Plants that start with T

Tamarind is a tropical tree that grows fruit in pods. Tamarinds are used as an ingredient in a number of sauces, chutneys and in numerous other dishes.

Tangerines are a very sweet citrus fruit closely related to the mandarin. They are easy to peel and break into segments.

Tarragon, or dragon's wort, is a soft, green plant used mainly in French cooking. Tarragon has an interesting flavour that is a little like anise.

Thistles are any plants, usually weeds, that have thorny leaves. Thistles often have thorns all over them, on the stems and flowers too.

The thistle in the picture is the national flower of Scotland, scientific name onopordum acanthium.

Thyme (said like "time") is a small, woody plant with lots of tiny leaves. It grows all year around, and gets tiny pink flowers in the spring. It has a very strong smell, and is used to flavour meat, soups and stews. Some varieties of thyme are lemon scented and can be used in dishes that need a hint of lemon.

Thyme can be grown from seed, cuttings, or just digging up parts of the plant that have already grown roots. When thyme spreads, branches that touch the ground grow roots at that point and are easy to separate. It likes to grow in a hot sunny spot, and can tolerate very heavy frosts and drought. It is a perfect rockery plant.

Scientific name: genus nicotiana

Tobacco is a plant used worldwide as a legal recreational drug. It is also used to make pesticides. Tobacco is most commonly taken by smoking it in cigarettes, cigars or in a pipe but it can also be chewed or snuffed.

Most tobacco is grown in China, India, Brazil and the United States.

The tomato is the fruit of the tomato vine. Tomatoes may be eaten raw or cooked. They are usually used to make sauce. Tomatoes are usually red or yellow when they are ripe. Some people think a tomato is a vegetable, not a fruit.

Trees are large plants, usually with a trunk and branches with eaves at the end of the branches. Most trees have flowers in spring, the main exception is the pine tree which grows pine cones instead.

Scientific name: order cyatheales.

The name 'tree fern' can be used to describe any fern that grows a kind of trunk. Most plants that are known as tree ferns are in the dicksoniaceae and cyatheaceae families. Tree ferns are found in tropical areas and rainforests all over the world.

Scientific name: tulipa gesneriana

A tulip is a flower with a distinctive shape that grows from a bulb. Tulips come in a huge variety of colours and patterns, and are grown to be used as a cut flower.

Tulips usually flower in spring. They should be planted in autumn. Tulips will tolerate very cold climates. You can grow new tulips from offsets, which are small plantlets that bud off from the sides of the main tulip bulb.