Kids Encyclopedia

Pansy — The pansy or pansy violet is a plant cultivated as a garden flower. Pansies are derived from Viola tricolor also called the Heartsease or ‘Johnny Jump Up’. However, many garden varieties are hybrids and are referred to as Viola × wittrockiana but sometimes they are listed under the name Viola tricolor hortensis. The name “pansy” also appears as …

Osage Orange — The Osage orange (sometimes hyphenated) or Osage apple or simply Osage (Maclura pomifera) is an ornamental plant in the mulberry family Moraceae. It is also locally known as mock orange, “wild orange”, hedge-apple, horse-apple, hedge ball, bois d’arc, bodark (mainly in Oklahoma and Texas), bodart (in northwest Louisiana) and bow wood. “Osage” derives from the Native American …

Orchid — Orchidaceae, also called the Orchid family, is the largest family of the flowering plants (Angiospermae). Its name is derived from the genus Orchis. The Royal Botanical Gardens of Kew list 880 genera and nearly 22,000 accepted species, but the exact number is unknown (perhaps as many as 25,000) because of taxonomy disputes. The number of orchid species equals …

Orange — An orange—specifically, the sweet orange—is the citrus tree Citrus sinensis (syn. Citrus aurantium L. var. dulcis L., or Citrus aurantium Risso) and its fruit. The orange is a hybrid of ancient cultivated origin, possibly between pomelo (Citrus maxima) and tangerine (Citrus reticulata). It is a small flowering tree growing to about 10 m tall with evergreen leaves, which …

Onion — Many plants in the genus Allium are known by the common name onion but, used without qualifiers, it usually refers to Allium cepa. Allium cepa is also known as the ‘garden onion’ or ‘bulb’ onion and ‘shallot’. Onions, as one of the oldest vegetables known to mankind are to be found as an ingredient in a bewildering array …

Olive — The Olive (Olea europaea) is a species of small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean region, from Syria and the maritime parts of Asia Minor and northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea. Its fruit, the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the Mediterranean region as the …

Oleander — Oleander (Nerium oleander), is a evergreen shrub or small tree in the dogbane family Apocynaceae. It is the only species currently classified in the genus Nerium. Other names include Adelfa, Alheli Extranjero, Baladre, Espirradeira, Flor de São Jose, Laurel de jardín, Laurel rosa, Laurier rose, Flourier rose, Olean, Aiwa, Rosa Francesca, Rosa Laurel, and Rose-bay (Inchem 2005), Araliya …

Okra — Okra, also known as lady’s finger, vendaikai (Tamil), bhindi (Hindustani), ramtoriyan (Nepali) and gumbo, is a flowering plant in the mallow (along with such species as cotton and cocoa) family valued for its edible green fruits. Its scientific name is Abelmoschus esculentus. The species is an annual or perennial, growing to 2 m tall. The leaves are 10–20 …

Oat — The common oat plant (Avena sativa) is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name (usually in the plural, unlike other grains). While oats are suitable for human consumption as oatmeal and rolled oats, one of the most common uses is as livestock feed. Oats make up a large part …

Oak, White — The tree species Quercus alba is also called “white oak”. It is a long-lived oak in the family Fagaceae, native to eastern North America, from southern Quebec west to eastern Minnesota, and south to northern Florida and eastern Texas. Specimens are known to have lived over 600 years. Although called the white oak it is very unusual …