Rubus flagellaris is native to the central and eastern United States (from Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska to the Gulf and East Coasts and the Great Lakes region), eastern Canada (Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia) and northern Mexico (Coahuila, Hidalgo, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Sonora).
Rubus flagellaris grows on dry soils, bogs, soft soils and wooded soils. This species is actually especially adapted to coarse textured soils (such as sandy soils), fine textured soils (such as loamy soils) and medium textured soils (such as clay-textured soils). R. flagellaris grows in a wide range of habitats including mesic to dry savannas and sandy savannas, abandoned fields, meadows in wooded areas, and woodland borders.
Rubus flagellaris is adapted to a precipitation zone that ranges from 15 to 40 inches/year, tolerates soils ranging from 5.0 to 7.0 pH, and can survive temperatures as low as −23 °F (−31 °C).  This species has a low tolerance to drought conditions and an intermediate shade tolerance, when compared to other species with similar growth habits in its natural regions. The plant has no salinity tolerance.


Many animals such as raccoons, fox squirrels, eastern chipmunks, white-footed mice, and other mammals eat the northern dewberry's fruits, and aid in the dispersal of the shrub. The plant has a high tolerance to hedging from livestock or wildlife browsing.
The flowers of Rubus flagellaris, with a fragrant nectar, attract a large number of native bees. They also provide nesting materials and structures for the native bees. Some of the bee species that interact with the plant and pollinate the flowers are mason bees (of the genus Osmia), leaf-cutting bees, cuckoo bees (of the subfamily Nomadinae), and miner bees. Other insects that interact with the northern dewberry to help pollinate it are Siphonopora rubi (blackberry aphid), Metallus rubi (blackberry leafminer), Agrilus ruficollis (red-necked cane borer), and Edwardsiana rosae (rose leafhopper).
The flowers are also a preferred source of nectar for the Karner blue, an endangered species of blue butterfly found in the Midwestern U.S. and northeastern North America.
When occasional wildfires burn down tall woody trees surrounding Rubus flagellaris, the resulting burning has a positive effect on population growth for the species. Other research has also shown that occasional wildfires are beneficial to the population's growth.


The ripe berries are edible and can be eaten raw. They are also used to make preserves, pies, and cobblers.


Rubus idaeus (raspberry, also called red raspberry or occasionally European red raspberry to distinguish it from other raspberry species) is a red-fruited species of Rubus native to Europe and northern Asia and commonly cultivated in other temperate regions.


A closely related plant in North America, sometimes regarded as the variety Rubus idaeus var. strigosus, is more commonly treated as a distinct species, Rubus strigosus (American red raspberry), as is done here. Red-fruited cultivated raspberries, even in North America, are generally Rubus idaeus or horticultural derivatives of hybrids of R. idaeus and R. strigosus; these plants are all addressed in the present article.


Plants of Rubus idaeus are generally perennials, which bear biennial stems ("canes") from a perennial root system. In its first year, a new, unbranched stem ("primocane") grows vigorously to its full height of 1.5–2.5 m (5.0–8.3 feet), bearing large pinnately compound leaves with five or seven leaflets, but usually no flowers. In its second year (as a "floricane"), a stem does not grow taller, but produces several side shoots, which bear smaller leaves with three or five leaflets. The flowers are produced in late spring on short racemes on the tips of these side shoots, each flower about 1 cm (0.4 inches) diameter with five white petals. The fruit is red, edible, and sweet but tart-flavoured, produced in summer or early autumn; in botanical terminology, it is not a berry at all, but an aggregate fruit of numerous drupelets around a central core. In raspberries (various species of Rubus subgenus Idaeobatus), the drupelets separate from the core when picked, leaving a hollow fruit, whereas in blackberries and most other species of Rubus, the drupelets stay attached to the core.


As a wild plant, R. idaeus typically grows in forests, forming open stands under a tree canopy, and denser stands in clearings. In the south of its range (southern Europe and central Asia), it occurs only at high altitudes in mountains. The species name idaeus refers to its occurrence on Mount Ida near Troy in northwest Turkey, where the ancient Greeks were most familiar with it.


Red raspberries contains 31 μg/100 g of folate. Red raspberries have antioxidant effects that play a minor role in the killing of stomach and colon cancer cells.
Young roots of Rubus idaeus prevented kidney stone formation in a mouse model of hyperoxaluria. Tiliroside from raspberry is a potent tyrosinase inhibitor and might be used as a skin-whitening agent and pigmentation medicine.
Raspberry fruit may protect the liver.


Rubus laciniatus, the cutleaf evergreen blackberry or evergreen blackberry, is a species of Rubus, native to Eurasia. It is an introduced species in Australia and North America. It has become a weed and invasive species in forested habitats in the United States and Canada, particularly in the Northeast and along the Pacific Coast.


Rubus laciniatus is a deciduous, bramble-forming shrub growing to 3 meters (10 feet) tall, with prickly shoots. The leaves are palmately compound, with five leaflets, each divided into deeply toothed subleaflets with jagged, thorny tips. The flowers have pink or white petals. Fruits are similar to the common blackberry, with a unique, fruitier flavour. The fruits are not true berries in the botanical sense.
The species is unusual in the genus in having 3-lobed petals and also in having such deeply divided leaves.
The fruits of this plant are eagerly consumed by a number of animal species, including many birds and mammals. The thickets provide valuable cover for animals.


Several commercially important berry cultivars have been bred from this wild Rubus laciniatus species, which has been grown for its fruits since 1770.


Rubus pedatus is an Asian and North American species of raspberry known under the common names five-leaved bramble, strawberryleaf raspberry and creeping raspberry.
Rubus pedatus is a low shrub or herb with thorn-less creeping stems. The leaves are alternate, deciduous, divided into 5 leaflets (hence the name) each coarsely toothed. The flowers are white, 1–2 cm (0.5–1 in) across, and occur singly on slender stalks. The fruits are bright red, and consist of small clusters of drupelets, sometimes as few as one drupelet per fruit. The fruits are edible.
Rubus pedatus is found in moist mossy forests, glades, stream banks and bog forests on the Pacific coasts of eastern Russia, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and Alaska, inland to Yukon, Alberta, and Montana.


Rubus pubescens (dwarf red blackberry, dwarf red raspberry, dewberry) is a herbaceous perennial widespread across much of Canada and the northern United States, from Alaska to Newfoundland, south as far as Oregon, Colorado, and West Virginia.


Dewberry is eaten by a variety of mammals and birds, including black and grizzly bears, many small rodents, and game birds such as grouse.
Although the shallow-rooting tendency of dewberry makes it susceptible to damage by fire, it spreads quickly over a site by rhizomes, and can become an important component of ground cover after low and moderate-intensity disturbance, thereby reducing soil water loss from evaporation.
Like other members of the genus, dewberry is an insect-pollinated plant.  Without insect pollination, the number of fruits produced and the number of drupelets per fruit can decrease by 85-95%.  Because of its early flowering time, dewberry may be an important food source for insect pollinators in late spring, before the more nutritious and abundant flowering plants (e.g., red raspberry or blueberry crops) become available.


Dewberry is listed as threatened in the state of Illinois, where it is more commonly known as dwarf raspberry.  This status is probably due to a combination of human habitat destruction and a natural rarity at the southern limit of this species' range.


Rubus saxatilis, or stone bramble, is a species of bramble widespread across Europe and Asia from Iceland and Spain east as far as China. It has also been found in Greenland.
The green stems are 20–60 cm tall and covered with minute needle-like prickles, and leaves are usually compound with three leaflets. The spherical fruit is red and 1–1.5 cm in diameter, and contains large pips.


The stone bramble is a perennial plant with biennial stems which die after fruiting in their second year. It sends out long runners which root at the tip to form new plants. The stems are rough with many small spines. The alternate leaves are stalked. Each leaf consists of three oval leaflets with serrated margins, the terminal leaflet having a short stalk and the other two being slightly smaller. The inflorescence is a few-flowered corymb. The calyx of each flower has five sepals and the corolla is composed of five narrow white petals. There is a bunch of stamens and there are several pistils. The fruit is an aggregate of several red, fleshy drupes.


The stone bramble can form dense clumps, spreading by means of its runners. It can also spread by seed as its edible fruit are eaten by birds which deposit the seeds elsewhere in their droppings. It flourishes in damp woods and rough places and can grow vigorously in clearings created by felling trees.


The berries are edible raw or cooked, and have an acid flavor, but are agreeable to the palate. In Russian cuisine, they are eaten plain with sugar, honey, or milk, and can be used in preparation of kissel, kompot, juice, syrup, jams and jellies, and kvass.


Many parts of the plant are astringent, owing largely to the presence of tannins. A decoction of the root was once used in India for the treatment of relaxed bowels and dysentery, and also in treating the spasmodic stage of whooping cough. A decoction of the leaves was used to treat dysentery and some types of bleeding.


Rubus schmidelioides, commonly called bush lawyer, is a climbing plant species from New Zealand. Its hooked branches allow it to climb across the ground and into shrubs and trees. R.schmidelioides fruit are yellow to orange.


Rubus spectabilis, the salmonberry, is a species of bramble in the rose family Rosaceae, native to the west coast of North America from west-central Alaska to California, inland as far as Idaho. Like many other species in the genus Rubus, the salmonberry plant bears edible fruit, typically yellow-orange or red in color, resembling raspberries in appearance.
A similar species from Japan, the red-flowered raspberry (ベニバナイチゴ) was once considered a subspecies as R. spectabilis subsp. vernus. It is now reclassified as Rubus vernus.


Rubus spectabilis is a deciduous, rhizomatous shrub growing to 1–4 m (3–13 ft) tall, with perennial (not biennial) woody stems that are covered with fine prickles, especially on new growth. The plant has golden or yellowish brown erect or arching stems (also known as "canes") that often form thickets, like many other brambles in the genus Rubus. The leaves are alternate, trifoliate (with three leaflets), 7–22 cm (3–8+1⁄2 in) long and typically ovate in shape, with the terminal leaflet being larger than the two side leaflets, which are sometimes shallowly lobed. The margins of the leaflets are doubly serrate.  The leaves are also stipulate and are smooth to slightly hairy on the top surface, compared to the underside, which are typically more pale and hairy.
The flowers are 2–3 cm (3⁄4–1+1⁄4 in) in diameter, with a calyx of five hairy sepals and five pinkish-purple petals; they are produced from early spring to early summer, either singly or in clusters of 2 or 3. The flowers are perfect (bisexual), containing 75–100 stamens and many individual pistils with superior ovaries.
The berries ripen from early May to late July in most of the Pacific Northwest (later in cooler climates), and resemble large shiny yellow to orange-red raspberries,1.5–2 cm (1⁄2–3⁄4 in) long. However, botanically speaking, the salmonberry is not a true berry, but instead an aggregate fruit made of many smaller drupelets. The fruits of the salmonberry plant exhibit polymorphism, as berries are often either red in color or a yellow-orange color. Studies have found that although both red and yellow-orange morphs have similar physical qualities, the red berries are more commonly consumed by birds, although this is likely not a strong enough selective pressure to determine color morph distribution alone; factors such as soil type (which affects germination), along with other unstudied factors are more likely responsible for the color polymorphism.
In the wild, the fruit are typically eaten by birds, bears, and small mammals, among others, while the leaves, twigs, and stems are grazed on by herbivores such as deer, elk, and rabbits. Populations of dense thicket growth can provide escape habitats for small animals, as well as nesting sites for birds.
Salmonberries are typically found in coastal areas with nitrogen-rich soils, in moist to wet forests and streambanks, increasing in abundance in areas of high rainfall and decreasing in abundance at higher elevations and continentality. Ecologically speaking, salmonberry is often dominant and fast-growing in early-seral communities, and declines in abundance as the canopy begins to form. In open areas they often form large thickets, and are found to associate with stands of red alder (Alnus rubra), lady fern (Athyrium filixfemina), western skunk cabbage (Lysichitum americanum), devil's club (Oplopanax horridus), thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus), and threeleaf foamflower (Tiarella trifoliata).


Salmonberries are edible and share the fruit structure of the raspberry, with the fruit pulling away from its receptacle, which differentiates it from blackberries. The fruit has been referred to as "insipid", but depending on ripeness and site, they are good eaten raw – whether red or golden – and when processed into jam, candy, jelly and wine. Native American people and early explorers also ate the young shoots. The shoots were harvested during April to early June before they turned woody or tough, and were peeled, then steamed, boiled, or pit-cooked, and eaten (or less commonly, eaten raw). Traditionally, the berries and sprouts were also eaten with salmon or mixed with oolichan grease or salmon roe. They were not dried because of their high moisture content.
Other uses by Native Americans include:
Boiling the leaves with fish as a flavoring (by the Nuu-chah-nulth people)
Using the leaves to line baskets, wipe fish, and cover cooking pits (by the Kaigani Haida people)
Using the branches as a pipe stem (by the Makah people)
Chewing and spitting the leaves (or bark in the winter) onto a burn as a treatment due to their astringent qualities (by the Quileute people)
Boiling the bark in seawater to create a brew to clean infected wounds (especially burns) as well as reduce labor pains (by the Quinault people)
It is also widely grown as an ornamental plant for its flowers, with a double-flowered clone identified in Washington and British Columbia. R. spectabilis has escaped cultivation and become naturalized in parts of northwestern Europe, including Great Britain, Ireland and the Faroe Islands.


Rubus ulmifolius is a species of wild blackberry known by the English common name elmleaf blackberry or thornless blackberry and the Spanish common name zarzamora. It is native to Europe and North Africa, and has also become naturalized in parts of the United States (especially California), Australia, and southern South America.


Rubus ulmifolius is a brambly shrub sometimes as much as 5 meters (almost 17 feet) tall, sometimes with spines but not always. Leaves are palmately compound with 3 or 5 leaflets, the leaflets green on the upper surface but white on the underside because of a dense layer of woolly hairs. Flowers are usually pink, sometimes white. The fruit is a compound drupe, dark purple, almost black.


Rubus ulmifolius is unique among subgenus Rubus in displaying normal sexual reproduction; all other species are facultative apomicts.


Rubus ulmifolius is found in its native range across Western Europe, from the Netherlands south to Spain and Portugal, in Britain and Ireland, as well as NW Africa. It is naturalised in North America, Australasia and South Africa. In Britain and Ireland it is a plant of hedges and woodland edges on calcareous soils.


Rubus sanctus is often considered to be a subspecies of R. ulmifolius.


Rubus ursinus is a North American species of blackberry or dewberry, known by the common names California blackberry, California dewberry, Douglas berry, Pacific blackberry, Pacific dewberry and trailing blackberry.


Rubus ursinus is a wide, mounding shrub or vine, growing to 0.61–1.52 metres (2–5 feet) high, and more than 1.8 m (6 ft) wide. The prickly branches can take root if they touch soil, thus enabling the plant to spread vegetatively and form larger clonal colonies.
The leaves usually have 3 leaflets but sometimes 5 or only 1, and are deciduous. The plant is dioecious, with male and female plants on separate plants, also unusual for the genus. As with other Rubus, the canes are typically vegetative the first year, and reproductive in the second.
The flowers are white with narrower petals than most related species, and have a fragrance. The sweet, very aromatic, edible fruits are dark purple, dark red, or black and up to 2 centimetres (3⁄4 inch) in length.


Current or recent subspecies and varieties include:
Rubus ursinus subsp. macropetalus — all of distribution range
Rubus ursinus subsp. ursinus — California and Oregon
Rubus ursinus var. sirbenus — endemic to California
Rubus ursinus var. ursinus — California and Oregon


The plant is native to western North America, found in British Columbia (Canada); California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington (Western U.S.); and Baja California state (Mexico).


Diverse wildlife eat the berries, including songbirds, deer, bear, and other large and small mammals. It is of notable pollinator and nesting material value for native bee and bumble bee species. This blackberry species is a larval food source for Papilio rutulus (the western tiger swallowtail butterfly), Nymphalis antiopa (the mourning cloak butterfly), Strymon melinus (the gray hairstreak butterfly), and Celastrina ladon (the spring azure butterfly).
Native Americans such as the Kumeyaay, Maidu, Pomo and Salish peoples used R. ursinus as a fresh and dried fruit source and as a traditional medicinal plant.  The Concow tribe calls this plant wân-kö-mil′-ē in the Konkow language.


Rudbeckia laciniata, the cutleaf coneflower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is native to North America, where it is widespread in both Canada and the United States. Its natural habitat is wet sites in flood plains, along stream banks, and in moist forests. Common names other than cutleaf coneflower include cutleaf, goldenglow, green-headed coneflower, tall coneflower, sochan and thimbleweed.
The Latin specific epithet laciniata refers to the pinnately divided leaves.


It is a robust herbaceous perennial plant growing up to 3 metres (10 feet) tall. It has broadly ovate and somewhat glaucous leaves that are often deeply dissected. The alternate leaves are usually divided into a petiole and a leaf blade. The smooth or hairy leaf blade is simple or one to two-pinnate. The leaflets are lobed three to eleven times. The leaf margin is smooth to roughly serrated. The lower leaves are 38 to 127 centimetres (15 to 50 inches) long and 25 to 64 cm (10 to 25 in) inches wide. The upper leaves are 8 to 40 cm (3 to 15+1⁄2 in) long and 3 to 20 cm (1 to 8 in) wide. Long rhizomes are formed as persistence organs with fibrous roots. The stem is bare.


The composite flowers (flower heads) are produced in late summer and autumn. The disc flowers are green to yellowish green, while the rays are pale yellow. In umbrella-clustered total inflorescences, two to 25 cup-shaped partial inflorescences stand together. The flower heads, which have a diameter of 7 to 15 cm (3 to 6 in), stand on long stems. 8 to 15 irregularly arranged, foliage-like, smooth to hairy bracts have a length of up to 2 cm and usually a ciliate border. The inflorescence base is almost spherical to conical. The chaff leaves are 3 to 7 millimetres (1⁄8 to 1⁄4 in) long.
In a flower basket there are 8–12 ray flowers and 150 to over 300 tubular disk flowers. The golden-yellow rays are 1.5 to 5 cm long and 4 to 14 mm (1⁄8 to 1⁄2 in) wide and are later repulsed. The yellow to yellowish-green tubular flowers are 9 to 30 mm (3⁄8 to 1+1⁄8 in) in length and 10 to 23 mm in diameter, with yellow corolla lobes 3.5 to 5 mm (1⁄8 to 3⁄16 in) long. The stylus branches have a length of 1 to 1.5 mm.
The 3 to 4.5 mm long achenes have a crown-shaped or four up to 1.5 mm long scales consisting of pappus.


R. hirta is similar, with a hemispherical disk and orangish-yellow rays.


Up to six varieties of R. laciniata are currently recognized. The varieties ampla and heterophylla are considered to be the most distinctive, while the others less so. There is variation in treatment among authors, with the less distinctive varieties sometimes being subsumed into laciniata, and variety ampla sometimes recognized at the species level.
The six varieties are:
Rudbeckia laciniata var. ampla – Native west of the Great Plains, into to the Rocky Mountains
Rudbeckia laciniata var. bipinnata – Native to New England and the Mid-Atlantic area
Rudbeckia laciniata var. digitata – Native to the Southeastern Coastal Plain
Rudbeckia laciniata var. heterophylla – Endemic to Levy County, Florida
Rudbeckia laciniata var. humilis – Native to the southern Appalachian Mountains
Rudbeckia laciniata var. laciniata – Widespread and common, native across eastern North America


Rudbeckia laciniata is widely cultivated in gardens and for cut flowers. Numerous cultivars have been developed, of which 'Herbstsonne' ("Autumn sun") and 'Starcadia Razzle Dazzle' have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. The cultivar 'Goldquelle' features double yellow, pom-pom blooms that are 8 cm across.
Rudbeckia laciniata has long been cultivated as an ornamental plant and came to Paris in the private garden of Vespasias Robin at the beginning of the 17th century. Caspar Bauhin also received this ornamental plant from Robin in 1622 , who described it as 'Doronicum americanum laciniato folio'. The first garden in Germany in which it is recorded is Altdorf 1646. The double-flowered form, which is mainly cultivated, has been known since around 1894. The first naturalizations on river banks in Central Europe were observed in the 18th century. Anton Johann Krocker reported about it in 1787 in Queistal near Flinsburg in eastern Upper Lusatia. As an ornamental plant, varieties are used in parks and gardens in temperate areas, for example also filled forms. In Europe, Rudbeckia laciniata became wild in various countries. Besides Europe, Rudbeckia laciniata is a neophyte in China and New Zealand. [6]
The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center notes that "Because it spreads rampantly by underground stems, cut-leaf coneflower is only appropriate for large sites."


The plant is somewhat toxic to livestock.


Traditionally, the young leaves have been gathered from the wild and eaten in the early spring. They are greatly favored as a potherb (cooked). Though some references state the use of this plant as salad greens (raw), traditional use is as cooked greens. This is assumed to be done to remove toxins. However, there is little evidence of their presence. One report cites circumstantial evidence of poisoning to horses, sheep and pigs.


Rudbeckia triloba, the browneyed or brown-eyed susan, thin-leaved coneflower or three-leaved coneflower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to the United States. It is often seen in old fields or along roadsides. It is also cultivated as an ornamental.
It is a short-lived herbaceous perennial found in the Central and Eastern United States. Height is 2–3 ft (60–90 cm) with a spread of 1.0 to 1.5 ft (30 to 45 cm). The species requires full sun and moist soil. It is easy to grow. Spent flowers should be removed to encourage additional bloom, prevent any unwanted self-seeding, or both. This species usually has smaller flowerheads, more flowerheads per plant, and fewer ray flowers per flowerhead than Rudbeckia hirta.  Rudbeckia triloba basal leaves are often trifoliate (three leaflets, sometimes each of the three also divided).
In cultivation in the UK, Rudbeckia triloba has gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit.


Ruellia caroliniensis, the Carolina wild petunia, is a wild petunia with blue or violet flowers that appear in the spring, summer, and autumn. Its leaves are light green. This species is native to the southeastern United States.


Ruellia humilis (wild petunia, fringeleaf wild petunia, hairy petunia, low wild petunia) is a species of flowering plant in the family Acanthaceae. It is native to the eastern United States. It is grown as an ornamental plant.
Ruellia humilis is native to the U.S. from the northeastern/northern central to the southeastern/southern central regions. According to the Germplasm Resources Information Network of the United States Department of Agriculture, Ruellia humilis is native to the following states:
Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, (eastern) Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, (southeastern) Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, (western) North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, (eastern) Texas, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Virginia.
It is not well-known or used much in conventional nurseries or gardens, but use in gardens has been increasing as native plants become more popular. It is usually about one foot high, but can get to two feet high. Its opposite leaves are to 2.5 inches long by 1 inch wide and are light green to medium green with smooth margins and are covered with soft white hairs on both sides. The funnel-shaped 5-lobed flowers are about 1.5 to 2.5 inches in diameter and do resemble petunias, as does the rest of the plant. The lavender flowers bloom in July into September and open in the morning and fall off in the evening.


In regards to the overall scientific characteristics of Ruellia humilis, the species is expected to behave normally with other species in surrounding ecological systems. The plant has been observed to have a high level of richness of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi(AMF) diversity when located in calcareous plots as compared to acidic plots. This will occur rather frequently as such plots can be found in grassland ecological systems, which can be found with ease in the states where the plant inhabits.
As with any other biological entity, Ruellia humilis also has certain characteristics that impact its plant virus composition. A study published in Virus Evolution Journal set out to study and identify which biological factors affects the virus composition the most. The factors examined in the study include host identify, location, and time effects. The results showed that the host identity effects has a much more consistent impact on the composition of the plant virus than the other factors.
With the general exclusive presence of Ruellia humilis in the United States set, there is more data that indicates, more specifically, the type of biome and regions that this plant shows up in more often. One case study sampling from Buettner Xeric Limestone Prairies, Illinois, Monroe County revealed that when comparing frequency of the plant, the plant had 70% presence in the eastern region of prairie and only 3% in the western region prairie. To place this data in perspective, the eastern region's vegetation covered about 38% of the surface while the western region's vegetation covered about 33.5% of its surface. Both regions' "rock was between 17% and 19%, and bare ground and litter was from 40% to 44%."


Ruellia nudiflora, the violet wild petunia, is a perennial plant in the acanthus family (Acanthaceae) found in areas of moisture in the Sonoran Desert. Despite its name, it is not a true petunia.


Sorrel (Rumex acetosa), also called common sorrel or garden sorrel, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Polygonaceae. Other names for sorrel include spinach dock and narrow-leaved dock ('dock' is a common name for the genus Rumex).
Sorrel is a common plant in grassland habitats and is often cultivated as a leaf vegetable or herb.


Sorrel is a slender herbaceous perennial plant about 60 centimetres (24 inches) high, with roots that run deep into the ground, as well as juicy stems and arrow-shaped (sagittate) leaves. The lower leaves are 7 to 15 centimetres (3 to 6 inches) in length with long petioles and a membranous ocrea formed of fused, sheathing stipules. The upper ones are sessile, and frequently become crimson. It has whorled spikes of reddish-green flowers, which bloom in early summer, becoming purplish. The species is dioecious, with stamens and pistils on different plants.
The leaves are eaten by the larvae of several species of Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) including the blood-vein moth, as well as by non-specialized snails and slugs.
In the Caribbean, the roselle flower commonly made into sweet drinks is known as "sorrel", but this plant from Western Africa is actually a form of hibiscus unrelated to the Eurasian sorrel herb.


Rumex acetosa occurs in grassland habitats throughout Europe from the northern Mediterranean coast to the north of Scandinavia and in parts of Central Asia. It occurs as an introduced species in parts of New Zealand, Australia and North America. It can grow in poor soil.


Common sorrel has been cultivated for centuries. The leaves are edible when young but toughen with age; they may be puréed in soups and sauces or added to salad. The plant has a distinct sharp, sour taste. It contains oxalic acid, which can be poisonous in high quantities.
In India, the leaves are used in soups or curries made with yellow lentils and peanuts. In Afghanistan, the leaves are coated in a wet batter and deep fried, then served as an appetizer or if in season during Ramadan, for breaking the fast. In Armenia, the leaves are collected in spring, woven into braids, and dried for use during winter. The most common preparation is aveluk soup, where the leaves are rehydrated and rinsed to reduce bitterness, then stewed with onions, potatoes, walnuts, garlic and bulgur wheat or lentils, and sometimes sour plums.
Throughout eastern Europe, wild or garden sorrel is used to make sour soups, stewed with vegetables or herbs, meat or eggs. In rural Greece, it is used with spinach, leeks, and chard in spanakopita. In Albania, the leaves are simmered and served cold marinated in olive oil, or as an ingredient for filling byrek pies (byrek me lakra).
"Escalope de saumon à l'oseille" (salmon escalope in sorrel sauce), invented in 1962 by the Troisgros brothers, is an emblematic dish of the French nouvelle cuisine. French cuisine traditionally cooks fish with sorrel because its acidity dissolves thin fish bones.


Rumex confertus (Russian dock) is a flowering plant species in the family Polygonaceae.
It grows quickly, reproduces from rhizomes and seed, and produces large quantities of viable seed. Its seed is adapted for wind and water dispersal and exhibits a high rate of germination.


Rumex confertus flowering usually occurs late spring-summer. Along roadsides, waste places, meadows, river valleys. This species is common in central and Eastern Europe, can be expected elsewhere in mild climate regions of North America.


The Rumex L. (dock) species have been used in medical treatment for many centuries.


The plant produces an inflorescence or flower stalk that grows to 1.5 metres (5 feet) high. It has smooth leaves shooting off from a large basal rosette, with distinctive waved or curled edges; these can grow to 14–24 centimetres (5+1⁄2–9+1⁄2 inches). On the stalk, flowers and seeds are produced in clusters on branched stems, with the largest cluster being found at the apex. The seeds are shiny, brown and encased in the calyx of the flower that produced them. This casing enables the seeds to float on water and get caught in wool and animal fur, and this helps the seeds spread to new locations. The root structure is a large, yellow, forking taproot.
Rumex crispus has a number of subspecies with distinctive habitat preferences. R. crispus ssp. crispus occurs on waste and cultivated ground. R. crispus ssp. littoreus has a coastal distribution, and R. crispus ssp. uliginosus occurs on tidal estuarine mud. The species hybridizes readily with other Rumex species including Rumex obtusifolius, Rumex obovatus, Rumex palustris and Rumex maritimus.


Common in Ireland, the United States, and southern Canada.


The curled dock is an optimal host plant for certain Lepidoptera species including, Agrotis ipsilon (black cutworm). Adult moths oviposit on these dense, low-lying leaves during the spring/summer season.


It can be used as a wild leaf vegetable; the young leaves should be boiled in several changes of water to remove as much of the oxalic acid in the leaves as possible or can be added directly to salads in moderate amounts. Once the plant matures it becomes too bitter to consume. Dock leaves are an excellent source of both vitamin A and vitamin C, as well as a source of iron and potassium. Curly Dock leaves are somewhat tart due to the presence of high levels of oxalic acid, and although quite palatable, this plant should only be consumed in moderation as it can irritate the urinary tract and increase the risk of developing kidney stones. It should be used with care during lactation, as it may cause a laxative effect in the infant.
The seeds of the yellow dock, once dried thoroughly, are edible as well. The dark-brown to black seed pods remain on the stalk until the spring when leaves start growing again. While many wild foraged grains must be winnowed, the pods of Rumex crispus are small enough that it is more efficient to grind them with the grain. The resulting flour is much like buckwheat in flavor, and while some may find it too bitter, many prefer the seeds over the tartness of the leaves.
In Western herbalism, the root is often used for treating anemia, due to its high level of iron. It can be powdered and given in capsules, often in combination with stinging nettle – Urtica dioica. This is a classic combination with the plant. Both the leaves and root may be laxative in some individuals, though not in all, and generally it is mild. This is due to the presence of anthroquinone glycosides, and is not an action that should be relied upon, but seen as a possible effect of the plant when taken. The plant may also cause intestinal discomfort to some people. The plant will help with skin conditions if taken internally or applied externally to things like itching, scrofula, and sores. Some studies show that certain anthroquinones can help stop or slow cancer growth, but this may or may not apply to the ones in yellow dock.
Yellow dock is part of the homeopathic pharmacopoeia. It is used mainly for respiratory conditions, specifically those with a tickling cough that is worse when exposed to cold air. It mentions also passing pains, excessive itching, and that it helps enlarged lymphs.
The Zuni people apply a poultice of the powdered root to sores, rashes and skin infections, and use infusion of the root for athlete's foot.


Rumex hymenosepalus, commonly known as canaigre, canaigre dock, ganagra, wild rhubarb, Arizona dock, and tanner's dock, is a perennial flowering plant which is native to the North American deserts in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It is a common food plant of the ruddy copper larvae.


It has been cultivated in the southwestern United States for the roots, a good source of tannin, which is used in leather tanning. It also yields a warm, medium brown dye.
The leaves and leaf stalks are considered edible when young, the older leaf stalks cooked and eaten like rhubarb, which is in the same plant family.


Rumex hymenosepalus was first described by American botanist John Torrey in the Report on the United States and Mexican Boundary in 1859.
Synonyms
Rumex arizonicus Britton
Rumex salinus A. Nelson
Rumex hymenosepalus var. salinus (A. Nelson) Rech.
Rumex saxei nom. nudum. UNAM


Rumex obtusifolius, commonly known as bitter dock, broad-leaved dock, bluntleaf dock, dock leaf or butter dock, is a perennial plant in the family Polygonaceae. It is native to Europe, but is found on all temperate continents. It is a highly invasive species in some zones, resulting from its abundant seed dispersal, adaptability to reproduce, aggressive roots, ability to tolerate extreme climates, and hardiness.


The name, Rumex obtusifolius, was assigned by Carl Linnaeus in the 18th century, and has remained unchanged, although there are numerous subspecies. Rumex was Pliny's name for sorrel, while obtusifolius means 'obtuse-leaved' (obtuse + foliage).


Rumex obtusifolius is a perennial herbaceous flowering plant that grows to a height of 40 to 150 cm (16 to 59 in). It is easily recognizable by its very large oval leaves with cordate bases and rounded tips, some of the lower leaves having red stems. The edges of the leaves are slightly "crisped" or wavy, the upper surface is hairless and the under surface may be papillose. The leaves of this plant can grow to about 30 cm (12 in) in length and 15 centimetres (5.9 in) wide. The taproot is large, with numerous branches extending to a depth of 150 centimetres (59 in), with tough stems, often reddish, and unbranched until just below the inflorescence.
The junctions of the petioles with the stems are covered by a sheath formed by two fused stipules known as an ocrea, a thin, paper-like membrane – a characteristic of the family Polygonaceae. The stem leaves are alternate and are narrowly ovate–lanceolate. The inflorescence consists of large clusters of racemes which contain small greenish flowers that change to red as they mature. The perianth-segments are in two whorls of three. Segments in the outer whorl are small and spreading while the inner whorl forms fruit valves, which are widely ovately-triangular. The seeds produced are dry and reddish brown. This plant blooms June through September.
Rumex crispus – curly dock – is similar in appearance, but with thinner and wave-like leaves. In more detail, the calyx of curly dock has smooth margins while the calyx of broad-leaved dock has horned margins.


Rumex obtusifolius is widely distributed throughout the world. It is a plant growing readily on arable land, meadows, waste ground, roadsides, ditches, shorelines, riverbanks, woodland margins, forest clearings, and orchards. Seedlings can be identified by the oval leaves with red stems and rolled leaves sprouting from the center of the plant. Regrowth from the rosette usually takes place in spring.


Leaves of the plant can be used as salad, to prepare a vegetable broth or to be cooked like spinach. They contain oxalic acid which can be hazardous if consumed in large quantities. Dried seeds are used as a spice. In Romania and Greece the leaves are sometimes used as an alternative to other plants in the making of sarmale. A tea prepared from the root was thought to cure boils.
In Ireland and the United Kingdom, the plant is often found growing near stinging nettles and there is a widely held belief that the underside of the dock leaf, squeezed to extract a little juice, can be rubbed on the skin to counteract the itching caused by brushing against a nettle plant. This home remedy is not supported by any science, although it is possible that the act of rubbing may act as a distracting counterstimulation, or that belief in the dock's effect may provide a placebo effect.


Rumex obtusifolius is a major host plant for many different insects as well, including the Acronicta rumicis moth. For A. rumicis research, this host plant is generally targeted because it is found highly within the moth's range.


Rumex obtusifolius is an aggressive invasive species on all temperate continents. Broad-leaved dock is designated an "injurious weed" under the UK Weeds Act 1959. It has been an invasive species of the Great Lakes region of North America where it was first sighted in 1840.
Various parasites and predators of R. obtusifolius include 32 insect species and 12 fungi species. In the UK, the invertebrate herbivore species is a leaf beetle, Gastrophysa viridula.


Rumohra adiantiformis, the leather fern or leatherleaf fern, is a species of fern in the wood fern family Dryopteridaceae. It has a wide distribution, mainly in the tropical Southern Hemisphere.


Growing to 90 cm (35 in) tall and broad, Rumohra adiantiformis is a bushy, tufted evergreen plant with glossy dark green fronds. These contain round sori (reproductive clusters) on the underside of the pinnae (leaflets) unlike many other ferns which have separate specialized reproductive fronds. Many of the sori have protective peltate indusia (films), and prominent scales on the stipes of the fronds.


Rumohra adiantiformis is native to South America, the Caribbean, southern Africa, the Western Indian Ocean islands, Papua New Guinea, and Australasia. Countries it is native to include such diverse places as Brazil and Colombia, the Galápagos Islands, the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean, Zimbabwe and South Africa Australia, and New Zealand.


An example of plant associations of Rumohra adiantiformis is found in the podocarp/broadleaf forests of Westland, New Zealand, with flora associates including Ascarina lucida, Pseudowintera colorata, Pseudopanax colensoi, Cyathea smithii and Blechnum discolor.


The fern is cultivated as an ornamental plant for groundcover and in floristry. As it is a tropical plant with only limited protection against frost, in temperate climates it is normally grown under glass as a houseplant.
In the UK it has gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit.
It is of economic importance in Brazil, where thousands of people generate their income by wild-harvesting and selling the fronds for use in flower arrangements.


Rupertia physodes is a species of legume known by the common names forest scurfpea and California tea.
It is native to west coast and coastal mountains of California, and northwards through the Cascade Range into Idaho and British Columbia.


Rupertia physodes is a low bushy perennial with often recumbent branches that may form a dense ground cover. It has deep, woody roots and grows well on the dry edges of woods and prairies where it flowers in late spring and summer when few other nectar sources remain available.
It has trifoliate leaves with three dark green tear-shaped entire leaflets which are smooth overall to sparsely hairy along the veins.
The flowers are crowded on an auxiliary raceme ~ 5 cm long and with ~  25 - 40 flowers. The individual papilionaceous (pea-like) flowers are white to cream colored, tinged with green or purple when freshly opened and fading to a rusty brown.  A notable characteristic of this species is that the calyx continues to grow after the flower is shed and it soon becomes much longer than the developing seed pod, forming a large expanded conical collar around the one-seeded pod.
At maturity the grayish one-seeded pod is tomentulose and membranaceous and can be easily rubbed off the single shiny black 5 mm long reniform seed that it tightly encloses.  The mature bracts have a light resinous aromatic odor reminiscent of hops.


Ruscus aculeatus, known as butcher's-broom, is a low evergreen dioecious Eurasian shrub, with flat shoots known as cladodes that give the appearance of stiff, spine-tipped leaves. Small greenish flowers appear in spring, and are borne singly in the centre of the cladodes. The female flowers are followed by a red berry, and the seeds are bird-distributed, but the plant also spreads vegetatively by means of rhizomes. It is native to Eurasia and some northern parts of Africa. Ruscus aculeatus occurs in woodlands and hedgerows, where it is tolerant of deep shade, and also on coastal cliffs. Likely due to its attractive winter/spring color, Ruscus aculeatus has become a fairly common landscape plant. It is also widely planted in gardens, and has spread as a garden escapee in many areas outside its native range. The plant grows well in zones 7 to 9 on the USDA hardiness zone map.
The Latin specific epithet aculeatus means “prickly”.


The common name, butcher's broom, hails from one of its original uses. In Europe, Ruscus species were traditionally harvested for their flat and stiff branches to make small brooms that were used for clearing off and cleaning butchering blocks. Recent research has uncovered that butcher's broom contains some antibacterial compounds. This suggests that in addition to the functional physical properties of Ruscus species, increased effectiveness in cleaning and producing safer products due to unrecognized antibacterial oils may have contributed to its popularity and subsequent nickname.


Butcher's broom has been used by a variety of peoples as a treatment for a variety of ailments. A classical remedy from Europe claimed that the rhizomes could be used as a diuretic. In ancient Greece, butcher's broom was used as a laxative or diuretic, and it was also believed to remove kidney stones when added to wine. Butcher's broom was also used to reduce swelling and to speed the recovery of fractures.


Grows to length of 80 cm with stiff branches bearing cladodes (stems modified to look like leaves) and true leaves less than 5 mm. Flowers grow from axils of leaves on adaxial side of cladodes. The 6 tepals are pale green and the ovary and stamens violet. Fruit about 1 cm red, thick and rigid. Flowers in the axil of bracts cladodes up to 4 cm.


In Great Britain it has been recorded from southern England to north Wales. In north-eastern Ireland it is extremely rare growing wild but has been recorded in Counties Down and Antrim.


The major phytochemicals in butcher's broom are steroidal saponins. Saponins occur naturally in plants as glycosides and have foam forming properties. The specific saponins found in butcher's broom are ruscogenins, ruscogenen and neoruscogenin, named for the genus Ruscus. Ruscogenins function as anti-inflammatory agents and are also believed to cause constriction in veins. Currently the mode of action of ruscogenins is not well understood, but one proposed mechanism suggests that ruscogenins suppresses leukocyte migration through both protein and mRNA regulation. Neoruscogenin has been identified as a potent and high-affinity agonist of the nuclear receptor RORα (NR1F1).
Newer research has also uncovered that there are polyphenols present in butcher's broom which may also be physiologically active, possibly as an antioxidant. As of yet there is not enough evidence to make a conclusion, but since they have now been synthesized in labs further research should be in progress.


The dwarf cultivar ‘John Redmond’, growing to 50 cm (20 in) tall by 100 cm (39 in) broad, has gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit.
Other cultivars include 'Christmas Berry'.


The species is green, large, and slender with a cone-shaped head. The apex of the head has a cream-colored band that goes through it and the eyes. Its size ranges from 32–60 mm (1.3–2.4 in). The wings of both sexes extend further than the abdomen. They are able to produce a high-pitched buzzing sound.


It is native to central and southern Europe where it can be found on riverbanks and other wet areas that have long grass. It is scarcely found in southern Britain and came to the area via an accidental import. The species can be found from July to October. It is also native to Africa and the Palearctic part of Asia.


The black skimmer (Rynchops niger) is a tern-like seabird, one of three similar birds species in the skimmer genus Rynchops in the gull family Laridae. It breeds in North and South America. Northern populations winter in the warmer waters of the Caribbean and the tropical and subtropical Pacific coasts, but the South American races make only shorter movements in response to annual floods which extend their feeding areas in the river shallows.


The black skimmer was described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1755 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae and given the binomial name Rynchops niger. The genus name Rynchops is from the Ancient Greek ῥυγχος/rhunkhos meaning "bill" and κοπτω/koptō meaning "to cut off". The specific niger is the Latin word for "black". The black skimmer is one of three species in the genus Rynchops.
There are three subspecies:
R. n. niger (Linnaeus, 1758) – migratory, breeds on the Atlantic coast of North America, and from southern California to Ecuador in the Pacific
R. n. cinerascens (von Spix, 1825) – is larger, has dusky underwings, only narrow white fringe to its black tail, and breeds in northern and northeastern South America and the Amazon basin
R. n. intercedens (Saunders, 1895) – occurs on the rest of the Atlantic coast of South America south to central Argentina


The black skimmer is the largest of the three skimmer species. It measures 40–50 cm (16–20 in) long with a 107–127 cm (42–50 in) wingspan. This species ranges from 212 to 447 g (7.5 to 15.8 oz), with males averaging about 349 g (12.3 oz), as compared to the smaller females 254 g (9.0 oz). The basal half of the bill is red, the rest mainly black, and the lower mandible is much-elongated. The eye has a dark brown iris and catlike vertical pupil, unique for a bird. The legs are red. The call is a barking kak-kak-kak.
Adults in breeding plumage have a black crown, nape and upper body. The forehead and underparts are white. The upper wings are black with white on the rear edge, and the tail and rump are dark grey with white edges. The underwing colour varies from white to dusky grey depending on region.
Non-breeding adults have paler and browner upperparts, and a white nape collar. Immature birds have brown upperparts with white feather tips and fringes. The underparts and forehead are white, and the underwings as the adult.


They spend much time loafing gregariously on sandbars in the rivers, coasts and lagoons they frequent.


The black skimmer breeds in loose groups on sandbanks and sandy beaches in the Americas, the three to seven heavily dark-blotched buff or bluish eggs being incubated by both the male and female. The chicks leave the nest as soon as they hatch and lie inconspicuously in the nest depression or "scrape" where they are shaded from high temperatures by the parents. They may dig their own depressions in the sand at times. Parents feed the young almost exclusively during the day with almost no feeding occurring at night, due to the entire population of adults sometimes departing the colony to forage. Although the mandibles are of equal length at hatching, they rapidly become unequal during fledging.


BirdLife International (2016). "Rynchops niger". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22694256A93442996. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22694256A93442996.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae:Laurentii Salvii. p. 138.
Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp. 270, 344. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2019). "Noddies, gulls, terns, auks". World Bird List Version 9.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
"Black Skimmer Life History, All About Birds, Cornell Lab Of Ornithology". 2011.
CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses by John B. Dunning Jr. (Editor). CRC Press (1992), ISBN 978-0-8493-4258-5.
Gochfeld, M.; Burger, J.; Lefevre, K. L. (4 March 2020).  Billerman, Shawn M (ed.). "Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger)". Birds of the World. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY. doi:10.2173/bow.blkski.01. S2CID 216218414. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
Kaufman, Kenn (13 November 2014). "Black skimmer (Rynchops niger)". Guide to North American Birds. Audubon. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
Mariano-Jelicich, R; Favero, M.; Silva, M.P. (February 2003). "Fish Prey of the Black Skimmer Rynchops Niger at Mar Chiquita, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina" (PDF). Marine Ornithology. 31: 199–202. Retrieved 2009-06-29.
https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Rynchops_niger/


Sabal minor, commonly known as the dwarf palmetto, is a small species of palm. It is native to the deep southeastern and south-central United States and northeastern Mexico. It is naturally found in a diversity of habitats, including maritime forests, swamps, floodplains, and occasionally on drier sites. It is often found growing in calcareous marl soil. Sabal minor is one of the most frost and cold tolerant among North American palms.


This palm's native range spans on the Atlantic Coast from central Florida north to Monkey Island, North Carolina. On the Gulf Coast, it spans from central Florida to central Texas, Arkansas, north to southern Oklahoma and northern Alabama, then south in the State of Nuevo León in Mexico.


Sabal Minor grows up to 3 meters in height, with a trunk up to 30 centimetres (12 in) diameter. It is a fan palm (Arecaceae tribe Corypheae), with the leaves with a bare petiole terminating in a rounded fan of numerous leaflets. Each leaf is 1.5–2 metres (4 ft 11 in – 6 ft 7 in) long, with 40 leaflets up to 80 centimetres (31 in) long, conjoined over half of this length. The flowers are yellowish-white, 5 millimetres (0.20 in) across, produced in large compound panicles up to 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) long, extending out beyond the leaves. The fruit is a black drupe 1 to 1.3 centimetres (0.39 to 0.51 in) long containing a single seed.


Sabal minor is one of the most cold hardy palms in cultivation. It does best however, when grown in hot and humid tropical summer conditions, and may struggle or grow slowly in cool summer climates. It is leaf hardy to near 0 °F (−18 °C), and has been known to survive brief periods of −5 °F (−21 °C) temperatures. It is generally cultivated in subtropical and warm temperate climates. S. minor can grow in a wide variety of soil types, and is often found submerged in swamps in the subtropical southeastern United States. It grows in both full sun and shaded locations, though it will do best in the cooler garden zones (below zone USDA 7) in full sun and a wind sheltered location.
In the United States, since the 1960s, cultivation of Sabal minor has spread beyond the deep southern United States. S. minor is cultivated along the East Coast from Florida to coastal Connecticut, and on the West Coast from Vancouver BC south to San Diego. It is a recommended horticultural plant by the Virginia Cooperative Extension. There are several cultivars, including those from the Outer Banks of North Carolina (northernmost strains), and those from Oklahoma and Texas. One popular strain is 'McCurtain', named after McCurtain County, Oklahoma, where they are native. These tend to remain trunkless and smaller than those from warmer areas. S. minor is a popular landscape palm in coastal resort areas from Virginia Beach, Virginia, to southern Texas.


Sabatia campestris (Texas star; also prairie rose-gentian, prairie sabatia, meadow pink) is a species of Sabatia, native to the south-central United States, from Texas east to Mississippi and north to Iowa and Illinois. It is also locally naturalized in New England.
Sabatia campestris is an annual plant growing to 15–25 cm (6–10 in) tall with pairs of opposite leaves 8–40 mm long and 5–20 mm wide. The flowers are produced in open, long-stalked cymes at the top of the stems; the flower corolla is about 40 mm diameter, with five pink (rarely white) lobes with bluntly acute apices, and a contrasting bright yellow central 'eye'; they are hermaphrodite (contain both male and female organs). The fruit is a capsule containing numerous small seeds.


Its natural habitats are mainly fields, prairies (hence the name Prairie rose-gentian), open ground, woods and roadside edges.


Sabatia campestris is cultivated as an ornamental plant in gardens, where it requires moist soil and partial to full sun.
It can be used for medical purposes as an anti-periodic and tonic. It is also possible to obtain a herbal tea from the plant.


Sabulodes aegrotata, the omnivorous looper,  is a moth of the  family Geometridae. It is found in north-western North America, south to northern California.
The wingspan is 35–44 mm. Adults are on wing year round.
The larvae feed on the foliage of various flowering trees and shrubs, including Alnus, Holodiscus discolor, Rubus spectabilis, Salix and Umbellularia californica.


Sagina procumbens is a species of flowering plant.
in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common names procumbent pearlwort, birdeye pearlwort and matted pearlwort. It can be found throughout the Northern Hemisphere and parts of South America. It is a common weed of many environments. It can be found in wild and disturbed habitat, especially moist areas. It can sometimes be seen growing in lawns or in cracks in pavements. This is a perennial herb forming clumps or mats of hairless green herbage, sometimes vaguely resembling a patch of moss. The leaves are linear and up to 1 or 2 centimeters long. The inflorescence is a solitary flower with four or five sepals and four or five small white petals, but the petals are sometimes absent.


Showing short leaves no more than 10mm long. Flowers minute and solitary, sepals 4 or 5, petals minute or absent.


It is said to have been the first plant on which Christ set his foot when he came to Earth, or when he rose from the dead. In the highlands of Scotland it was supposed to have derived supernatural powers from having been blessed by Christ, St Bride and St Columba. A spray of it hung from the door lintel gave protection against fairies, especially those who made a practise of spiriting people away. If pearlwort were stuck in a bull's fore-hooves, the cows with which it mated and the calves and the milk they produced were safeguarded from ills. If a cow ate the herb, its calves and milk, and all who drank the milk, were also protected against fairies. For the young village maiden, pearlwort brought a bonus. If drunk in an infusion, or used merely to wet the lips, it would attract her favoured  lover, and if a piece  of it were in the girl's  mouth when she kissed him, he was bound to her for ever.


Salix alba, the white willow, is a species of willow native to Europe and western and central Asia. The name derives from the white tone to the undersides of the leaves.
It is a medium-sized to large deciduous tree growing up to 10–30 m tall, with a trunk up to 1 m diameter and an irregular, often-leaning crown. The bark is grey-brown, and deeply fissured in older trees. The shoots in the typical species are grey-brown to green-brown. The leaves are paler than most other willows, due to a covering of very fine, silky white hairs, in particular on the underside; they are 5–10 cm long and 0.5–1.5 cm wide. The flowers are produced in catkins in early spring, and pollinated by insects. It is dioecious, with male and female catkins on separate trees; the male catkins are 4–5 cm long, the female catkins 3–4 cm long at pollination, lengthening as the fruit matures. When mature in midsummer, the female catkins comprise numerous small (4 mm) capsules, each containing numerous minute seeds embedded in white down, which aids wind dispersal.


Like all willows, Salix alba is usually to be found in wet or poorly-drained soil at the edge of pools, lakes or rivers. Its wide-spreading roots take up moisture from a large surrounding area.
White willows are fast-growing, but relatively short-lived, being susceptible to several diseases, including watermark disease caused by the bacterium Brenneria salicis (named because of the characteristic 'watermark' staining in the wood; syn. Erwinia salicis) and willow anthracnose, caused by the fungus Marssonina salicicola. These diseases can be a serious problem on trees grown for timber or ornament.
It readily forms natural hybrids with crack willow Salix fragilis, the hybrid being named Salix × rubens Schrank.


A number of cultivars and hybrids have been selected for forestry and horticultural use:
Salix alba 'Caerulea' (cricket-bat willow; syn. Salix alba var. caerulea (Sm.) Sm.; Salix caerulea Sm.) is grown as a specialist timber crop in Britain, mainly for the production of cricket bats, and for other uses where a tough, lightweight wood that does not splinter easily is required. It is distinguished mainly by its growth form, very fast-growing with a single straight stem, and also by its slightly larger leaves (10–11 cm long, 1.5–2 cm wide) with a more blue-green colour. Its origin is unknown; it may be a hybrid between white willow and crack willow, but this is not confirmed.
Salix alba 'Vitellina' (golden willow; syn. Salix alba var. vitellina (L.) Stokes) is a cultivar grown in gardens for its shoots, which are golden-yellow for one to two years before turning brown. It is particularly decorative in winter; the best effect is achieved by coppicing it every two to three years to stimulate the production of longer young shoots with better colour. Other similar cultivars include 'Britzensis', 'Cardinal', and 'Chermesina', selected for even brighter orange-red shoots.
Salix alba 'Vitellina-Tristis' (golden weeping willow, synonym 'Tristis') is a weeping cultivar with yellow branches that become reddish-orange in winter. It is now rare in cultivation and has been largely replaced by Salix x sepulcralis 'Chrysocoma'. It is, however, still the best choice in very cold parts of the world, such as Canada, the northern US, and Russia.
The golden hybrid weeping willow (Salix × sepulcralis 'Chrysocoma') is a hybrid between white willow and Peking willow Salix babylonica.


The following have received the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit
Salix alba 'Golden Ness'
Salix alba var. serica (silver willow)
Salix alba var. vitellina 'Yelverton'
Salix × sepulcralis 'Erythroflexuosa'
Salix × sepulcralis var. chrysocoma


The wood is tough, strong, and light in weight, but has minimal resistance to decay. The stems (withies) from coppiced and pollarded plants are used for basket-making. Charcoal made from the wood was important for gunpowder manufacture. The bark tannin was used in the past for tanning leather.
The wood is used to make cricket bats. S. alba wood has a low density and a lower transverse compressive strength. This allows the wood to bend, which is why it can be used to make baskets. Willow bark contains indole-3-butyric acid, which is a plant hormone stimulating root growth; willow trimmings are sometimes used to clone rootstock in place of commercially synthesized root stimulator. It is also used for ritual purposes by Jews on the holiday of Sukkot.


Willow (of unspecified species) has long been used by herbalists for various ailments, although it is a myth that they attribute to it any analgesic effect. One of the first references to White Willow specifically was by Edward Stone, of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England, in 1763. He 'accidentally' tasted the bark and found it had a bitter taste, which reminded him of Peruvian Bark (Cinchona), which was used to treat malaria. After researching all the 'dispensaries and books on botany,' he found no suggestion of willow ever being used to treat fevers, and decided to experiment with it himself. Over the next seven years he successfully used the dried powder of willow bark to cure 'agues and intermittent fevers' of around fifty people, although it worked better when combined with quinine.
Stone appears to have been largely ignored by the medical profession and herbalists alike. There are reports of two pharmacists trialling this remedy, but no evidence that it worked. By the early 20th century, Maud Grieve, one of the most famous herbalists of the era, did not consider White Willow to be a febrifuge. Instead, she describes using the bark and the powdered root for its tonic, antiperiodic and astringent qualities and recommended its use in treating dyspepsia, worms, chronic diarrhoea and dysentery.  She considered tannin to be the active constituent.
An active extract of the bark, called salicin, after the Latin name Salix, was isolated to its crystalline form in 1828 by Henri Leroux, a French pharmacist, and Raffaele Piria, an Italian chemist, who then succeeded in separating out the acid in its pure state. Salicylic acid is a chemical derivative of salicin, and is widely used in medicine. Acetylsalicylic acid (Aspirin) is, however, a chemical that does not occur in nature and which was originally synthesised from salicylic acid extracted from Meadowsweet, and is not connected to willow except in the similarity of its name.


Salix babylonica (Babylon willow or weeping willow; Chinese: 垂柳; pinyin: chuí liǔ) is a species of willow native to dry areas of northern China, but cultivated for millennia elsewhere in Asia, being traded along the Silk Road to southwest Asia and Europe.


Salix babylonica is a medium- to large-sized deciduous tree, growing up to 20–25 m (66–82 ft) tall. It grows rapidly, but has a short lifespan, between 40 and 75 years. The shoots are yellowish-brown, with small buds. The leaves are alternate and spirally arranged, narrow, light green, 4–16 cm (1.6–6.3 in) long and 0.5–2 cm (0.2–0.8 in) broad, with finely serrate margins and long acuminate tips; they turn a gold-yellow in autumn. The flowers are arranged in catkins produced early in the spring; it is dioecious, with the male and female catkins on separate trees.


Salix babylonica was described and named scientifically by Carolus Linnaeus in 1736, who knew the species as the pendulous-branched ("weeping") variant then recently introduced into the Clifford garden in Hartekamp in The Netherlands.


Early Chinese cultivar selections include the original weeping willow, Salix babylonica 'Pendula', in which the branches and twigs are strongly pendulous, which was presumably spread along ancient trade routes.  These distinctive trees were subsequently introduced into England from Aleppo in northern Syria in 1730, and have rapidly become naturalised, growing well along rivers and in parks. These plants are all females, readily propagated vegetatively, and capable of hybridizing with various other kinds of willows, but not breeding true from seed. This type of tree is grown very easily through plant propagation.
Two cultivated hybrids between pendulous Salix babylonica and other species of  Salix willows also have pendulous branchlets, and are more commonly planted than S. babylonica itself:
Salix × pendulina, a hybrid with S. babylonica accepted as the female parent, but with the male parent unidentified, probably being either S. euxina or S. × fragilis, but perhaps S. pentandra.  Of these possibilities, S. × fragilis is itself a hybrid, with S. alba and S. euxina as parental species.
Salix × sepulcralis, is a hybrid between S. alba and S. babylonica.
Cultivars derived from either of these hybrids are generally better adapted than S. babylonica to the more humid climates of most heavily populated regions of Europe and North America.


A similar willow species also native to northern China, Salix matsudana (Chinese willow), is now included in Salix babylonica as a synonym by many botanists, including the Russian willow expert Alexey Skvortsov. The only reported difference between the two species is S. matsudana has two nectaries in each female flower, whereas S. babylonica has only one; however, this character is variable in many willows (for example, crack willow, Salix × fragilis, can have either one or two), so even this difference may not be taxonomically significant.
A horticultural variant with twisted twigs and trunk, the corkscrew willow (S. matsudana var. tortuosa), is widely planted.


Salix babylonica, especially its pendulous-branched ("weeping") form, has been introduced into many other areas, including Europe and the southeastern United States, but beyond China, it has not generally been as successfully cultivated as some of its hybrid derivatives, being sensitive to late-spring frosts.  In the more humid climates of much of Europe and eastern North America, it is susceptible to a canker disease, willow anthracnose (Marssonina salicicola), which makes infected trees very short-lived and unsightly.


Salix babylonica (Babylon willow) has many cultivars, including:
'Babylon' (synonym: 'Napoleon') is the most widely grown cultivar of S. babylonica, with its typical weeping branches.
'Crispa' (synonym: 'Annularis') is a mutant of 'Babylon', with spirally curled leaves.
Various cultivars of Salix matsudana (Chinese willow) are now often included within Salix babylonica, treated more broadly, including:
'Pendula' is one of the best weeping trees, with a silvery shine, hardier, and more disease resistant.
'Tortuosa' is an upright tree with twisted and contorted branches, marketed as corkscrew willow.
Yet other weeping willow cultivars are derived from interspecific Salix hybrids, including S. babylonica in their parentage.  The most widely grown weeping willow cultivar is Salix × sepulcralis 'Chrysocoma', with bright yellowish branchlets.


The epithet babylonica in this Chinese species' scientific name (S. babylonica), as well as the related common names "Babylon willow" or "Babylon weeping willow", derive from a misunderstanding by Linnaeus that this willow was the tree described in the Bible in the opening of Psalm 137 (here in Latin and English translations):
From the Clementine Vulgate (Latin, 1592):
Super flumina Babylonis illic sedimus et flevimus, cum recordaremur Sion.
In salicibus in medio ejus suspendimus organa nostra....
Here, "salicibus" is the dative plural of the Latin noun salix, the willows, used by Linnaeus as the name for the willow genus Salix.
From the King James Version (English, 1611):
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.
From the Revised Standard Version (English, 1952):
By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion
On the willows there we hung up our lyres....
Despite these Biblical references to "willows", whether in Latin or English, the trees growing in Babylon along the Euphrates River in ancient Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) and named gharab in early Hebrew, are not willows (Salix) in either the modern or the classical sense, but the Euphrates poplar (Populus euphratica), with willow-like leaves on long, drooping shoots, in the related genus Populus.  Both Populus and Salix are in the plant family Salicaceae, the willow family.
These Babylonian trees are correctly called poplars, not willows, in the New International Version of the Bible (English, 1978):
By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion
There on the poplars we hung our harps.


Salix caprea, known as goat willow, pussy willow or great sallow, is a common species of willow native to Europe and western and central Asia.


It is a deciduous shrub or small tree, reaching a height of 8–10 m (26–33 ft), rarely to 13 m.
The leaves are 3–12 cm long and from 2–8 cm wide, broader than most other willows.
The flowers are soft silky, and silvery 3-7-cm-long catkins are produced in early spring before the new leaves appear; the male and female catkins are on different plants (dioecious). The male catkins mature yellow at pollen release, the female catkins mature pale green.
The fruit is a small capsule 5–10 mm long containing numerous minute seeds embedded in fine, cottony hairs. The seeds are very small (about 0.2 mm) with the fine hairs aiding dispersal; they require bare soil to germinate.
The two varieties are:
S. c. var. caprea - lowland regions throughout the range, leaves thinly hairy above, densely hairy below, 5–12 cm long,  stipules persistent until autumn
S. c. var. sphacelata (Sm.) Wahlenb. (syn. S. caprea var. coaetanea Hartm.; S. coaetanea (Hartm.) Floderus) - high altitudes in the mountains of central and northern Europe (Alps, Carpathians, Scotland, Scandinavia), leaves densely silky-hairy on both sides, 3–7 cm long, stipules early deciduous. In western Norway there are trees of S. c. var 'Sphacelata' that are 18-20 meters tall and have mostly single trunks.


The Latin specific epithet caprea means "goat". This, and the common name goat willow, probably derive from the first known illustration of the species in Hieronymus Bock's 1546 Herbal, where the plant is shown being browsed by a goat. The species was historically also widely used as a browse for goats, to which Bock's illustration may refer.


S. caprea occurs both in wet/damp environments, such as riverbanks and lake shores, and in drier sites, wherever bare soil becomes available due to ground disturbance.
Hybrids with several other willow species are common, notably with Salix cinerea (S. × reichardtii), Salix aurita (S. × multinervis), Salix viminalis (S. × smithiana), and Salix purpurea (S. × sordida). Populations of S. caprea often show hybrid introgression.
Unlike almost all other willows, pure specimens do not take root readily from cuttings; if a willow resembling the species does root easily, it is probably a hybrid with another species of willow.
The leaves are used as a food resource by several species of Lepidoptera, and are also commonly eaten by browsing mammals. Willows are very susceptible to gall inducers, and the midge Rhabdophaga rosaria forms the camellia gall on S. caprea.


A small number of cultivars have been selected for garden use. The most common is S. caprea 'Kilmarnock', discovered by James Smith, with stiffly pendulous shoots forming a mop-head; it is a male clone. A similar female clone is S. caprea 'Weeping Sally'. As they do not form a leader, they are grafted on erect stems of other willows; the height of these cultivars is determined by the height at which the graft is made. Plants can also be grown from greenwood cuttings, which make attractive creeping mounds. Hardwood cuttings are often difficult to root.
Both tannin and salicin can be extracted from goat willow bark. The tree is not considered a good source of timber, as its wood is both brittle and known to crackle violently if burned.
As with the closely related Salix discolor (American pussy willow), it is also often grown for cut flowers. See Pussy willow for further cultural information, which applies to both species.
In Scandinavia it has been fairly common to make willow flutes from goat willow cuttings.
In Germany, Hungary, north of Slovakia, Poland and Ukraine, the just-opened catkins are used like the olive branches on Palm Sunday.


Salix cinerea (common sallow, grey sallow, grey willow, grey-leaved sallow, large grey willow, pussy willow, rusty sallow) is a species of willow native to Europe and western Asia.
The plant provides a great deal of nectar for pollinators. It was rated in the top 10, with a ranking of second place, for most nectar production (nectar per unit cover per year) in a UK plants survey conducted by the AgriLand project which is supported by the UK Insect Pollinators Initiative.


It usually grows in wetlands. The two subspecies differ slightly in requirements, with S. c. cinerea generally restricted to basic marshland and fen habitats, while S. c. oleifolia is less demanding, occurring in both alkaline marshes and acidic bogs and streamsides. A common herbivore of Salix cinerea is Phratora vulgatissima, which prefers and is more common on female plants. Anthocoris nemorum, a natural enemy of Phratora vulgatissima, is also more common on S. cinerea.


Salix cinerea is an invasive species in New Zealand and is listed on the National Pest Plant Accord, which means it cannot be sold or distributed. S. cinerea is also highly invasive in south-eastern Australia, with the entire genus listed as a Weed of National Significance. The species was introduced to stop erosion along riverbanks, but has since caused worse erosion over time by widening and shallowing invaded streams.


Like other willows, it contains salicin, and was used by Native Americans as a painkiller.
As with the closely related Salix caprea (European pussy willow), it is also often grown for cut flowers. Pussy willow has further cultural information and other uses.


Male flowers provide pollen for bees, and it is a popular larval host, supporting the Acadian hairstreak, black-waved flannel moth, cecropia moth, Compton's tortoiseshell, cynthia moth, dreamy duskywing, eastern tiger swallowtail, elm sphinx, imperial moth, Io moth, modest sphinx, mourning cloak, polyphemus moth, promethea moth, red-spotted purple, small-eyed sphinx, twin-spotted sphinx, and viceroy.


Salix laevigata, the red willow or polished willow, is a species of willow native to the southwestern United States  and northern Baja California.


The red willow is a small tree up to 45 ft (14 m) in height. Like most other willows, it commonly grows along riverbanks and in other areas with high soil moisture. The bark is ridged and grayish, though it sometimes turns reddish with age. Its form is variable, but it will often grow from multiple winding trunks, some more or less straight up, and some growing out far away from the base, even horizontally, and laying along the creek bottom before growing upwards again. Twigs are reddish and flexible when young. Leaves are 3-4 inches long, lanceolate and shiny green on top, dull whitish green underneath. This tree is mostly deciduous during the winter, but can start growing back leaves early during warm snaps in the winter. Yellow flowers grow in drooping catkins. In female red willows, the catkins turn into tufts of cottony seeds, which are windborn, often in large quantities, for 2-3 weeks in the spring. Flowering Time: Dec--Jun


The red willow occurs along the coast of Baja California and in California north to Cape Mendocino. It occurs east of the San Joaquin Valley in the lower elevation western foothills of the Sierra Nevada; it is absent from the Central Valley itself. Small occurrences can be found in Oregon, Nevada, and New Mexico. In Arizona it is found in the central transition zone of the Mogollon Rim and in the central Grand Canyon. Its distribution extends to the Virgin River canyon of southwestern Utah.


The Kutenai called red willow mukwuʔk, and used it in basketry.


Salix lasiolepis (arroyo willow) is a species of willow native to western North America.


The core range of the arroyo willow includes most of California, including the California Coast Ranges, Arizona, Klamath Mountains, Peninsular Ranges, Sierra Nevada, and Transverse Ranges. It extends north into Washington, south into Baja California, and east into Idaho, Utah, Texas, and Coahuila (México).


The plant is commonly found growing in riparian zones in canyons and valleys, along pond shores, and in marshes and wetlands. It is found in many plant communities, including: chaparral, oak woodland, mixed evergreen forest, coast redwood forest, yellow pine forest, red fir forest, lodgepole pine forest, and grasslands.


Arroyo Willow (Salix lasiolepis) is a severe allergen.


Salix lasiolepis is a deciduous large shrub or small multi−trunked tree growing to 10 metres (33 ft) tall. The shoots are yellowish brown and densely hairy when young. The leaves are 3.5–12.5 centimetres (1.4–4.9 in) long and broadly lanceolate in shape. They are green above and glaucous green below. The undersides are covered with whitish or rusty hairs which gradually wear off during the summer.
The flowers are arranged in yellow catkins 1.5–7 centimetres (0.59–2.76 in) long which are produced in early spring. The bloom period is February to May.


The indigenous peoples of California used the species in various ways. As a traditional medicinal plant, infusions of the leaves, bark, or flowers were used for several disease remedies. The inner bark was used to make rope. Shoots were used in coiled and twined basketry, and branches were used to make acorn storage baskets.


Salix nigra, the black willow, is a species of willow native to eastern North America, from New Brunswick and southern Ontario west to Minnesota, and south to northern Florida and Texas.


Salix nigra is a medium-sized deciduous tree, the largest North American species of willow, growing to 10–30 m (35–100 ft) tall, exceptionally up to 45 m (148 ft), with a trunk 50–80 centimeters (20–30 in) diameter. The bark is dark brown to blackish, becoming fissured in older trees, and frequently forking near the base. The shoots are slender and variable in color from green to brown, yellow or purplish; they are (like the related European Salix fragilis) brittle at the base, snapping evenly at the branch junction if bent sharply. The foliage buds are 2–4 millimetres (1⁄16–3⁄16 in) long, with a single, pointed reddish-brown bud scale. The leaves are alternate, long, thin, 5–15 centimeters (2–6 in) long and 0.5–2 centimeters (1⁄4–3⁄4 in) broad, usually somewhat falcate, dark, shiny green on both sides or with a lighter green underside, with a finely serrated margin, a short petiole and a pair of small stipules. It is dioecious, with small, greenish yellow to yellow flowers borne on catkins 2.5–7.5 centimeters (1–3 in) long in early spring at the same time as the new leaves appear. The fruit is a 5 millimeters (3⁄16 in) capsule which splits open when mature to release the numerous minute, down-covered seeds. The leaves turn a lemon yellow in the fall.


Salix nigra is native to eastern North America, from New Brunswick and southern Ontario west to Minnesota, and south to northern Florida and Texas. It is also found in parts of Mexico, both south and west of the Rio Grande. It has also been introduced along streams in the state of Utah. Salix nigra grows best in areas of full sun and wet or moist soils.  Thus, it is typically found along streams and in swamps.


Black willow is part of the Salicaceae, the willow family. The accepted name for black willow is: Salix nigra Marshall. Marshall, the "Father of American Dendrology", first described this taxon in 1785.
Salix gooddingii (Goodding's willow) is sometimes considered a variety of S. nigra as S. nigra var. vallicola Dudley; when recognized, this extends the range of S. nigra to western North America. However, the two are usually treated as distinct species. Some other related taxa and synonyms are S. nigra var. altissima, S. nigra var. brevijulis, S. nigra var. longifolia, S. nigra var. marginata, and S. nigra var. wardii.
Another name occasionally used for black willow is "swamp willow", not to be confused with Salix myrtilloides (swamp willow). Other common names include "Goodding willow", "southwestern black willow", "Dudley willow", and "sauz" (a Spanish word).


Salix nigra is dioecious, which means it has separate male and female trees. Flowering may be climate dependent. It flowers during February in the southern part of its range, and flowers until June in the northern parts. These trees are capable of producing seeds when they are around the age of 10 years. The black willow continuously has good seed crops year after year, with only a few failures. The seeds require very specific conditions to germinate. They prefer soil that is very wet or flooded. After they germinate, they can experience excellent growth if they are exposed to high sunlight and copious moisture during the growing season.
Black willow are capable of developing special features related to flood tolerance to help them survive in flooded habitats. Under flooded conditions, black willow develop hypertrophied lenticels and water roots. Black willows are also sensitive to drought conditions. Black willows living in drought conditions experience inhibition of their branch and root growth.
Early season leaves of some species in the Salix genus generally contain denser indumentum than leaves that are produced later in the season. Indumentum refers to hairs that are red or brown in color. Salix have first leaves, which are leaves that grow form the bud, and can also be called leaves that are "preformed".  The leaves that form as the branch continues to grow out are called new leaves, or "neoformed".


According to the National Register of Big Trees, the largest black willow tree in the US is in Hennepin, Minnesota. Its height is 63 feet (19 m), circumference is 32 feet (9.8 m) and spread is 73 feet (22 m).
The Marlboro Tree, located in Marlboro Township, New Jersey is certified by the State of New Jersey as the largest known example of this tree in the state. It is about 152 years old and measures 76 feet (23 m) in height and 19.7 feet (6.0 m) in circumference. Five grown people must hold hands to fully encircle the tree.


Black willow roots are very bitter, and have been used as a substitute for quinine in the past. Ethnobotanical uses of black willow by various Native American tribes include basketry, and treatment of fever, headache, and coughs. It was recognized that using the bark and leaves of Salix nigra was useful in treating rheumatism.
The black willow is the only United States native willow species to be used as timber for a variety of different items. Black willow lumber is used in furniture and shipping containers. The largest production site for black willow timber was in Louisiana at its peak during the 1970s.
The wood of Salix nigra is very lightweight. The wood was once used for artificial limbs, such as wooden hands. It is also capable of maintaining its shape, does not splinter very easily, and has a moderately high shock resistance, allowing it to sustain continuous moderate impacts.
It may also be used in environmental restoration. Black willow is very resistant to herbivory, flooding, and is an erosion control tool. Salix nigra is used for marshland stabilization or restoration projects as long as the roots don't penetrate any clay liner that may be in place. Salix nigra demonstrated some success as a photodegradation tool. Photodegradation is theorized to work by drawing the target chemical, such as Bentazon, up the roots and stem into the leaves where it is degraded by higher energy radiation provided by the sun.


Black willows are susceptible to diseases such as Crown gall and Cankers. Crown gall is caused by bacteria living in the soil where the black willow is present. When black willow are infected, the bacteria stimulate a quick burst in growth of plant cells. They cause the tree to form tumor-like growths, or "galls" on different parts of the tree such as their roots or on the lower branches. As these galls get bigger, they become hard, woody, brown in color, and corky. Black willows do not normally die from crown galls. However, these galls can cause a disruption in the flow of nutrients throughout the tree and can have its normal growth stunted or slowed down due to this disease. Crown galls are less problematic in soils that are more acidic, thus soil pH can be an important factor in helping to limit this disease.
Black canker disease is caused by the fungus Glomerella miyabeana. This disease starts as spotting on the leaves of the black willow, where it then spreads to the petiole and eventually the twig or branch holding the leaf. It then forms black patches on the stem of the tree that are capable of expanding. Black Willows that are in nutrient-poor locations or that are experiencing poor temporary climate conditions (such as a temporary lack of rainfall or short, drought-like conditions) are considered stressed and very susceptible to the spread of these cankers. Tissue on the black willow that is affected by these cankers will not grow with the rest of the tree, and cracks will begin to form.


Salix reticulata, the net-leaved willow, or snow willow, is a dwarf willow, native to the colder parts of Europe, North America, and Northern Asia. It is found in the western United States (Salix reticulata subsp. nivalis), including the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains. In Europe it extends south through the Carpathian Mountains and Alps to the Pyrenees and the mountains of Bulgaria and North Macedonia. It is common in Canada, Greenland and Finland, and present but rare in Scotland.
The plant grows on wet, often slightly calcareous, rocks and ledges.


Salix reticulata is a dwarf, prostrate, deciduous shrub growing to 8 cm (3 in) tall by 30 cm (12 in) broad, forming loose open mats with extensive, much-branched, underground stems. The exposed stems can rise to 20 cm (7.9 in) high. The twigs are slightly hairy at first, then hairless and dark reddish-brown later.
Leaves are 1.2 cm to 5 cm long, 1 to 3.5 cm wide; densely hairy at first, becoming hairless at least on the upper side. The leaves have a conspicuous network of veins.
In Spring, slender yellow catkins with pink tips appear.


Salix reticulata is cultivated as an ornamental plant, for use as groundcover. It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.


Salix triandra, with the common names almond willow, almond-leaved willow or black maul willow, is a species of willow native to Europe and Western and Central Asia. It is found from south-eastern England east to Lake Baikal, and south to Spain and the Mediterranean east to the Caucasus, and the Alborz Mountains. It usually grows in riparian habitats, on river and stream banks, and in wetlands.


Salix triandra is a deciduous shrub or small tree growing to 10 m (33 ft) tall, usually multistemmed, with an irregular, often leaning crown. Young bark is smooth grey-brown, becoming scaly on older stems with large scales exfoliating (like a plane tree) to leave orange-brown patches. The leaves are broad, lanceolate, 4–11 cm long and 1–3 cm wide, with a serrated margin; they are dull dark green above and green to glaucous-green below, with a 1–2-cm petiole with two conspicuous basal stipules.
The flowers are produced in catkins in early spring at the same time as the new leaves, and pollinated by insects. They are dioecious, with male and female catkins on separate trees; the male catkins are 2.5–8 cm long, the female catkins 2–4 cm long. The male flowers have three stamens, a useful identification feature with most other willows having two or five stamens.


The scientific name derives from the male flowers having three stamens. The English common name refers to the similarity in leaf shape to almond leaves.
The variety Salix triandra var. hoffmanniana Bab., found in Great Britain, is distinguished by being smaller (rarely over 4 m (13 ft) tall) and densely branched, with smaller leaves 2–7 cm long and 1-2.5 cm wide not glaucous below. It is not considered distinct by all authorities, particularly on continental Europe, so its range outside Britain, if any, is not reported.
Salix triandra readily forms natural hybrids with Salix viminalis, the hybrid being named Salix × mollissima Hoffm. ex Elwert.
Plants from Eastern Asia, formerly treated as S. triandra var. nipponica (Franch. & Savatier) Seem., are now considered the distinct species Salix nipponica. They share the feature of male flowers with three stamens.


The plant is a potential biomass source for biofuel energy generation.
In the Russian honey industry, the plant is used as a nectar source for honeybees.
Basket weaving
The shoots (withies) are extensively used for basketmaking. It is one of the most important willows for this purpose after Salix viminalis, with several selected cultivars including: 'Black Maul', 'Grizette', 'Mottled Spaniards', 'Sarda', and 'Yellow Dutch'.
Woven withies have been used in the creation of the large outdoor sculpture "Willow Man", located near Bridgwater in England.


The rock wren (Salpinctes obsoletus) is a small songbird of the wren family native to western North America, Mexico and Central America.  It is the only species in the genus Salpinctes.


The black-headed saltator (Saltator atriceps) is a seed-eating bird in the tanager family Thraupidae. It breeds from central Mexico to eastern Panama.
This bird is on average 24 cm (9.4 in) long and weighs 85 g (3.0 oz). The adult has a slate-grey head with a whitish supercilium. The upperparts are yellowish green, the underparts are pale grey, and the throat is white edged with black. The thick convex bill is black and the legs are brown. Young birds are duller and have mottling on the breast and brown markings on the underparts. This species is similar to the buff-throated saltator but is larger and has a darker head and paler under parts with a yellow patch on the throat.
The common call is a raucous deeeer. The song is a loud scratchy cher cher jur jur weeee, often given by males as a duet.
The black-headed saltator is a species of dense vegetation. The black-headed saltator feeds on fruit, buds, nectar, and slow-moving insects. It forages at low and mid-levels, sometimes with mixed species flocks.
The two black-marked pale blue eggs per clutch measure some 24–34 mm (0.94–1.34 in) long by about 18–23.5 mm (0.71–0.93 in) wide and weigh about 4.9–5.5 g (0.17–0.19 oz) each. They are laid in a bulky grass-lined cup nesting up to 3 m (9.8 ft) high in a thicket between April and July.


e.g. of Cymbopetalum mayanum (Annonaceae).
i.e. large among Saltator eggs. A specimen measuring 36.2 mm (1.43 in) long and 18.7 mm (0.74 in) wide seems to have an abnormal shape.


The golden-billed saltator (Saltator aurantiirostris) is a species of saltator in the family Thraupidae.
It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay; also the regions of the southern pantanal, along the Paraguay River.
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, subtropical or tropical high-altitude shrubland, and heavily degraded former forest.


Salvia apiana, the white sage, bee sage, or sacred sage is an evergreen perennial shrub that is native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, found mainly in the coastal sage scrub habitat of Southern California and Baja California, on the western edges of the Mojave and Sonoran deserts.


Salvia apiana is a shrub that reaches 1.3 to 1.5 metres (4.3 to 4.9 ft) tall and 1.3 metres (4.3 ft) wide. The whitish evergreen leaves are 3 to 9 cm (1.2 to 3.5 in) and persist throughout the year; they are opposite with crenulate margins. Leaves are thickly covered in hairs that trigger oil glands; when rubbed oils and resins are released, producing a strong aroma. The flowers are very attractive to bees, which is described by the specific epithet, apiana. Several 1 to 1.3 metres (3.3 to 4.3 ft) flower stalks, sometimes pinkish colored, grow above the foliage in the spring. Flowers are white to pale lavender.


White sage is a common plant that requires well-drained dry soil, full sun, and little water. The plant occurs on dry slopes in coastal sage scrub, chaparral, and yellow-pine forests of Southern California to Baja California at less than 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) elevation.


Flowers attract varied pollinators including bumblebees, carpenter bees, Bombyliidae, and hummingbirds. However most of these species are ineffective pollinators, with only three species of carpenter bee and one species of bumblebee actually leading to routine pollination.


The terpenoids and essential oils found in white sage likely deter herbivory.


Salvia apiana is widely used by Native American peoples on the Pacific coast of the United States. The seed is a primary, traditional ingredient in pinole, a staple food. The Cahuilla people have traditionally harvested large quantities of the seed, then mixed it with wheat flour and sugar to make gruel and biscuits. The leaves and stems are a traditional food among the Chumash people and neighboring communities.
For healing use, several tribes have traditionally used the seed for removing foreign objects from the eye, similar to the way that Clary sage seeds have been used in Europe. A tea from the roots is traditional among the Cahuilla women for healing and strength after childbirth. Different parts of the plant are also used in ceremonies by several Native American cultures.


Salvia apiana prefers a sunny location, well draining soil, and good air circulation. It easily hybridizes with other Salvia species, particularly Salvia leucophylla and Salvia clevelandii.


Over-harvest of wild white sage populations is a concern held by many Native American groups and conservationists. Over harvesting is negatively affecting the wild population and distribution of white sage. It is believed that illegal harvest is occurring on public lands and non-permitted harvesting is also taking place on private land. In June 2018, four people were arrested for the illegal harvest of 400 pounds of white sage in North Etiwanda Preserve of Rancho Cucamonga, California. Deputies said in a statement that white sage is protected by the Endangered Species Act of 1973, which is a common misconception. Collecting plants without permission from a landowner or land manager is illegal. Although white sage is not listed on the Endangered Species List, conservationists are still concerned about the future survival and distribution of the species.


S. africana-lutea was used by early European settlers to treat colds, tuberculosis, and chronic bronchitis. Traditional indigenous healers use it for respiratory ailments, influenza, gynaecological complaints, fever, headaches and digestive disorders.


PHYTOTHERAPY RESEARCH Phytother. Res. 20, 427–437 (2006) Published online 18 April 2006 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) doi:10.1002/ptr.1898 REVIEW The Pharmacological Effects of Salvia  species on the Central Nervous System
Clebsch, Betsy; Barner, Carol D. (2003). The New Book of Salvias. Timber Press. p. 28. ISBN 978-0-88192-560-9.
Journal of Ethnopharmacology Volume 119, Issue 3, 28 October 2008, Pages 664-672 Ethnobotany in South Africa doi:10.1016/j.jep.2008.06.030 Review South African Salvia species: A review of biological activities and phytochemistry G.P.P. Kamatoua, N.P. Makungab, W.P.N. Ramogolab and A.M. Viljoena


Salvia azurea, the azure blue sage, azure sage, blue sage or prairie sage, is a herbaceous perennial in the genus Salvia that is native to Central and Eastern North America.