Plants that start with B

Baby's tears, also called baby tears, angel's tears, mind-your-own-business, peace-in-the-home, pollyanna vine, mother of thousands, Corsican curse or Irish moss is a small, soft, creeping green plant. It is not a moss. Baby's tears likes moist, shady areas and will grow alongside ferns or in tanks set up for amphibians.

The banana is a tropical fruit and is eaten all over the world. Bananas can be eaten raw, cooked, or used in other foods like cake. The bananas in the picture are on a plate.

Bark is the outer layer of a tree or large plant. Many types of trees usually shed their bark once a year and grow fresh bark underneath the old. Insects like beetles and spiders like to live under loose bark.

Basil is a herb that is often used in Italian or Thai food. Sweet basil is used in Italian food and Thai basil is used in Asian food. Basil has a sweet, strong smell.
Basil likes to grow in hot, dry conditions and does not tolerate frost at all. Basil stops producing the oil that gives it its flavour once it starts to flower, so you should pick off the flowers as they develop. You can leave one or two stems to flower without affecting the rest of the plant, so you have some seeds for next year.

The bean is the seed of the bean plant. It is eaten for food, with or without its pod, or grown to improve soil in a garden or farm. Beans are in the same family as peas. The picture is of some different coloured string beans, still in their pods.

Beets are an edible root vegetable, usually a very dark red. They can be eaten raw in salads, steamed or pickled. The stems and leaves of some varieties are also edible and can be used in the same way as spinach.

A culinary berry is any small, edible fruit, such as strawberries or raspberries. True botanical berries are defined by how the fruit was formed, and neither strawberries or raspberries are true berries.
True berries include blueberries, tomatoes, capsicums, cranberries and grapes. There are many other botanical berries that are not edible. All of these true berries have the fruit made from a single ovary with the seeds inside.

The bird of paradise is a large shrub native to Africa, also called the crane flower. They have very large leaves and a distinctive flower, and can grow to around 2-3 metres tall. They will tolerate both drought and mild frost.

Blackcurrents are a small berry related to redcurrants and gooseberries. They are used mainly for their juice, and made into drinks or cordials. Blackcurrents have a very, very high vitamin C content, with 100 grams of the fruit providing 3 times what you need each day.

A bloom might be a single flower, all the flowers on a plant, or the fact that the plant is flowering. The trees in the picture are in full bloom.