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.
Fagales
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The Fagales are an order of flowering plants, including some of the best-known trees. The order name is derived from genus Fagus, beeches and they belong among the rosid group of dicotyledons. The other families were split into three different orders, placed among the Hamamelidae, the Casuarinales comprised the single family Casuarinaceae, the Juglandales comprised the Juglandaceae and Rhoipteleaceae, and the Myricales comprised the remaining forms. The change is due to studies suggesting the Myricales, so defined, are paraphyletic to the two groups. Modern molecular phylogenetics suggest the following relationships, Missouri Botanical Gardens - Fagales WCSP, World checklist of selected plant families
7.
Beech
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Beech is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia and North America. Recent classification systems of the genus recognize ten to thirteen species in two subgenera, Engleriana and Fagus. Further differentiating characteristics include the whitish bloom on the underside of the leaves, the visible tertiary leaf veins, Fagus japonica, Fagus engleriana, and the species F. okamotoi, proposed by the botanist Chung-Fu Shen in 1992, comprise this subgenus. The better known Fagus subgenus beeches are high-branching with tall, stout trunks and this group includes Fagus sylvatica, Fagus grandifolia, Fagus crenata, Fagus lucida, Fagus longipetiolata, and Fagus hayatae. The classification of the European beech, Fagus sylvatica is complex, research suggests that beeches in Eurasia differentiated fairly late in evolutionary history, during the Miocene. The populations in this area represent a range of often overlapping morphotypes, within its family, the Fagaceae, recent research has suggested that Fagus is the evolutionarily most basal group. The southern beeches previously thought closely related to beeches, are now treated as members of a separate family and they are found in Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, New Caledonia, Argentina and Chile. The European beech is the most commonly cultivated, although there are few important differences between species aside from detail elements such as leaf shape, the leaves of beech trees are entire or sparsely toothed, from 5–15 cm long and 4–10 cm broad. Beeches are monoecious, bearing male and female flowers on the same plant. The small flowers are unisexual, the flowers borne in pairs. They are produced in spring shortly after the new leaves appear, the bark is smooth and light grey. The fruit is a small, sharply three–angled nut 10–15 mm long, borne singly or in pairs in soft-spined husks 1. 5–2.5 cm long, known as cupules. The husk can have a variety of spine- to scale-like appendages, the nuts are edible, though bitter with a high tannin content, and are called beechnuts or beechmast. The name of the tree is of Indo-European origin, and played an important role in debates on the geographical origins of the Indo-European people. Greek φηγός is from the root, but the word was transferred to the oak tree as a result of the absence of beech trees in Greece. Beech grows on a range of soil types, acidic or basic. The tree canopy casts dense shade, and carpets the ground thickly with leaf litter, in North America, they often form beech-maple climax forests by partnering with the sugar maple. The beech blight aphid is a common pest of American beech trees, Beeches are also used as food plants by some species of Lepidoptera
8.
Genus
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A genus is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms in biology. In the hierarchy of classification, genus comes above species. In binomial nomenclature, the name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus. Felis catus and Felis silvestris are two species within the genus Felis, Felis is a genus within the family Felidae. The composition of a genus is determined by a taxonomist, the standards for genus classification are not strictly codified, so different authorities often produce different classifications for genera. Moreover, genera should be composed of units of the same kind as other genera. The term comes from the Latin genus, a noun form cognate with gignere, linnaeus popularized its use in his 1753 Species Plantarum, but the French botanist Joseph Pitton de Tournefort is considered the founder of the modern concept of genera. The scientific name of a genus may be called the name or generic epithet. It plays a role in binomial nomenclature, the system of naming organisms. The rules for the names of organisms are laid down in the Nomenclature Codes. The standard way of scientifically describing species and other lower-ranked taxa is by binomial nomenclature, the generic name forms its first half. For example, the gray wolfs binomial name is Canis lupus, with Canis being the name shared by the wolfs close relatives. The specific name is written in lower-case and may be followed by names in zoology or a variety of infraspecific names in botany. Especially with these names, when the generic name is known from context. Because animals are typically only grouped within subspecies, it is written as a trinomen with a third name. Dog breeds, meanwhile, are not scientifically distinguished, there are several divisions of plant species and therefore their infraspecific names generally include contractions explaining the relation. For example, the genus Hibiscus includes hundreds of other species apart from the Rose of Sharon or common garden hibiscus, Rose of Sharon doesnt have subspecies but has cultivars that carry desired traits, such as the bright white H. syriaca Diana. Hawaiian hibiscus, meanwhile, includes several separate species, since not all botanists agree on the divisions or names between species, it is common to specify the source of the name using author abbreviations
9.
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
10.
Oak
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An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 600 extant species of oaks, the common name oak also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus, as well as in those of unrelated species such as Grevillea robusta and the Casuarinaceae. North America contains the largest number of oak species, with approximately 90 occurring in the United States, the second greatest center of oak diversity is China, which contains approximately 100 species. Oaks have spirally arranged leaves, with lobate margins in many species, also, the acorns contain tannic acid, as do the leaves, which helps to guard from fungi and insects. Many deciduous species are marcescent, not dropping dead leaves until spring, in spring, a single oak tree produces both male flowers and small female flowers. The fruit is a nut called an acorn, borne in a structure known as a cupule, each acorn contains one seed and takes 6–18 months to mature. The live oaks are distinguished for being evergreen, but are not actually a distinct group, the oak tree is a flowering plant. Oaks may be divided into two genera and a number of sections, The genus Quercus is divided into the following sections, Quercus, the white oaks of Europe, Asia and North America. Styles are short, acorns mature in 6 months and taste sweet or slightly bitter, the leaves mostly lack a bristle on their lobe tips, which are usually rounded. The type species is Quercus robur, Mesobalanus, Hungarian oak and its relatives of Europe and Asia. Styles long, acorns mature in about 6 months and taste bitter, the section Mesobalanus is closely related to section Quercus and sometimes included in it. Cerris, the Turkey oak and its relatives of Europe and Asia, styles long, acorn mature in 18 months and taste very bitter. The inside of the shell is hairless. Its leaves typically have sharp tips, with bristles at the lobe tip. Protobalanus, the live oak and its relatives, in southwest United States. Styles short, acorns mature in 18 months and taste very bitter, the inside of the acorn shell appears woolly. Leaves typically have sharp tips, with bristles at the lobe tip. Lobatae, the red oaks of North America, Central America, styles long, acorns mature in 18 months and taste very bitter
11.
Deciduous
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In a more general sense, deciduous means the dropping of a part that is no longer needed or falling away after its purpose is finished. In plants it is the result of natural processes, in botany and horticulture, deciduous plants, including trees, shrubs and herbaceous perennials, are those that lose all of their leaves for part of the year. In some cases leaf loss coincides with winter—namely in temperate or polar climates, in other parts of the world, including tropical, subtropical, and arid regions, plants lose their leaves during the dry season or other seasons, depending on variations in rainfall. The converse of deciduous is coniferous, where foliage is shed on a different schedule from deciduous trees, plants that are intermediate may be called semi-deciduous, they lose old foliage as new growth begins. Other plants are semi-evergreen and lose their leaves before the growing season. Many deciduous plants flower during the period when they are leafless, the absence of leaves improves wind transmission of pollen for wind-pollinated plants and increases the visibility of the flowers to insects in insect-pollinated plants. This strategy is not without risks, as the flowers can be damaged by frost or, in dry season regions, leaf drop or abscission involves complex physiological signals and changes within plants. The process of photosynthesis steadily degrades the supply of chlorophylls in foliage, the brightest leaf colors are produced when days grow short and nights are cool, but remain above freezing. These other pigments include carotenoids that are yellow, brown, anthocyanin pigments produce red and purple colors, though they are not always present in the leaves. Rather, they are produced in the foliage in late summer, parts of the world that have showy displays of bright autumn colors are limited to locations where days become short and nights are cool. In other parts of the world, the leaves of deciduous trees simply fall off without turning the bright colors produced from the accumulation of anthocyanin pigments, the beginnings of leaf drop starts when an abscission layer is formed between the leaf petiole and the stem. This layer is formed in the spring during active new growth of the leaf, the cells are sensitive to a plant hormone called auxin that is produced by the leaf and other parts of the plant. The elongation of cells break the connection between the different cell layers, allowing the leaf to break away from the plant. It also forms a layer that seals the break, so the plant does not lose sap, in the spring, these proteins are used as a nitrogen source during the growth of new leaves or flowers. Plants with deciduous foliage have advantages and disadvantages compared to plants with evergreen foliage, evergreens suffer greater water loss during the winter and they also can experience greater predation pressure, especially when small. Losing leaves in winter may reduce damage from insects, repairing leaves, removing leaves also reduces cavitation which can damage xylem vessels in plants. This then allows deciduous plants to have xylem vessels with larger diameters, the deciduous characteristic has developed repeatedly among woody plants. Trees include maple, many oaks and nothofagus, elm, aspen, Deciduous shrubs include honeysuckle, viburnum, and many others
12.
Evergreen
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In botany, an evergreen is a plant that has leaves throughout the year, always green. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage during the winter or dry season. There are many different kinds of plants, both trees and shrubs. Deciduous trees shed their leaves, usually as an adaptation to a cold or dry/wet season, evergreen trees do lose leaves, but each tree loses its leaves gradually and not all at once. Most warm temperate climate plants are also evergreen, in cool temperate climates, fewer plants are evergreen, with a predominance of conifers, as few evergreen broadleaf plants can tolerate severe cold below about −30 °C. In areas where there is a reason for being deciduous, being evergreen is usually an adaptation to low nutrient levels, deciduous trees lose nutrients whenever they lose their leaves. In warmer areas, species such as pines and cypresses grow on poor soils. In Rhododendron, a genus with many broadleaf evergreens, several species grow in forests but are usually found on highly acidic soil where the nutrients are less available to plants. In taiga or boreal forests, it is too cold for the matter in the soil to decay rapidly, so the nutrients in the soil are less easily available to plants. These conditions favour the growth of more evergreens and make it difficult for deciduous plants to persist. In addition, the shelter provided by existing evergreen plants can make it easier for younger evergreen plants to survive cold and/or drought
13.
Leaves
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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
14.
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
15.
Catkin
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A catkin or ament is a slim, cylindrical flower cluster, with inconspicuous or no petals, usually wind-pollinated but sometimes insect-pollinated. They contain many, usually flowers, arranged closely along a central stem which is often drooping. They are found in plant families, including Betulaceae, Fagaceae, Moraceae. For some time, they were believed to be a key synapomorphy among the proposed Hamamelididae, based on molecular phylogeny work, it is now believed that Hamamelididae is a polyphyletic group. This suggests that the flower arrangement has arisen at least twice independently by convergent evolution, in Fagales. Such a convergent evolution raises questions about what the ancestral inflorescence characters might be, in many of these plants, only the male flowers form catkins, and the female flowers are single, a cone or other types. In other plants both male and female flowers are borne in catkins, catkin-bearing plants include many other trees or shrubs such as birch, willow, hickory, sweet chestnut and sweetfern. The word catkin is a loanword from the old Dutch katteken, meaning kitten, ament is from the Latin amentum, meaning thong or strap. Catkins in Fagales Catkins in Salicaceae
16.
Calybium and cupule
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The calybium and the cupule make up the accessory fruit of flowering plants in the family Fagaceae. These two parts derive from different flower components, the cupule holds and protects the fruit during its growth and maturation. In some genera, it only partly encloses the nut, while in others. It is derived from the part of the flower. The cupule is covered by numerous scales, in some, the scales are developed into sharp spines, giving the nut protection from squirrels and other seed predators, while in others, they are not. In Lithocarpus, the cupule is hard and bone-like in texture. The calybium is the fruit proper and it develops from an inferior ovary, meaning it is initially encased in the future cupule. Technically the calybium is a nut, as its ovary wall becomes dry with the embryo loosely enclosed inside, gee, Carole T. Sander, P. Martin & Petzelberger, Bianka E. M. A Miocene rodent nut cache in coastal dunes of the Lower Rhine Embayment, Germany
17.
Petiole (botany)
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In botany, the petiole is the stalk that attaches the leaf blade to the stem. The petiole is the transition between the stem and the leaf blade, outgrowths appearing on each side of the petiole in some species are called stipules. Leaves lacking a petiole are called sessile or epetiolate, the petiole is a stalk that attaches a leaf to the plant stem. In petiolate leaves, the stalk may be long, as in the leaves of celery and rhubarb, short or completely absent. Subpetiolate leaves are petiolate, or have an extremely short petiole. The broomrape family Orobanchaceae is an example of a family in which the leaves are always sessile, in some other plant groups, such as the speedwell genus Veronica, petiolate and sessile leaves may occur in different species. In the grasses the leaves are apetiolate, but the blade may be narrowed at the junction with the leaf sheath to form a pseudopetiole. In plants with leaves, the leaflets are attached to a continuation of the petiole called the rachis. Each leaflet may be attached to the rachis by a stalk called the petiolule. There may be swollen regions at either end of the known as pulvina that are composed of a flexible tissue that allows leaf movement. Pulvina are common in the bean family Fabaceae and the plant family Marantaceae. A pulvinus on a petiolule is called a pulvinulus, in some plants, the petioles are flattened and widened, to become phyllodes or phyllodia, or cladophylls and the true leaves may be reduced or absent. Thus, the comes to serve the functions of the leaf. Phyllodes are common in the genus Acacia, especially the Australian species, in Acacia koa, the phyllodes are leathery and thick, allowing the tree to survive stressful environments. The petiole allows partially submerged hydrophytes to have leaves floating at different depths, in plants such as rhubarb, celery, artichokes and cardoons the petioles are cultivated as edible crops. The petiole of rhubarb grows directly from the rhizome and produces the leaf at its end, botanically it is categorized as a vegetable and culinarily used as a fruit. Petiole is pronounced /ˈpiːtᵻoʊl/ and comes from Latin petiolus, or peciolus little foot, stem, the regular diminutive pediculus is also used for foot stalk
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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
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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
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Endosperm
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Endosperm is a tissue produced inside the seeds of most of the flowering plants following fertilization. It surrounds the embryo and provides nutrition in the form of starch, though it can also contain oils and this can make endosperm a source of nutrition in the human diet. For example, wheat endosperm is ground into flour for bread, other examples of endosperm that forms the bulk of the edible portion are coconut meat and coconut water, and corn. Some plants, such as orchids, lack endosperm in their seeds, in more derived flowering plants the embryo occupies most of the seed and the endosperm is non developed or consumed before the seed matures. Endosperm is formed when the two sperm nuclei inside a pollen grain reach the interior of a female gametophyte, one sperm nucleus fertilizes the egg cell, forming a zygote, while the other sperm nucleus usually fuses with the binucleate central cell, forming a primary endosperm cell. That cell created in the process of double fertilization develops into the endosperm, because it is formed by a separate fertilization, the endosperm constitutes an organism separate from the growing embryo. About 70% of angiosperm species have endosperm cells that are polyploid and these are typically triploid, but can vary widely from diploid to 15n. One species of flowering plant, Nuphar polysepala, has endosperm that is diploid, resulting from the fusion of a nucleus with one. There are three types of Endosperm development, Nuclear endosperm formation - where repeated free-nuclear divisions take place, commonly referred to as liquid endosperm. Coconut water is an example of this, cellular endosperm formation - where a cell-wall formation is coincident with nuclear divisions. Acoraceae has cellular endosperm development while other monocots are helobial, the evolutionary origins of double fertilization and endosperm are unclear, attracting researcher attention for over a century. There are the two hypotheses, The double fertilization initially used to produce two identical, independent embryos. Later these embryos acquired different roles, one growing into the mature organism, thus the early endosperm was probably diploid, like the embryo. Some gymnosperms, such as Ephedra, may produce twin embryos by double fertilization, either of these two embryos is capable of filling in the seed, but normally only one develops further. Also, most basal angiosperms still contain the embryo sac. Endosperm is the remnant of the actual gametophyte, similar to the complex multicellular gametophytes found in gymnosperms. In this case, acquisition of the nucleus from the sperm cell is a later evolutionary step. This nucleus may provide the organism with some control over endosperm development
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Chestnut
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The chestnut group is a genus of eight or nine species of deciduous trees and shrubs in the beech family Fagaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce, Chestnuts belong to the family Fagaceae, which also includes oaks and beeches. Unrelated but externally similar species of horse chestnut are abundant around Europe, other trees commonly mistaken for chestnut trees are the chestnut oak and the American beech, both of which are also in Fagaceae. The name chestnut is derived from an earlier English term chesten nut, the name Castanea is probably derived from the old name for the sweet chestnut, either in Latin or in Ancient Greek. Another possible source of the name is the town of Kastania in Thessaly, Greece, more probable, in the Mediterranean climate zone, chestnut trees are rarer in Greece because the chalky soil is not conducive to the trees growth. Kastania is located on one of the relatively few sedimentary or siliceous outcrops and they grow so abundantly there, their presence would have determined the places name. Still others take the name as coming from the Greek name of Sardis glans – Sardis being the capital of Lydia, Asia Minor, the name is cited twice in the King James Version of the Bible. In one instance, Jacob puts peeled twigs in the troughs to promote healthy offspring of his livestock. Although it may indicate another tree, it indicates the fruit was a staple food in the early 17th century. These synonyms are or have been in use, Fagus castanea, Sardian nut, Jupiters nut, husked nut, Chestnut trees are of moderate growth rate to fast-growing for American and European species. Their mature heights vary from the smallest species of chinkapins, often shrubby, to the giant of past American forests, C. dentata that could reach 60 m. Between these extremes are found the Japanese chestnut at 10 m average, followed by the Chinese chestnut at about 15 m, when standing on their own, they spread on the sides and develop broad, rounded, dense crowns at maturity. The two latters foliage has striking yellow autumn colouring and its bark is smooth when young, of a vinous maroon or red-brown colour for the American chestnut, grey for the European chestnut. The leaves are simple, ovate or lanceolate, 10–30 cm long and 4–10 cm wide, with sharply pointed, the flowers follow the leaves, appearing in late spring or early summer or into July. They are arranged in long catkins of two kinds, with both kinds being borne on every tree, some catkins are made of only male flowers, which mature first. Each flower has eight stamens, or 10 to 12 for C. mollissima, the ripe pollen carries a heavy, sweet odour that some people find too sweet or unpleasant. Other catkins have these pollen-bearing flowers, but also carry near the twig from which these spring, two or three flowers together form a four-lobed prickly calybium, which ultimately grows completely together to make the brown hull, or husk, covering the fruits. Chestnut flowers are not self-compatible, so two trees are required for pollination, all Castanea species readily hybridize with each other
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Quercus suber
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Quercus suber, commonly called the cork oak, is a medium-sized, evergreen oak tree in the section Quercus sect. It is the source of cork for wine bottle stoppers and other uses. It is native to southwest Europe and northwest Africa and it grows to up to 20 m, although it is typically more stunted in its native environment. The leaves are 4 to 7 cm long, weakly lobed or coarsely toothed, dark green above, the acorns are 2 to 3 cm long, in a deep cup fringed with elongated scales. Natural stands of oak can support diverse ecosystems. In Western Europe, namely in Portugal and Spain, the oak forests are home to endangered species such as the Iberian lynx. The tree has a thick, insulating bark that may have been the cork oaks evolutionary answer to forest fires, the quick regeneration of the pyrophyte tree seems to be an advantage compared to other species that, after a fire, return to an initial stage of development. The tree forms a thick, rugged bark containing high levels of suberin, over time the cork cambium layer of bark can develop considerable thickness and can be harvested every 7 to ten years to produce cork. The harvesting of cork does not harm the tree, in fact, only the bark is extracted, and a new layer of cork regrows, making it a renewable resource. The tree is cultivated in Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Morocco, France, Italy, Cork oaks are considered to be soil builders and their fruits have been shown to have useful insecticidal properties. Cork oak forests cover approximately 25,000 square kilometres in those countries, Portugal accounts for around 50% of the world cork harvest. Q. suber is commonly grown in agroforestry systems, known as montado in Portugal and these are open woods with low tree density. In these systems, forage species are grown under the trees. Cork oaks live about 150 to 250 years, virgin cork is the first cork cut from generally 25-year-old trees. Another 9 to 12 years is required for the second harvest, Cork harvesting is done entirely without machinery, being dependent solely on human labor. Usually five people are required to harvest the bark, using a small axe. The process requires training due to the required to harvest bark without harming the tree. The European cork industry produces 300,000 tonnes of cork a year, with a value of €1.5 billion, wine corks represent 15% of cork usage by weight but 66% of revenues
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Monophyly
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In common cladistic usage, a monophyletic group is a taxon which forms a clade, meaning that it consists of an ancestral species and all its descendants. The term is synonymous with the uncommon term holophyly, monophyletic groups are typically characterized by shared derived characteristics. Monophyly is contrasted with paraphyly and polyphyly, as shown in the second diagram, a paraphyletic group consists of all of the descendants of a common ancestor minus one or more monophyletic groups. These definitions have taken time to be accepted. When the cladistic school of thought became mainstream in the 1960s, indeed, taxonomists sometimes used terms without defining them, leading to confusion in the early literature, a confusion which persists. On the broadest scale, definitions fall into two groups, willi Hennig defined monophyly as groups based on synapomorphy. Some authors have sought to define monophyly to include paraphyly as any two or more groups sharing a common ancestor, however, this broader definition encompasses both monophyletic and paraphyletic groups as defined above. Therefore, most scientists today restrict the term monophyletic to refer to groups consisting of all the descendants of one common ancestor, however, when considering taxonomic groups such as genera and species, the most appropriate nature of their common ancestor is unclear. Assuming that it would be one individual or mating pair is unrealistic for sexually reproducing species, some argue that using a broader definition, such as a species and all its descendants, does not really work to define a genus. According to D. M. Glossary of scientific naming Clade Paraphyly Polyphyly Crown group Abbey, graphical explanation of basic phylogenetic terms. Carr, Steven M. Concepts of monophyly, polyphyly & paraphyly
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Morphology (biology)
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Morphology is a branch of biology dealing with the study of the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features. This includes aspects of the appearance, i. e. external morphology, as well as the form and structure of the internal parts like bones and organs. This is in contrast to physiology, which deals primarily with function, Morphology is a branch of life science dealing with the study of gross structure of an organism or taxon and its component parts. The word morphology is from the Ancient Greek don, morphé, meaning form, among other important theorists of morphology are Lorenz Oken, Georges Cuvier, Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Richard Owen, Karl Gegenbaur and Ernst Haeckel. In English-speaking countries, the term molecular morphology has been used for time for describing the structure of compound molecules, such as polymers. Comparative Morphology is analysis of the patterns of the locus of structures within the plan of an organism. Functional Morphology is the study of the relationship between the structure and function of morphological features, experimental Morphology is the study of the effects of external factors upon the morphology of organisms under experimental conditions, such as the effect of genetic mutation. Anatomy is a branch of morphology that deals with the structure of organisms, most taxa differ morphologically from other taxa. Typically, closely related taxa differ much less than more distantly related ones, cryptic species are species which look very similar, or perhaps even outwardly identical, but are reproductively isolated. Conversely, sometimes unrelated taxa acquire a similar appearance as a result of convergent evolution or even mimicry, in addition, there can be morphological differences within a species, such as in Apoica flavissima where queens are significantly smaller than workers. A further problem with relying on morphological data is that what may appear, morphologically speaking, the significance of these differences can be examined through the use of allometric engineering in which one or both species are manipulated to phenocopy the other species. Invention and development of microscopy enable the observation of 3-D cell morphology with both spatial and temporal resolution. The dynamic processes of cell morphology which are controlled by a complex system play an important role in varied important biological process, such as immune. Comparative anatomy Insect morphology Morphometrics Neuromorphology Phenetics Phenotype Phenotypic plasticity Plant morphology
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Nothofagus
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Nothofagus, also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of 43 species of trees and shrubs native to the Southern Hemisphere in southern South America and Australasia. The species are ecological dominants in many forests in these regions. Some species are naturalised in Germany and Great Britain. The genus has a fossil record of leaves, cupules and pollen, with fossils extending into the late Cretaceous and occurring in Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica. In the past, they were included in the family Fagaceae, but genetic tests revealed them to be distinct, and they are now included in their own family. The leaves are toothed or entire, evergreen or deciduous, the fruit is a small, flattened or triangular nut, borne in cupules containing one to seven nuts. Nothofagus species are used as food plants by the larvae of moths of the genus Aenetus, including A. eximia. Sexual reproduction has since shown to be possible. This proposed change is not taxonomically essential and has not been accepted outside New Zealand, in South America the northern genus limit can be construed as La Campana National Park and the Vizcachas Mountains in the central part of Chile. Every four to six years or so, Nothofagus produces a crop of seeds and is known as the beech mast. In New Zealand, the beech mast causes an increase in the population of introduced mammals such as mice, rats, when the rodent population collapses, the stoats begin to prey on native bird species, many of which are threatened with extinction. This phenomenon is covered in detail in the article on stoats in New Zealand. Beechwood Honeydew is a type of honey made in New Zealand from the secretions of Hemiptera aphids feeding on Nothofagus trees, cyttaria, genus of ascomycete fungi found on or associated with Nothofagus Misodendrum, specialist parasites of Nothofagus
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Chromosome
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A chromosome is a DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. Prokaryotes usually have one single circular chromosome, whereas most eukaryotes are diploid, chromosomes in eukaryotes are composed of chromatin fiber. Chromatin fiber is made of nucleosomes, a nucleosome is a histone octamer with part of a longer DNA strand attached to and wrapped around it. Chromatin fiber, together with associated proteins is known as chromatin, chromatin is present in most cells, with a few exceptions, for example, red blood cells. Occurring only in the nucleus of cells, chromatin contains the vast majority of DNA, except for a small amount inherited maternally. Chromosomes are normally visible under a microscope only when the cell is undergoing the metaphase of cell division. Before this happens every chromosome is copied once, and the copy is joined to the original by a centromere resulting in an X-shaped structure, the original chromosome and the copy are now called sister chromatids. During metaphase, when a chromosome is in its most condensed state, in this highly condensed form chromosomes are easiest to distinguish and study. In prokaryotic cells, chromatin occurs free-floating in cytoplasm, as these cells lack organelles, the main information-carrying macromolecule is a single piece of coiled double-helix DNA, containing many genes, regulatory elements and other noncoding DNA. The DNA-bound macromolecules are proteins that serve to package the DNA, chromosomes vary widely between different organisms. Some species such as certain bacteria also contain plasmids or other extrachromosomal DNA and these are circular structures in the cytoplasm that contain cellular DNA and play a role in horizontal gene transfer. Chromosomal recombination during meiosis and subsequent sexual reproduction plays a significant role in genetic diversity. In prokaryotes and viruses, the DNA is often densely packed and organized, in the case of archaea, by homologs to eukaryotic histones, small circular genomes called plasmids are often found in bacteria and also in mitochondria and chloroplasts, reflecting their bacterial origins. Some use the term chromosome in a sense, to refer to the individualized portions of chromatin in cells. However, others use the concept in a sense, to refer to the individualized portions of chromatin during cell division. The word chromosome comes from the Greek χρῶμα and σῶμα, describing their strong staining by particular dyes, schleiden, Virchow and Bütschli were among the first scientists who recognized the structures now so familiar to everyone as chromosomes. The term was coined by von Waldeyer-Hartz, referring to the term chromatin, in a series of experiments beginning in the mid-1880s, Theodor Boveri gave the definitive demonstration that chromosomes are the vectors of heredity. His two principles were the continuity of chromosomes and the individuality of chromosomes and it is the second of these principles that was so original
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Castanopsis
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Castanopsis, commonly called chinquapin or chinkapin, is a genus of evergreen trees belonging to the beech family, Fagaceae. The genus contains about 120 species, which are restricted to tropical and subtropical eastern Asia. A total of 58 species are native to China, with 30 endemic, the species occur further south, through Indochina to Indonesia. They show many characters typical of Fagaceae and they are at least large shrubs but some species grow into sizeable trees. Their leaves are tough and much sclerotized and have a well-developed cuticula. Their flowers are unisexual, and the ones are borne in erect catkins. The epigynous female flowers produce a single seed each but are congregated in small clusters, the fruit is a calybium, the kind of encased nut typical of Fagaceae. The calybium resembles an acorn, the cupule is hard like that of beechnuts. Three thickened ridges run the length of the calybiums shell, in their rather circumscribed area of occurrence, Castanopsis are able to inhabit a wide range of temperate to tropical habitat and are often keystone species in their ecosystems. They are plentiful in ecotones as diverse as Borneo montane rain forests, Taiwan subtropical evergreen forests, generally they are common in Fagales-dominated montane forests and temperate to subtropical laurel forests. In the latter, they are elements of the climax vegetation in essentially their entire continental Asian range. Plants of this genus grow on soil types, as long as they are not calcareous. Several species have adapted to podsolic, peat bog, swamp and other acidic and/or wet soils, around the Oligo-Miocene boundary, Castanopsis grew abundantly along rivers and in bogs and swamps of then-subtropical Europe. The prehistoric plant community Castanopsietum oligo-miocenicum is the source of much of the deposits in Western. Most species yield valuable timber but some have become rare due to unsustainable logging, as noted above, however, perhaps the most important use for Castanopsis wood is in its fossil form. 175,400 metric tons of lignite - much of which was former chinkapin trees - were mined in Germany in 2001, as with many Fagaceae, the nuts of many Castanopsis species are edible. The trees may be grown for their nuts, but more often they are used as forestry or ornamental trees, among many animals, such as tits, corvids, rodents, deer and pigs, the nuts are popular as food too. Meguro, Tokyo and Matsudo, Chiba in Japan use shii as one of their municipal symbols, the well-known and commercially important shiitake mushroom likes to grow on the logs of C. cuspidata and derives its common name from this, shii-take simply means Castanopsis cuspidata mushroom
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Chrysolepis
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Chrysolepis is a small genus in the beech family Fagaceae, endemic to the western United States. Its two species have the common name chinquapin, the genus occurs from western Washington south to the Transverse Ranges in Southern California, and east into Nevada. The fruit is a spiny cupule containing usually three sweet, edible nuts, eaten by the indigenous peoples. The fruit also provides food for birds and wildlife, chrysolepis is related to the subtropical southeast Asian genus Castanopsis, but differs in the nuts being triangular and fully enclosed in a sectioned cupule, and in having bisexual catkins. Chrysolepis also differs from another allied genus Castanea, in nuts that take 14–16 months to mature, evergreen leaves, chrysolepis chrysophylla, the golden chinquapin or giant chinquapin, A tree reaching 20–40 metres tall, or sometimes a shrub 3–10 metres tall. It occurs in areas of the Pacific Coast Ranges from Washington near Seattle south to the San Luis Obispo area California Coast Ranges. There is also a disjunct population distribution in the northern Sierra Nevada east of the Sacramento Valley. Chrysolepis chrysophylla grows at lower elevations than C. sempervirens, from sea level to 1,500 metres, the leaves are 6–12 centimetres long, with an acute apex. The bark is thick and rough, chrysolepis sempervirens, the bush chinquapin, A shrub only 1–2 metres tall. Chrysolepis sempervirens grows mostly at high elevation,1, 000–3,000 metres altitude, the leaves are smaller, 4–8 centimetres long, with an obtuse apex. The bark is thin and smooth
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Lithocarpus
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Lithocarpus is a genus in the beech family Fagaceae, differing from Quercus in the erect spikes of insect-pollinated male flowers and the short styles with punctate stigmas on the female flowers. The World Checklist accepts 334 species, though some texts suggest as few as 100 species. About 100 Asian species of the genus were formerly treated in the genus Pasania, all are native to east and southeast Asia. These Asian species do not have a well-known English vernacular name, lithocarpus trees are evergreen trees with leathery, alternate leaves, which may be either entire or toothed. The seed is a nut similar to an oak acorn. The nut kernel is edible in some species, but inedible, several of the species are very attractive ornamental trees, used in parks and large gardens in warm temperate and subtropical areas
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Notholithocarpus
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It can reach 40 m tall in the California Coast Ranges, and can have a trunk diameter of 60–190 cm. Tanbark-oak was recently moved into a new genus, Notholithocarpus, based on lines of evidence. The Notholithocarpus densiflorus leaves are alternate, 7–15 cm, with toothed margins and a hard, leathery texture, and persist for three to four years. At first they are covered in dense orange-brown scurfy hairs on both sides, but those on the surface soon wear off, those on the under surface persisting longer. The seed is a acorn 2–3 cm long and 2 cm in diameter, very similar to an oak acorn, the nut sits in a cup during its 18-month maturation, the outside surface of the cup is rough with short spines. The nuts are produced in clusters of a few together on a single stem, the nut kernel is very bitter, and is inedible for people without extensive leaching, although squirrels eat them. Tanoak is one of the species most seriously affected by sudden oak death, with high mortality reported over much of the species range, the variety intergrades with the type in northwest California and southwest Oregon. Tanoak does grow on serpentine soils as a shrub, some California Native Americans prefer this nut to those of many Quercus acorns because it stores well due to the comparatively high tannin content. The Concow tribe call the nut hä’-hä, the Hupa people use the acorns to make meal, from which they would make mush, bread, biscuits, pancakes, and cakes. They also roast the acorns and eat them, roasted, the seeds can be used as a coffee substitute. The name tanoak refers to its bark, a type of tanbark. By 1907 the use of tanoak for tannin was subsiding due to the scarcity of large tanoak trees, there werent enough trees around for a worthwhile economic return. By the early 1960s there were only a few natural tannin operations left in California, the industry was beginning to switch to a synthetic alternative. A mulch made from the leaves of the plant can repel grubs, tanoak tannin has been used as an astringent. Tanoak is sometimes used as lumber, but isnt currently harvested commercially, currently the largest known tanoak specimen is on private timberland near the town of Ophir, Oregon. It has a circumference of 26 feet, is about 8.25 feet in diameter at breast height, and is 121 feet tall with an average crown spread of 56 feet
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California
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California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
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Oregon
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Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Oregon is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean, on the north by Washington, on the south by California, on the east by Idaho, the Columbia River delineates much of Oregons northern boundary, and the Snake River delineates much of the eastern boundary. The parallel 42° north delineates the boundary with California and Nevada. Oregon was inhabited by indigenous tribes before Western traders, explorers. An autonomous government was formed in the Oregon Country in 1843 before the Oregon Territory was created in 1848, Oregon became the 33rd state on February 14,1859. Today, at 98,000 square miles, Oregon is the ninth largest and, with a population of 4 million, the capital of Oregon is Salem, the second most populous of its cities, with 164,549 residents. Portland is Oregons most populous city, with 632,309 residents, Portlands metro population of 2,389,228 ranks the 23rd largest metro in the nation. The Willamette Valley in western Oregon is the states most densely populated area, the tall conifers, mainly Douglas fir, along Oregons rainy west coast contrast with the lighter-timbered and fire-prone pine and juniper forests covering portions to the east. Abundant alders in the west fix nitrogen for the conifers, stretching east from central Oregon are semi-arid shrublands, prairies, deserts, steppes, and meadows. At 11,249 feet, Mount Hood is the states highest point, Oregons only national park, Crater Lake National Park, comprises the caldera surrounding Crater Lake, the deepest lake in the United States. The state is home to the single largest organism in the world, Armillaria ostoyae. Because of its landscapes and waterways, Oregons economy is largely powered by various forms of agriculture, fishing. It is also the top timber-producer of the lower 48 states, Technology is another one of the states major economic forces, which began in the 1970s with the establishment of the Silicon Forest and the expansion of Tektronix and Intel. Sportswear company Nike, Inc. headquartered in Beaverton, is the states largest public corporation with a revenue of $30.6 billion. The earliest evidence of the name Oregon has Spanish origins and this chronicle is the first topographical and linguistic source with respect to the place name Oregon. There are also two other sources with Spanish origins such as the name Oregano which grows in the part of the region. Another early use of the name, spelled Ouragon, was in a 1765 petition by Major Robert Rogers to the Kingdom of Great Britain, the term referred to the then-mythical River of the West. By 1778 the spelling had shifted to Oregon, in his 1765 petition, Rogers wrote, The rout. is from the Great Lakes towards the Head of the Mississippi, and from thence to the River called by the Indians Ouragon
33.
Northern Hemisphere
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The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earths North pole. Due to the Earths axial tilt, winter in the Northern Hemisphere lasts from the December solstice to the March Equinox, the dates vary each year due to the difference between the calendar year and the astronomical year. Its surface is 60. 7% water, compared with 80. 9% water in the case of the Southern Hemisphere, the Arctic is the region north of the Arctic Circle. Its climate is characterized by cold winters and cool summers, precipitation mostly comes in the form of snow. The Arctic experiences some days in summer when the Sun never sets, the duration of these phases varies from one day for locations right on the Arctic Circle to several months near the North Pole, which is the middle of the Northern Hemisphere. Between the Arctic Circle and the Tropic of Cancer lies the Northern Temperate Zone, the changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally mild, rather than extreme hot or cold. However, a temperate climate can have very unpredictable weather, tropical regions are generally hot all year round and tend to experience a rainy season during the summer months, and a dry season during the winter months. In the Northern Hemisphere, objects moving across or above the surface of the Earth tend to turn to the right because of the coriolis effect, as a result, large-scale horizontal flows of air or water tend to form clockwise-turning gyres. These are best seen in circulation patterns in the North Atlantic. For the same reason, flows of air down toward the surface of the Earth tend to spread across the surface in a clockwise pattern. Thus, clockwise air circulation is characteristic of high pressure weather cells in the Northern Hemisphere, conversely, air rising from the northern surface of the Earth tends to draw air toward it in a counterclockwise pattern. Hurricanes and tropical storms spin counter-clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere, the shadow of a sundial moves clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere. When viewed from the Northern Hemisphere, the Moon appears inverted compared to a view from the Southern Hemisphere, the North Pole faces away from the galactic center of the Milky Way. The Northern Hemisphere is home to approximately 6.57 billion people which is around 90% of the total human population of 7.3 billion people
34.
Equator
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The Equator usually refers to an imaginary line on the Earths surface equidistant from the North Pole and South Pole, dividing the Earth into the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere. The Equator is about 40,075 kilometres long, some 78. 7% lies across water and 21. 3% over land, other planets and astronomical bodies have equators similarly defined. Generally, an equator is the intersection of the surface of a sphere with the plane that is perpendicular to the spheres axis of rotation. The latitude of the Earths equator is by definition 0° of arc, the equator is the only line of latitude which is also a great circle — that is, one whose plane passes through the center of the globe. The plane of Earths equator when projected outwards to the celestial sphere defines the celestial equator, in the cycle of Earths seasons, the plane of the equator passes through the Sun twice per year, at the March and September equinoxes. To an observer on the Earth, the Sun appears to travel North or South over the equator at these times, light rays from the center of the Sun are perpendicular to the surface of the Earth at the point of solar noon on the Equator. Locations on the Equator experience the quickest sunrises and sunsets because the sun moves nearly perpendicular to the horizon for most of the year. The Earth bulges slightly at the Equator, the diameter of the Earth is 12,750 kilometres. Because the Earth spins to the east, spacecraft must also launch to the east to take advantage of this Earth-boost of speed, seasons result from the yearly revolution of the Earth around the Sun and the tilt of the Earths axis relative to the plane of revolution. During the year the northern and southern hemispheres are inclined toward or away from the sun according to Earths position in its orbit, the hemisphere inclined toward the sun receives more sunlight and is in summer, while the other hemisphere receives less sun and is in winter. At the equinoxes, the Earths axis is not tilted toward the sun, instead it is perpendicular to the sun meaning that the day is about 12 hours long, as is the night, across the whole of the Earth. Near the Equator there is distinction between summer, winter, autumn, or spring. The temperatures are usually high year-round—with the exception of high mountains in South America, the temperature at the Equator can plummet during rainstorms. In many tropical regions people identify two seasons, the wet season and the dry season, but many places close to the Equator are on the oceans or rainy throughout the year, the seasons can vary depending on elevation and proximity to an ocean. The Equator lies mostly on the three largest oceans, the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Indian Ocean. The highest point on the Equator is at the elevation of 4,690 metres, at 0°0′0″N 77°59′31″W and this is slightly above the snow line, and is the only place on the Equator where snow lies on the ground. At the Equator the snow line is around 1,000 metres lower than on Mount Everest, the Equator traverses the land of 11 countries, it also passes through two island nations, though without making a landfall in either. Starting at the Prime Meridian and heading eastwards, the Equator passes through, Despite its name, however, its island of Annobón is 155 km south of the Equator, and the rest of the country lies to the north
35.
Indonesia
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Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a unitary sovereign state and transcontinental country located mainly in Southeast Asia with some territories in Oceania. Situated between the Indian and Pacific oceans, it is the worlds largest island country, with more than seventeen thousand islands. At 1,904,569 square kilometres, Indonesia is the worlds 14th-largest country in terms of area and worlds 7th-largest country in terms of combined sea. It has an population of over 260 million people and is the worlds fourth most populous country. The worlds most populous island, Java, contains more than half of the countrys population, Indonesias republican form of government includes an elected legislature and president. Indonesia has 34 provinces, of which five have Special Administrative status and its capital and countrys most populous city is Jakarta, which is also the most populous city in Southeast Asia and the second in Asia. The country shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor, other neighbouring countries include Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, Australia, Palau, and the Indian territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Despite its large population and densely populated regions, Indonesia has vast areas of wilderness that support the second highest level of biodiversity. The country has abundant natural resources like oil and natural gas, tin, copper, agriculture mainly produces rice, palm oil, tea, coffee, cacao, medicinal plants, spices and rubber. Indonesias major trading partners are Japan, United States, China, the Indonesian archipelago has been an important region for trade since at least the 7th century, when Srivijaya and then later Majapahit traded with China and India. Local rulers gradually absorbed foreign cultural, religious and political models from the early centuries CE, Indonesian history has been influenced by foreign powers drawn to its natural resources. Indonesia consists of hundreds of native ethnic and linguistic groups. The largest – and politically dominant – ethnic group are the Javanese, a shared identity has developed, defined by a national language, ethnic diversity, religious pluralism within a Muslim-majority population, and a history of colonialism and rebellion against it. Indonesias national motto, Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, articulates the diversity that shapes the country, Indonesias economy is the worlds 16th largest by nominal GDP and the 8th largest by GDP at PPP, the largest in Southeast Asia, and is considered an emerging market and newly industrialised country. Indonesia has been a member of the United Nations since 1950, Indonesia is a member of the G20 major economies and World Trade Organization. The name Indonesia derives from the Greek name of the Indós, the name dates to the 18th century, far predating the formation of independent Indonesia. In 1850, George Windsor Earl, an English ethnologist, proposed the terms Indunesians—and, his preference, in the same publication, one of his students, James Richardson Logan, used Indonesia as a synonym for Indian Archipelago. However, Dutch academics writing in East Indies publications were reluctant to use Indonesia, they preferred Malay Archipelago, the Netherlands East Indies, popularly Indië, the East, and Insulinde
36.
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
37.
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
38.
North America
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North America is a continent entirely within the Northern Hemisphere and almost all within the Western Hemisphere. It can also be considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, and to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea. North America covers an area of about 24,709,000 square kilometers, about 16. 5% of the land area. North America is the third largest continent by area, following Asia and Africa, and the fourth by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. In 2013, its population was estimated at nearly 565 million people in 23 independent states, or about 7. 5% of the worlds population, North America was reached by its first human populations during the last glacial period, via crossing the Bering land bridge. The so-called Paleo-Indian period is taken to have lasted until about 10,000 years ago, the Classic stage spans roughly the 6th to 13th centuries. The Pre-Columbian era ended with the migrations and the arrival of European settlers during the Age of Discovery. Present-day cultural and ethnic patterns reflect different kind of interactions between European colonists, indigenous peoples, African slaves and their descendants, European influences are strongest in the northern parts of the continent while indigenous and African influences are relatively stronger in the south. Because of the history of colonialism, most North Americans speak English, Spanish or French, the Americas are usually accepted as having been named after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci by the German cartographers Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann. Vespucci, who explored South America between 1497 and 1502, was the first European to suggest that the Americas were not the East Indies, but a different landmass previously unknown by Europeans. In 1507, Waldseemüller produced a map, in which he placed the word America on the continent of South America. He explained the rationale for the name in the accompanying book Cosmographiae Introductio, for Waldseemüller, no one should object to the naming of the land after its discoverer. He used the Latinized version of Vespuccis name, but in its feminine form America, following the examples of Europa, Asia and Africa. Later, other mapmakers extended the name America to the continent, In 1538. Some argue that the convention is to use the surname for naming discoveries except in the case of royalty, a minutely explored belief that has been advanced is that America was named for a Spanish sailor bearing the ancient Visigothic name of Amairick. Another is that the name is rooted in a Native American language, the term North America maintains various definitions in accordance with location and context. In Canadian English, North America may be used to refer to the United States, alternatively, usage sometimes includes Greenland and Mexico, as well as offshore islands
39.
Beringia
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It includes the Chukchi Sea, the Bering Sea, the Bering Strait, the Chukchi and Kamchatka Peninsulas in Russia as well as Alaska in the United States. The area includes land lying on the North American Plate and Siberian land east of the Chersky Range. Today, the land that is visible from the central part of the Bering land bridge are the Diomede Islands, the Pribilof Islands of St. Paul and St. George, St. Lawrence Island. The term Beringia was coined by the Swedish botanist Eric Hultén in 1937, during the ice ages, Beringia, like most of Siberia and all of North and Northeast China, was not glaciated because snowfall was very light. It was a grassland steppe, including the bridge, that stretched for hundreds of kilometres into the continents on either side. Before European colonization, Beringia was inhabited by the Yupik peoples on both sides of the straits and this culture remains in the region today along with others. In 2012, the governments of Russia and the United States announced a plan to establish a transboundary area of shared Beringian heritage. The underlying mechanism was first thought to be tectonics, but by 1930 changes in the icemass balance, the American arctic geologist David Hopkins redefined Beringia to include portions of Alaska and Northeast Asia. Beringia was later regarded as extending from the Verkhoyansk Mountains in the west to the Mackenzie River in the east. The distribution of plants in the genera Erythranthe and Pinus are good examples of this as genera members are found in Asia, during the Pleistocene epoch, global cooling led periodically to the expansion of glaciers and lowering of sea levels. This created land connections in various regions around the globe, today, the average water depth of the Bering Strait is 40–50 m, therefore the land bridge opened when the sea level dropped more than 50 m below the current level. Post-glacial rebound has continued to some sections of coast. During the last glacial period, enough of the water became frozen in the great ice sheets covering North America. For thousands of years the sea floors of many interglacial shallow seas were exposed, including those of the Bering Strait, the Chukchi Sea to the north, other land bridges around the world have emerged and disappeared in the same way. Beringias closeness to the sea created intermittent maritime cloud cover, which caused an interruption to the dry, in the Late Pleistocene, Beringia was a mosaic of biological communities. Commencing from c. 57,000 BP, steppe–tundra vegetation dominated large parts of Beringia with a diversity of grasses. There were patches of shrub tundra with isolated refugia of larch and spruce forests with birch and it has been proposed that the largest and most diverse megafaunal community residing in Beringia at this time could only have been sustained in a highly diverse and productive environment. These changes provided the most likely explanation for mammal migrations after c. 15,000 BP, as the warming provided increased forage for browsers, Beringia did not block the movement of most dry steppe-adapted large species such as saiga antelope, woolly mammoth, and caballid horses
40.
Fagus grandifolia
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Fagus grandifolia is the species of beech tree native to the eastern United States and extreme southeast Canada. The genus name Fagus is Latin for beech, and the species name comes from grandis large. Trees in the half of the range are sometimes distinguished as a variety, F. grandifolia var. caroliniana. The Mexican beech, native to the mountains of central Mexico, is related, and is sometimes treated as a subspecies of American beech. The only Fagus species found in the Western Hemisphere, F. grandifolia is believed to have spanned the width of the North American continent all the way to the Pacific coast before the last ice age. It is a tree growing to 20–35 m tall, with smooth. The leaves are green, simple and sparsely-toothed with small teeth that terminate each vein, 6–12 cm long. The winter twigs are distinctive among North American trees, being long, beech buds are distinctly thin and long, resembling cigars, this characteristic makes beech trees relatively easy to identify. The tree is monoecious, with flowers of both sexes on the same tree, the fruit is a small, sharply-angled nut, borne in pairs in a soft-spined, four-lobed husk. It has two means of reproduction, one is through the dispersal of seedlings, and the other is through root sprouts. The American beech is a shade-tolerant species, favoring shade more than other trees, ecological succession is essentially the process of forests changing their composition through time, it is a pattern of events often observed on disturbed sites. Although sometimes found in stands, it is more often associated with sugar maple, yellow birch. Near its southern limit, it often shares canopy dominance with Southern Magnolia, although it has a reputation for slow growth, rich soil and ample moisture will greatly speed the process up. American beech favors a well-watered, but also well-drained spot and is intolerant of pollution, salt. It also casts dense shade and has an network of shallow. Because American beech needs plenty of moisture and rich soil to thrive, early settlers often looked for beeches as a sign of a good potential place to clear the forest for farming. Beech bark disease has become a killer of beech trees in the Northeastern United States. This disease occurs when the scale insect, Cryptococcus fagisuga, attacks the bark
41.
American chestnut
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The American chestnut is a large, monoecious deciduous tree of the beech family native to eastern North America. It is estimated that between 3 and 4 billion American chestnut trees were destroyed in the first half of the 20th century by blight after its discovery in 1904. Very few mature specimens of the tree exist within its historical range, Castanea dentata is a rapidly growing deciduous hardwood tree, historically reaching up to 30 metres in height, and 3 metres in diameter. It ranged from Maine and southern Ontario to Mississippi, and from the Atlantic coast to the Appalachian Mountains, C. dentata was once one of the most common trees in the Northeastern United States. In Pennsylvania alone, it is estimated to have comprised 25–30% of all hardwoods, the trees huge population was due to a combination of rapid growth and a large annual seed crop in comparison to oaks which do not reliably produce sizable numbers of acorns every year. Nut production begins when C. dentata is 7–8 years old, C. dentata can be best identified by the larger and more widely spaced saw-teeth on the edges of its leaves, as indicated by the scientific name dentata, Latin for toothed. The leaves, which are 14–20 cm long and 7–10 cm broad, the blight-resistant Chinese chestnut is now the most commonly planted chestnut species in the US, while the European chestnut is the source of commercial nuts in recent decades. It can be distinguished from the American chestnut by its hairy twig tips which are in contrast to the twigs of the American chestnut. The chestnuts are in the family along with beech and oak, but are not closely related to the horse-chestnut. The chestnut is monoecious, producing small, pale green male flowers found tightly occurring along 6 to 8 inch long catkins. The female parts are found near base of the catkins and appear in spring to early summer. Like all members of the Fagaceae family, American chestnut is self-incompatible, the American chestnut is a prolific bearer of nuts, usually with three nuts enclosed in each spiny, green burr, and lined in tan velvet. The nuts develop through late summer, with the opening and falling to the ground near the first fall frost. The American chestnut was an important tree for wildlife, providing much of the fall mast for species such as white-tailed deer and wild turkey and, formerly. Black bears were known to eat the nuts to fatten up for the winter. The American chestnut also contains nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and magnesium in its leaves when compared to other trees that share its habitat. This means they return more nutrients to the soil which helps with the growth of plants, animals. The disease was first noticed on American chestnut trees in what was then the New York Zoological Park, now known as the Bronx Zoo, in 1904, Merkel estimated that by 1906 blight had infected 98 percent of the chestnut trees in the Bronx alone
42.
Quercus alba
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Quercus alba, the white oak, is one of the preeminent hardwoods of eastern and central North America. It is an oak, native to eastern and central North America and found from Minnesota, Ontario, Quebec. Specimens have been documented to be over 450 years old, although called a white oak, it is very unusual to find an individual specimen with white bark, the usual color is a light gray. In the forest it can reach a magnificent height and in the open it develops into a massive broad-topped tree with large branches striking out at wide angles. Q. alba typically reaches heights of 80 to 100 feet at maturity, trees growing in a forest will become much taller than ones in an open area which develop to be short and massive. The tallest known white oak is 144 feet tall and it is not unusual for a white oak tree to be as wide as it is tall, but specimens growing at high altitudes may only become small shrubs. White oak may live 200 to 300 years, with even older specimens known. The Wye Oak in Wye Mills, Maryland was estimated to be over 450 years old when it fell in a thunderstorm in 2002. Another noted white oak is the Great White Oak in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, the tree measures 25 feet in circumference at the base and 16 feet in circumference four feet above the ground. The tree is 75 feet tall, and its branches spread over 125 feet from tip to tip, the oak, claimed to be the oldest in the United States, began showing signs of poor health in the mid-2010s. The tree was declared dead in 2016 and was planned to be taken down in 2017, sexual maturity begins at around 20 years, but the tree does not produce large crops of acorns until its 50th year and the amount varies from year to year. Acorns deteriorate quickly after ripening, the rate being only 10% for six-month-old seeds. As the acorns are prime food for animals and insects, all may be lost in years of small crops, the bark is a light ash-gray and peels somewhat from the top, bottom and/or sides. In spring the young leaves are of a delicate, silvery pink and covered with a soft, blanket-like down. The petioles are short, and the leaves which cluster close to the ends of the shoots are pale green and this condition continues for several days, passing through the opalescent changes of soft pink, silvery white and finally yellow green. The leaves grow to be 5 to 8.5 inches long and 2.75 to 4.5 inches wide and have a glossy green upper surface. They usually turn red or brown in autumn, but depending on climate, site, some brown, dead leaves may remain on the tree throughout winter until very early spring. The lobes can be shallow, extending less than halfway to the midrib, or deep, the acorns are usually sessile, and grow to 0.5 to 1 inch in length, falling in early October
43.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
44.
Fagus sylvatica
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Fagus sylvatica, the European beech or common beech, is a deciduous tree belonging to the beech family Fagaceae. Fagus sylvatica is a tree, capable of reaching heights of up to 50 m tall and 3 m trunk diameter, though more typically 25–35 m tall. A 10-year-old sapling will stand about 4 m tall and it has a typical lifespan of 150–200 years, though sometimes up to 300 years. In cultivated forest stands trees are harvested at 80–120 years of age. 30 years are needed to attain full maturity, like most trees, its form depends on the location, in forest areas, F. sylvatica grows to over 30 m, with branches being high up on the trunk. In open locations, it will become shorter and more massive. The leaves are alternate, simple, and entire or with a crenate margin, 5–10 cm long and 3–7 cm broad. When crenate, there is one point at each vein tip, the buds are long and slender, 15–30 mm long and 2–3 mm thick, but thicker where the buds include flower buds. The leaves of beech are often not abscissed in the autumn and this particularly occurs when trees are saplings or when plants are clipped as a hedge, but it also often continues to occur on the lower branches when the tree is mature. Small quantities of seeds may be produced around 10 years of age, F. sylvatica male flowers are borne in the small catkins which are a hallmark of the Fagales order. Flower and seed production is abundant in years following a hot, sunny and dry summer. In the Balkans, it shows some hybridisation with oriental beech, in the southern part of its range around the Mediterranean, it grows only in mountain forests, at 600–1,800 m altitude. Although often regarded as native in southern England, recent evidence suggests that F, the beech is classified as a native in the south of England and as a non-native in the north where it is often removed from native woods. Localised pollen records have recorded in the North of England from the Iron Age by Sir Harry Godwin. It is often planted in Britain, similarly, the nature of Norwegian beech populations is subject to debate. If native, they would represent the range of the species. However, molecular analyses support the hypothesis that these populations represent intentional introduction from Denmark before. However, the beech in Vestfold and at Seim north of Bergen in Norway is now spreading naturally, though not demanding of its soil type, the European beech has several significant requirements, a humid atmosphere and well-drained soil
45.
Quercus robur
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Quercus robur, commonly known as pedunculate oak or English oak, is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family Fagaceae. It is native to most of Europe west of the Caucasus, the tree is widely cultivated in temperate regions and has escaped into the wild in scattered parts of China and North America. Quercus robur is the species of the genus, and a member of the white oak section Quercus section Quercus. The populations in Italy, southeast Europe, and Asia Minor, a close relative is the sessile oak, which shares much of its range. Q. robur is distinguished from this species by its leaves having only a short stalk 3–8 mm long. The two often hybridise in the wild, the hybrid being known as Quercus × rosacea, Q. robur should not be confused with Q. rubra, the red oak, which is a native of North America and only distantly related. Quercus robur is a deciduous tree, with circumference of grand oaks from 4 m to exceptional 12 m. The Majesty Oak with a circumference of 12.2 m is the thickest tree in Great Britain, Quercus robur has lobed and nearly sessile leaves 7–14 cm long. Flowering takes place in mid spring, and their fruit, called acorns, the acorns are 2–2.5 cm long, pedunculate with one to four acorns on each peduncle. Q. robur is very tolerant to soil conditions and the climate but it prefers fertile. It is a tree, with a large wide spreading crown of rugged branches. While it may live to an age of a few centuries, many of the oldest trees are pollarded or coppiced. Yet another can be found in Kvilleken, Sweden, that is over 1,000 years old and 14 metres around, of maiden specimens, one of the oldest is the great oak of Ivenack, Germany. Tree-ring research of this tree and other oaks nearby gives an age of 700 to 800 years. Also the Bowthorpe Oak in Lincolnshire, England is estimated to be 1,000 years old, making it the oldest in the UK, highest density of the grand oak trees Q. robur with a circumference 4 metres and more is in Latvia. Within its native range Q. robur is valued for its importance to insects, numerous insects live on the leaves, buds, and in the acorns. Q. robur supports the highest biodiversity of insect herbivores of any British plant, the acorns form a valuable food resource for several small mammals and some birds, notably Eurasian jays Garrulus glandarius. Mammals, notably squirrels who tend to hoard acorns and other nuts most often leave them too abused to grow in the action of moving or storing them
