of Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
  • Olea europaea   [Common Olive]     Common Name List
          (plant habit, young tree)  (plant habit, older tree)  (plant habit, sheared in a garden)  (leaves)
          (leaves, underside)  (young fruit)  (canopy with green fruit)  (trunk, bark)  (info)
    • Olearia       Asteraceae
    Daisy Bush       o-lee-AH-ree-a
    A genus of some 130 species of evergreen shrubs, small trees and some herbaceous perennials.  Leaves are simple, usually alternate, sometimes in clusters, leathery.  Flowers are daisy-like, which can be white, cream, blue, lavender, purple, or pink, borne singly or in large clusters.  Native to Australia and New Zealand, found in a wide range of habitats, including coastal areas, river banks and mountains scrubs.
    Olearia: after Adam Ölschläger (Olerius), 1603-1671.
  • Olearia macrodonta   [Daisy Bush, New Zealand Holly]     Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (leaves and flowers)  (info)
    Oplopanax       Araliaceae
    Devil's Club       op-low-PAHN-ax
    Three species of deciduous, coarse suckering, shrubs with densely spiny shoots and leaves.  Leaves alternate, simple, palmately veined, bright green, long petiole.  Flowers in clusters (umbels), greenish-white, 5 petals, 5 stamens, 2 styles.  Fruit compressed drupe, round, red.
    Oplopanax: from the Greek hoplon, a weapon, and Panax, a reference to the spiny shoots.
  • Oplopanax horridus    [Devil's Club]  Native List   Common Name List
          (plant habit, in forest)  (plant habit, summer)  (leaves)  (flower cluster)
          (plant habit, fall)  (leaves, fall)  (info)
    Osmanthus       Oleraceae
    Osmanthus       oz-MAN-thus
    Some 30 species of evergreen shrubs or small trees.  Leaves opposite, simple, glabrous, leathery, glossy green above, small glandular depressions on the lower side, short petiole.  Flowers white or yellowish, usually fragrant, calyx 4-toothed, corolla bell-shaped or tubular, limb with 4-lobes, 2-stamens.  Fruit a single seeded hard shelled drupe.  Native to southern U.S. (O. americanus, Devil Wood), Middle East, China and Japan.
    Osmanthus fragrans, Fragrant Tea Olive, is one of the most popular gardens plants in China because of the fragrance of its tiny flowers.  It blooms from autumn to spring, and because it is in bloom in mid-autumn, at the time of the moon festival, it has long been associated with lunar legends.  To the Chinese the image visible in the full moon is an osmanthus bush (Valder, 1999).
    Osmanthus: from Greek osme, fragrance, and anthos, flowers.
  • Osmanthus × burkwoodii      [Burkwood Osmanthus]     Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (young plant, flowering)  (leaves and flowers)
          (flowers and leaves)  (flowering branch, comparison)  (leaves and flowers, comparison)  (info)
  • Osmanthus delavayi      [Delavay Osmanthus, Delavay Tea Olive]     Common Name List
          (plant habit, flowering)  (plant habit, flowering, small plants)  (flowering branches)
          (flowers and leaves)  (flowering branch, comparison)  (leaves and flowers, comparison)
          (info)
  • Osmanthus × fortunei      [Fortune’s Osmanthus]      Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (juvenile leaves)  (branch, adult leaves)  (leaves and flowers, fall)
          (flower cluster and leaves)  (flowers)  (info)
  • Osmanthus fragrans      [Fragrant Tea Olive, Sweet Osmanthus]      Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (foliage)  (leafy shoot)  (leaves)  (new growth)  (trunk, bark)
          (info)
  • Osmanthus heterophyllus       [Holly Osmanthus, Holly Tea Olive]      Common Name List
          (plant habit)  (plant habit)  (leaves, adult)  (leaves, juvenile)  (leafy shoots)
          (plant habit, fall flowering)  (flowering branches and flowers)  (leaves and fruit)  (info)


    •   Three cultivars of Osmanthus heterophyllus:
    Ostrya       Betulaceae, Carpinaceae
          OS-tri-a
    About 9 species of deciduous trees.  Leaves simple, alternate, in two rows, parallel veins, margins serrate or dentate.  Male flower catkins are Carpinus- or Betula-like, but form in fall.  Female flowers in terminal short spikes or catkins, 3-12 pairs of flowers, each pair subtended by a bract and each flower in a sac-like husk, which inflates on fruiting giving the cluster a hop-like appearance.  Native to Europe, Asia, and North America.
    Ostrya: Greek for shell, a reference to the inflated husk of the fruit.
  • Ostrya virginiana      [American Hop-Hornbeam, Ironwood]      Common Name List
          (female and male flowers, spring)  (plant habit, young tree)  (leafy shoot)  (leaves)
          (plant habit, fruiting)  (leaves and fruit clusters)  (fruit cluster and leaf)  (shoot, leaf and fruit, comparion)
          (leaf and fruit, comparion)  (plant habit and leaves, fall)  (fruit cluster and leaf, fall)  (trunk, bark)
          (winter twig, buds)  (info)
    • Oxalis       Oxalidaceae
    Oxalis, Sorrel       oks-AH-lis
    A large genus, over 800 species, of annuals, herbaceous perennials, and shrubs, often with tuberous or bulbous underground parts.  Leaves usually palmately compound, often 3 leaflets, frequently folding at night.  Flowers are white, pink, red, or yellow, petals are usually fused at the base, 10 stamens in two whorls, 5 styles, 5 fused carpels.  Widely distributed, but South Africa and South America are centers of diversity.
    Oxalis: from the Greek oxys, acid, a reference to the sour taste of the leaves.
  • Oxalis oregona      [Oregon Oxalis, Redwood Sorrel]  Native List    Common Name List
          (in the woods)  (in a landscape)  (leaves and flowers)  (flower)  (info)
    • Oxydendrum       Ericaceae   (Heath Family)
          ok-si-DEN-drum
    A single species in this genus (see below).
    Oxydendrum: from the Greek oxys, sharp, and dendron, tree, a reference to the tree's sour foliage.
  • Oxydendrum arboreum      [Sourwood, Lily of the Valley Tree]      Common Name List
          (plant habit, summer (flowering) and fall)  (leaves)  (leaves and flowers)  (flowering shoot)
          (flowers and fruit)  (leaf margin, comparison)  (plant habit, summer and fall)  (leaves, fall)
          (leaves and fruit, fall)  (fruit clusters and leaves, fall)  (trunk, bark)  (winter twigs)
          (winter twigs, buds)  (info)
    Copyright, Oregon State University, 1999-2009
    Some options:
    First letter of genus (or a Genus itself)
    Volume 1 A  Abies  Acer  Aesculus  Alnus  Amelanchier  Arbutus  Arctostaphylos  Aucuba
      B  Berberis  Betula  Buddleia  Buxus
      C  Calocedrus  Camellia  Carpinus  Castanea  Catalpa  Ceanothus  Cedrus  Cercis
      Chaenomeles  Chamaecyparis  Chionanthus  Cistus  Clematis  Cornus
      Corylus  Cotinus  Cotoneaster  Crataegus  Cupressus  Cytisus
      D  Daphne  Deutzia  E  Elaeagnus  Escallonia  Eucalyptus  Euonymus
     Volume 2
    current    		   F  Forsythia  Fraxinus  G  Gaultheria  Ginkgo  Gleditsia  Grevillea  Gymnocladus
      H  Hamamelis  Hebe  Hibiscus  Hydrangea  Hypericum
      I  Ilex  J  Juglans  Juniperus  K  Kerria  Koelreuteria
      L  Lagerstroemia  Larix  Ligustrum  Liquidambar  Liriodendron  Lonicera
      M  Magnolia  Mahonia  Malus  Myrica
      N  Nyssa  O  Osmanthus
     Volume 3
    P  Parthenocissus  Philadelphus  Photinia  Physocarpus  Picea  Pinus
      Pittosporum  Platanus  Populus  Prunus  Pseudotsuga  Pyrus
      Q  Quercus  R  Rhaphiolepis  Rhododendron  Rhus  Ribes  Rosa  Rubus
      S  Sambucus  Sequoia  Sorbus  Spiraea  Stewartia  Syringa   T  Taxus  Thuja  Tilia  Tsuga
      U  Ulmus  V  Vaccinium  Viburnum  W  Y  Z  Zelkova
      Volume 4
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    For comments, suggestions, or corrections concerning this site please contact Patrick Breen, CPN (Certified Plant Nerd), Department of Horticulture, Oregon State University    breenp@hort.oregonstate.edu
    Last update of Volume 2: July 2, 2009