1.
Taxonomy (biology)
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Taxonomy is the science of defining groups of biological organisms on the basis of shared characteristics and giving names to those groups. The exact definition of taxonomy varies from source to source, but the core of the remains, the conception, naming. There is some disagreement as to whether biological nomenclature is considered a part of taxonomy, the broadest meaning of taxonomy is used here. The word taxonomy was introduced in 1813 by Candolle, in his Théorie élémentaire de la botanique, the term alpha taxonomy is primarily used today to refer to the discipline of finding, describing, and naming taxa, particularly species. In earlier literature, the term had a different meaning, referring to morphological taxonomy, ideals can, it may be said, never be completely realized. They have, however, a value of acting as permanent stimulants. Some of us please ourselves by thinking we are now groping in a beta taxonomy, turrill thus explicitly excludes from alpha taxonomy various areas of study that he includes within taxonomy as a whole, such as ecology, physiology, genetics, and cytology. He further excludes phylogenetic reconstruction from alpha taxonomy, thus, Ernst Mayr in 1968 defined beta taxonomy as the classification of ranks higher than species. This activity is what the term denotes, it is also referred to as beta taxonomy. How species should be defined in a group of organisms gives rise to practical and theoretical problems that are referred to as the species problem. The scientific work of deciding how to define species has been called microtaxonomy, by extension, macrotaxonomy is the study of groups at higher taxonomic ranks, from subgenus and above only, than species. While some descriptions of taxonomic history attempt to date taxonomy to ancient civilizations, earlier works were primarily descriptive, and focused on plants that were useful in agriculture or medicine. There are a number of stages in scientific thinking. Early taxonomy was based on criteria, the so-called artificial systems. Later came systems based on a complete consideration of the characteristics of taxa, referred to as natural systems, such as those of de Jussieu, de Candolle and Bentham. The publication of Charles Darwins Origin of Species led to new ways of thinking about classification based on evolutionary relationships and this was the concept of phyletic systems, from 1883 onwards. This approach was typified by those of Eichler and Engler, the advent of molecular genetics and statistical methodology allowed the creation of the modern era of phylogenetic systems based on cladistics, rather than morphology alone. Taxonomy has been called the worlds oldest profession, and naming and classifying our surroundings has likely been taking place as long as mankind has been able to communicate
2.
Plant
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Plants are mainly multicellular, predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. The term is generally limited to the green plants, which form an unranked clade Viridiplantae. This includes the plants, conifers and other gymnosperms, ferns, clubmosses, hornworts, liverworts, mosses and the green algae. Green plants have cell walls containing cellulose and obtain most of their energy from sunlight via photosynthesis by primary chloroplasts and their chloroplasts contain chlorophylls a and b, which gives them their green color. Some plants are parasitic and have lost the ability to produce amounts of chlorophyll or to photosynthesize. Plants are characterized by sexual reproduction and alternation of generations, although reproduction is also common. There are about 300–315 thousand species of plants, of which the great majority, green plants provide most of the worlds molecular oxygen and are the basis of most of Earths ecologies, especially on land. Plants that produce grains, fruits and vegetables form humankinds basic foodstuffs, Plants play many roles in culture. They are used as ornaments and, until recently and in variety, they have served as the source of most medicines. The scientific study of plants is known as botany, a branch of biology, Plants are one of the two groups into which all living things were traditionally divided, the other is animals. The division goes back at least as far as Aristotle, who distinguished between plants, which generally do not move, and animals, which often are mobile to catch their food. Much later, when Linnaeus created the basis of the system of scientific classification. Since then, it has become clear that the plant kingdom as originally defined included several unrelated groups, however, these organisms are still often considered plants, particularly in popular contexts. When the name Plantae or plant is applied to a group of organisms or taxon. The evolutionary history of plants is not yet settled. Those which have been called plants are in bold, the way in which the groups of green algae are combined and named varies considerably between authors. Algae comprise several different groups of organisms which produce energy through photosynthesis, most conspicuous among the algae are the seaweeds, multicellular algae that may roughly resemble land plants, but are classified among the brown, red and green algae. Each of these groups also includes various microscopic and single-celled organisms
3.
Flowering plant
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The flowering plants, also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants, with 416 families, approx. 13,164 known genera and a total of c.295,383 known species, etymologically, angiosperm means a plant that produces seeds within an enclosure, in other words, a fruiting plant. The term angiosperm comes from the Greek composite word meaning enclosed seeds, the ancestors of flowering plants diverged from gymnosperms in the Triassic Period, during the range 245 to 202 million years ago, and the first flowering plants are known from 160 mya. They diversified extensively during the Lower Cretaceous, became widespread by 120 mya, angiosperms differ from other seed plants in several ways, described in the table. These distinguishing characteristics taken together have made the angiosperms the most diverse and numerous land plants, the amount and complexity of tissue-formation in flowering plants exceeds that of gymnosperms. The vascular bundles of the stem are arranged such that the xylem and phloem form concentric rings, in the dicotyledons, the bundles in the very young stem are arranged in an open ring, separating a central pith from an outer cortex. In each bundle, separating the xylem and phloem, is a layer of meristem or active formative tissue known as cambium, the soft phloem becomes crushed, but the hard wood persists and forms the bulk of the stem and branches of the woody perennial. Among the monocotyledons, the bundles are more numerous in the stem and are scattered through the ground tissue. They contain no cambium and once formed the stem increases in diameter only in exceptional cases, the characteristic feature of angiosperms is the flower. Flowers show remarkable variation in form and elaboration, and provide the most trustworthy external characteristics for establishing relationships among angiosperm species, the function of the flower is to ensure fertilization of the ovule and development of fruit containing seeds. The floral apparatus may arise terminally on a shoot or from the axil of a leaf, occasionally, as in violets, a flower arises singly in the axil of an ordinary foliage-leaf. There are two kinds of cells produced by flowers. Microspores, which divide to become pollen grains, are the male cells and are borne in the stamens. The female cells called megaspores, which divide to become the egg cell, are contained in the ovule. The flower may consist only of parts, as in willow. Usually, other structures are present and serve to protect the sporophylls, the individual members of these surrounding structures are known as sepals and petals. The outer series is usually green and leaf-like, and functions to protect the rest of the flower, the inner series is, in general, white or brightly colored, and is more delicate in structure. It functions to attract insect or bird pollinators, attraction is effected by color, scent, and nectar, which may be secreted in some part of the flower
4.
Eudicots
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The eudicots, Eudicotidae or eudicotyledons are a monophyletic clade of flowering plants that had been called tricolpates or non-magnoliid dicots by previous authors. The close relationships among flowering plants with tricolpate pollen grains was initially seen in studies of shared derived characters. These plants have a trait in their pollen grains of exhibiting three colpi or grooves paralleling the polar axis. Later molecular evidence confirmed the basis for the evolutionary relationships among flowering plants with tricolpate pollen grains. The term means true dicotyledons, as it contains the majority of plants that have been considered dicots and have characteristics of the dicots, the term eudicots has subsequently been widely adopted in botany to refer to one of the two largest clades of angiosperms, monocots being the other. The remaining angiosperms are sometimes referred to as basal angiosperms or paleodicots, the other name for the eudicots is tricolpates, a name which refers to the grooved structure of the pollen. Members of the group have tricolpate pollen, or forms derived from it and these pollens have three or more pores set in furrows called colpi. In contrast, most of the seed plants produce monosulcate pollen. The name tricolpates is preferred by some botanists to avoid confusion with the dicots, numerous familiar plants are eudicots, including many common food plants, trees, and ornamentals. Most leafy trees of midlatitudes also belong to eudicots, with exceptions being magnolias and tulip trees which belong to magnoliids, and Ginkgo biloba. The name eudicots is used in the APG system, of 1998 and it is applied to a clade, a monophyletic group, which includes most of the dicots. The eudicots can be divided into two groups, the basal eudicots and the core eudicots, basal eudicot is an informal name for a paraphyletic group. The core eudicots are a monophyletic group, a 2010 study suggested the core eudicots can be divided into two clades, Gunnerales and a clade called Pentapetalae, comprising all the remaining core eudicots
5.
Rosids
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The rosids are members of a large clade of flowering plants, containing about 70,000 species, more than a quarter of all angiosperms. The clade is divided into 16 to 20 orders, depending upon circumscription and classification and these orders, in turn, together comprise about 140 families. Fossil rosids are known from the Cretaceous period, molecular clock estimates indicate that the rosids originated in the Aptian or Albian stages of the Cretaceous, between 125 and 99.6 million years ago. The name is based upon the name Rosidae, which had usually been understood to be a subclass, in 1967, Armen Takhtajan showed that the correct basis for the name Rosidae is a description of a group of plants published in 1830 by Friedrich Gottlieb Bartling. The clade was later renamed Rosidae and has been variously delimited by different authors, the name rosids is informal and not assumed to have any particular taxonomic rank like the names authorized by the ICBN. The rosids are monophyletic based upon evidence found by molecular phylogenetic analysis, three different definitions of the rosids were used. Some authors included the orders Saxifragales and Vitales in the rosids, others excluded both of these orders. The circumscription used in this article is that of the APG IV classification, which includes Vitales, the rosids and Saxifragales form the superrosids clade. This is one of three groups compose the Pentapetalae, the others being Dilleniales and the superasterids. The rosids consist of two groups, the order Vitales and the eurosids, the eurosids, in turn, are divided into two groups, fabids and malvids. The rosids consist of 17 orders, in addition to Vitales, there are 8 orders in fabids and 8 orders in malvids. Some of the orders have only recently been recognized and these are Vitales, Zygophyllales, Crossosomatales, Picramniales, and Huerteales. The phylogeny of Rosids shown below is adapted from the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group website, the nitrogen-fixing clade contains a high number of actinorhizal plants. Not all plants in this clade are actinorhizal, however, media related to Rosids at Wikimedia Commons
6.
Rosales
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Rosales is an order of flowering plants. It is sister to a clade consisting of Fagales and Cucurbitales and it contains about 7700 species, distributed into about 260 genera. Rosales comprise nine families, the family being the rose family. The largest of these families are Rosaceae and Urticaceae, the order Rosales is divided into three clades that have never been assigned a taxonomic rank. The basal clade consists of the family Rosaceae, another clade consists of four families, including Rhamnaceae, the order Rosales is strongly supported as monophyletic in phylogenetic analyses of DNA sequences, such as those carried out by members of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. In their APG III system of plant classification, they defined Rosales as consisting of the nine families listed in the box on the right. The relationships of these families were uncertain until 2011, when they were resolved in a phylogenetic study based on two nuclear genes and ten chloroplast genes. In the classification system of Dahlgren the Rosales were in the superorder Rosiflorae, in the obsolete Cronquist system, the order Rosales was many times polyphyletic. It consisted of the family Rosaceae and 23 other families that are now placed in other orders
7.
Rosaceae
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Rosaceae, the rose family, is a medium-sized family of flowering plants, including 4,828 known species in 91 genera. The name is derived from the type genus Rosa, among the most species-rich genera are Alchemilla, Sorbus, Crataegus, Cotoneaster, Rubus, and Prunus with about 200 species. However, all of these numbers should be seen as estimates – much taxonomic work remains, the Rosaceae family includes herbs, shrubs, and trees. Most species are deciduous, but some are evergreen and they have a worldwide range, but are most diverse in the Northern Hemisphere. Several economically important products come from the Rosaceae, including many edible fruits, almonds, the Rosaceae have a cosmopolitan distribution, but are primarily concentrated in the Northern Hemisphere in regions that are not desert or tropical rainforest. More recently, Chrysobalanoideae has also treated as a family, but also in Rosales. Neuradoideae has been assigned to Malvales, schulze-Menz, in Englers Syllabus edited by Melchior recognized Rosoideae, Dryadoideae, Lyonothamnoideae, Spireoideae, Amygdaloideae, and Maloideae. They were primarily diagnosed by the structure of the fruits, more recent work has identified that not all of these groups were monophyletic. Hutchinson and Kalkmann recognized only tribes, takhtajan delimited 10 subfamilies, Filipenduloideae, Rosoideae, Ruboideae, Potentilloideae, Coleogynoideae, Kerroideae, Amygdaloideae, Spireoideae, Maloideae, Dichotomanthoideae, and 21 tribes. A more modern model comprises three subfamilies, one of which has remained the same. A cladogram of the family is, Three cladistic analyses were done in 1999 by Rodger Evans, one based on the phenotype, one on molecules, and the third combined. The only major difference in the results with the above cladogram is the position of Kerria, while the boundaries of the Rosaceae are not disputed, there is not general agreement as to how many genera it contains. Areas of divergent opinion include the treatment of Potentilla s. l. compounding the problem is that apomixis is common in several genera. This results in an uncertainty in the number of species contained in each of these genera, Rosaceae can be trees, shrubs, or herbaceous plants. The herbs are mostly perennials, but some also exist. The leaves are arranged spirally, but have an opposite arrangement in some species. They can be simple or pinnately compound, compound leaves appear in around 30 genera. The leaf margin is most often serrate, paired stipules are generally present, and are a primitive feature within the family, independently lost in many groups of Amygdaloideae
8.
Crataegus
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The name hawthorn was originally applied to the species native to northern Europe, especially the common hawthorn C. monogyna, and the unmodified name is often so used in Britain and Ireland. The name is now applied to the entire genus and to the related Asian genus Rhaphiolepis. The name haw, originally an Old English term for hedge, Crataegus species are shrubs or small trees, mostly growing to 5–15 metres tall, with small pome fruit and thorny branches. The most common type of bark is grey in young individuals. The thorns are small sharp-tipped branches that arise either from other branches or from the trunk, the leaves grow spirally arranged on long shoots, and in clusters on spur shoots on the branches or twigs. The leaves of most species have lobed or serrate margins and are variable in shape. Hawthorns provide food and shelter for many species of birds and mammals, hawthorns are also used as food plants by the larvae of a large number of Lepidoptera species, see List of Lepidoptera that feed on hawthorns. Haws are important for wildlife in winter, particularly thrushes and waxwings, the haws or fruits of the common hawthorn, C. monogyna, are edible but the flavour has been compared to over-ripe apples. In the United Kingdom, they are used to make a jelly or homemade wine. The leaves are edible and, if picked in spring when still young, are enough to be used in salads. The young leaves and flower buds, which are edible, are known as bread. The fruits of the species Crataegus pinnatifida are tart, bright red and they are used to make many kinds of Chinese snacks, including haw flakes and tanghulu. The fruits, which are called shānzhā in Chinese, are used to produce jams, jellies, juices, alcoholic beverages. In South Korea, a liquor called sansachun is made from the fruits, the fruits of Crataegus mexicana are known in Mexico as tejocotes and are eaten raw, cooked, or in jam during the winter months. They are stuffed in the piñatas broken during the traditional celebration known as Las Posadas. They are also cooked with other fruits to prepare a Christmas punch, the mixture of tejocote paste, sugar, and chili powder produces a popular Mexican candy called rielitos, which is manufactured by several brands. In the southern United States, fruits of three species are collectively known as mayhaws and are made into jellies which are considered a great delicacy. The Kutenai people of northwestern North America used red and black hawthorn fruit for food, on Manitoulin Island in Canada, some red-fruited species are called hawberries
9.
Binomial nomenclature
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Such a name is called a binomial name, a binomen, binominal name or a scientific name, more informally it is also called a Latin name. The first part of the name identifies the genus to which the species belongs, for example, humans belong to the genus Homo and within this genus to the species Homo sapiens. The formal introduction of system of naming species is credited to Carl Linnaeus. But Gaspard Bauhin, in as early as 1623, had introduced in his book Pinax theatri botanici many names of genera that were adopted by Linnaeus. Although the general principles underlying binomial nomenclature are common to these two codes, there are differences, both in the terminology they use and in their precise rules. Similarly, both parts are italicized when a binomial name occurs in normal text, thus the binomial name of the annual phlox is now written as Phlox drummondii. In scientific works, the authority for a name is usually given, at least when it is first mentioned. In zoology Patella vulgata Linnaeus,1758, the original name given by Linnaeus was Fringilla domestica, the parentheses indicate that the species is now considered to belong in a different genus. The ICZN does not require that the name of the person who changed the genus be given, nor the date on which the change was made, in botany Amaranthus retroflexus L. – L. is the standard abbreviation used in botany for Linnaeus. – Linnaeus first named this bluebell species Scilla italica, Rothmaler transferred it to the genus Hyacinthoides, the ICN does not require that the dates of either publication be specified. Prior to the adoption of the binomial system of naming species. Together they formed a system of polynomial nomenclature and these names had two separate functions. First, to designate or label the species, and second, to be a diagnosis or description, such polynomial names may sometimes look like binomials, but are significantly different. For example, Gerards herbal describes various kinds of spiderwort, The first is called Phalangium ramosum, Branched Spiderwort, is aptly termed Phalangium Ephemerum Virginianum, Soon-Fading Spiderwort of Virginia. The Latin phrases are short descriptions, rather than identifying labels, the Bauhins, in particular Caspar Bauhin, took some important steps towards the binomial system, by pruning the Latin descriptions, in many cases to two words. The adoption by biologists of a system of binomial nomenclature is due to Swedish botanist and physician Carl von Linné. It was in his 1753 Species Plantarum that he first began using a one-word trivial name together with a generic name in a system of binomial nomenclature. This trivial name is what is now known as an epithet or specific name
10.
Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin
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Nikolaus Joseph Freiherr von Jacquin or Baron Nikolaus von Jacquin was a scientist who studied medicine, chemistry and botany. Born at Leiden in the Netherlands, he studied medicine at Leiden University, then moved first to Paris, in 1763, Nikolaus von Jacquin became Professor of Chemistry and Mineralogy in Schemnitz. In 1768, he was appointed Professor of Botany and Chemistry, for his work, he was knighted in 1774. In 1783, he was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. In 1806, he was created a baron, in 1809, he became a correspondent of the Royal Institute, which later became the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. His younger son, Emil Gottfried, and his daughter, Franziska, were friends of Mozart, Mozart wrote two songs for Gottfried to publish under Gottfrieds name and gave lessons to Franziska. Mozart dedicated a number of his works to the Jacquin family, notably the Kegelstatt Trio. This was first played at the Jacquins house in August 1786 with Franziska playing the piano and his son Joseph Franz succeeded him as professor of botany and chemistry at the University of Vienna and wrote several notable botanical books. He is commemorated by the genera Jacquinia and Jacquiniella, in 2011, the Austrian Mint issued silver coins to mark his science expeditions to the Caribbean. 1785 Digital edition by the University and State Library Düsseldorf Media related to Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin at Wikimedia Commons
11.
Synonym (taxonomy)
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For example, Linnaeus was the first to give a scientific name to the Norway spruce, which he called Pinus abies. This name is no longer in use, it is now a synonym of the current scientific name which is Picea abies, unlike synonyms in other contexts, in taxonomy a synonym is not interchangeable with the name of which it is a synonym. In taxonomy, synonyms are not equals, but have a different status, for any taxon with a particular circumscription, position, and rank, only one scientific name is considered to be the correct one at any given time. A synonym cannot exist in isolation, it is always an alternative to a different scientific name, given that the correct name of a taxon depends on the taxonomic viewpoint used a name that is one taxonomists synonym may be another taxonomists correct name. Synonyms may arise whenever the same taxon is described and named more than once, independently. They may also arise when existing taxa are changed, as when two taxa are joined to one, a species is moved to a different genus. To the general user of scientific names, in such as agriculture, horticulture, ecology, general science. A synonym is a name that was used as the correct scientific name but which has been displaced by another scientific name. Thus Oxford Dictionaries Online defines the term as a name which has the same application as another. In handbooks and general texts, it is useful to have mentioned as such after the current scientific name. Synonyms used in this way may not always meet the strict definitions of the synonym in the formal rules of nomenclature which govern scientific names. Changes of scientific name have two causes, they may be taxonomic or nomenclatural, a name change may be caused by changes in the circumscription, position or rank of a taxon, representing a change in taxonomic, scientific insight. A name change may be due to purely nomenclatural reasons, that is, based on the rules of nomenclature, the earliest such name is called the senior synonym, while the later name is the junior synonym. One basic principle of zoological nomenclature is that the earliest correctly published name, synonyms are important because if the earliest name cannot be used, then the next available junior synonym must be used for the taxon. Objective synonyms refer to taxa with the type and same rank. For example, John Edward Gray published the name Antilocapra anteflexa in 1855 for a species of pronghorn, however, it is now commonly accepted that his specimen was an unusual individual of the species Antilocapra americana published by George Ord in 1815. Ords name thus takes precedence, with Antilocapra anteflexa being a subjective synonym. Objective synonyms are common at the level of genera, because for various reasons two genera may contain the type species, these are objective synonyms
12.
Europe
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Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a population of about 740 million as of 2015. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast, Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization. The fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the period, marked the end of ancient history. Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science led to the modern era, from the Age of Discovery onwards, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at times the Americas, most of Africa, Oceania. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the west and the Warsaw Pact in the east, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1955, the Council of Europe was formed following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill and it includes all states except for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, the EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Anthem is Ode to Joy and states celebrate peace, in classical Greek mythology, Europa is the name of either a Phoenician princess or of a queen of Crete. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. For the second part also the divine attributes of grey-eyed Athena or ox-eyed Hera. The same naming motive according to cartographic convention appears in Greek Ανατολή, Martin Litchfield West stated that phonologically, the match between Europas name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor. Next to these there is also a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning darkness. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent, in some Turkic languages the originally Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa
13.
Africa
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Africa is the worlds second-largest and second-most-populous continent. At about 30.3 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earths total surface area and 20.4 % of its land area. With 1.2 billion people as of 2016, it accounts for about 16% of the human population. The continent includes Madagascar and various archipelagos and it contains 54 fully recognized sovereign states, nine territories and two de facto independent states with limited or no recognition. Africas population is the youngest amongst all the continents, the age in 2012 was 19.7. Algeria is Africas largest country by area, and Nigeria by population, afarensis, Homo erectus, H. habilis and H. ergaster – with the earliest Homo sapiens found in Ethiopia being dated to circa 200,000 years ago. Africa straddles the equator and encompasses numerous climate areas, it is the continent to stretch from the northern temperate to southern temperate zones. Africa hosts a diversity of ethnicities, cultures and languages. In the late 19th century European countries colonized most of Africa, Africa also varies greatly with regard to environments, economics, historical ties and government systems. However, most present states in Africa originate from a process of decolonization in the 20th century, afri was a Latin name used to refer to the inhabitants of Africa, which in its widest sense referred to all lands south of the Mediterranean. This name seems to have referred to a native Libyan tribe. The name is connected with Hebrew or Phoenician ʿafar dust. The same word may be found in the name of the Banu Ifran from Algeria and Tripolitania, under Roman rule, Carthage became the capital of the province of Africa Proconsularis, which also included the coastal part of modern Libya. The Latin suffix -ica can sometimes be used to denote a land, the later Muslim kingdom of Ifriqiya, modern-day Tunisia, also preserved a form of the name. According to the Romans, Africa lay to the west of Egypt, while Asia was used to refer to Anatolia, as Europeans came to understand the real extent of the continent, the idea of Africa expanded with their knowledge. 25,4, whose descendants, he claimed, had invaded Libya, isidore of Seville in Etymologiae XIV.5.2. Suggests Africa comes from the Latin aprica, meaning sunny, massey, in 1881, stated that Africa is derived from the Egyptian af-rui-ka, meaning to turn toward the opening of the Ka. The Ka is the double of every person and the opening of the Ka refers to a womb or birthplace
14.
Asia
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Asia covers an area of 44,579,000 square kilometres, about 30% of Earths total land area and 8. 7% of the Earths total surface area. The continent, which has long been home to the majority of the population, was the site of many of the first civilizations. Asia is notable for not only its large size and population. In general terms, Asia is bounded on the east by the Pacific Ocean, on the south by the Indian Ocean, the western boundary with Europe is a historical and cultural construct, as there is no clear physical and geographical separation between them. The most commonly accepted boundaries place Asia to the east of the Suez Canal, the Ural River, and the Ural Mountains, and south of the Caucasus Mountains, China and India alternated in being the largest economies in the world from 1 to 1800 A. D. The accidental discovery of America by Columbus in search for India demonstrates this deep fascination, the Silk Road became the main East-West trading route in the Asian hitherland while the Straits of Malacca stood as a major sea route. Asia has exhibited economic dynamism as well as robust population growth during the 20th century, given its size and diversity, the concept of Asia—a name dating back to classical antiquity—may actually have more to do with human geography than physical geography. Asia varies greatly across and within its regions with regard to ethnic groups, cultures, environments, economics, historical ties, the boundary between Asia and Africa is the Red Sea, the Gulf of Suez, and the Suez Canal. This makes Egypt a transcontinental country, with the Sinai peninsula in Asia, the border between Asia and Europe was historically defined by European academics. In Sweden, five years after Peters death, in 1730 Philip Johan von Strahlenberg published a new atlas proposing the Urals as the border of Asia, the Russians were enthusiastic about the concept, which allowed them to keep their European identity in geography. Tatishchev announced that he had proposed the idea to von Strahlenberg, the latter had suggested the Emba River as the lower boundary. Over the next century various proposals were made until the Ural River prevailed in the mid-19th century, the border had been moved perforce from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea into which the Ural River projects. The border between the Black Sea and the Caspian is usually placed along the crest of the Caucasus Mountains, the border between Asia and the loosely defined region of Oceania is usually placed somewhere in the Malay Archipelago. The terms Southeast Asia and Oceania, devised in the 19th century, have had several different geographic meanings since their inception. The chief factor in determining which islands of the Malay Archipelago are Asian has been the location of the possessions of the various empires there. Lewis and Wigen assert, The narrowing of Southeast Asia to its present boundaries was thus a gradual process, Asia is larger and more culturally diverse than Europe. It does not exactly correspond to the borders of its various types of constituents. From the time of Herodotus a minority of geographers have rejected the three-continent system on the grounds there is no or is no substantial physical separation between them
15.
Invasive weed
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One study pointed out widely divergent perceptions of the criteria for invasive species among researchers and concerns with the subjectivity of the term invasive. Such invasive species may be either plants or animals and may disrupt by dominating a region, wilderness areas, particular habitats and this includes non-native invasive plant species labeled as exotic pest plants and invasive exotics growing in native plant communities. It has been used in this sense by government organizations as well as groups such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The European Union defines Invasive Alien Species as those that are, firstly, outside their natural distribution area and it is also used by land managers, botanists, researchers, horticulturalists, conservationists, and the public for noxious weeds. The kudzu vine, Andean Pampas grass, and yellow starthistle are examples, an alternate usage broadens the term to include indigenous or native species along with non-native species, that have colonized natural areas. Deer are an example, considered to be overpopulating their native zones and adjacent suburban gardens, by some in the Northeastern, sometimes the term is used to describe a non-native or introduced species that has become widespread. However, not every introduced species has adverse effects on the environment, a nonadverse example is the common goldfish, which is found throughout the United States, but rarely achieves high densities. Scientists include species and ecosystem factors among the mechanisms that when combined, while all species compete to survive, invasive species appear to have specific traits or specific combinations of traits that allow them to outcompete native species. In some cases, the competition is about rates of growth, in other cases, species interact with each other more directly. Researchers disagree about the usefulness of traits as invasiveness markers, one study found that of a list of invasive and noninvasive species, 86% of the invasive species could be identified from the traits alone. Another study found invasive species tended to have only a subset of the presumed traits. Repeated patterns of movement, such as ships sailing to and from ports or cars driving up. An introduced species might become if it can outcompete native species for resources such as nutrients, light, physical space, water. If these species evolved under great competition or predation, then the new environment may host fewer able competitors, allowing the invader to proliferate quickly. Ecosystems in which are being used to their fullest capacity by native species can be modeled as zero-sum systems in which any gain for the invader is a loss for the native, however, such unilateral competitive superiority is not the rule. For example, barbed goatgrass was introduced to California on serpentine soils, which have low water-retention, low nutrient levels, a high magnesium/calcium ratio, and possible heavy metal toxicity. Plant populations on these soils tend to low density, but goatgrass can form dense stands on these soils. Some species, like Kalanchoe daigremontana, produce allelopathic compounds, that might have an effect on competing species
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Shrub
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A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized woody plant. It is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, plants of many species may grow either into shrubs or trees, depending on their growing conditions. Small, low shrubs, generally less than 2 m tall, such as lavender, periwinkle, an area of cultivated shrubs in a park or a garden is known as a shrubbery. When clipped as topiary, suitable species or varieties of shrubs develop dense foliage, many shrubs respond well to renewal pruning, in which hard cutting back to a stool results in long new stems known as canes. Other shrubs respond better to selective pruning to reveal their structure, shrubs in common garden practice are generally considered broad-leaved plants, though some smaller conifers such as mountain pine and common juniper are also shrubby in structure. Species that grow into a shrubby habit may be deciduous or evergreen
17.
Tree
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In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, supporting branches and leaves in most species. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are usable as lumber or plants above a specified height. Trees are not a group but include a variety of plant species that have independently evolved a woody trunk. In looser senses, the palms, the tree ferns, bananas. Trees tend to be long-lived, some reaching several thousand years old, the tallest known tree, a coast redwood named Hyperion, stands 115.6 m high. Trees have been in existence for 370 million years and it is estimated that there are just over 3 trillion mature trees in the world. A tree typically has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground by the trunk and this trunk typically contains woody tissue for strength, and vascular tissue to carry materials from one part of the tree to another. For most trees it is surrounded by a layer of bark which serves as a protective barrier, below the ground, the roots branch and spread out widely, they serve to anchor the tree and extract moisture and nutrients from the soil. Above ground, the divide into smaller branches and shoots. The shoots typically bear leaves, which light energy and convert it into sugars by photosynthesis, providing the food for the trees growth. Flowers and fruit may also be present, but some trees, such as conifers, instead have pollen cones and seed cones, others, such as tree ferns, trees play a significant role in reducing erosion and moderating the climate. They remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store large quantities of carbon in their tissues, trees and forests provide a habitat for many species of animals and plants. Tropical rainforests are one of the most biodiverse habitats in the world, trees provide shade and shelter, timber for construction, fuel for cooking and heating, and fruit for food as well as having many other uses. In parts of the world, forests are shrinking as trees are cleared to increase the amount of available for agriculture. Because of their longevity and usefulness, trees have always revered, with sacred groves in various cultures. Although tree is a term of common parlance, there is no universally recognised precise definition of what a tree is, either botanically or in common language. In its broadest sense, a tree is any plant with the form of an elongated stem, or trunk. Trees are also defined by height, with smaller plants from 0.5 to 10 m being called shrubs
18.
Bark (botany)
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Bark is the outermost layers of stems and roots of woody plants. Plants with bark include trees, woody vines, and shrubs, Bark refers to all the tissues outside of the vascular cambium and is a nontechnical term. It overlays the wood and consists of the bark and the outer bark. The inner bark, which in older stems is living tissue, the outer bark in older stems includes the dead tissue on the surface of the stems, along with parts of the innermost periderm and all the tissues on the outer side of the periderm. The outer bark on trees which lies external to the last formed periderm is also called the rhytidome, Bark has been used to make cloth, canoes, and ropes and used as a surface for paintings and map making. A number of plants are grown for their attractive or interesting bark colorations. What is commonly called bark includes a number of different tissues, Cork is an external, secondary tissue that is impermeable to water and gases, and is also called the phellem. The cork is produced by the cork cambium which is a layer of active cells which serve as a lateral meristem for the periderm. The cork cambium, which is called the phellogen, is normally only one cell layer thick. The phelloderm, which is not always present in all barks, is a layer of cells formed by, together, the phellem, phellogen and phelloderm constitute the periderm. Cork cell walls contain suberin, a substance which protects the stem against water loss, the invasion of insects into the stem. The cambium tissues, i. e. Phloem is a nutrient-conducting tissue composed of sieve tubes or sieve cells mixed with parenchyma, the cortex is the primary tissue of stems and roots. In stems the cortex is between the layer and the phloem, in roots the inner layer is not phloem. From the outside to the inside of a woody stem. The bark includes through, and is composed of periderm and phloem, as the stem ages and grows, changes occur that transform the surface of the stem into the bark. The epidermis is a layer of cells that cover the plant body, including the stems, leaves, flowers and fruits, in old stems the epidermal layer, cortex, and primary phloem become separated from the inner tissues by thicker formations of cork. Due to the cork layer these cells die because they do not receive water. This dead layer is the rough corky bark that forms around tree trunks, often a secondary covering called the periderm forms on small woody stems and many non woody plants, which is composed of cork, the cork cambium, and the phelloderm
19.
Leaf
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A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant and is the principal lateral appendage of the stem. The leaves and stem together form the shoot, Leaves are collectively referred to as foliage, as in autumn foliage. Although leaves can be seen in different shapes, sizes and textures, typically a leaf is a thin, dorsiventrally flattened organ, borne above ground. Most leaves have distinctive upper surface and lower surface that differ in colour, hairiness, broad, flat leaves with complex venation are known as megaphylls and the species that bear them, the majority, as broad-leaved or megaphyllous plants. In others, such as the clubmosses, with different evolutionary origins, some leaves, such as bulb scales are not above ground, and in many aquatic species the leaves are submerged in water. Succulent plants often have thick juicy leaves, but some leaves are without major photosynthetic function and may be dead at maturity, as in some cataphylls, furthermore, several kinds of leaf-like structures found in vascular plants are not totally homologous with them. Examples include flattened plant stems called phylloclades and cladodes, and flattened leaf stems called phyllodes which differ from both in their structure and origin. Many structures of plants, such as the phyllids of mosses and liverworts and even of some foliose lichens. Leaves are the most important organs of most vascular plants and these are then further processed by chemical synthesis into more complex organic molecules such as cellulose, the basic structural material in plant cell walls. The plant must therefore bring these three together in the leaf for photosynthesis to take place. Once sugar has been synthesized, it needs to be transported to areas of growth such as the plant shoots and roots. Vascular plants transport sucrose in a tissue called the phloem. The phloem and xylem are parallel to each other but the transport of materials is usually in opposite directions. Within the leaf these vascular systems branch to form veins which supply as much as the leaf as possible and they are arranged on the plant so as to expose their surfaces to light as efficiently as possible without shading each other, but there are many exceptions and complications. For instance plants adapted to windy conditions may have pendent leaves, such as in many willows, the flat, or laminar, shape also maximises thermal contact with the surrounding air, promoting cooling. Functionally, in addition to photosynthesis the leaf is the site of transpiration and guttation. Many gymnosperms have thin needle-like or scale-like leaves that can be advantageous in cold climates with frequent snow and these are interpreted as reduced from megaphyllous leaves of their Devonian ancestors. For xerophytes the major constraint is not light flux or intensity, some window plants such as Fenestraria species and some Haworthia species such as Haworthia tesselata and Haworthia truncata are examples of xerophytes. and Bulbine mesembryanthemoides
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Glossary of leaf morphology
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The following is a defined list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple or compound, the edge of the leaf may be regular or irregular, may be smooth or bearing hair, bristles or spines. For more terms describing other aspects of leaves besides their overall morphology see the leaf article, leaves of most plants include a flat structure called the blade or lamina, but not all leaves are flat, some are cylindrical. Leaves may be simple, with a leaf blade, or compound. In flowering plants, as well as the blade of the leaf, there may be a petiole and stipules, leaf structure is described by several terms that include, Being one of the more visible features, leaf shape is commonly used for plant identification. Edge and margin are both interchangeable in the sense that they refer to the perimeter of a leaf. Leaves may also be folded or rolled in various ways, the folding of leaves within a bud is vernation, ptyxis is the folding of an individual leaf in a bud
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Plant reproductive morphology
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Plant reproductive morphology is the study of the physical form and structure of those parts of plants directly or indirectly concerned with sexual reproduction. Among all living organisms, flowers, which are the structures of angiosperms, are the most varied physically. Plants that are not flowering plants also have complex interplays between morphological adaptation and environmental factors in their sexual reproduction, christian Konrad Sprengel studied the reproduction of flowering plants and for the first time it was understood that the pollination process involved both biotic and abiotic interactions. Charles Darwins theories of natural selection utilized this work to build his theory of evolution, Plants have complex lifecycles involving alternation of generations. One generation, the sporophyte, gives rise to the next generation asexually via spores, spores may be identical isospores or come in different sizes, but strictly speaking, spores and sporophytes are neither male nor female because they do not produce gametes. The alternate generation, the gametophyte, produces gametes, eggs and/or sperm, a gametophyte can be be monoicous, producing both eggs and sperm or dioicous, either female or male. In the bryophytes, the gametophyte is the dominant generation. In ferns and seed plants the sporophyte is the dominant generation, the obvious visible plant, whether a small herb or a large tree, is the sporophyte, and the gametophyte is very small. In seed plants, each female gametophyte, and the spore that gives rise to it, is hidden within the sporophyte and is dependent on it for nutrition. Each male gametophyte consists of from two to four cells enclosed within the protective wall of a pollen grain. The sporophyte of a plant is often described using sexual terms based on the sexuality of the gametophyte it gives rise to. For example, a sporophyte that produces spores that give rise only to male gametophytes may be described as male, even though the sporophyte itself is asexual, producing only spores. Similarly, flowers produced by the sporophyte may be described as unisexual or bisexual, the flower is the characteristic structure concerned with sexual reproduction in flowering plants. Flowers vary enormously in their construction, a complete flower, like that of Ranunculus glaberrimus shown in the figure, has a calyx of outer sepals and a corolla of inner petals. The sepals and petals form the perianth. Next inwards there are numerous stamens, which produce pollen grains, stamens may be called the male parts of a flower and collectively form the androecium. Finally in the middle there are carpels, which at maturity one or more ovules. Carpels may be called the parts of a flower and collectively form the gynoecium
22.
Flower
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A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in plants that are floral. The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs, Flowers may facilitate outcrossing or allow selfing. Some flowers produce diaspores without fertilization, Flowers contain sporangia and are the site where gametophytes develop. Many flowers have evolved to be attractive to animals, so as to them to be vectors for the transfer of pollen. After fertilization, the ovary of the flower develops into fruit containing seeds, the essential parts of a flower can be considered in two parts, the vegetative part, consisting of petals and associated structures in the perianth, and the reproductive or sexual parts. A stereotypical flower consists of four kinds of structures attached to the tip of a short stalk, each of these kinds of parts is arranged in a whorl on the receptacle. The four main whorls are as follows, Collectively the calyx, corolla, the next whorl toward the apex, composed of units called petals, which are typically thin, soft and colored to attract animals that help the process of pollination. Androecium, the whorl, consisting of units called stamens. Stamens consist of two parts, a called a filament, topped by an anther where pollen is produced by meiosis. Gynoecium, the innermost whorl of a flower, consisting of one or more units called carpels, the carpel or multiple fused carpels form a hollow structure called an ovary, which produces ovules internally. Ovules are megasporangia and they in turn produce megaspores by meiosis which develop into female gametophytes and these give rise to egg cells. The gynoecium of a flower is described using an alternative terminology wherein the structure one sees in the innermost whorl is called a pistil. A pistil may consist of a carpel or a number of carpels fused together. The sticky tip of the pistil, the stigma, is the receptor of pollen, the supportive stalk, the style, becomes the pathway for pollen tubes to grow from pollen grains adhering to the stigma. The relationship to the gynoecium on the receptacle is described as hypogynous, perigynous, although the arrangement described above is considered typical, plant species show a wide variation in floral structure. These modifications have significance in the evolution of flowering plants and are used extensively by botanists to establish relationships among plant species, the four main parts of a flower are generally defined by their positions on the receptacle and not by their function. Many flowers lack some parts or parts may be modified into other functions and/or look like what is typically another part, in some families, like Ranunculaceae, the petals are greatly reduced and in many species the sepals are colorful and petal-like. Other flowers have modified stamens that are petal-like, the flowers of Peonies and Roses are mostly petaloid stamens
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Midge
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Midges are a group of insects that include many kinds of small flies. They are found on every land area outside permanently arid deserts. The term midge does not define any particular group. Some midges, such as many Phlebotominae and Simuliidae, are vectors of various diseases, many others play useful roles as prey items for insectivores, such as various frogs and swallows. Others are important as detritivores, participating in various nutrient cycles, the habits of midges vary greatly from species to species, though within any particular family midges commonly have similar ecological roles. One type of midge ceratopogonid midges is a pollinator of Theobroma cacao because of its unique morphological and behavioral characteristics. Having natural pollinators has beneficial effects in both agricultural and biological production because it increases Theobroma cacao crop yield and also density of predators of the midges. Some of them spread the livestock diseases blue tongue and African horse sickness – other species though, are at least partly nectar feeders, most other midge families are not bloodsuckers, but it is not possible to generalise rigidly because of the vagueness of the term midge. There is for no objective basis for excluding the Psychodidae from the list. Most midges, apart from the gall midges, are aquatic during the larval stage, some Cecidomyiidae are significant plant pests. The larvae of some Chironomidae contain haemoglobin and are referred to as bloodworms. Non-biting midge flies are a nuisance around man-made bodies of water
24.
Fruit
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In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate seeds, accordingly, fruits account for a substantial fraction of the worlds agricultural output, and some have acquired extensive cultural and symbolic meanings. On the other hand, in usage, fruit includes many structures that are not commonly called fruits, such as bean pods, corn kernels, tomatoes. The section of a fungus that produces spores is called a fruiting body. Many common terms for seeds and fruit do not correspond to the botanical classifications, however, in botany, a fruit is the ripened ovary or carpel that contains seeds, a nut is a type of fruit and not a seed, and a seed is a ripened ovule. Examples of culinary vegetables and nuts that are botanically fruit include corn, cucurbits, eggplant, legumes, sweet pepper, in addition, some spices, such as allspice and chili pepper, are fruits, botanically speaking. g. Botanically, a grain, such as corn, rice, or wheat, is also a kind of fruit. However, the wall is very thin and is fused to the seed coat. The outer, often edible layer, is the pericarp, formed from the ovary and surrounding the seeds, the pericarp may be described in three layers from outer to inner, the epicarp, mesocarp and endocarp. Fruit that bears a prominent pointed terminal projection is said to be beaked, a fruit results from maturation of one or more flowers, and the gynoecium of the flower forms all or part of the fruit. Inside the ovary/ovaries are one or more ovules where the megagametophyte contains the egg cell, after double fertilization, these ovules will become seeds. The ovules are fertilized in a process starts with pollination. After pollination, a tube grows from the pollen through the stigma into the ovary to the ovule, later the zygote will give rise to the embryo of the seed, and the endosperm mother cell will give rise to endosperm, a nutritive tissue used by the embryo. As the ovules develop into seeds, the ovary begins to ripen and the ovary wall, in some multiseeded fruits, the extent to which the flesh develops is proportional to the number of fertilized ovules. The pericarp is often differentiated into two or three distinct layers called the exocarp, mesocarp, and endocarp, in some fruits, especially simple fruits derived from an inferior ovary, other parts of the flower, fuse with the ovary and ripen with it. In other cases, the sepals, petals and/or stamens and style of the fall off. When such other floral parts are a significant part of the fruit, it is called an accessory fruit, since other parts of the flower may contribute to the structure of the fruit, it is important to study flower structure to understand how a particular fruit forms. There are three modes of fruit development, Apocarpous fruits develop from a single flower having one or more separate carpels
25.
Berry (botany)
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In botanical terminology, a berry is a fleshy fruit without a stone produced from a single flower containing one ovary. Berries so defined include grapes, currants, and tomatoes, as well as cucumbers, eggplants and bananas, the berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire outer layer of the ovary wall ripens into a potentially edible pericarp. Berries may be formed one or more carpels from the same flower. The seeds are embedded in the fleshy interior of the ovary. Many berries are edible, but others, such as the fruits of the potato, some berries, such as the white and red mulberry, are poisonous when unripe, but are edible in their ripe form. A plant that bears berries is said to be bacciferous or baccate, in everyday English, berry is a term for any small edible fruit. Berries are usually juicy, round, brightly coloured, sweet or sour, in botanical language, a berry is a simple fruit having seeds and fleshy pulp produced from the ovary of a single flower. The ovary can be inferior or superior and it is indehiscent, i. e. it does not have a special line of weakness along which it splits to release the seeds when ripe. The pericarp is divided into three layers, the outer layer is called the exocarp or epicarp, the middle layer, the mesocarp or sarcocarp, the inner layer, the endocarp. Botanists have not applied these terms consistently, exocarp and endocarp may be restricted to more-or-less single-layered skins, or may include tissues adjacent to them, thus on one view, the exocarp extends inwards to the layer of vascular bundles. The inconsistency in usage has been described as a source of confusion, the nature of the endocarp distinguishes a berry from a drupe, which has a hardened or stony endocarp. The two kinds of fruit intergrade, depending on the state of the endocarp, some sources have attempted to quantify the difference, e. g. requiring the endocarp to be less than 2 mm thick in a berry. Examples of botanical berries include, True berries, or baccae, may also be required to have an outer skin. This distinguishes, for example, a Vaccinium or Solanum berry from an Adansonia amphisarca, which has a dry, more rigid and self-supporting skin. The fruit of citrus, such as the orange, kumquat and lemon, is a berry with a thick rind and a juicy interior divided into segments by septae. Another specialized term is used for some Cucurbitaceae fruits, which are modified to have a hard outer rind. These are given the special name pepo, while pepos are most common in the Cucurbitaceae, the fruits of Passiflora and Carica are sometimes also considered pepos. Berries that develop from an inferior ovary are sometimes termed epigynous berries or false berries, as opposed to true berries, in epigynous berries, the berry includes tissue derived from parts of the flower besides the ovary
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Pome
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In botany, a pome is a type of fruit produced by flowering plants in the subtribe Malinae of the family Rosaceae. The word pome entered English in the late 14th century, and it derived from the Old French word pome apple, which in turn derived from the Late Latin or Vulgar Latin word poma apple, originally the plural of Latin pomus fruit, later apple. A pome is a fruit composed of one or more carpels surrounded by accessory tissue. The accessory tissue is interpreted by some specialists as an extension of the receptacle and is referred to as fruit cortex. It is the most edible part of this fruit, the carpels of a pome are fused within the core. Although the epicarp, mesocarp, and endocarp of some other fruit types look very much like the skin, flesh, the epicarp and mesocarp of a pome may be fleshy and difficult to distinguish from one another and from the hypanthial tissue. The endocarp forms a leathery or stony case around the seed, pome-type fruit with stony rather than leathery endocarp may be called a polypyrenous drupe. The shriveled remains of the sepals, style and stamens can sometimes be seen at the end of a pome opposite the stem, the best-known example of a pome is the apple. Other examples of plants produce fruit classified as a pome are Cotoneaster, Crataegus, loquat, medlar, pear, Pyracantha, toyon, quince, rowan. Some pomes may have a texture, others are berry-like with juicy flesh
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Seed
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A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering. The formation of the seed is part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, Seeds are the product of the ripened ovule, after fertilization by pollen and some growth within the mother plant. The embryo is developed from the zygote and the coat from the integuments of the ovule. Seed plants now dominate biological niches on land, from forests to both in hot and cold climates. The term seed also has a meaning that antedates the above—anything that can be sown, e. g. seed potatoes. In the case of sunflower and corn seeds, what is sown is the seed enclosed in a shell or husk, many structures commonly referred to as seeds are actually dry fruits. Plants producing berries are called baccate, sunflower seeds are sometimes sold commercially while still enclosed within the hard wall of the fruit, which must be split open to reach the seed. Different groups of plants have other modifications, the stone fruits have a hardened fruit layer fused to. Nuts are the one-seeded, hard-shelled fruit of plants with an indehiscent seed. Seeds are produced in several related groups of plants, and their manner of production distinguishes the angiosperms from the gymnosperms, angiosperm seeds are produced in a hard or fleshy structure called a fruit that encloses the seeds, hence the name. Some fruits have layers of hard and fleshy material. In gymnosperms, no special structure develops to enclose the seeds, however, the seeds do become covered by the cone scales as they develop in some species of conifer. Seed production in natural plant populations varies widely from year-to-year in response to weather variables, insects and diseases, over a 20-year period, for example, forests composed of loblolly pine and shortleaf pine produced from 0 to nearly 5 million sound pine seeds per hectare. Over this period, there were six bumper, five poor, and nine good seed crops, right after fertilization, the zygote is mostly inactive, but the primary endosperm divides rapidly to form the endosperm tissue. This tissue becomes the food the young plant will consume until the roots have developed after germination, after fertilization the ovules develop into the seeds. The ovule consists of a number of components, The funicle or seed stalk which attaches the ovule to the placenta and hence ovary or fruit wall, the nucellus, the remnant of the megasporangium and main region of the ovule where the megagametophyte develops. The micropyle, a pore or opening in the apex of the integument of the ovule where the pollen tube usually enters during the process of fertilization. The chalaza, the base of the ovule opposite the micropyle, the shape of the ovules as they develop often affects the final shape of the seeds
28.
Wildlife
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Wildlife traditionally refers to undomesticated animal species, but has come to include all plants, fungi, and other organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans. Wildlife can be found in all ecosystems, humans have historically tended to separate civilization from wildlife in a number of ways including the legal, social, and moral sense. Some animals, however, have adapted to suburban environments and this includes such animals as domesticated cats, dogs, mice, and gerbils. The global wildlife population has decreased by 52 percent between 1970 and 2014, according to a report by the World Wildlife Fund, anthropologists believe that the Stone Age people and hunter-gatherers relied on wildlife, both plants and animals, for their food. In fact, some species may have been hunted to extinction by human hunters. Today, hunting, fishing, and gathering wildlife is still a significant food source in parts of the world. In other areas, hunting and non-commercial fishing are seen as a sport or recreation. Meat sourced from wildlife that is not traditionally regarded as game is known as bush meat, in November 2008, almost 900 plucked and oven-ready owls and other protected wildlife species were confiscated by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks in Malaysia, according to TRAFFIC. The animals were believed to be bound for China, to be sold in wild meat restaurants, most are listed in CITES which prohibits or restricts such trade.60. Many Amazon species, including peccaries, agoutis, turtles, turtle eggs, anacondas, armadillos, others in these informal markets, such as monkeys and parrots, are destined for the pet trade, often smuggled into the United States. Still other Amazon species are popular ingredients in traditional medicines sold in local markets, the medicinal value of animal parts is based largely on superstition. Many animal species have spiritual significance in different cultures around the world, for example, eagles, hawks and their feathers have great cultural and spiritual value to Native Americans as religious objects. In Hinduism the cow is regarded sacred, muslims conduct sacrifices on Eid-ul-Adha to commemorate the sacrificial spirit of Ibrahim in love of God. Camels, sheep, goats, and cows may be offered as sacrifice during the three days of Eid, many nations have established their tourism sector around their natural wildlife. South Africa has, for example, many opportunities for tourists to see the wildlife in its national parks. In South India the Periar Wildlife Sanctuary, Bandipur National Park and Mudamalai Wildlife Sanctuary are situated around, India is home to many national parks and wildlife sanctuaries showing the diversity of its wildlife, much of its unique fauna, and excels in the range. This subsection focuses on forms of wildlife destruction. Exploitation of wild populations has been a characteristic of man since our exodus from Africa 130,000 –70,000 years ago
29.
Thrush (bird)
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The thrushes are a family, Turdidae, of passerine birds with a worldwide distribution. The family was much larger before the subfamily Saxicolinae, which includes the chats and robins, was split out. The thrushes are small to medium sized ground living birds that feed on insects, other invertebrates, a number of unrelated species around the world have been named after thrushes due to their similarity to birds in this family. Thrushes are plump, soft-plumaged, small to medium-sized birds, inhabiting wooded areas, the smallest thrush may be the forest rock thrush, at 21 g and 14.5 cm. However, the shortwings, which have ambiguous alliances with both thrushes and Old World flycatchers, can be even smaller, the lesser shortwing averages 12 cm. The largest thrush is the blue whistling thrush, at 178 g and 33 cm, the great thrush is similar in length, but less heavily built. Most species are grey or brown in colour, often with speckled underparts and they are insectivorous, but most species also eat worms, land snails, and fruit. Many species are resident in warm climates, while others migrate to higher latitudes during summer. Thrushes build cup-shaped nests, sometimes lining them with mud and they lay two to five speckled eggs, sometimes laying two or more clutches per year. Both parents help in raising the young, the songs of some species, including members of the genera Catharus, Myadestes, Sialia and Turdus, are considered to be among the most beautiful in the avian world. Turdidae species spread the seeds of plants, contributing to the dispersal of many species, seeds can be dispersed away from the parent plant individually or collectively, as well as dispersed in both space and time. Many bats and birds rely heavily on fruits for their diet, including birds in the families Cotingidae, Columbidae, Trogonidae, Turdidae, while eating fruit, these animals swallow seeds and then later regurgitate them or pass them in their faeces. Such ornithochory has been a mechanism of seed dispersal across ocean barriers. Other seeds may stick to the feet or feathers of birds, seeds of grasses, spores of algae, and the eggs of molluscs and other invertebrates commonly establish in remote areas after long journeys of this sort. The family Turdidae was introduced by the French polymath Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1815, the taxonomic treatment of this large family has varied significantly in recent years. The family formerly included more species, subsequent molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that the species in these four genera are more closely related to species in the family Muscicapidae. As a consequence, these four genera are now placed in Muscicapidae, in contrast, the genus Cochoa which had previously been placed in Muscicapidae was shown to belong in Turdidae. Thrush videos on the Internet Bird Collection High-resolution photo gallery of around 100 species
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Waxwing
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The waxwings are passerine birds classified in the genus Bombycilla. They are brown and pale grey with silky plumage, a black and white eyestripe, a crest, some of the wing feathers have red tips, the resemblance of which to sealing wax gives these birds their common name. According to most authorities, this is the genus placed in the family Bombycillidae. There are three species, the Bohemian waxwing, the Japanese waxwing and the cedar waxwing, waxwings are not long-distance migrants, but move nomadically outside the breeding season. Waxwings mostly feed on fruit, but at times of year when fruits are unavailable they feed on sap, buds, flowers and they catch insects by gleaning through foliage or in mid-air. They often nest near water, the building a loose nest at the fork of a branch. She also incubates the eggs, the male bringing her food to the nest, waxwings appear in art and have been mentioned in literature. Waxwings are characterised by soft silky plumage, the legs are short and strong, and the wings are pointed. The male and female have the same plumage, all three species have mainly brown plumage, a black line through the eye and black under the chin, a square-ended tail with a red or yellow tip, and a pointed crest. The bill, eyes, and feet are dark, the adults moult between August and November, but may suspend their moult and continue after migration. Calls are high-pitched, buzzing or trilling monosyllables and these are arboreal birds that breed in northern forests. Their main food is fruit, which they eat from early summer through late summer and fall into late fall and they pluck fruit from a perch or occasionally while hovering. In spring they replace fruit with sap, buds, and flowers, in the warmer part of the year they catch many insects by gleaning or in midair, and often nest near water where flying insects are abundant. Waxwings also choose nest sites in places with rich supplies of fruit, however, they may start courting as early as the winter. Pairing includes a ritual in which pass a fruit or small inedible object back. Both birds gather nest materials, but the female does most of the construction, usually on a limb or in a crotch well away from the tree trunk. She makes a loose, bulky nest of twigs, grass, and lichen, which she lines with fine grass, moss, and pine needles and may camouflage with dangling pieces of grass, flowers, lichen, and moss. The female incubates, fed by the male on the nest and they are not true long-distance migrants, but wander erratically outside the breeding season and move south from their summer range in winter
31.
Crataegus laevigata
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It is also present in North Africa. The species name is sometimes spelled C. levigata, but the orthography is C. lævigata. It is a shrub or small tree growing to 8 m tall. The leaves are 2–6 cm long and 2–5 cm broad, with 2–3 shallow, the hermaphrodite flowers are produced in corymbs of 6–12, each flower with five white or pale pink petals and two or three styles, and are pollinated by midges. The fruit is a red pome 6–10 mm diameter, slightly broader than long, containing 2–3 nutlets. It is distinguished from the common hawthorn, C. monogyna, in the leaves being only shallowly lobed, with forward-pointing lobes. In the past, midland hawthorn was widely but incorrectly known by the name C. oxyacantha, a name that has now been rejected as being of uncertain application. In 1775 Jacquin formally separated the common hawthorn, naming it C. monogyna, and in 1946 Dandy showed that Linnaeus had actually observed a different plant, however, by this time confusion over the true identity of C. The midland hawthorn was described botanically as a species as long ago as 1798 by Poiret. Poirets name is reflected in the formal botanical name of midland hawthorn. Pauls Scarlet and Rosea Flore Pleno have both gained the Royal Horticultural Societys Award of Garden Merit and these cultivars are considered by taxonomists to be derived from hybrids between C. laevigata and C. monogyna, within the named hybrid species C. × media. The hawthorn button-top gall on midland hawthorn, is caused by the dipteran gall-midge Dasineura crataegi, flora Europaea, Crataegus Bean, W. J. Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles, eighth edition, revised. UCConn Plant Database — copyright Mark Brand, koch, Egon, Malek, Fathi Abdul, Schwabe, Willmar. Standardized Extracts from Hawthorn Leaves and Flowers in the Treatment of Cardiovascular Disorders - Preclinical and Clinical Studies
32.
Stipule
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In botany, stipule is a term coined by Linnaeus which refers to outgrowths borne on either side of the base of a leafstalk. A pair of stipules is considered part of the anatomy of the leaf of a flowering plant. In some older botanical writing, the term stipule was used generally to refer to any small leaves or leaf-parts. The position of stipules on a plant varies widely from species to species, stipules are most common on dicotyledons, where they appear in pairs alongside each leaf. Some monocotyledon plants display stipule-like structures, but only one per leaf. A relationship exists between the anatomy of the node and the presence or absence of stipules, most plants with trilacunar nodes have stipules, species with unilacunar nodes lack stipules. Stipules are morphologically variable and might appear as glands, scales, hairs, spines, if a single stipule goes all the way around the stem, it is known as an ochrea. The three types of stipules according to duration are caducous, deciduous and persistent, caducous stipules fall off before the leaf unfolds, while deciduous stipules fall off immediately after the leaf unfolds. Persistent stipules remain attached to the plant, stipules can be considered free lateral, adnate, interpetiolar, intrapetiolar, ochreate, foliaceous, bud scales, tendrillar or spiny. A stipule can be fused to the stem, or to the other stipule from the same node, a stipule is adnate if its fused together on part of the petiole length, but the anterior is still free. A stipule is intrapetiolar if it is located in the angle thats between a stem and a petiole, in this case, the two stipules generally form together and appear to be one stipule. A stipule is ochreate if a single stipule appears to be a tube that goes all the way around the stem. A stipule is foliaceous if it is leaf-like and these are generally used to photosynthesize. A stipule is considered a bud scale if it is hard or scaly and these generally fall off as soon as the leaf unfolds. A stipule is considered tendrillar if they are long thin tendrils, a stipule is considered spiny if they are long and pointy. These are generally used to deter animals, a stipule is considered to be abaxial, counter or leaf opposed if its located on the opposite side to where the leaf meets the stem. Stipules can be used by the plants in various ways, and it is known that foliaceous stipules are used like leaves to make energy for the plants. Sometimes stipules protect the next leaf or bud as it grows in, then falls off after the leaf unfolds, stipules can be used as climbing tendrils by climbing plants
33.
Glastonbury Thorn
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The Glastonbury thorn is a form of common hawthorn, Crataegus monogyna Biflora, found in and around Glastonbury, Somerset, England. Unlike ordinary hawthorn trees, it twice a year, the first time in winter. The trees in the Glastonbury area have been propagated by grafting since ancient times, the tree is also widely called the holy thorn, though this term strictly speaking refers to the original tree. It is associated with legends about Joseph of Arimathea and the arrival of Christianity in Britain, a flowering sprig is sent to the British Monarch every Christmas. The original tree has been propagated several times, with one tree growing at Glastonbury Abbey, according to legend, Joseph of Arimathea visited Glastonbury with the Holy Grail and thrust his staff into Wearyall Hill, which then grew into the original thorn tree. Early writers do not connect Joseph to the arrival of Christianity in Britain, the historicity of Josephs presence in Glastonbury remains controversial, but the thorn is first mentioned in an early sixteenth-century metrical Lyfe of Joseph of Arimathea. The anonymous author notes that the thorn was unusual in that it flowered twice in a year, once as normal on old wood in spring and this flowering of the Glastonbury thorn in mild weather just past midwinter was accounted miraculous. Gentlemans Magazine January 1753 The original Glastonbury thorn itself was cut down, a spray of thorn was sent to the Sovereign each Christmas by the Vicar and Mayor of Glastonbury. The thorn also featured on British Postage stamps on the 12p, the Glastonbury thorn was once again attacked and its branches cut off, in this case the 1951 specimen that was growing on Wearyall Hill on the southwestern side of the town, on 9 December 2010. In March 2011, it was reported that a new shoot had appeared on the damaged tree, however, as these new shoots came up they would suspiciously disappear a few days or weeks later. Many have tried to grow the Glastonbury thorn from seed and direct cuttings and this tree has been widely propagated by grafting or cuttings, with the cultivar name Biflora or Praecox. The tree in the grounds of the church was pronounced dead in June 1991, however, many cuttings were taken from it before its destruction. The pre-1991 thorn in the grounds of Glastonbury Church is said to be a cutting from the plant which was planted in secret after the original was destroyed. Now only trees budded or grafted from the original exist, the blossoms of the Christmas shoots are usually much smaller than the May ones and do not produce any haws. Plants grown from the haws do not retain the characteristics of the parent stem, the present sacred thorn tree at the Church of St John was grown from a local cutting, like many others in the neighbourhood of Glastonbury. The large tree had been in the churchyard for eighty years and it was planted by Mr George Chislett, then head gardener of Glastonbury Abbey. He also learned how to graft holy thorn cuttings onto the root of blackthorn stock and his son, Wilf, sent Glastonbury thorn cuttings all over the world, including to Washington, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Luckily, trees survive from earlier grafts to perpetuate the Glastonbury legend, the blossom sent to the Queen now comes from one of these
34.
Hethel
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Hethel is a small village in Norfolk, England, near the historic market town of Wymondham, and approximately 10 miles south of the city of Norwich. According to the 2001 census, the Bracon Ash and Hethel parish covered an area of 9.84 square kilometres and had a population of 446 people within 171 households. The village gave its name to the former RAF Hethel bomber station, the Lotus Cars test track uses sections of the old RAF Hethel runway. Hethel is noted for containing the oldest known living tree in East Anglia. Planted in the 13th century, Hethel Old Thorn is in the village churchyard, the name Hethel is derived from the older name Het Hill. RAF Hethel was a used by the US during the Second World War. Located 7 miles south west of Norwich, it was constructed in 1942 for American use, from 14 September 1943 though to 12 June 1945, Hethel served as headquarters for the 2nd Combat Bombardment Wing of the 2nd Bomb Division. After the departure of the Americans, it was assigned to RAF Fighter Command, on 25 June Polish-manned North American Mustang RAF squadrons moved into the base. In mid-1947, Hethel became a Personnel Transit Centre but was transferred to RAF Technical Training Command, with the downsizing of the RAF, the field was closed in 1948. For many years the base was inactive and abandoned until it was sold by the Air Ministry in 1964. For a number of years the old airfield Nissen huts were used to house families awaiting re-housing under the building programme. Forehoe and Henstead RDC also used part of the area as a store depot, with the end of military control, Hethel became the manufacturing and testing site for Lotus Cars. The manufacture of vehicles, originally started in the old hangars and workshops, Lotus uses parts of the airfield perimeter track and lengths of the main runway as a testing track. In 1966 Lotus Cars moved into a purpose built factory on the site of the airfield, the factory and engineering centres cover 55 acres of the former airfield and use 2.5 miles of runway. Much of the runways have been removed and returned to agricultural use. The layout can still be seen from aerial photos, Lotus Cars designs and builds race and production automobiles of light weight and high handling characteristics. Colin Chapman, the founder of Lotus, died of an attack in 1982 at the age of 54, having begun life an innkeepers son. The car maker built tens of thousands of racing and road cars
35.
Belgium
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Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres and has a population of about 11 million people. Additionally, there is a group of German-speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area. Historically, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were known as the Low Countries, the region was called Belgica in Latin, after the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, today, Belgium is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. It is divided into three regions and three communities, that exist next to each other and its two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia, Belgiums linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance, made up of six different governments. Upon its independence, declared in 1830, Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, resulting in a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement during the period from 1970 to 1993. Belgium is also a member of the Eurozone, NATO, OECD and WTO. Its capital, Brussels, hosts several of the EUs official seats as well as the headquarters of major international organizations such as NATO. Belgium is also a part of the Schengen Area, Belgium is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy and is categorized as very high in the Human Development Index. A gradual immigration by Germanic Frankish tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the Merovingian kings, a gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire. Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries, the Eighty Years War divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands. The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs and this was the theatre of most Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars during the 17th and 18th centuries. The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1815, although the franchise was initially restricted, universal suffrage for men was introduced after the general strike of 1893 and for women in 1949. The main political parties of the 19th century were the Catholic Party, French was originally the single official language adopted by the nobility and the bourgeoisie
36.
Herbalism
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Herbalism is the study of botany and use of plants intended for medicinal purposes or for supplementing a diet. Plants have been the basis for medical treatments through much of human history, modern medicine recognizes herbalism as a form of alternative medicine, as the practice of herbalism is not strictly based on evidence gathered using the scientific method. Modern medicine makes use of many plant-derived compounds as the basis for evidence-based pharmaceutical drugs, the scope of herbal medicine is sometimes extended to include fungal and bee products, as well as minerals, shells and certain animal parts. General practices include ancient methods of traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda, practitioners of herbalism or phytotherapy are referred to as herbalists or phytotherapists. Products used in herbalism may be called herbal medicines, botanicals, natural products, herbal remedies, herbal supplements. Archaeological evidence indicates that the use of plants dates back to the Paleolithic age. Written evidence of herbal remedies dates back over 5,000 years, to the Sumerians, a number of ancient cultures wrote about plants and their medical uses in books called herbals. In ancient Egypt, herbs are mentioned in Egyptian medical papyri, depicted in tomb illustrations, or on rare occasions found in medical jars containing trace amounts of herbs. Among the oldest, lengthiest, and most important medical papyri of ancient Egypt, the Ebers Papyrus dates from about 1550 BC, the earliest known Greek herbals come from Theophrastus of Eresos who in the 4th c. B. C. wrote in Greek Historia Plantarum, from Diocles of Carystus who wrote during the 3rd century B. C, only a few fragments of these works have survived intact, but from what remains scholars have noted a large amount of overlap with the Egyptian herbals. Seeds likely used for herbalism have been found in sites of Bronze Age China dating from the Shang Dynasty. Over a hundred of the 224 drugs mentioned in the Huangdi Neijing, herbs also commonly featured in the medicine of ancient India, where the principal treatment for diseases was diet. The World Health Organization estimates that 80 percent of the population of some Asian and African countries presently use herbal medicine for some aspect of health care. Pharmaceuticals are prohibitively expensive for most of the population, half of whom lived on less than $2 U. S. per day in 2002. In comparison, herbal medicines can be grown from seed or gathered from nature for little or no cost, many of the pharmaceuticals currently available to physicians have a long history of use as herbal remedies, including opium, aspirin, digitalis, and quinine. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 25% of modern drugs used in the United States have been derived from plants, at least 7,000 medical compounds in the modern pharmacopoeia are derived from plants. In a 2010 global survey of the most common 1000 plant-derived compounds, preclinical studies were reported for about one-half of the plant products, while 12% of the plants, although available in the Western market, had no substantial studies of their properties. Strong evidence was found that 5 were toxic or allergenic, so that their use ought to be discouraged or forbidden, according to Cancer Research UK, there is currently no strong evidence from studies in people that herbal remedies can treat, prevent or cure cancer
37.
Antioxidant
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An antioxidant is a molecule that inhibits the oxidation of other molecules. Oxidation is a reaction that can produce free radicals, leading to chain reactions that may damage cells. Antioxidants such as thiols or ascorbic acid terminate these chain reactions, supplementation with selenium or vitamin E does not reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Oxidative stress can be considered as either a cause or consequence of some diseases, industrial antioxidants have diverse uses, such as food and cosmetics preservatives and inhibitors of rubber or gasoline deterioration. Although certain levels of antioxidant vitamins in the diet are required for good health, moreover, if they are actually beneficial, it is unknown which antioxidant are needed from the diet and in what amounts beyond typical dietary intake. Some authors dispute the hypothesis that antioxidant vitamins could prevent chronic diseases, polyphenols, which often have antioxidant properties in vitro, are not necessarily antioxidants in vivo due to extensive metabolism. In many polyphenols, the group acts as electron acceptor and is therefore responsible for the antioxidant activity. However, this catechol group undergoes extensive metabolism upon uptake in the body, for example by catechol-O-methyl transferase. Many polyphenols may have non-antioxidant roles in minute concentrations that affect cell-to-cell signaling, receptor sensitivity, tirilazad is an antioxidant steroid derivative that inhibits the lipid peroxidation that is believed to play a key role in neuronal death in stroke and head injury. It demonstrated activity in animal models of stroke, but human trials demonstrated no effect on mortality or other outcomes in subarachnoid haemorrhage, similarly, the designed antioxidant NXY-059 exhibited efficacy in animal models, but failed to improve stroke outcomes in a clinical trial. As of November 2014, other antioxidants are being studied as potential neuroprotectants, common pharmaceuticals with antioxidant properties may interfere with the efficacy of certain anticancer medication and radiation. During exercise, oxygen consumption can increase by a factor of more than 10, however, no benefits for physical performance to athletes are seen with vitamin E supplementation and 6 weeks of vitamin E supplementation had no effect on muscle damage in ultramarathon runners. Some research suggests that supplementation with amounts as high as 1000 mg of vitamin C inhibits recovery, other studies indicated that antioxidant supplementation may attenuate the cardiovascular benefits of exercise. Relatively strong reducing acids can have antinutrient effects by binding to dietary minerals such as iron and zinc in the gastrointestinal tract, notable examples are oxalic acid, tannins and phytic acid, which are high in plant-based diets. Calcium and iron deficiencies are not uncommon in diets in developing countries where meat is eaten and there is high consumption of phytic acid from beans. Nonpolar antioxidants such as major component of oil of cloves—have toxicity limits that can be exceeded with the misuse of undiluted essential oils. Toxicity associated with high doses of water-soluble antioxidants such as ascorbic acid are less of a concern, more seriously, very high doses of some antioxidants may have harmful long-term effects. The beta-carotene and Retinol Efficacy Trial study of cancer patients found that smokers given supplements containing beta-carotene
38.
Phytochemical
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Phytochemicals are chemical compounds produced by plants, generally to help them thrive or thwart competitors, predators, or pathogens. The name comes from the Greek word phyto, meaning plant, some phytochemicals have been used as poisons and others as traditional medicine. As a term, phytochemicals is generally used to describe plant compounds that are under research with unestablished effects on health and are not scientifically defined as essential nutrients, plants are composed entirely of chemicals of various kinds. Phytochemicals are chemicals produced by plants through primary or secondary metabolism and they generally have biological activity in the plant host and play a role in plant growth or defense against competitors, pathogens, or predators. Phytochemicals generally are regarded as research compounds rather than essential nutrients because proof of their health effects has not been established yet. Phytochemicals under research can be classified into categories, such as carotenoids and polyphenols, which include phenolic acids, flavonoids. Flavonoids can be divided into groups based on their similar chemical structure, such as anthocyanins, flavones, flavanones, and isoflavones. Flavanols further are classified as catechins, epicatechins, and proanthocyanidins, without specific knowledge of their cellular actions or mechanisms, phytochemicals have been used as poison and in traditional medicine. The tropane alkaloids of A. belladonna were used as poisons, as of 2017, the biological activities for most phytochemicals are unknown or poorly understood, in isolation or as part of foods. Phytochemicals with established roles in the body are classified as essential nutrients, some phytochemicals are known phytotoxins that are toxic to humans, for example aristolochic acid is carcinogenic at low doses. Some phytochemicals are antinutrients that interfere with the absorption of nutrients, others, such as some polyphenols and flavonoids, may be pro-oxidants in high ingested amounts. Phytochemical supplements are recommended by health authorities for improving health nor approved by regulatory agencies for health claims on product labels. For example, systematic reviews and/or meta-analyses indicate weak or no evidence for phytochemicals from plant food consumption having an effect on breast, lung, Phytochemicals in freshly harvested plant foods may be degraded by processing techniques, including cooking. The main cause of loss from cooking is thermal decomposition. Food processing techniques like mechanical processing can also free carotenoids and other phytochemicals from the food matrix, an Evidence – Based Approach to Dietary Phytochemicals. Rosa, L. A. de la / Alvarez-Parrilla, E. / González-Aguilar, fruit and Vegetable Phytochemicals, Chemistry, Nutritional Value and Stability. Dr. Dukes Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases – United States Department of Agriculture
39.
Hedge
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A hedge or hedgerow is a line of closely spaced shrubs and tree species, planted and trained to form a barrier or to mark the boundary of an area, such as between neighbouring properties. Hedges used to separate a road from adjoining fields or one field from another, often they serve as windbreaks to improve conditions for the adjacent crops. When clipped and maintained, hedges are also a form of topiary. The development of hedges over the centuries is preserved in their structure, the first hedges enclosed land for cereal crops during the Neolithic Age. The farms were of about 5 to 10 hectares, with fields about 0.1 hectares for hand cultivation, some hedges date from the Bronze and Iron Ages, 2000–4000 years ago, when traditional patterns of landscape became established. Others were built during the Medieval field rationalisations, more originated in the boom of the 18th and 19th centuries. In parts of Britain, early hedges were destroyed to make way for the manorial open-field system, many were replaced after the Enclosure Acts, then removed again during modern agricultural intensification, and now some are being replanted for wildlife. A hedge may consist of a species or several, typically mixed at random. In many newly planted British hedges, at least 60 per cent of the shrubs are hawthorn, blackthorn, the first two are particularly effective barriers to livestock. Other shrubs and trees used include holly, beech, oak, ash, and willow, of the hedgerows in the Normandy region of France, Martin Blumenson said, The hedgerow is a fence, half earth, half hedge. The wall at the base is a parapet that varies in thickness from one to four or more feet. Growing out of the wall is a hedge of hawthorn, brambles, vines, originally property demarcations, hedgerows protect crops and cattle from the ocean winds that sweep across the land. The hedgerows of Normandy became barriers that slowed the advance of Allied troops following the D-Day invasion of WWII, there are thought to be around 1.8 million hedgerow trees in Britain with perhaps 98% of these being in England and Wales. Hedgerow trees are both an important part of the English landscape and are valuable habitats for wildlife, many hedgerow trees are veteran trees and therefore of great wildlife interest. The most common species are oak and ash, though in the past elm would also have been common, around 20 million elm trees, most of them hedgerow trees, were felled or died through Dutch elm disease in the late 1960s. Many other species are used, notably including beech and various nut, the age structure of British hedgerow trees is old because the number of new trees is not sufficient to replace the number of trees that are lost through age or disease. New trees can be established by planting but it is more successful to leave standard trees behind when laying hedges. Trees should be left at no closer than 10 metres apart, the distance allows the young trees to develop full crowns without competing or producing too much shade
40.
Agriculture
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Agriculture is the cultivation and breeding of animals, plants and fungi for food, fiber, biofuel, medicinal plants and other products used to sustain and enhance human life. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of human civilization. The study of agriculture is known as agricultural science, the history of agriculture dates back thousands of years, and its development has been driven and defined by greatly different climates, cultures, and technologies. Industrial agriculture based on large-scale monoculture farming has become the dominant agricultural methodology, genetically modified organisms are an increasing component of agriculture, although they are banned in several countries. Agricultural food production and water management are increasingly becoming global issues that are fostering debate on a number of fronts, the major agricultural products can be broadly grouped into foods, fibers, fuels, and raw materials. Specific foods include cereals, vegetables, fruits, oils, meats, fibers include cotton, wool, hemp, silk and flax. Raw materials include lumber and bamboo, other useful materials are also produced by plants, such as resins, dyes, drugs, perfumes, biofuels and ornamental products such as cut flowers and nursery plants. The word agriculture is a late Middle English adaptation of Latin agricultūra, from ager, field, Agriculture usually refers to human activities, although it is also observed in certain species of ant, termite and ambrosia beetle. To practice agriculture means to use resources to produce commodities which maintain life, including food, fiber, forest products, horticultural crops. This definition includes arable farming or agronomy, and horticulture, all terms for the growing of plants, even then, it is acknowledged that there is a large amount of knowledge transfer and overlap between silviculture and agriculture. In traditional farming, the two are often combined even on small landholdings, leading to the term agroforestry, Agriculture began independently in different parts of the globe, and included a diverse range of taxa. At least 11 separate regions of the Old and New World were involved as independent centers of origin, wild grains were collected and eaten from at least 105,000 years ago. Pigs were domesticated in Mesopotamia around 15,000 years ago, rice was domesticated in China between 13,500 and 8,200 years ago, followed by mung, soy and azuki beans. Sheep were domesticated in Mesopotamia between 13,000 and 11,000 years ago. From around 11,500 years ago, the eight Neolithic founder crops, emmer and einkorn wheat, hulled barley, peas, lentils, bitter vetch, chick peas and flax were cultivated in the Levant. Cattle were domesticated from the aurochs in the areas of modern Turkey. In the Andes of South America, the potato was domesticated between 10,000 and 7,000 years ago, along with beans, coca, llamas, alpacas, sugarcane and some root vegetables were domesticated in New Guinea around 9,000 years ago. Sorghum was domesticated in the Sahel region of Africa by 7,000 years ago, cotton was domesticated in Peru by 5,600 years ago, and was independently domesticated in Eurasia at an unknown time
41.
Hedge laying
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Hedge laying or Hedgelaying is a country skill practised in the United Kingdom and Ireland, as well as a few places overseas. The theory behind laying a hedge is easy, the practice is much harder, requiring skill and experience. The aim is to reduce the thickness of the stems of the hedgerow trees by cutting away the wood on one side of the stem. This being done, each remaining stem is laid down towards the horizontal, a stem which has been laid down in this manner is known as a pleacher. A section of bark and some sapwood must be left connecting a pleacher to its roots in order to keep the pleacher alive—knowing how much is one part of the art of hedgelaying. The angle at which the pleach or pleacher is laid is a factor in the build of a hedge - hedges are built to a height according to what purpose they are intended for. The height and condition of the stool is vital as this is where the strongest new growth will come from. In time the pleaches will die but by then a new stem should have grown, from the stool, from ground level and this process takes from eight to fifteen years, after which, if the hedge has not been trimmed, the hedgelaying process can be repeated. Hedges can be trimmed for many years after laying before allowing the top to grow to a sufficient height to lay again, at regular intervals upright stakes are placed along the line of the hedge. These stakes give the finished hedge its final strength, a fancy effect is achieved by binding the uprights with such things as hazel whips woven around the tops of the stakes. The woven whips are known as binders or heatherings and can also be of birch, ash, in fact, these can be of any green wood which will hold the stakes and tops of the pleachers down securely. The stakes and binders used in hedgelaying when properly used provide strength, binders are not applied simply for visual effect although in competitive hedgelaying, the appearance of the binders is often one criterion for scoring the work. Traditionally the hedgelayers tool was a billhook, supplemented with an axe, over the centuries, different areas developed their own distinctive styles of hedge laying, based on local customs and also on the locally different requirements and available materials. This hedge was designed to keep big heavy bullocks in their field and this style is mainly found in Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire and Warwickshire—traditional beef rearing areas. Typical features, Stake sides face road or plough land, brush is on the animal side to stop them from eating new growth Hedge slopes towards the animals, as stakes are driven in behind the line of the roots. Strong binding is below the top of the hedge As the name suggests this style is from the county of Derbyshire which is a mixed farming, Typical features, Square, sawn stakes behind the line of roots. No binding, relies on weaving to keep pleachers in place, both of the following two styles are good sheep hedges, they use stakes, but as a rule neither uses any type of bindings, Typical features, Uses a double row of stakes, placed alternately. The most part of each pleacher lies between the two rows of stakes, the twiggy bits are pulled to the outside through the stakes, helping to keep everything in place
42.
Firewood
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Firewood is any wooden material that is gathered and used for fuel. Generally, firewood is not highly processed and is in some sort of recognizable log or branch form, Firewood can be seasoned or unseasoned. It can be classed as hardwood or softwood, however, demand for this fuel can outpace its ability to regenerate on a local or regional level. Good forestry practices and improvements in devices that use firewood can improve local wood supplies, harvesting or collecting firewood varies by the region and culture. Some places have specific areas for firewood collection, other places may integrate the collection of firewood in the cycle of preparing a plot of land to grow food as part of a field rotation process. Collection can be a group, family or an individual activity, the tools and methods for harvesting firewood are diverse. Some firewood is harvested in woodlots managed for that purpose, deadfall that has not started to rot is preferred, since it is already partly seasoned. Standing dead timber is considered better still, for it has less dirt on the trunk, allowing tools to stay sharper longer, harvesting this form of timber reduces the speed and intensity of bushfires, but it also reduces habitat for snag-nesting animals such as owls and some rodents. Harvesting timber for firewood is normally carried out by hand with chainsaws, thus, longer pieces - requiring less manual labour, and less chainsaw fuel - are less expensive and only limited by the size of the firebox. In most of the United States, the measure of firewood is a cord or 128 cubic feet, however. The BTU value can affect the price, prices also vary considerably with the distance from wood lots, and quality of the wood. Buying and burning firewood that was cut only a distance from its final destination prevents the accidental spread of invasive tree-killing insects. In most parts of the world, firewood is only prepared for transport at the time it is harvested, then it is moved closer to the place it will be used as fuel and prepared there. The process of making charcoal from firewood can take place at the place the firewood is harvested, most firewood also requires splitting, which also allows for faster seasoning by exposing more surface area. Today most splitting is done with a hydraulic splitting machine, another method is to use a kinetic log splitter, which uses a rack and pinion system powered by a small motor and a large flywheel used for energy storage. There are many ways to store firewood and these range from simple piles to free-standing stacks, to specialized structures. Usually the goal of storing wood is to keep away from it. Stacks, The simplest stack is where logs are placed next to and on top of each other, the height of the stack can vary, generally depending upon how the ends are constructed
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Hybrid (biology)
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In biology, a hybrid, also known as a cross breed, is the result of combining, through sexual reproduction, the qualities of two animals or plants of different breeds, varieties, species or genera. Hybrids are not always intermediate between their parents, but can show heterosis or hybrid vigour, often growing larger or taller than either parent, some act before fertilization, others after it. A few animal species and many plant species, however, are the result of hybrid speciation, doubling the number of chromosomes to create polyploids is important in hybrid speciation, because homoploid hybrids are rarely fertile, the polyploid hybrids are allopolyploids. Human impact on the environment has greatly increased the mixing of species, with introduced species worldwide, the genetic mixing may threaten many species with extinction, while genetic erosion in crop plants may be damaging the gene pools of many species for future breeding. Many commercially useful fruits, flowers, garden herbs and trees have been produced by hybridization, one flower, Oenothera lamarckiana, was central to early genetics research into polyploidy. The term hybrid is derived from Latin hybrida, used for such as of a tame sow and a wild boar, or the child of a freeman. The term came into use in English in the 19th century. Conspicuous hybrids are named with portmanteau words, starting in the 1920s with the breeding of tiger-lion hybrids. The cross between two different homozygous lines produces an F1 hybrid that is heterozygous, having two alleles, one contributed by each parent and typically one is dominant and the other recessive. Typically, the F1 generation is also phenotypically homogeneous, producing offspring that are all similar to each other, double cross hybrids result from the cross between two different F1 hybrids. Three-way cross hybrids result from the cross between an F1 hybrid and an inbred line, triple cross hybrids result from the crossing of two different three-way cross hybrids. Top cross hybrids result from the crossing of a top quality or pure-bred male, population hybrids result from the crossing of plants or animals in a population with those of another population. These include interspecific hybrids or crosses between different breeds. e, from the point of view of genetics, different kinds of hybrid can be distinguished as follows, A genetic hybrid carries two different alleles of the same gene. A structural hybrid results from the fusion of gametes that have differing structure in at least one chromosome, a numerical hybrid results from the fusion of gametes having different haploid numbers of chromosomes. A permanent hybrid results when only the heterozygous genotype occurs, as in Oenothera lamarckiana, from the point of view of taxonomy, hybrids differ according to their parentage, Hybrids between different subspecies are called intra-specific hybrids. Offspring resulting from interspecies mating, are called interspecific hybrids, these result in hybrid speciation. Intergeneric hybrids result from matings between different genera, such as sheep and goats. Interfamilial hybrids such as chickens and guineafowl or pheasants are reliably described but extremely rare
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Garden
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A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials, the most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has traditionally been a more general one. Zoos, which wild animals in simulated natural habitats, were formerly called zoological gardens. Western gardens are almost universally based on plants, with garden often signifying a shortened form of botanical garden, some traditional types of eastern gardens, such as Zen gardens, use plants sparsely or not at all. Xeriscape gardens use local plants that do not require irrigation or extensive use of other resources while still providing the benefits of a garden environment. Gardens may exhibit structural enhancements, sometimes called follies, including features such as fountains, ponds, waterfalls or creeks, dry creek beds, statuary, arbors, trellises. Some gardens are for ornamental purposes only, while some also produce food crops, sometimes in separate areas. Food-producing gardens are distinguished from farms by their scale, more labor-intensive methods. Flower gardens combine plants of different heights, colors, textures, Gardening is the activity of growing and maintaining the garden. This work is done by an amateur or professional gardener, a gardener might also work in a non-garden setting, such as a park, a roadside embankment, or other public space. Landscape architecture is a professional activity with landscape architects tending to specialise in design for public. See Grad for more complete etymology, the words yard, court, and Latin hortus, are cognates—all referring to an enclosed space. The term garden in British English refers to an enclosed area of land. This would be referred to as a yard in American English, garden design is the creation of plans for the layout and planting of gardens and landscapes. Gardens may be designed by garden owners themselves, or by professionals, professional garden designers tend to be trained in principles of design and horticulture, and have a knowledge and experience of using plants. Some professional garden designers are also landscape architects, a formal level of training that usually requires an advanced degree. Garden design can be divided into two groups, formal and naturalistic gardens. All of these considerations are subject to the limitations of the budget, most gardens consist of a mix of natural and constructed elements, although even very natural gardens are always an inherently artificial creation
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Cultivar
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The term cultivar most commonly refers to an assemblage of plants selected for desirable characteristics that are maintained during propagation. More generally, cultivar refers to the most basic classification category of cultivated plants governed by the ICNCP, most cultivars have arisen in cultivation, but a few are special selections from the wild. Popular ornamental garden plants like roses, camellias, daffodils, rhododendrons, trees used in forestry are also special selections grown for their enhanced quality and yield of timber. Cultivars form a part of Liberty Hyde Baileys broader grouping. Cultivar was coined by Bailey and it is regarded as a portmanteau of cultivated and variety. A cultivar is not the same as a variety, a taxonomic rank below subspecies. In recent times, the naming of cultivars has been complicated by the use of statutory plant patents, the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants offers legal protection of plant cultivars to people or organisations who introduce new cultivars to commerce. UPOV requires that a cultivar be distinct, uniform and stable, to be distinct, it must have characteristics that easily distinguish it from any other known cultivar. To be uniform and stable, the cultivar must retain these characteristics under repeated propagation, a cultivar is given a cultivar name, which consists of the scientific Latin botanical name followed by a cultivar epithet. The cultivar epithet is usually in a vernacular language, for example, the full cultivar name of the King Edward potato is Solanum tuberosum King Edward. The King Edward part of the name is the cultivar epithet, the origin of the term cultivar arises from the need to distinguish between wild plants and those with characteristics that have arisen in cultivation. This distinction dates back to the Greek philosopher Theophrastus, the Father of Botany, botanical historian Alan Morton notes that Theophrastus in his Enquiry into Plants had an inkling of the limits of culturally induced changes and of the importance of genetic constitution. In Species Plantarum, Linnaeus listed all the known to him. Most of the listed by Linnaeus were of garden origin rather than being wild plants. Over time there was an increasing need to distinguish between plants growing in the wild, and those with variations that had produced in cultivation. In the nineteenth century many garden-derived plants were given names, sometimes in Latin. In the twentieth century an improved international terminology was proposed for the classification and it is essentially the equivalent of the botanical variety except in respect to its origin. However, Bailey was never explicit about the etymology of the word, and it has suggested that it is a contraction of the words cultigen and variety
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"Hawthorn". Encyclopedia Americana. 1920.
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