Flora of North America

Sequoiadendron giganteum (also known as the giant sequoia, giant redwood, Sierra redwood or Wellingtonia) is a species of coniferous tree, classified in the family Cupressaceae in the subfamily Sequoioideae. Giant sequoia specimens are the largest trees on Earth. They are native to the groves on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California but have been introduced, planted, and grown around the world. The giant sequoia is listed as an endangered species by the IUCN with fewer than 80,000 remaining in its native California. The giant sequoia grow to an average height of

Sisal (, Spanish: [siˈsal]; Agave sisalana) is a species of flowering plant native to southern Mexico, but widely cultivated and naturalized in many other countries. It yields a stiff leaf fiber used in making rope and various other products. The sisal fiber is traditionally used for rope and twine, and has many other uses, including cloth, footwear, hats, bags, carpets, geotextiles, and dartboards. It is also used as fiber reinforcements for composite fiberglass, rubber, and concrete products. Like other agaves, the pith of the leaves can be fermented and distilled to make mezcal. Sisal has

Opuntia ficus-indica, the Indian fig opuntia, fig opuntia, or prickly pear, is a species of cactus that has long been a domesticated crop plant grown in agricultural economies throughout arid and semiarid parts of the world. O. ficus-indica is the most widespread and most commercially important cactus. It is grown primarily as a fruit crop, and also for the vegetable nopales and other uses. Cacti are good crops for dry areas because they efficiently convert water into biomass. O. ficus-indica is the most widespread of the long-domesticated cactuses. Opuntia species hybridize easily, but the

Salvia divinorum (Latin: sage of the diviners; also called ska maría pastora, seer's sage, yerba de la pastora, magic mint or simply salvia) is a species of plant in the sage genus Salvia, known for its transient psychoactive properties when its leaves, or extracts made from the leaves, are administered by smoking, chewing, or drinking (as a tea). The leaves contain the potent compound salvinorin A and can induce a dissociative state and hallucinations. Mazatec shamans have a long and continuous tradition of religious use of S. divinorum to facilitate visionary states of consciousness during

Pinus balfouriana, the foxtail pine, is a rare high-elevation pine that is endemic to California, United States. It is closely related to the Great Basin and Rocky Mountain bristlecone pines, in the subsection Balfourianae.

Kroenleinia grusonii, popularly known as the golden barrel cactus, golden ball, "mother-in-law's cushion" or "mother-in-law's chair", is a species of barrel cactus which is endemic to east-central Mexico.

Arctous alpina (syn. Arctostaphylos alpina), the alpine bearberry, mountain bearberry or black bearberry, is a dwarf shrub in the heather family Ericaceae. The basionym of this species is Arbutus alpina L..

The genus Aztekium contains two species of small globular cactus. Discovered in 1929 by F. Ritter, in Rayones, Nuevo León, Mexico, this genus was thought to be monotypic (with Aztekium ritteri) until a second species (Aztekium hintonii) was discovered by George S. Hinton, in Galeana, Nuevo León in 1991. A further possible species, Aztekium valdezii, was described in 2011, but is considered to be a synonym of A. ritteri.

Pinus nelsonii, Nelson's pinyon, is a species of pine native to the mountains of northeastern Mexico, in Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí and Tamaulipas at 1,800–3,200 m altitude.

Franklinia is a monotypic genus in the tea family, Theaceae. The sole species in this genus is a flowering tree, Franklinia alatamaha, commonly called Franklinias or the Franklin tree, and native to the Altamaha River valley in Georgia in the southeastern United States. It has been extinct in the wild since the early 19th century, but survives as a cultivated ornamental tree. In the past, some botanists have included Franklinia within the related genus Gordonia. The southeastern North American species Gordonia lasianthus differs in having evergreen foliage, flowers with longer stems, winged

Pinus sabiniana (sometimes spelled P. sabineana) is a pine endemic to California in the United States. Its vernacular names include towani pine, foothill pine, gray pine, ghost pine, and bull pine. The name digger pine was historically used but includes a racial slur.

Graptopetalum paraguayense is a species of succulent plant in the jade plant family, Crassulaceae, that is native to Tamaulipas, Mexico. Common names include mother-of-pearl-plant and ghost plant. This is not to be confused with Monotropa uniflora which is also referred to as the “Ghost plant”. G. paraguayense has white flowers which have a form of a star. The Graptopetalum paraguayense is called the ghost plant because of the residue on the leaves making it look like a ghost.

Abies bracteata, the Santa Lucia fir or bristlecone fir, is the rarest fir in North America. It is confined to steep-sided slopes and the bottoms of rocky canyons in the Santa Lucia Mountains, in the Big Sur region on the central coast of California, United States.

Torreya californica is a species of conifer endemic to California, occurring in the Pacific Coast Ranges and the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. It is commonly known as California torreya or California nutmeg tree (although not closely related to true nutmeg). It is one of only two species of genus Torreya that are native to North America. A slow-growing (but long-lived) subcanopy tree, it is listed as "vulnerable" in the IUCN Red List.

Astrophytum capricorne, the goat's horn cactus, is a species of flowering plant in the cactus family Cactaceae, that is native to the Coahuila regions of Northern Mexico. Growing to 50 centimetres (20 in) tall by 10 centimetres (3.9 in) wide in a ball or oval shape, it is grey-green in colour with 7 to 9 prominent ribs, very long twisted spines and yellow flowers with a red centre in summer. The common name of goat's horn cactus corresponds to the species identifier capricorne (capri meaning "goat" and corne meaning "horn") referring to the curved spines that are said to resemble a goat's

Agave victoriae-reginae, the Queen Victoria agave or royal agave, is a small species of succulent flowering perennial plant, noted for its streaks of white on sculptured geometrical leaves, and popular as an ornamental. This agave is highly variable in form, but in general the rosettes are small and compact, growing to 0.5m, composed of short, rigid, thick leaves that are green with a pattern of distinctive white markings. The markings are generally along leaf keels or margins, giving a sort of polyhedral appearance. Marginal teeth are usually lacking, while the terminus of the leaf may

Quercus douglasii, known as blue oak, is a species of oak endemic to California, common in the Coast Ranges and the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. It is California's most drought-tolerant deciduous oak, and is a dominant species in the blue oak woodland ecosystem. It is occasionally known as mountain oak and iron oak.

Pinus maximartinezii, called Martinez pinyon, big-cone pinyon or maxipiñon, is a pine in the pinyon pine group, native to west-central Mexico.

Picea chihuahuana, the Chihuahua spruce, is a medium-sized evergreen tree growing to 25–35 m tall, and with a trunk diameter of up to 1 m. It is native to northwest Mexico, where it occurs in 25 small populations in the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains in Chihuahua and Durango. It grows at moderate altitudes from 2300 to 3200 m, growing along streamsides in mountain valleys, where moisture levels in the soil are greater than the otherwise low rainfall in the area would suggest. The bark is thin and scaly, flaking off in small circular plates 5–10 cm across. The crown is conic, with widely

Astrophytum myriostigma, the bishop's cap cactus, bishop's hat or bishop's miter cactus, is a species of cactus native to the highlands of northeastern and central Mexico. Synonyms include Echinocactus myriostigma, Astrophytum prismaticum, A. columnare, A. tulense, and A. nuda.

Quercus acerifolia (also called maple-leaf oak) is a rare North American species of oak in the red oak section of Quercus (known as Lobatae). The species was first described in 1927 from samples collected by E.J. Palmer in the Ozark Mountains. The initial documentation classified the species as Quercus shumardii var. acerifolia. The species was first perceived as a variant of Shumard oak due to its similar foliage and ranges. Over two decades later, the tree was re-evaluated by botanists Nick Alan Stoynoff and William J. Hess, who determined that it was a distinct species. Their case for

Pinus pinceana, with the common names weeping pinyon and Pince's pinyon pine, is a species of conifer in the family Pinaceae.

Ipomoea lobata, the fire vine, firecracker vine or Spanish flag (formerly Mina lobata), is a species of flowering plant in the family Convolvulaceae, native to Mexico and Brazil. Growing to 5 m (16 ft) tall, Ipomoea lobata is a perennial climber often cultivated in temperate regions as an annual. It has toothed and lobed leaves (hence lobata) and one-sided racemes of flowers, opening red and fading to yellow, cream and white. These colours are graded down the length of the flower spike. The effect is like a firework, hence one of its popular names "firecracker vine". The colours vaguely

Fouquieria columnaris, the Boojum tree or cirio (Latin American Spanish: [ˈsiɾjo]) is a tree in the ocotillo family, whose other members include the ocotillos. Some taxonomists place it in the separate genus Idria. It is nearly endemic to the Baja California Peninsula (both the northern and southern states), with only a small population in the Sierra Bacha of Sonora, Mexico. The plant's English name, Boojum, was given by Godfrey Sykes of the Desert Laboratory in Tucson, Arizona, and is taken from Lewis Carroll's poem "The Hunting of the Snark".

Abies vejarii is a species of fir native to northeastern Mexico, in the states of Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas, where it grows at high elevations (2,000–3,300 m) in the Sierra Madre Oriental.

Sequoiadendron is a genus of evergreen trees, with three species, only one of which survives to the present: Sequoiadendron giganteum, extant, commonly known as wellingtonia, giant redwood and giant sequoia, growing naturally in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California † Sequoiadendron chaneyi, the predecessor of Sequoiadendron giganteum, found mostly in the Nevada area of the Tertiary Colorado Plateau until the late Miocene †Sequoiadendron tchucoticum Late Cretaceous; Enmyvaam River Basin, Russia

Pinus rzedowskii, commonly known as Rzedowski's pine, is a species of conifer in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is endemic to western Michoacán state, in southwestern Mexico.

Pinus culminicola, commonly known as Potosí pinyon or Potosí Piñón, is a pine in the pinyon pine group, native and endemic to northeast Mexico. The range is highly localised, confined to a small area of high summits in the northern Sierra Madre Oriental in Coahuila and Nuevo León, and only abundant on the highest peak, Cerro Potosí (3713 m). It occurs at very high elevations, from 3000–3700 m, in cool, moist subalpine climate conditions.

Lophophora diffusa, commonly known as false peyote, is a species of plant in the family Cactaceae and one of the species in the Lophophora genus. It is endemic to Mexico in the outskirts of Querétaro. This species contains only trace amounts of the psychedelic alkaloid mescaline. Instead, the sedative pellotine is the principal alkaloid. The species name diffusa refers to the flat tubercles that are outspread without the plant having prominent ribs.

Juniperus angosturana, or slender oneseed juniper, is a species of conifer in the family Cupressaceae.