Plants that start with C

Citrus are any trees, or the fruit of any trees in the citrus genus. This includes such trees as oranges, lemons, grapefruit and limes.

The coconut is the fruit of the coconut palm. Coconut palms grow in tropical areas of the world along beaches. They like warm weather, regular rain and high humidity, which is why they grow well in the tropics. You eat the flesh inside the coconut fruit, but there are many, many uses for the rest of the coconut palm. There are too many to list here, but they include: making rope and doormats from the outer shell of the nut; making bowls from the inner shell; and building houses from the trunk and branches of the palm tree. Coconut is used in many different ways in a wide variety of foods. One you might recognise is simply dried, grated, and stuck to the outside of a lamington!

Coriander, also called Chinese Parsley, is a soft, fast-growing annual herb - it lives for a year or less. It is very easy to grow from its big, round seeds. It is best planted in early Spring, and again in Autumn in warmer areas. In warm weather it will go to seed very fast so it is best to plant it in a cool, sheltered spot. Coriander leaves are is used fresh in a lot of Asian - particularly Thai, Middle Eastern and African cooking. It is also used in some South American dishes. Both the fresh leaves and the dried seed, powdered or whole, are used in cooking. Ground coriander seed is one of the main ingredients in curry powders and mixed spice. Coriander is also used to flavour cakes, cooked fruits and cookies and goes very well with chicken, fish and vegetable dishes. Coriander is though to help digestion and is useful in treating colic.

Cotton is a name for a type of plant, a type of thread, and a type of cloth. The cotton plant grows soft, fluffy coverings around its seeds, which are harvested and then spun into thread and woven into cloth. Cotton grows in subtropical climates, and needs a lot of water to grow. Cotton is still the most used fibre for making cloth out of worldwide.

Cranberries are the fruit of a low growing shrub that grows in bogs and wetlands in North America. The berries are deep red. Most cranberries are turned into juice or sauce but some are sold whole.