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Family of flowering plants, most of these are herbaceous plants, but the family also includes some woody shrubs and a genus of small tropical trees. The family is outstanding for its many garden ornamentals and pharmaceutically important plants. Most species are found in the Northern Hemisphere.
a genus of southern African herbs of the Acanthaceae family with showy flowers of usually red, pink, or white distinguished by a spurred calyx and irregular corolla
A class of algae, common in cold waters along continental coasts. Species colour varies from dark brown to olive green, depending upon the proportion of brown pigment (fucoxanthin) to green pigment (chlorophyll).
Brown algae vary in form and size from small filamentous epiphytes (Ectocarpus) to complex giant kelps that range in size from 1 to more than 100 metres (3.3 to 330 feet; Laminaria, Macrocystis, Nerocystis). Other brown algae can be found attached to rocky coasts in temperate zones (Fucus, Ascophyllum) or floating freely (Sargassum). Freshwater species are rare. Brown algae multiply by asexual and sexual reproduction; both the motile zoospores and gametes have two unequal flagella. Some seaweed species have gas-filled bladders (pneumatocysts), which keep photosynthetic parts of the algal thallus floating on or near the surface of the water.
the pine family of conifers, consists of species of trees (rarely shrubs) native to northern temperate regions. Contain many species that are sources of timber, paper pulp, oils, and resins. Some are cultivated as ornamentals.
grass family of monocotyledonous flowering plants, a division of the order Poales. The Poaceae are the world’s single most important source of food. They rank among the top five families of flowering plants in terms of the number of species, but they are clearly the most abundant and important family of the Earth’s flora. They grow on all continents, in desert to freshwater and marine habitats, and at all but the highest elevations. Plant communities dominated by grasses account for about 24 percent of the Earth’s vegetation.
A family of herbs, shrubs, or trees (order Polygonales) chiefly of the north temperate zone having mostly entire leaves with stipules forming a sheath round the stem and flowers that are spicate and apetalous and including the buckwheats.
