1.
Botanical garden
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A botanical garden or botanic garden is a garden dedicated to the collection, cultivation and display of a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names. Visitor services at a botanical garden might include tours, educational displays, art exhibitions, book rooms, open-air theatrical and musical performances, over the years, botanical gardens, as cultural and scientific organisations, have responded to the interests of botany and horticulture. The role of major botanical gardens worldwide has been considered so similar as to fall within textbook definitions. The following definition was produced by staff of the Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium of Cornell University in 1976, each botanical garden naturally develops its own special fields of interests depending on its personnel, location, extent, available funds, and the terms of its charter. It may include greenhouses, test grounds, an herbarium, an arboretum and it maintains a scientific as well as a plant-growing staff, and publication is one of its major modes of expression. This broad outline is then expanded, The botanic garden may be an independent institution, if a department of an educational institution, it may be related to a teaching program. In any case, it exists for scientific ends and is not to be restricted or diverted by other demands. It is not merely a landscaped or ornamental garden, although it may be artistic, the essential element is the intention of the enterprise, which is the acquisition and dissemination of botanical knowledge. Worldwide, there are now about 1800 botanical gardens and arboreta in about 150 countries of which about 550 are in Europe,200 in North America, and an increasing number in East Asia. These gardens attract about 150 million visitors a year, so it is surprising that many people gained their first exciting introduction to the wonders of the plant world in a botanical garden. Historically, botanical gardens exchanged plants through the publication of seed lists and this was a means of transferring both plants and information between botanical gardens. This system continues today, although the possibility of genetic piracy, the International Association of Botanic Gardens was formed in 1954 as a worldwide organisation affiliated to the International Union of Biological Sciences. In the United States, there is the American Public Gardens Association, the history of botanical gardens is closely linked to the history of botany itself. Then, in the 19th and 20th centuries, the trend was towards a combination of specialist, the idea of scientific gardens used specifically for the study of plants dates back to antiquity. In about 2800 BCE, the Chinese Emperor Shen Nung sent collectors to distant regions searching for plants with economic or medicinal value. Early medieval gardens in Islamic Spain resembled botanic gardens of the future and this was later taken over by garden chronicler Ibn Bassal until the Christian conquest in 1085 CE. Ibn Bassal then founded a garden in Seville, most of its plants being collected on an expedition that included Morocco, Persia, Sicily. The medical school of Montpelier was also founded by Spanish Arab physicians, and by 1250 CE, it included a physic garden, but the site was not given botanic garden status until 1593
Botanical garden
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Orto botanico di Pisa operated by the University of Pisa: The first botanic garden, established in 1544 under botanist Luca Ghini, it was relocated in 1563 and again in 1591
Botanical garden
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Braunschweig Botanical Garden, Braunschweig, Germany Victoria amazonica, giant Amazon water lily
Botanical garden
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Botanical garden at Ooty, a hill station in India
Botanical garden
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The Hanging Gardens of Babylon with the Tower of Babel in the background, a 16th-century hand-coloured engraving by Martin Heemskerck
2.
Golden Gate Park
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Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, United States, is a large urban park consisting of 1,017 acres of public grounds. It is administered by the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department, configured as a rectangle, it is similar in shape but 20 percent larger than Central Park in New York, to which it is often compared. It is over three miles long east to west, and about half a mile north to south, in the 1860s, San Franciscans began to feel the need for a spacious public park similar to Central Park, which was then taking shape in New York City. Golden Gate Park was carved out of unpromising sand and shore dunes that were known as the Outside Lands, conceived ostensibly for recreation, the underlying purpose of the park was housing development and the westward expansion of the city. The tireless field engineer William Hammond Hall prepared a survey and topographic map of the site in 1870. He was later named Californias first state engineer and developed a flood control system for the Sacramento Valley. The park drew its name from nearby Golden Gate Strait, the plan and planting were developed by Hall and his assistant, John McLaren, who had apprenticed in Scotland, home of many of the 19th-century’s best professional gardeners. John McLaren, when asked by the Park Commission if he could make Golden Gate Park one of the beauty spots of the world, replied saying With your aid gentleman, and God be willing, that I shall do. He also promised that hed go out into the country and walk along a stream until he found a farm, and that hed come back to the garden and recreate what nature had done. In 1876, the plan was almost replaced by one for a racetrack, favored by the Big Four millionaires, Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, Collis P. Huntington and it was Gus Mooney who claimed land adjacent to the park on Ocean Beach. Many of Mooneys friends also staked claims and built shanties on the beach to sell refreshments to the patrons of the park, Hall resigned, and the remaining park commissioners followed. In 1882 Governor George C. Perkins appointed Frank M. Pixley founder, Pixley was adamant that the Mooneys shanties be eliminated, and he found support with the San Francisco Police for park security. Pixley favored Stanfords company by granting a lease on the route that closed the park on three sides to competition. The original plan, however, was back on track by 1886, Hall selected McLaren as his successor in 1887. The first stage of the development centered on planting trees in order to stabilize the dunes that covered three-quarters of the park’s area. By 1875, about 60,000 trees, mostly Eucalyptus globulus, Monterey pine, by 1879, that figure more than doubled to 155,000 trees over 1,000 acres. Later, McLaren scoured the world for trees, by correspondence and he lived in McLaren Lodge in Golden Gate Park until he died in 1943, aged 96. In 1903, a pair of Dutch-style windmills were built at the western end of the park
Golden Gate Park
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Golden Gate Park
Golden Gate Park
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John McLaren served as superintendent of Golden Gate Park for 53 years.
Golden Gate Park
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View of Golden Gate Park from the air.
Golden Gate Park
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Spreckels Temple of Music on the Music Concourse.
3.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
Geographic coordinate system
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Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
4.
San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department
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The San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department is the city agency responsible for governing and maintaining all city owned parks and recreational facilities in San Francisco, California. The Recreation & Parks Department also runs Sharp Park in Pacifica, California and Camp Mather in Tuolumne County, current facilities include 4,113 acres of total recreational and open space with 3,400 acres of that land within San Francisco. As San Francisco grew over of the years, parks and facilities were added all over the city, separately the city was running playgrounds, athletic fields, and recreational facilities under the direction of the Recreation Commission. In 1950 the two commissions were merged and the San Francisco Recreation & Park Department was born, the General Manager is appointed by the mayor of San Francisco. The Recreation & Parks Department is governed by a commission who are also appointed by the mayor of San Francisco to 4 year terms. The Commission President is elected by fellow Commissioners, Commission meetings are held once a month at San Francisco City Hall. Mark Buell, Allan Low, Gloria Bonilla, Tom Harrison, Meagan Levitan, in the past, there have been efforts to change the selection process for commissioners. This proposal had 5 votes on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors but was not able to get the vote necessary to put it on the ballot. The Department is responsible for over 220 neighborhood parks and Golden Gate Park, the largest, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area is federal and is administered by the National Park Service. Golden Gate Park is San Franciscos premier municipal park, planted in 1871 the park covers 1,017 acres of land across the western edge of San Francisco. Configured as a rectangle the park is three miles long east to west and about half a mile north to south. McLaren Park is the second largest municipal park in San Francisco, located in south-east San Francisco, the park is surrounded by the Excelsior, Crocker-Amazon, Visitacion Valley, Portola and University Mound neighborhoods. Dolores Park is a city park located two blocks south of Mission Dolores at the edge of the Mission District. Dolores Park is bounded by 18th Street on the north, 20th Street on the south, Dolores Street on the east, coit Tower is a 210-foot tower in the Telegraph Hill neighborhood. The tower, in the citys Pioneer Park, was built in 1933 using Lillie Hitchcock Coits bequest to beautify the city of San Francisco, the tower was proposed in 1931 as an appropriate use of Coits gift. The Zoo is owned by the Recreation & Parks Department and managed by its partner non-profit San Francisco Zoological Society, Candlestick Park was home of the San Francisco 49ers through the 2013 season and was home of the San Francisco Giants until 2000. In 2014 the 49ers moved to the new Levis Stadium and Candlestick Park is being torn down, Kezar Stadium is and outdoor 10,000 seat multi-purpose stadium located in the southeastern corner of Golden Gate Park. Before being renovated and downsized in 1989 it was the home of the San Francisco 49ers
San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department
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Recreation & Parks Department Headquarters
San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department
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Map of San Francisco in 1932.
San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department
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A satellite view of San Francisco today.
San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department
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View of downtown from Golden Gate Park.
5.
Verbascum
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Verbascum, common name mullein, is a genus of about 250 species of flowering plants in the figwort family Scrophulariaceae. They are native to Europe and Asia, with the highest species diversity in the Mediterranean, Mullein or mullein leaf often refers to the leaves of Verbascum thapsus, the great or common mullein, which is frequently used in herbal medicine. They are biennial or perennial plants, rarely annuals or subshrubs, the plants first form a dense rosette of leaves at ground level, subsequently sending up a tall flowering stem. Biennial plants form the rosette the first year and the stem the following season, the leaves are spirally arranged, often densely hairy, though glabrous in some species. The flowers have five petals, petal colours in different species include yellow, orange, red-brown, purple, blue. The fruit is a capsule containing minute seeds. In gardening and landscaping, the mulleins are valued for their tall stature and for flowering over a long period of time. Many cultivars are available, of which Gainsborough, Letitia and Pink Domino have gained the Royal Horticultural Societys Award of Garden Merit. Since the year 2000, a number of new cultivars have come out that have increased flower size, shorter heights. A number have new colors for this genus, many mulleins are raised from seed, including both the short-lived perennial and biennial types. The plant has a history of use as a herbal remedy. Although this plant is a recent arrival to North America, Native Americans used the seeds of this plant as a paralytic fish poison due to their high levels of rotenone. The plants stem is considered a first-rate drill for use in the hand method of friction fire lighting. The following species are accepted by The Plant List, Mullein moth, Flora Europaea, Verbascum Flora of China, Verbascum Davis, P. H. Edmondson, J. R. Mill, R. R. & Parris, B. S. eds. Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands 6,461
Verbascum
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Verbascum
Verbascum
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Dark mullein (V. nigrum)
6.
San Francisco, California
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San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California. It is the birthplace of the United Nations, the California Gold Rush of 1849 brought rapid growth, making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time. San Francisco became a consolidated city-county in 1856, after three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. In World War II, San Francisco was a port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater. Politically, the city votes strongly along liberal Democratic Party lines, San Francisco is also the headquarters of five major banking institutions and various other companies such as Levi Strauss & Co. Dolby, Airbnb, Weebly, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Yelp, Pinterest, Twitter, Uber, Lyft, Mozilla, Wikimedia Foundation, as of 2016, San Francisco is ranked high on world liveability rankings. The earliest archaeological evidence of habitation of the territory of the city of San Francisco dates to 3000 BC. Upon independence from Spain in 1821, the became part of Mexico. Under Mexican rule, the system gradually ended, and its lands became privatized. In 1835, Englishman William Richardson erected the first independent homestead, together with Alcalde Francisco de Haro, he laid out a street plan for the expanded settlement, and the town, named Yerba Buena, began to attract American settlers. Commodore John D. Sloat claimed California for the United States on July 7,1846, during the Mexican–American War, montgomery arrived to claim Yerba Buena two days later. Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco on January 30 of the next year, despite its attractive location as a port and naval base, San Francisco was still a small settlement with inhospitable geography. The California Gold Rush brought a flood of treasure seekers, with their sourdough bread in tow, prospectors accumulated in San Francisco over rival Benicia, raising the population from 1,000 in 1848 to 25,000 by December 1849. The promise of fabulous riches was so strong that crews on arriving vessels deserted and rushed off to the gold fields, leaving behind a forest of masts in San Francisco harbor. Some of these approximately 500 abandoned ships were used at times as storeships, saloons and hotels, many were left to rot, by 1851 the harbor was extended out into the bay by wharves while buildings were erected on piles among the ships. By 1870 Yerba Buena Cove had been filled to create new land, buried ships are occasionally exposed when foundations are dug for new buildings. California was quickly granted statehood in 1850 and the U. S. military built Fort Point at the Golden Gate, silver discoveries, including the Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1859, further drove rapid population growth. With hordes of fortune seekers streaming through the city, lawlessness was common, and the Barbary Coast section of town gained notoriety as a haven for criminals, prostitution, entrepreneurs sought to capitalize on the wealth generated by the Gold Rush
San Francisco, California
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San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge from Marin Headlands
San Francisco, California
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Mission San Francisco de Asís (Mission Dolores)
San Francisco, California
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1853 United States Coast Survey Map
San Francisco, California
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Francis Samuel Marryat, Hilltop of San Francisco, California, Looking toward the Bay, 1849. M.& N. Hanhart Chromolithograph
7.
Magnolia
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Magnolia is a large genus of about 210 flowering plant species in the subfamily Magnolioideae of the family Magnoliaceae. It is named after French botanist Pierre Magnol, appearing before bees did, the flowers are theorized to have evolved to encourage pollination by beetles. To avoid damage from pollinating beetles, the carpels of Magnolia flowers are extremely tough, fossilised specimens of M. acuminata have been found dating to 20 million years ago, and of plants identifiably belonging to the Magnoliaceae date to 95 million years ago. Magnolia shares the characteristic with several other flowering plants near the base of the flowering plant lineage such as Amborella. As with all Magnoliaceae, the perianth is undifferentiated, with 9–15 tepals in 3 or more whorls, the flowers are bisexual with numerous adnate carpels and stamens are arranged in a spiral fashion on the elongated receptacle. The fruit dehisces along their dorsal sutures, the pollen is monocolpate, and the embryo development is of the Polygonium type. The name Magnolia first appeared in 1703 in the Genera of Charles Plumier, english botanist William Sherard, who studied botany in Paris under Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, a pupil of Magnol, was most probably the first after Plumier to adopt the genus name Magnolia. He was at least responsible for the part of Johann Jacob Dilleniuss Hortus Elthamensis and of Mark Catesbys Natural History of Carolina, Florida. These were the first works after Plumiers Genera that used the name Magnolia, Carl Linnaeus, who was familiar with Plumiers Genera, adopted the genus name Magnolia in 1735 in his first edition of Systema Naturae, without a description, but with a reference to Plumiers work. In 1753, he took up Plumiers Magnolia in the first edition of Species Plantarum, there he described a monotypic genus, with the sole species being Magnolia virginiana. He placed it in the synonymy of Magnolia virginiana var. fœtida, under Magnolia virginiana Linnaeus described five varieties. In the tenth edition of Systema Naturae, he merged grisea with glauca, by the end of the 18th century, botanists and plant hunters exploring Asia began to name and describe the Magnolia species from China and Japan. The first Asiatic species to be described by western botanists were Magnolia denudata and Magnolia liliiflora, soon after that, in 1794, Carl Peter Thunberg collected and described Magnolia obovata from Japan and at roughly the same time Magnolia kobus was also first collected. With the number of increasing, the genus was divided into the two subgenera Magnolia and Yulania. Magnolia contains the American evergreen species M. grandiflora, which is of importance, especially in the southeastern United States, and M. virginiana. Yulania contains several deciduous Asiatic species, such as M. denudata and M. kobus, classified in Yulania, is also the American deciduous M. acuminata, which has recently attained greater status as the parent responsible for the yellow flower colour in many new hybrids. Relations in the family Magnoliaceae have been puzzling taxonomists for a long time, because the family is quite old and has survived many geological events, its distribution has become scattered. Some species or groups of species have been isolated for a long time, to create divisions in the family, solely based upon morphological characters, has proven to be a nearly impossible task
Magnolia
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Magnolia
Magnolia
8.
Cloud forest
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Cloud forests often exhibit an abundance of mosses covering the ground and vegetation, in which case they are also referred to as mossy forests. Mossy forests usually develop on the saddles of mountains, where introduced by settling clouds is more effectively retained. Dependent on local climate, which is affected by the distance to the sea, the exposition and the latitude, typically, there is a relatively small band of altitude in which the atmospheric environment is suitable for cloud forest development. This is characterized by persistent fog at the level, resulting in the reduction of direct sunlight. Within cloud forests, much of the moisture available to plants arrives in the form of fog drip, annual rainfall can range from 500 to 10,000 mm/year and mean temperature between 8 and 20 °C. Only 1% of the global woodland consists of cloud forests, important areas of cloud forest are in Central and South America, East and Central Africa, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua-New Guinea, and in the Caribbean. Although far from being accepted as true cloud forests, several forests in temperate regions have strong similarities with tropical cloud forests. The term is confused by occasional reference to cloud forests in tropical countries as temperate due to the cooler climate associated with these misty forests. Trees in these regions are generally shorter and more heavily stemmed than in forests in the same regions, often with gnarled trunks and branches, forming dense. Their leaves become smaller, thicker and harder with increasing altitude, the high moisture promotes the development of a high biomass and biodiversity of epiphyte, particularly bryophytes, lichens, ferns, bromeliads and orchids. The number of plants can be very high. An important feature of cloud forests is the tree crowns can intercept the wind-driven cloud moisture and this fog drip occurs when water droplets from the fog adhere to the needles or leaves of trees or other objects, coalesce into larger drops and then drop to the ground. It can be an important contribution to the hydrologic cycle, watershed function, Because of the cloud-stripping strategy, the effective rainfall can be doubled in dry seasons and increase the wet season rainfall by about 10%. Vegetation, Tropical montane cloud forests are not as species-rich as tropical lowland forests, for example, the Cerro de la Neblina, a cloud-covered mountain in the south of Venezuela, accommodates many shrubs, orchids, and insectivorous plants which are restricted to this mountain only. Fauna, The endemism in animals is very high. In Peru, more than one-third of the 270 endemic birds, mammals, one of the best-known cloud forest mammals is the mountain gorilla. Many of those animals have important functions, such as seed dispersal. In 1970, the extent of cloud forests on the Earth was around 50 million hectares
Cloud forest
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Tree ferns in a cloud forest on Mount Kinabalu, Borneo
Cloud forest
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One of the hanging bridges of the Sky walk at the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve in Monteverde, Costa Rica disappearing into the clouds
Cloud forest
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Temperate cloud forest on La Palma, Canary Islands
Cloud forest
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Hanging moss in a cool temperate rainforest at Budawang National Park, Australia
9.
John McLaren (park superintendent)
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Dr John Hays McLaren served as superintendent of the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, CA for 53 years. Born at Bannockburn, near Stirling in Scotland, and worked as a dairyman before studying horticulture at the Edinburgh Royal Botanical Gardens where he worked as an apprentice gardeners helper, appointed Park Superintendent in 1887, he requested thirty thousand dollars a year for park building. One of John McLarens stipulations before taking the superintendent job was and his horticultural philosophy was to achieve a natural look, typified in his dislike for statuary, calling them stookies and planting trees and shrubs to hide them. He built two windmills to pump water to his park and had the sweepings from San Francisco streets delivered as fertilizer. He had a shrewd and aggressive style of management but was so respected that, at the age of 70, he was given lifetime tenure over the park. An avenue in the Seacliff District of San Francisco was named after him during his lifetime and he is credited with planting two million trees during his lifetime. The McLaren Park in the part of San Francisco is named after John McLaren, as is McLaren Lodge in Golden Gate Park. East Bays Tilden Park also has a named after him. A small statue of McLaren was erected in the park which he had hidden away only to be discovered after his death, after his death at the age of 96, McLarens body lay in state in the San Francisco City Hall Rotunda. Afterwards, the funeral cortege drove his casket through Golden Gate Park as a special honor, the small town of Ashland, Oregon commissioned McLaren to design Lithia Park in 1914, just a few years after the park was initially established in 1908. Still considered the jewel of Ashland, the park covers 100 acres. It includes two ponds, a Japanese garden, tennis courts, two greens, a bandshell and miles of hiking trails. The name Lithia comes from the mineral water in Ashland. The world-famous Oregon Shakespeare Festival now borders the lower portion of the park, the surrounding watershed, which supplies drinking water and hydroelectricity to the city, also includes miles of mountain biking trails. The park is the start and finish for the annual Spring Thaw mountain biking race for pros and amateurs. In 1907 land developer Lewis Hanchett hired John McLaren to design Hanchett Residence Park on the former 76 acre Agricultural Park bounded by Race Street, Park Avenue, the Alameda and Hester Avenue. John McLaren is credited with creating San Joses first Residence park that reflected certain architecture standards, sidewalks, street lamps, wide curved streets, dickson, Samuel Tales of San Francisco Stanford University Press 1947 LC # 57-9306 Pugsley Silver Medal Biography
John McLaren (park superintendent)
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Statue of John McLaren, Golden Gate Park
10.
Works Progress Administration
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In a much smaller but more famous project, Federal Project Number One, the WPA employed musicians, artists, writers, actors and directors in large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects. Almost every community in the United States had a new park, the WPAs initial appropriation in 1935 was for $4.9 billion. Headed by Harry Hopkins, the WPA provided jobs and income to the unemployed during the Great Depression in the United States. At its peak in 1938, it provided jobs for three million unemployed men and women, as well as youth in a separate division, the National Youth Administration. Between 1935 and 1943, when the agency was disbanded, the WPA employed 8.5 million people, most people who needed a job were eligible for employment in some capacity. Hourly wages were set to the prevailing wages in each area. The stated goal of building programs was to end the depression or, at least, alleviate its worst effects. Millions of people needed subsistence incomes, Work relief was preferred over public assistance because it maintained self-respect, reinforced the work ethic, and kept skills sharp. The WPA was a program that operated its own projects in cooperation with state and local governments. Usually the local sponsor provided land and often trucks and supplies, WPA sometimes took over state and local relief programs that had originated in the Reconstruction Finance Corporation or Federal Emergency Relief Administration programs. It was liquidated on June 30,1943, as a result of low unemployment due to the shortage of World War II. The WPA had provided millions of Americans with jobs for eight years, on May 6,1935, FDR issued Executive Order 7034, establishing the Works Progress Administration. The WPA superseded the work of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, direct relief assistance was permanently replaced by a national work relief program—a major public works program directed by the WPA. The WPA was largely shaped by Harry Hopkins, supervisor of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, both Roosevelt and Hopkins believed that the route to economic recovery and the lessened importance of the dole would be in employment programs such as the WPA. The Division of Professional and Service Projects, which was responsible for projects including education programs, recreation programs. It was later named the Division of Community Service Programs and the Service Division, the Division of Investigation, which succeeded a comparable division at FERA and investigated fraud, misappropriation of funds and disloyalty. The Division of Statistics, also known as the Division of Social Research, the Project Control Division, which processed project applications. Other divisions including the Employment, Management, Safety, Supply, the goal of the WPA was to employ most of the unemployed people on relief until the economy recovered
Works Progress Administration
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Typical plaque on a WPA project
Works Progress Administration
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Poster summarizing Federal Art Project employment and activities as of November 1, 1936
Works Progress Administration
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The WPA legacy includes public recreation buildings. WPA canoe house, University of Iowa campus, 1937.
Works Progress Administration
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Nancy Blair, state supervisor of the South Carolina WPA Library Project, inspecting a model of a bookmobile.
11.
Green building
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In other words, green building design involves finding the balance between homebuilding and the sustainable environment. This requires close cooperation of the team, the architects, the engineers. The Green Building practice expands and complements the classical building design concerns of economy, utility, durability, other certificates system that confirms the sustainability of buildings is the British BREEAM for buildings and large scale developments. Other related topics include sustainable design and green architecture, Sustainability may be defined as meeting the needs of present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Although some green building programs dont address the issue of the existing homes, others do. Green construction principles can easily be applied to work as well as new construction. A2009 report by the U. S, general Services Administration found 12 sustainably-designed buildings that cost less to operate and have excellent energy performance. In addition, occupants were overall more satisfied with the building than those in commercial buildings. These are eco-friendly buildings. Globally buildings are responsible for a share of energy, electricity, water. The building sector has the greatest potential to deliver significant cuts in emissions at little or no cost, buildings account for 18% of global emissions today, or the equivalent of 9 billion tonnes of CO2 annually. Since construction almost always degrades a building site, not building at all is preferable to green building, the second rule is that every building should be as small as possible. The third rule is not to contribute to sprawl, even if the most energy-efficient, environmentally sound methods are used in design, buildings account for a large amount of land. According to the National Resources Inventory, approximately 107 million acres of land in the United States are developed, the concept of sustainable development can be traced to the energy crisis and environmental pollution concerns of the 1960s and 1970s. The Rachel Carson book, “Silent Spring”, published in 1962, is considered to be one of the first initial efforts to describe sustainable development as related to green building. The green building movement in the U. S. originated from the need and desire for energy efficient. There are a number of motives for building green, including environmental, economic, however, modern sustainability initiatives call for an integrated and synergistic design to both new construction and in the retrofitting of existing structures. Also known as design, this approach integrates the building life-cycle with each green practice employed with a design-purpose to create a synergy among the practices used. Green building brings together a vast array of practices, techniques, the essence of green building is an optimization of one or more of these principles
Green building
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LEED 2.0 Gold certified
Green building
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Hanging gardens of One Central Park, Sydney
Green building
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Blu Homes mkSolaire, a green building designed by Michelle Kaufmann.
12.
California
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California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
California
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A forest of redwood trees in Redwood National Park
California
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Flag
California
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Mount Shasta
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Aerial view of the California Central Valley
13.
Mesoamerican
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It is one of six areas in the world where ancient civilization arose independently, and the second in the Americas along with Norte Chico in present-day northern coastal Peru. As a cultural area, Mesoamerica is defined by a mosaic of cultural traits developed and shared by its indigenous cultures, while Mesoamerican civilization did know of the wheel and basic metallurgy, neither of these technologies became culturally important. Among the earliest complex civilizations was the Olmec culture, which inhabited the Gulf coast of Mexico and extended inland, frequent contact and cultural interchange between the early Olmec and other cultures in Chiapas, Guatemala and Oaxaca laid the basis for the Mesoamerican cultural area. All this was facilitated by considerable regional communications in ancient Mesoamerica and this Formative period saw the spread of distinct religious and symbolic traditions, as well as artistic and architectural complexes. In the subsequent Preclassic period, complex urban polities began to develop among the Maya, with the rise of such as El Mirador, Calakmul and Tikal. Mesoamerica is one of three regions of the world where writing is known to have independently developed. Upon the collapse of Teotihuacán around AD600, competition between several important political centers in central Mexico, such as Xochicalco and Cholula, ensued. During the early period, Central Mexico was dominated by the Toltec culture, Oaxaca by the Mixtec. Towards the end of the period, the Aztecs of Central Mexico built a tributary empire covering most of central Mesoamerica. The distinct Mesoamerican cultural tradition ended with the Spanish conquest in the 16th century, over the next centuries, Mesoamerican indigenous cultures were gradually subjected to Spanish colonial rule. The exact geographic extent of Mesoamerica has varied through time, as the civilization extended North and South from its heartland in southern Mexico, Mesoamerica is recognized as a near-prototypical cultural area, and the term is now fully integrated in the standard terminology of pre-Columbian anthropological studies. Conversely, the sister terms Aridoamerica and Oasisamerica, which refer to northern Mexico, 10° and 22° northern latitude, Mesoamerica possesses a complex combination of ecological systems, topographic zones, and environmental contexts. A main distinction groups these different niches into two categories, the lowlands and the altiplanos, or highlands. In the low-lying regions, sub-tropical and tropical climates are most common, as is true for most of the coastline along the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. The highlands show much more diversity, ranging from dry tropical to cold mountainous climates. The rainfall varies from the dry Oaxaca and north Yucatan to the humid southern Pacific, several distinct sub-regions within Mesoamerica are defined by a convergence of geographic and cultural attributes. These sub-regions are more conceptual than culturally meaningful, and the demarcation of their limits is not rigid, the Maya area, for example, can be divided into two general groups, the lowlands and highlands. The lowlands are further divided into the southern and northern Maya lowlands, the southern Maya lowlands are generally regarded as encompassing northern Guatemala, southern Campeche and Quintana Roo in Mexico, and Belize
Mesoamerican
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Maya Ruins of Tazumal in Santa Ana, El Salvador
Mesoamerican
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Mesoamerica and its cultural areas
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Landscape of the Mesoamerican highlands
Mesoamerican
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Tikal is one of the largest archaeological sites, urban centers, and tourist attractions of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It is located in the archaeological region of the Petén Basin in what is now northern Guatemala.
14.
Cloud Forest
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Cloud forests often exhibit an abundance of mosses covering the ground and vegetation, in which case they are also referred to as mossy forests. Mossy forests usually develop on the saddles of mountains, where introduced by settling clouds is more effectively retained. Dependent on local climate, which is affected by the distance to the sea, the exposition and the latitude, typically, there is a relatively small band of altitude in which the atmospheric environment is suitable for cloud forest development. This is characterized by persistent fog at the level, resulting in the reduction of direct sunlight. Within cloud forests, much of the moisture available to plants arrives in the form of fog drip, annual rainfall can range from 500 to 10,000 mm/year and mean temperature between 8 and 20 °C. Only 1% of the global woodland consists of cloud forests, important areas of cloud forest are in Central and South America, East and Central Africa, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua-New Guinea, and in the Caribbean. Although far from being accepted as true cloud forests, several forests in temperate regions have strong similarities with tropical cloud forests. The term is confused by occasional reference to cloud forests in tropical countries as temperate due to the cooler climate associated with these misty forests. Trees in these regions are generally shorter and more heavily stemmed than in forests in the same regions, often with gnarled trunks and branches, forming dense. Their leaves become smaller, thicker and harder with increasing altitude, the high moisture promotes the development of a high biomass and biodiversity of epiphyte, particularly bryophytes, lichens, ferns, bromeliads and orchids. The number of plants can be very high. An important feature of cloud forests is the tree crowns can intercept the wind-driven cloud moisture and this fog drip occurs when water droplets from the fog adhere to the needles or leaves of trees or other objects, coalesce into larger drops and then drop to the ground. It can be an important contribution to the hydrologic cycle, watershed function, Because of the cloud-stripping strategy, the effective rainfall can be doubled in dry seasons and increase the wet season rainfall by about 10%. Vegetation, Tropical montane cloud forests are not as species-rich as tropical lowland forests, for example, the Cerro de la Neblina, a cloud-covered mountain in the south of Venezuela, accommodates many shrubs, orchids, and insectivorous plants which are restricted to this mountain only. Fauna, The endemism in animals is very high. In Peru, more than one-third of the 270 endemic birds, mammals, one of the best-known cloud forest mammals is the mountain gorilla. Many of those animals have important functions, such as seed dispersal. In 1970, the extent of cloud forests on the Earth was around 50 million hectares
Cloud Forest
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Tree ferns in a cloud forest on Mount Kinabalu, Borneo
Cloud Forest
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One of the hanging bridges of the Sky walk at the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve in Monteverde, Costa Rica disappearing into the clouds
Cloud Forest
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Temperate cloud forest on La Palma, Canary Islands
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Hanging moss in a cool temperate rainforest at Budawang National Park, Australia
15.
Southeast Asian
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Southeast Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies near the intersection of geological plates, with seismic and volcanic activity. Southeast Asia consists of two regions, Mainland Southeast Asia, also known historically as Indochina, comprising Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar. Maritime Southeast Asia, comprising Indonesia, East Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, East Timor, Brunei, Cocos Islands, definitions of Southeast Asia vary, but most definitions include the area represented by the countries listed below. All of the states are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the area, together with part of South Asia, was widely known as the East Indies or simply the Indies until the 20th century. Sovereignty issues exist over some territories in the South China Sea, Papua New Guinea has stated that it might join ASEAN, and is currently an observer. Southeast Asia is geographically divided into two subregions, namely Mainland Southeast Asia and Maritime Southeast Asia, Mainland Southeast Asia includes, Maritime Southeast Asia includes, The Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India are geographically considered part of Southeast Asia. Eastern Bangladesh and the Seven Sister States of India are culturally part of Southeast Asia, the eastern half of Indonesia and East Timor are considered to be biogeographically part of Oceania. Homo sapiens reached the region by around 45,000 years ago, homo floresiensis also lived in the area up until 12,000 years ago, when they became extinct. Austronesian people, who form the majority of the population in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, East Timor. Solheim and others have shown evidence for a Nusantao maritime trading network ranging from Vietnam to the rest of the archipelago as early as 5000 BC to 1 AD. The peoples of Southeast Asia, especially those of Austronesian descent, have been seafarers for thousands of years and their vessels, such as the vinta, were ocean-worthy. Magellans voyage records how much more manoeuvrable their vessels were, as compared to the European ships, Passage through the Indian Ocean aided the colonisation of Madagascar by the Austronesian people, as well as commerce between West Asia and Southeast Asia. Gold from Sumatra is thought to have reached as far west as Rome and this was later replaced by Hinduism. Theravada Buddhism soon followed in 525, in the 15th century, Islamic influences began to enter. This forced the last Hindu court in Indonesia to retreat to Bali, in Mainland Southeast Asia, Burma, Cambodia and Thailand retained the Theravada form of Buddhism, brought to them from Sri Lanka. This type of Buddhism was fused with the Hindu-influenced Khmer culture, very little is known about Southeast Asian religious beliefs and practices before the advent of Indian merchants and religious influences from the 2nd century BCE onwards. Prior to the 13th century CE, Hinduism and Buddhism were the religions in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asian
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A golden vestment similar to those worn by the Hindu Brahmin Caste, found in Butuan (Philippines) Archeological Digs. This artefact shows the influence of Indian culture in Southeast Asia, also through trade.
Southeast Asian
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Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia
Southeast Asian
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Kampung Laut Mosque in Tumpat is one of the oldest mosques in Malaysia, dating to the early 18th century.
16.
Andean
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The Andes or Andean Mountains are the longest continental mountain range in the world. They are a range of highlands along the western edge of South America. This range is about 7,000 km long, about 200 to 700 km wide, the Andes extend from north to south through seven South American countries, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile. Along their length, the Andes are split into several ranges, the Andes are the location of several high plateaus – some of which host major cities, such as Quito, Bogotá, Arequipa, Medellín, Sucre, Mérida and La Paz. The Altiplano plateau is the worlds second-highest after the Tibetan plateau and these ranges are in turn grouped into three major divisions based on climate, the Tropical Andes, the Dry Andes, and the Wet Andes. The Andes are the worlds highest mountain range outside of Asia, the highest mountain outside Asia, Mount Aconcagua, rises to an elevation of about 6,961 m above sea level. The peak of Chimborazo in the Ecuadorean Andes is farther from the Earths center than any other location on the Earths surface, the worlds highest volcanoes are in the Andes, including Ojos del Salado on the Chile-Argentina border, which rises to 6,893 m. The etymology of the word Andes has been debated, the majority consensus is that it derives from the Quechua word anti, which means east as in Antisuyu, one of the four regions of the Inca Empire. In the northern part of the Andes, the isolated Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta range is considered to be part of the Andes. The term cordillera comes from the Spanish word cordel, meaning rope, the Andes range is about 200 km wide throughout its length, except in the Bolivian flexure where it is about 640 kilometres wide. The Andes are the result of plate tectonics processes, caused by the subduction of oceanic crust beneath the South American plate. The main cause of the rise of the Andes is the compression of the rim of the South American Plate due to the subduction of the Nazca Plate. In the south, the Andes share a boundary with the former Patagonia Terrane. To the west, the Andes end at the Pacific Ocean, from a geographical approach, the Andes are considered to have their western boundaries marked by the appearance of coastal lowlands and a less rugged topography. The Andes Mountains also contain large quantities of iron ore located in mountains within the range. The Andean orogen has a series of bends or oroclines, the Bolivian Orocline is a seaward concave bending in the coast of South America and the Andes Mountains at about 18° S. At this point the orientation of the Andes turns from Northwest in Peru to South in Chile, the Andean segment north and south of the orocline have been rotated 15° to 20° counter clockwise and clockwise respectively. The Bolivian Orocline area overlaps with the area of maximum width of the Altiplano Plateau, the specific point at 18° S where the coastline bends is known as the Arica Elbow
Andean
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Aerial photo of a portion of the Andes between Argentina and Chile
Andean
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" Cono de Arita " in the Puna de Atacama, Salta (Argentina).
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Aerial view of Aconcagua.
17.
Succulent
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The word succulent comes from the Latin word sucus, meaning juice, or sap. Succulent plants may store water in various structures, such as leaves, some definitions also include roots, so that geophytes that survive unfavorable periods by dying back to underground storage organs may be regarded as succulents. In horticultural use, the term succulent is often used in a way which excludes plants that botanists would regard as succulents, Succulents are often grown as ornamental plants because of their striking and unusual appearance. Many plant families have multiple succulents found within them, in some families, such as Aizoaceae, Cactaceae, and Crassulaceae, most species are succulents. The habitats of these water preserving plants are often in areas with high temperatures, Succulents have the ability to thrive on limited water sources, such as mist and dew, which makes them equipped to survive in an ecosystem which contains scarce water sources. A general definition of succulents is that they are drought resistant plants in which the leaves, other sources exclude roots as in the definition a plant with thick, fleshy and swollen stems and/or leaves, adapted to dry environments. This difference affects the relationship between succulents and geophytes – plants that survive unfavorable seasons as a bud on an underground organ. These underground organs, such as bulbs, corms and tubers, are fleshy with water-storing tissues. Thus if roots are included in the definition, many geophytes would be classed as succulents, plants adapted to living in dry environments such as succulents are termed xerophytes. Nor are all succulents xerophytes, since plants like Crassula helmsii are both succulent and aquatic and those who grow succulents as a hobby use the term in a different way to botanists. In horticultural use, the term succulent regularly excludes cacti, however, in botanical terminology, cacti are succulents. Horticulturists may also exclude other groups of plants, e. g. bromeliads, a practical, but unscientific, horticultural definition is a succulent plant is any desert plant that a succulent plant collector wishes to grow. Such plants less often include geophytes but do include plants with a caudex, which is a swollen above-ground organ at soil level, formed from a stem, a further difficulty is that plants are not either succulent or non-succulent. Different sources may classify the same species differently, the storage of water often gives succulent plants a more swollen or fleshy appearance than other plants, a characteristic known as succulence. In addition to succulence, succulent plants variously have other water-saving features, high temperatures and low precipitation force plants to collect and store water to survive long dry periods. Some species of cactus can survive for months without rainfall, Succulents also occur as inhabitants of sea coasts and dry lakes, which are exposed to high levels of dissolved minerals that are deadly to many other plant species. Plant families and genera in which succulent species occur are listed below, the table below shows the number of succulent species found in some families, Succulents are very difficult to kill, and if properly potted require little maintenance to survive indoors. Succulents are very adaptable houseplants and will thrive in a range of indoor conditions, Succulents can be propagated by different means
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Succulent plants, such as this Aloe, store water in their fleshy leaves
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A collection of succulent plants, including cacti
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Apocynaceae: Pachypodium lealii, stem succulent
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Xanthorrhoeaceae: Haworthia arachnoidea, leaf succulent
18.
Conifer
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The Pinophyta, also known as Coniferophyta or Coniferae, or commonly as conifers, are a division of vascular land plants containing a single class, Pinopsida. They are gymnosperms, cone-bearing seed plants, all extant conifers are perennial woody plants with secondary growth. The great majority are trees, though a few are shrubs, examples include cedars, Douglas firs, cypresses, firs, junipers, kauri, larches, pines, hemlocks, redwoods, spruces, and yews. As of 1998, the division Pinophyta was estimated to contain eight families,68 genera, although the total number of species is relatively small, conifers are ecologically important. They are the dominant plants over large areas of land, most notably the taiga of the Northern Hemisphere, boreal conifers have many wintertime adaptations. The narrow conical shape of northern conifers, and their downward-drooping limbs, many of them seasonally alter their biochemistry to make them more resistant to freezing. While tropical rainforests have more biodiversity and turnover, the conifer forests of the world represent the largest terrestrial carbon sink. Conifers are of economic value for softwood lumber and paper production. The earliest conifers in the record date to the late Carboniferous period, possibly arising from Cordaites. Pinophytes, Cycadophytes, and Ginkgophytes all developed at this time, an important adaptation of these gymnosperms was allowing plants to live without being so dependent on water. Other adaptations are pollen and the seed, which allows the embryo to be transported and developed elsewhere, Conifers appear to be one of the taxa that benefited from the Permian–Triassic extinction event, and were the dominant land plants of the Mesozoic. They were overtaken by the plants, which first appeared in the Cretaceous. They were the food of herbivorous dinosaurs, and their resins and poisons would have given protection against herbivores. Reproductive features of modern conifers had evolved by the end of the Mesozoic era, Conifer is a Latin word, a compound of conus and ferre, meaning the one that bears cone. A descriptive name in use for the conifers is Coniferae. Alternatively, descriptive botanical names may also be used at any rank above family and this means that if conifers are considered a division, they may be called Pinophyta or Coniferae. As a class they may be called Pinopsida or Coniferae, as an order they may be called Pinales or Coniferae or Coniferales. Conifers are the largest and economically most important component group of the gymnosperms, the division Pinophyta consists of just one class, Pinopsida, which includes both living and fossil taxa
Conifer
Conifer
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The narrow conical shape of northern conifers, and their downward-drooping limbs, help them shed snow.
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Pinaceae: needle-like leaves and vegetative buds of Coast Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii)
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Araucariaceae: Awl-like leaves of Cook Pine (Araucaria columnaris)
19.
Mediterranean climate
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A Mediterranean climate /ˌmɛdɪtəˈreɪniən/ or dry summer climate, is the climate typical of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin. The Mediterranean climate is characterised by dry summers and mild, moist winters, the Azores High is associated with the Mediterranean climate found in southern Europe and north Africa and the Sahara Desert with France and England both bordering this climate, France especially. The South Atlantic High is similarly associated with the Namib Desert, under the Köppen climate classification, hot dry-summer climates and cool dry-summer climates are often referred to as mediterranean. Under the Köppen climate system, the first letter indicates the climate group, temperate climates or C zones have an average temperature above 0 °C, but below 18 °C, in their coolest months. The second letter indicates the precipitation pattern, Köppen has defined a dry summer month as a month with less than 30 mm of precipitation and with less than one-third that of the wettest winter month. Some, however, use a 40 mm level, the third letter indicates the degree of summer heat, a represents an average temperature in the warmest month above 22 °C, while b indicates the average temperature in the warmest month below 22 °C. Under the Köppen classification, dry-summer climates usually occur on the sides of continents. Under Trewarthas system, at least eight months must have average temperatures of 10 °C or higher, during summer, regions of mediterranean climate are dominated by subtropical high pressure cells, with dry sinking air capping a surface marine layer of varying humidity and making rainfall unlikely. In many Mediterranean climates there is a strong character to daily temperatures in the warm months. The majority of the regions with mediterranean climates have relatively mild winters, however winter and summer temperatures can vary greatly between different regions with a mediterranean climate. Or to consider summer, Athens experiences rather high temperatures in that season, in contrast, San Francisco has cool summers with daily highs around. In North America, areas with Csc climate can be found in the Olympic, Cascade, Klamath and these locations are found at high altitude nearby lower altitude regions characterized by a warm-summer mediterranean climate or hot-summer mediterranean climate. A rare instance of this occurs in the tropics, on Haleakalā Summit in Hawaii. In South America, Csc regions can be found along the Andes in Chile, the town of Balmaceda is one of the few towns confirmed to have this climate. Small areas with a Csc climate can also be found at elevations in Corsica. Mediterranean climate Explanation of Mediterranean Climate
Mediterranean climate
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Mediterranean climate distribution in the Americas
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Hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Csa)
20.
Greenhouse
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A greenhouse is a structure with walls and roof made chiefly of transparent material, such as glass, in which plants requiring regulated climatic conditions are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to industrial-sized buildings, a miniature greenhouse is known as a cold frame. The interior of a greenhouse exposed to sunlight becomes significantly warmer than the ambient temperature. Many commercial glass greenhouses or hothouses are high tech production facilities for vegetables or flowers, the glass greenhouses are filled with equipment including screening installations, heating, cooling, lighting, and may be controlled by a computer to optimize conditions for plant growth. Different techniques are used to evaluate optimality-degrees and comfort ratio of greenhouse micro-climate in order to reduce production risk prior to cultivation of a specific crop. The idea of growing plants in environmentally controlled areas has existed since Roman times, the Roman emperor Tiberius ate a cucumber-like vegetable daily. The Roman gardeners used artificial methods of growing to have it available for his every day of the year. Cucumbers were planted in wheeled carts which were put in the sun daily, the cucumbers were stored under frames or in cucumber houses glazed with either oiled cloth known as specularia or with sheets of selenite, according to the description by Pliny the Elder. In the 13th century, greenhouses were built in Italy to house the plants that explorers brought back from the tropics. They were originally called giardini botanici, Greenhouses in which the temperature could be manually manipulated first appeared in 15th century Korea. The 15th century treatise, the Sanga Yorok, contains descriptions of greenhouses designed to regulate the temperature and humidity requirements of plants, the concept of greenhouses also appeared in the Netherlands and then England in the 17th century, along with the plants. Some of these early attempts required enormous amounts of work to close up at night or to winterize, there were serious problems with providing adequate and balanced heat in these early greenhouses. Today, the Netherlands has many of the largest greenhouses in the world, the French botanist Charles Lucien Bonaparte is often credited with building the first practical modern greenhouse in Leiden, Holland, during the 1800s to grow medicinal tropical plants. Originally only on the estates of the rich, the growth of the science of botany caused greenhouses to spread to the universities, the French called their first greenhouses orangeries, since they were used to protect orange trees from freezing. As pineapples became popular, pineries, or pineapple pits, were built, experimentation with the design of greenhouses continued during the 17th century in Europe, as technology produced better glass and construction techniques improved. The greenhouse at the Palace of Versailles was an example of their size and elaborateness, it was more than 150 metres long,13 metres wide, a good example of this trend is the pioneering Kew Gardens. Other large greenhouses built in the 19th century included the New York Crystal Palace, Munich’s Glaspalast, in Japan, the first greenhouse was built in 1880 by Samuel Cocking, a British merchant who exported herbs. In the 20th century, the dome was added to the many types of greenhouses
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Victoria amazonica (giant Amazon waterlilies) in a large greenhouse at the Saint Petersburg Botanical Garden, Russia.
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The Eden Project, in Cornwall, England.
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The Royal Greenhouses of Laeken, Brussels, Belgium. An example of 19th-century greenhouse architecture
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Cucumbers reached to the ceiling in a greenhouse in Richfield, Minnesota, where market gardeners grew a wide variety of produce for sale in Minneapolis, circa 1910
21.
California native plants
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California native plants are plants that existed in California prior to the arrival of European explorers and colonists in the late 18th century. California includes parts of at least three phytochoria, in 1993 The Jepson Manual estimated that California was home to 4,693 native species and 1,169 native subspecies or varieties, including 1,416 endemic species. A2001 study by the California Native Plant Society estimated 6,300 native plants and these estimates continue to change over time. Of Californias total plant population,2,153 species, subspecies and this botanical diversity stems not only from the size of the state, but also its diverse topographies, climates, and soils. Numerous plant groupings exist in California, and botanists work to structure them into identifiable ecoregions, plant communities, vegetation types, and habitats, California native plants include some that have widespread horticultural use. Sometimes the appreciation began outside of California—lupines, California fuchsias, and California poppies were first cultivated in British, Coast redwood - in the fog-shrouded coast ranges. Giant sequoia - in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, bishop pine - coastal species - gardens. Limber pine Jeffrey pine Parry pinyon Shore pine Sugar pine Torrey pine Western white pine Single-leaf pinyon pine Great Basin bristlecone pine - the Methuselah -4,700 years old, foxtail pine - Californian endemic,2, 000-year-old specimens. Monterey cypress Santa Lucia fir and seven other native Abies species, Douglas-fir Bigcone Douglas-fir - Central Coast and Santa Susana Mountains. Island oak - endemic with distinctive large evergreen leaves, engelmann oak - shade giving with a cool blue-gray cast to the foliage. Coast live oak is found in the Coast Ranges, Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges, and along the hills and adjacent interior valleys. In riparian areas some of the include, California sycamore White alder Quaking aspen Fremont cottonwood Black cottonwood. Tanoak California bay laurel Madrone Toyon Bigleaf maple Western blue elderberry is found throughout the state, an important host for birds, butterflies, pollinators, California poppies are also an annual in many places. Douglas iris and Pacific Coast hybrids Monkeyflower e. g. Mimulus aurantiacus, Mimulus guttatus, Mimulus cardinalis, Jepson Manual Flora Interchange — extensive database of California native plants U. C
California native plants
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Native wildflower blazing star (Mentzelia lindleyi)
California native plants
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Gentiana algida in Sierra Nevada.
California native plants
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Coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens)
California native plants
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Pinus ponderosa, Kings Canyon National Park
22.
49-Mile Scenic Drive
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The 49-Mile Scenic Drive is a designated scenic road tour highlighting much of San Francisco, California. It was created in 1938 by the San Francisco Down Town Association to showcase the citys major attractions, originally beginning at San Francisco City Hall and ending on Treasure Island, the route has been modified several times since. Today the route forms a loop proceeding counterclockwise from Civic Center Plaza, owing variously to its length, its labyrinthine route, and the difficulty of driving through a bustling city, the drive remains relatively unpopular with tourists and locals alike. The drive begins on Polk St opposite San Francisco City Hall, after entering Japantown, the drive turns north onto Webster Street before immediately returning east along Post Street, where it continues past Japan Center, Lower Nob Hill, and Union Square. At Grant Avenue, the route turns north and enters Chinatown through its Dragon Gate. Drivers are soon directed onto California Street and up Nob Hill, at Portsmouth Square, the route proceeds north along Kearny Street for two blocks and turns northwest onto Columbus Avenue, entering North Beach. After passing City Lights Bookstore and turning onto Grant Avenue once more, passing the Joe DiMaggio Playground, the route turns north toward Fishermans Wharf on Mason Street. Over the next few miles, the route passes nearly all of San Franciscos Golden Gate National Recreation Area locations, continuing for a few blocks each on Baker, Bay, Broderick, Chestnut, and Lyon Streets, the route enters the Presidio at Lombard Street. At 8.6 miles, the passes the Letterman Digital Arts Center, proceeds onto Presidio Boulevard. The route detours through the Presidios Main Post before returning to Lincoln Boulevard near San Francisco National Cemetery. Passing above Crissy Field and Fort Point, under the U. S. Highway 101 approach to the Golden Gate Bridge, and above Baker Beach, the route exits the Presidio into Sea Cliff. Continuing along El Camino del Mar into Lincoln Park, the passes the Legion of Honor. Turing westward onto Geary Boulevard, drivers proceed several blocks and continue onto Point Lobos Avenue, soon reaching the Sutro Baths, briefly skirting the Haight-Ashbury and Cole Valley neighborhoods, the route ascends Parnassus Street and passes the University of California, San Franciscos main campus. Turning south onto 7th Avenue in the Inner Sunset, the route curves around Mount Sutro, from Twin Peaks Boulevard, drivers are directed into the north peaks parking area and offered unobstructed views of the city below. The route then descends into Corona Heights—built to take advantage of the views at this height. Winding its way down the hill, the route takes drivers past the Randall Museum before descending east along 14th Street into San Franciscos prominent gay neighborhood, at Cesar Chavez Street, the route continues east through Potrero Hill before abruptly directing drivers onto northbound I-280. After about 40 miles of streets, the route travels along I-280 for the final 1.5 miles of that freeway, exiting near Mission Bay. It winds along The Embarcadero and underneath the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge—once the final leg of the route before its Treasure Island terminus, at Market Street, the route crosses in front of the Ferry Building and shortly thereafter turns westward along Washington Street to enter the Financial District
49-Mile Scenic Drive
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San Francisco City Hall, the starting and ending route marker
49-Mile Scenic Drive
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The Palace of Fine Arts in the Marina District
49-Mile Scenic Drive
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Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park
49-Mile Scenic Drive
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The route along its descent from Twin Peaks
23.
Geographic Names Information System
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It is a type of gazetteer. GNIS was developed by the United States Geological Survey in cooperation with the United States Board on Geographic Names to promote the standardization of feature names, the database is part of a system that includes topographic map names and bibliographic references. The names of books and historic maps that confirm the feature or place name are cited, variant names, alternatives to official federal names for a feature, are also recorded. Each feature receives a permanent, unique feature record identifier, sometimes called the GNIS identifier, the database never removes an entry, except in cases of obvious duplication. The GNIS accepts proposals for new or changed names for U. S. geographical features, the general public can make proposals at the GNIS web site and can review the justifications and supporters of the proposals. The Bureau of the Census defines Census Designated Places as a subset of locations in the National Geographic Names Database, U. S. Postal Service Publication 28 gives standards for addressing mail. In this publication, the postal service defines two-letter state abbreviations, street identifiers such as boulevard and street, department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey, National Mapping Division, Digital Gazeteer, Users Manual. Least Heat Moon, William, Blue Highways, A Journey Into America, standard was withdrawn in September 2008, See Federal Register Notice, Vol.73, No. 170, page 51276 Report, Principles, Policies, and Procedures, Domestic Geographic Names, U. S. Postal Service Publication 28, November 2000. Board on Geographic Names website Geographic Names Information System Proposals from the general public Meeting minutes
Geographic Names Information System
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The seal of the United States Board on Geographic Names
24.
United States Geological Survey
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The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its resources. The organization has four science disciplines, concerning biology, geography, geology. The USGS is a research organization with no regulatory responsibility. The USGS is a bureau of the United States Department of the Interior, the USGS employs approximately 8,670 people and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia. The USGS also has major offices near Lakewood, Colorado, at the Denver Federal Center, the current motto of the USGS, in use since August 1997, is science for a changing world. The agencys previous slogan, adopted on the occasion of its anniversary, was Earth Science in the Public Service. Prompted by a report from the National Academy of Sciences, the USGS was created, by a last-minute amendment and it was charged with the classification of the public lands, and examination of the geological structure, mineral resources, and products of the national domain. This task was driven by the need to inventory the vast lands added to the United States by the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the legislation also provided that the Hayden, Powell, and Wheeler surveys be discontinued as of June 30,1879. Clarence King, the first director of USGS, assembled the new organization from disparate regional survey agencies, after a short tenure, King was succeeded in the directors chair by John Wesley Powell. Administratively, it is divided into a Headquarters unit and six Regional Units, Other specific programs include, Earthquake Hazards Program monitors earthquake activity worldwide. The National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colorado on the campus of the Colorado School of Mines detects the location, the USGS also runs or supports several regional monitoring networks in the United States under the umbrella of the Advanced National Seismic System. The USGS informs authorities, emergency responders, the media, and it also maintains long-term archives of earthquake data for scientific and engineering research. It also conducts and supports research on long-term seismic hazards, USGS has released the UCERF California earthquake forecast. The USGS National Geomagnetism Program monitors the magnetic field at magnetic observatories and distributes magnetometer data in real time, the USGS operates the streamgaging network for the United States, with over 7400 streamgages. Real-time streamflow data are available online, since 1962, the Astrogeology Research Program has been involved in global, lunar, and planetary exploration and mapping. USGS operates a number of related programs, notably the National Streamflow Information Program. USGS Water data is available from their National Water Information System database
United States Geological Survey
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Clarence King, founder of the USGS
United States Geological Survey
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Seal of the United States Geological Survey
United States Geological Survey
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The USGS headquarters in Reston, Virginia
United States Geological Survey
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USGS gauging station 03221000 on the Scioto River below O'Shaughnessy Dam near Dublin, Ohio
25.
San Francisco Botanical Garden
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The San Francisco Botanical Garden is located in San Franciscos Golden Gate Park. San Franciscos County Fair Building is located at the entrance to the garden, plans for the garden were originally laid out in the 1880s by park supervisor John McLaren, but funding was insufficient to begin construction until Helene Strybing left a major bequest in 1927. Planting was begun in 1937 with WPA funds supplemented by donations. The Society also raises money for new projects and Garden renovations, using green building practices, a new Center for Sustainable Gardening is planned to replace the existing nursery. Other planned renovations include a Southeast Asian Cloud Forest and newly paved pathways, the Garden continues to actively acquire plants, in 2009 it received 865 accessions totaling over 4,100 individual plants
San Francisco Botanical Garden
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San Francisco Botanical Garden
San Francisco Botanical Garden
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McBean Wildfowl Pond and Primitive Plant Garden at SF Botanical Garden
San Francisco Botanical Garden
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Pond at Dwarf Conifer collection of SF Botanical Garden
San Francisco Botanical Garden
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Redwood trail
