Plants that start with M

Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT / CC BY-SA

Mis forMacadamia

Scientific name: genus: macadamia

Macadamias are medium sized evergreen trees native to the northern parts of Australia. Not all macadamia trees have edible seeds, only macadamia integrifolia and macadamia tetraphylla are cultivated. The others have toxic seeds. The macadamias that people eat are toxic to dogs, and can temporarily paralyze them.

Nuts & seeds, Plants

Harry Rose / CC BY-SA

Mis forMaidenhair fern

Scientific name: adiantum aethiopicum

Maidenhair ferns are a popular houseplant. They have very distinctive fronds that don't look at all like 'traditional' fern fronds. The fronds look more like leaves, but they still start tightly curled up like other ferns. Like most ferns they like damp, shady places.

Plants

Kanko / CC BY-SA

Mis forMandarin

Scientific name: citrus reticulata

A mandarin is a small citrus fruit related to the orange. The skin on a mandarin is very easy to remove, and the inside of the fruit is very easy to break up into segments. Because of this, they are not very messy to eat and are excellent to take to school in a lunchbox.

Citrus fruit

Jerzy Kociatkiewicz / CC BY-SA

Mis forMandrake

Scientific name: mandragora officinarum

Mandrake is a poisonous plant. It has a thick root that is often shaped like a human, hence the name mandrake. There are many legends around the mandrake plant, including the myth that when you pull it up, the plant screams and kills everyone who hears the scream. Mandrake has a hallucinogenic effect and has been used in rituals and magic ceremonies for centuries.

Plants, Substances

Photographic Dictionary / Generated illustration

Mis forMango

Scientific name: mangifera indica

Mangoes are a medium sized, sweet fruit native to India. Mangoes grow on a tree in tropical areas. Mango trees can live to be 300 years old. Mangoes are soft, and have bright orange flesh. Mangoes can be eaten fresh, dried, in salads and pulped for juice. Mangoes can also be picked underripe and used to make chutney or other dishes.

Fruit

René Ehrhardt / CC BY-SA

Mis forMangrove

Mangroves are a kind of tree that grow along with other plants as mangals. Mangroves grow in the area where the tide flows through them, so they spend some of their time under water and some of their time dry. Many sea creatures live among the mangroves's roots, and mangroves are particularly important as a safe place for baby sea creatures when they are still very young.

Landscape, Plants

Suzi Duke / CC BY-SA

Mis forMaple

Scientific name: genus: acer

Maples are a group of deciduous trees and shrubs. They are very pretty trees, and are grown in gardens as a decorative tree or shrub, and are also used for bonsai. One type of maple, the sugar maple, has sweet sap that can be boiled to make maple syrup. It takes about 40 litres of sugar maple sap to make a litre of syrup.

Plants

Jim, the Photographer / CC BY-SA

Mis forMarigold

Scientific name: genus: tagetes

Marigolds are bright orange or yellow flowers, related to the common daisy. They are very hardy plants that can be planted all year around in a sunny or partly shaded area, and take about 6 weeks to flower. Pinch out the first flower as it appears so the marigold will make more flowers.

Plants

Tony Austin / CC BY-SA

Mis forMarrow (vegetable)

Scientific name: genus: cucurbita

A marrow is another name for a vegetable in the squash family. Marrows come in all sorts of different sizes and shapes.

Vegetables

Yi Chen / CC BY-SA

Mis forMillet

Millet is a general name given to a number of similar looking but unrelated grasses with small seeds that are used as animal food, or as human food. There are many different kinds of millet.

Cereals