Sickle
A sickle, bagging hook or reaping-hook, is a hand-held agricultural tool designed with variously curved blades and used for harvesting, or reaping, grain crops or cutting succulent forage chiefly for feeding livestock, either freshly cut or dried as hay. Falx was a synonym but was used to mean any of a number of tools that had a curved blade, sharp on the inside edge such as a scythe. Since the beginning of the Iron Age hundreds of region-specific variants of the sickle have evolved of iron and steel; this great diversity of sickle types across many cultures can be divided into smooth or serrated blades, both of which can be used for cutting either green grass or mature cereals using different techniques. The serrated blade that originated in prehistoric sickles still dominates in the reaping of grain and is found in modern grain-harvesting machines and in some kitchen knives; the development of the sickle in Mesopotamia can be traced back to times that pre-date the Neolithic Era. Large quantities of sickle blades have been excavated in sites surrounding Israel that have been dated to the Epipaleolithic era.
Formal digs in Wadi Ziqlab, Jordan have unearthed various forms of early sickle blades. The artifacts possessed a jagged edge; this intricate ‘tooth-like’ design showed a greater degree of design and manufacturing credence than most of the other artifacts that were discovered. Sickle blades found during this time were made of flint and used in more of a sawing motion than with the more modern curved design. Flints from these sickles have been discovered near Mt. Carmel, which suggest the harvesting of grains from the area about 10,000 years ago; the sickle had a profound impact on the Agricultural Revolution by assisting in the transition to farming and crop based lifestyle. It is now accepted that the use of sickles led directly to the domestication of Near Eastern Wild grasses. Research on domestication rates of wild cereals under primitive cultivation found that the use of the sickle in harvesting was critical to the people of early Mesopotamia; the narrow growing season in the area and the critical role of grain in the late Neolithic Era promoted a larger investment in the design and manufacture of sickle over other tools.
Standardization to an extent was done on the measurements of the sickle so that replacement or repair could be more immediate. It was important that the grain be harvested at the appropriate time at one elevation so that the next elevation could be reaped at the proper time; the sickle provided a more efficient option in collecting the grain and sped up the developments of early agriculture. The sickle remained common both in the Ancient Near East and in Europe. Numerous sickles have been found deposited in hoards in the context of the European Urnfield culture, suggesting a symbolic or religious significance attached to the artifact. In archaeological terminology, Bronze Age sickles are classified by the method of attaching the handle. E.g. the knob-sickle is so called because of a protruding knob at the base of the blade which served to stabilize the attachment of the blade to the handle. The sickle played a prominent role in the Druids' Ritual of oak and mistletoe as described from a single passage in Pliny the Elder's Natural History: Due to this passage, despite the fact that Pliny does not indicate the source on which he based this account, some branches of modern Druidry have adopted the sickle as a ritual tool.
The sickle has been discovered in southwest North America with a unique structure. These sickles are said to have originated from the Far East. There is evidence that Kodiak islanders had for cutting grass “sickles made of a sharpened animal shoulder blade”; the artifacts found in present-day Arizona and New Mexico resemble curved tools that were made from the horns of mountain sheep. A similar site discovered sickles made from other material such as the Caddo Sickle, made from a deer mandible. Scripture from early natives document the use of these sickles in the cutting of grass; the instruments ranged from 13 to 16 inches tip to tip. Several other digs in eastern Arizona uncovered wooden sickles that were shaped in a similar fashion; the handles of the tools help describe how the tool was held in such a way so that the inner portion that contained the cutting surface could serve as a gathering surface for the grain. Sickles were sharpened by scraping a shape beveled edge with a coarse tool; this action has left marks on artifacts.
The sharpening process was necessary to keep the cutting edge from being dulled after extended use. The edge is seen to be quite polished, which in part proves that the instrument was used to cut grass. After collection, the grass was used as material to create bedding; the sickle in general provided the convenience of cutting the grass as well as gathering in one step. In South America, the sickle is used as a tool to harvest rice. Rice clusters are left to dry in the sun; the genealogy of sickles with serrated edge reaches back to the Stone Age, when individual pieces of flint were first attached to a “blade body” of wood or bone. Teeth have been cut with hand-held chisels into iron, steel-bladed sickles for a long time. In many countries on the African continent and South America as well as the Near and Far East this is still the case in the regions within these large geographies where the traditional village blacksmith remains alive and well. En
Celery
Celery is a marshland plant in the family Apiaceae, cultivated as a vegetable since antiquity. Celery has a long fibrous stalk tapering into leaves. Depending on location and cultivar, either its stalks, leaves, or hypocotyl are eaten and used in cooking. Celery seed is used as a spice and its extracts have been used in herbal medicine. Celery leaves are pinnate to bipinnate with rhombic leaflets 3–6 cm long and 2–4 cm broad; the flowers are creamy-white, 2–3 mm in diameter, are produced in dense compound umbels. The seeds are broad ovoid to globose, 1.5 -- 2 mm wide. Modern cultivars have been selected for leaf stalks. A celery stalk separates into "strings" which are bundles of angular collenchyma cells exterior to the vascular bundles. Wild celery, Apium graveolens var. graveolens, grows to 1 m tall. It occurs around the globe; the first cultivation is thought to have happened in the Mediterranean region, where the natural habitats were salty and wet, or marshy soils near the coast where celery grew in agropyro-rumicion-plant communities.
North of the alps wild celery is found only in the foothill zone on soils with some salt content. It prefers nutrient rich, muddy soils, it cannot be found in Austria and is rare in Germany. First attested in English in 1664, the word "celery" derives from the French céleri, in turn from Italian seleri, the plural of selero, which comes from Late Latin selinon, the latinisation of the Ancient Greek: σέλινον, translit. Selinon, "celery"; the earliest attested form of the word is the Mycenaean Greek se-ri-no, written in Linear B syllabic script. Celery was described by Carl Linnaeus in Volume One of his Species Plantarum in 1753; the plants are raised from seed, sown either in a hot bed or in the open garden according to the season of the year, after one or two thinnings and transplantings, they are, on attaining a height of 15–20 cm, planted out in deep trenches for convenience of blanching, effected by earthing up to exclude light from the stems. In the past, celery was grown as a vegetable for winter and early spring.
By the 19th century, the season for celery had been extended, to last from the beginning of September to late in April. In North America, commercial production of celery is dominated by the cultivar called'Pascal' celery. Gardeners can grow a range of cultivars, many of which differ from the wild species in having stouter leaf stems, they are ranged under two classes and red. The stalks grow in tight, parallel bunches, are marketed fresh that way, without roots and just a little green leaf remaining; the stalks are eaten raw, or as an ingredient in salads, or as a flavoring in soups and pot roasts. In Europe, another popular variety is celeriac, Apium graveolens var. rapaceum, grown because its hypocotyl forms a large bulb, white on the inside. The bulb can be kept for months in winter and serves as a main ingredient in soup, it can be shredded and used in salads. The leaves are used as seasoning. Leaf celery is a cultivar from East Asia. Leaf celery is most the oldest cultivated form of celery. Leaf celery has characteristically thin skin stalks and a stronger taste and smell compared to other cultivars.
It is sometimes pickled as a side dish. The wild form of celery is known as "smallage", it has a furrowed stalk with wedge-shaped leaves, the whole plant having a coarse, earthy taste, a distinctive smell. The stalks are not eaten, but the leaves may be used in salads, its seeds are those sold as a spice. With cultivation and blanching, the stalks lose their acidic qualities and assume the mild, aromatic taste particular to celery as a salad plant; because wild celery is eaten, yet susceptible to the same diseases as more well-used cultivars, it is removed from fields to help prevent transmission of viruses like celery mosaic virus. Harvesting occurs; the petioles and leaves are harvested. During commercial harvesting, celery is packaged into cartons which contain between 36 and 48 stalks and weigh up to 27 kg. Under optimal conditions, celery can be stored for up to seven weeks between 0 to 2 °C. Inner stalks may continue growing if kept at temperatures above 0 °C. Shelf life can be extended by packaging celery in micro-perforated shrink wrap.
Freshly cut petioles of celery are prone to decay, which can be prevented or reduced through the use of sharp blades during processing, gentle handling, proper sanitation. Celery stalk may be preserved through pickling by first removing the leaves boiling the stalks in water before adding vinegar and vegetable oil. In the past, restaurants used to store celery in a container of water with powdered vegetable preservative, but it was found that the sulfites in the preservative caused allergic reactions in some people. In 1986, the U. S. Food and Drug Administration banned the use of sulfites on fruits and vegetables intended to be eaten ra
Tepal
A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower. The term is used when these parts cannot be classified as either sepals or petals; this may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated, as in Magnolia, or because, although it is possible to distinguish an outer whorl of sepals from an inner whorl of petals, the sepals and petals have similar appearance to one another. The term was first proposed by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in 1827 and was constructed by analogy with the terms "petal" and "sepal". Undifferentiated tepals are believed to be the ancestral condition in flowering plants. For example, thought to have separated earliest in the evolution of flowering plants, has flowers with undifferentiated tepals. Distinct petals and sepals would therefore have arisen by differentiation in response to animal pollination. In typical modern flowers, the outer or enclosing whorl of organs forms sepals, specialised for protection of the flower bud as it develops, while the inner whorl forms petals, which attract pollinators.
Tepals formed by similar sepals and petals are common in monocotyledons the "lilioid monocots". In tulips, for example, the first and second whorls both contain structures; these are fused at the base to form one large, six-parted structure. In lilies the organs in the first whorl are separate from the second, but all look similar, thus all the showy parts are called tepals. Where sepals and petals can in principle be distinguished, usage of the term "tepal" is not always consistent – some authors will refer to "sepals and petals" where others use "tepals" in the same context. In some plants the flowers have no petals, all the tepals are sepals modified to look like petals; these organs are described for example, the sepals of hellebores. When the undifferentiated tepals resemble petals, they are referred to as "petaloid", as in petaloid monocots, orders of monocots with brightly coloured tepals. Since they include Liliales, an alternative name is lilioid monocots. Terms used in the description of tepals include pubescent and puberulous.
Tepal shape is described in similar terms to those used for leaves. Flowers with tepals Glossary of plant morphology Plant reproductive morphology Botany: A Brief Introduction To Plant Biology - 5th ed. Thomas L. Rost. Plant Systematics - Jones.
Petal
Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. Together, all of the petals of a flower are called a corolla. Petals are accompanied by another set of special leaves called sepals, that collectively form the calyx and lie just beneath the corolla; the calyx and the corolla together make up the perianth. When the petals and sepals of a flower are difficult to distinguish, they are collectively called tepals. Examples of plants in which the term tepal is appropriate include genera such as Tulipa. Conversely, genera such as Rosa and Phaseolus have well-distinguished petals; when the undifferentiated tepals resemble petals, they are referred to as "petaloid", as in petaloid monocots, orders of monocots with brightly coloured tepals. Since they include Liliales, an alternative name is lilioid monocots. Although petals are the most conspicuous parts of animal-pollinated flowers, wind-pollinated species, such as the grasses, either have small petals or lack them entirely.
The role of the corolla in plant evolution has been studied extensively since Charles Darwin postulated a theory of the origin of elongated corollae and corolla tubes. A corolla of separate tepals is apopetalous. If the petals are free from one another in the corolla, the plant is choripetalous. In the case of fused tepals, the term is syntepalous; the corolla in some plants forms a tube. Petals can differ in different species; the number of petals in a flower may hold clues to a plant's classification. For example, flowers on eudicots most have four or five petals while flowers on monocots have three or six petals, although there are many exceptions to this rule; the petal whorl or corolla may be bilaterally symmetrical. If all of the petals are identical in size and shape, the flower is said to be regular or actinomorphic. Many flowers are termed irregular or zygomorphic. In irregular flowers, other floral parts may be modified from the regular form, but the petals show the greatest deviation from radial symmetry.
Examples of zygomorphic flowers may be seen in members of the pea family. In many plants of the aster family such as the sunflower, Helianthus annuus, the circumference of the flower head is composed of ray florets; each ray floret is anatomically an individual flower with a single large petal. Florets in the centre of the disc have no or reduced petals. In some plants such as Narcissus the lower part of the petals or tepals are fused to form a floral cup above the ovary, from which the petals proper extend. Petal consists of two parts: the upper, broad part, similar to leaf blade called the blade and the lower part, similar to leaf petiole, called the claw, separated from each other at the limb. Claws are developed in petals of some flowers such as Erysimum cheiri; the inception and further development of petals shows a great variety of patterns. Petals of different species of plants vary in colour or colour pattern, both in visible light and in ultraviolet; such patterns function as guides to pollinators, are variously known as nectar guides, pollen guides, floral guides.
The genetics behind the formation of petals, in accordance with the ABC model of flower development, are that sepals, petals and carpels are modified versions of each other. It appears that the mechanisms to form petals evolved few times, rather than evolving from stamens. Pollination is an important step in the sexual reproduction of higher plants. Pollen is produced by the male organs of hermaphroditic flowers. Pollen does not move on its own and thus requires wind or animal pollinators to disperse the pollen to the stigma of the same or nearby flowers. However, pollinators are rather selective in determining the flowers; this develops competition between flowers and as a result flowers must provide incentives to appeal to pollinators. Petals play a major role in competing to attract pollinators. Henceforth pollination dispersal could occur and the survival of many species of flowers could prolong. Petals have various purposes depending on the type of plant. In general, petals operate to protect some parts of the flower and attract/repel specific pollinators.
This is where the positioning of the flower petals are located on the flower is the corolla e.g. the buttercup having shiny yellow flower petals which contain guidelines amongst the petals in aiding the pollinator towards the nectar. Pollinators have the ability to determine specific flowers. Using incentives flowers draw pollinators and set up a mutual relation between each other in which case the pollinators will remember to always guard and pollinate these flowers; the petals could produce different scents to allure desirable pollinators or repel undesirable pollinators. Some flowers will mimic the scents produced by materials such as decaying meat, to attract pollinators to them. Various colour traits are used by different petals that could attract pollinators that have poor smelling abilities, or that only come out at certain parts of the day; some flowers are able to change the colour
Heart (symbol)
The heart shape is an ideograph used to express the idea of the "heart" in its metaphorical or symbolic sense as the center of emotion, including affection and love romantic love. The "wounded heart" indicating lovesickness came to be depicted as a heart symbol pierced with an arrow, or heart symbol "broken" in two or more pieces. Heart-shaped peepal leaves were used in artistic depictions of the Indus Valley Civilisation: a heart pendant originated from there has been discovered and is now exhibited in Delhi national museum. In the 6th-5th century BC, the heart shape was used to represent the heart-shaped fruit of the plant Silphium, a plant used as a contraceptive. Many species in the parsley family have estrogenic properties, some, such as wild carrot, were used to induce abortion. Silver coins from Cyrene of the 6–5th BC bear a similar design, sometimes accompanied by a silphium plant and is understood to represent its seed or fruit; the combination of the heart shape and its use within the heart metaphor developed at the end of the Middle Ages, although the shape has been used in many ancient epigraphy monuments and texts.
With possible early examples or direct predecessors in the 13th to 14th century, the familiar symbol of the heart represented love developed in the 15th century, became popular in Europe during the 16th. Before the 14th century, the heart shape was not associated with the meaning of the heart metaphor; the geometric shape itself is found in much earlier sources, but in such instances does not depict a heart, but foliage: in examples from antiquity fig leaves, in medieval iconography and heraldry the leaves of ivy and of the water-lily. One possible early use in the 11th century could be found in the manuscript, Al-Maqamat written by Al Hariri of Basra; the manuscript includes an illustration of a farewell greeting between two men while astride their camels, with the heart shape seen prominently over their heads. The first known depiction of a heart as a symbol of romantic love dates to the 1250s, it occurs in a miniature decorating a capital'S' in a manuscript of the French Roman de la poire.
In the miniature a kneeling lover offers his heart to a damsel. The heart here resembles a pine cone, in accord with medieval anatomical descriptions. However, in this miniature what suggests a heart shape is only the result of a lover's finger superimposed on an object. Moreover, the French title of the manuscript that features the miniature translates into "Novel Of The Pear" in English, thus the heart shaped object would be a pear. Opinions therefore differ over this being the first depiction of a heart as symbol of romantic love. Giotto in his 1305 painting in the Scrovegni Chapel shows an allegory of charity handing her heart to Jesus Christ; this heart is depicted in the pine cone shape based on anatomical descriptions of the day. Giotto's painting exerted considerable influence on painters, the motive of Caritas offering a heart is shown by Taddeo Gaddi in Santa Croce, by Andrea Pisano on the bronze door of the south porch of the Baptisterium in Florence, by Ambrogio Lorenzetti in the Palazzo Publico in Siena and by Andrea da Firenze in Santa Maria Novella in Florence.
The convention of showing the heart point upward switches in the late 14th century and becomes rare in the first half of the 15th century. The "scalloped" shape of the now-familiar heart symbol, with a dent in its base, arises in the early 14th century, at first only dented, as in the miniatures in Francesco Barberino's Documenti d'amore. A later example with a more pronounced dent is found in a manuscript from the Cistercian monastery in Brussels; the convention of showing a dent at the base of the heart thus spread at about the same time as the convention of showing the heart with its point downward. The modern indented red heart has been used on playing cards since the late 15th century. Various hypotheses attempted to connect the "heart shape" as it evolved in the Late Middle Ages with instances of the geometric shape in antiquity; such theories are modern, proposed from the 1960s onward, they remain speculative, as no continuity between the supposed ancient predecessors and the late medieval tradition can be shown.
Specific suggestions include: the shape of the seed of the silphium plant, used in ancient times as an herbal contraceptive, stylized depictions of features of the human female body, such as the female's breasts, pubic mound, or spread vulva. Heart shapes can be seen on the Bible Jesus holds in the Empress Zoë mosaic in the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, but a reference to the organ was not intended, it dates from 1239. Heart shapes can be seen on various stucco reliefs and wall panels excavated from the ruins of Ctesiphon, the Persian capital; the Luther rose was the seal, designed for Martin Luther at the behest of Prince John Frederick, in 1530, while Luther was staying at the Coburg Fortress during the Diet of Augsburg. Luther wrote an explanation of the symbol to Lazarus Spengler: "a black cross in a heart, which retains its natural color, so that I myself would be reminded that faith in the Crucified saves us.'For one who believes from the heart will be justified'."The aorta remains visible, as a protrusion at the top centered between the two "chambers" indicated i
Stipule
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 typical flowering plant, although in many species the stipules are inconspicuous or absent. In some older botanical writing, the term "stipule" was used more to refer to any small leaves or leaf-parts, notably prophylls; the position of stipules on a plant varies from species to species, though they are located near the base of a leaf. Stipules are most common on dicotyledons; some monocotyledon plants only display one per leaf. A relationship exists between the anatomy of the stem node and the presence or absence of stipules: most plants with trilacunar nodes have stipules. Stipules are morphologically variable and might appear as glands, hairs, spines, or laminar structures. 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 and persistent.
Caducous stipules fall off before the leaf unfolds, while deciduous stipules fall off after the leaf unfolds. Persistent stipules remain attached to the plant. Stipules can be considered free lateral, interpetiolar, ochreate, bud scales, tendrillar or spiny. A stipule can be fused to the other stipule from the same node. A stipule is "adnate" if it's fused together on part of the petiole length, but the anterior is still free. A stipule is "interpetiolar" if it is located in between the petioles, as opposed to being attached to the petioles, one stipule from each leaf is fused together, so it appears that there's just one stipule between each leaf. A stipule is "intrapetiolar" if it is located in the angle that's between a petiole. In this case, the two stipules form together and appear to be one stipule. A stipule is "ochreate" if a single stipule appears to be a solid tube that goes all the way around the stem. A stipule is "foliaceous"; these are used to photosynthesize. A stipule protects leaf buds as they form.
These fall off as soon as the leaf unfolds. A stipule is considered "tendrillar" if they are long thin tendrils, are used by climbing plants. A stipule is considered "spiny" if they are pointy; these are used to deter animals. A stipule is considered to be "abaxial", "counter" or "leaf opposed" if it's located on the opposite side to where the leaf meets the stem. Stipules have various functions; some stipules may be vestigial. It is known. Sometimes stipules protect the next leaf or bud as it grows in falls off after the leaf unfolds, as with Tulip Poplars. Stipules can be used as climbing tendrils by climbing plants. Spiny stipules can be used to help protect the plant from animals. Esau, K. 1953. Plant Anatomy. Second Edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York, Sidney. 767 pp. Stipules and stipels
Leaflet (botany)
A leaflet in botany is a leaf-like part of a compound leaf. Though it resembles an entire leaf, a leaflet is not borne on a main plant stem or branch, as a leaf is, but rather on a petiole or a branch of the leaf. Compound leaves are common in many plant families and they differ in morphology; the two main classes of compound leaf morphology are pinnate. For example, a hemp plant has palmate compound leaves, whereas some species of Acacia have pinnate leaves; the ultimate free division of a compound leaf, or a pinnate subdivision of a multipinnate leaf is called a pinnule or pinnula. Compound leaf
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