1.
Herbaceous plant
–
Herbaceous plants are plants that have no persistent woody stem above ground. Herbaceous plants may be annuals, biennials or perennials, annual herbaceous plants die completely at the end of the growing season or when they have flowered and fruited, and they then grow again from seed. Herbaceous perennial and biennial plants may have stems that die at the end of the growing season, but parts of the plant survive under or close to the ground from season to season. New growth develops from living tissues remaining on or under the ground, including roots, examples of herbaceous biennials include carrot, parsnip and common ragwort, herbaceous perennials include potato, peony, hosta, mint, most ferns and most grasses. Some relatively fast-growing herbaceous plants are pioneers, or early-successional species, others form the main vegetation of many stable habitats, occurring for example in the ground layer of forests, or in naturally open habitats such as meadow, salt marsh or desert. Some herbaceous plants can grow large, such as the Musa genus. The age of some herbaceous plants can be determined by analyzing annual growth rings in the secondary root xylem
Herbaceous plant
–
Trientalis latifolia (Broadleaf Starflower) is a perennial herbaceous plant of the ground layer of forests in western North America.
2.
Basil
–
Basil UK /ˈbæzəl/, US /ˈbeɪzəl/, also called great basil or Saint-Josephs-wort, is a culinary herb of the family Lamiaceae. It is also called the king of herbs and the royal herb, the name basil comes from Greek βασιλικόν φυτόν, royal/kingly plant. Basil is possibly native to India, and has been cultivated there for more than 5,000 years and it was thoroughly familiar to the Greek authors Theophrastus and Dioscorides. Depending on the species and cultivar, the leaves may taste somewhat like anise, with a strong, pungent, there are many varieties of Ocimum basilicum, as well as several related species or species hybrids also called basil. The type used in Italian food is called sweet basil, as opposed to Thai basil, lemon basil, and holy basil. While most common varieties of basil are treated as annuals, some are perennial in warm, tropical climates, including holy basil, the Oxford English Dictionary quotes speculations that basil may have been used in some royal unguent, bath, or medicine. Basil is still considered the king of herbs by many cookery authors, most commercially available basils are cultivars of sweet basil. There are over 160 named cultivars available, with new ones appearing every year, there are also a number of species sold. Here are some basils commonly sold in the US, in general, it is added at the last moment, as cooking quickly destroys the flavor. The fresh herb can be kept for a time in plastic bags in the refrigerator, or for a longer period in the freezer, after being blanched quickly in boiling water. The dried herb also loses most of its flavor, and what little flavor remains tastes very different, with a weak coumarin flavor, Basil is one of the main ingredients in pesto—a green Italian oil-and-herb sauce. The most commonly used Mediterranean basil cultivars are Genovese, Purple Ruffles, Mammoth, Cinnamon, Lemon, Globe, the Chinese also use fresh or dried basils in soups and other foods. In Taiwan, people add fresh basil leaves to thick soups and they also eat fried chicken with deep-fried basil leaves. Basil is commonly steeped in cream or milk to create a flavor in ice cream or chocolates. The leaves are not the part of basil used in culinary applications. Thai basil is also a condiment in the Vietnamese noodle soup, when soaked in water, the seeds of several basil varieties become gelatinous, and are used in Asian drinks and desserts such as faluda, sharbat-e-rihan, or hột é. Several other basils, including some other Ocimum species, are grown in regions of Asia. Most of the Asian basils have a flavor that is, in general
Basil
–
Basil
Basil
–
Dried basil leaves
Basil
–
Basil growing in the sun
Basil
–
Basil sprout at an early stage
3.
Scallion
–
Scallion, green onion, spring onion and salad onion are English names for various Allium species. All of the Allium have hollow green leaves, but these are used while they lack a developed root bulb. Used as a vegetable, they are either raw or cooked. Scallions have a milder taste than most onions, the words scallion and shallot are related and can be traced back to the Greek ασκολόνιον as described by the Greek writer Theophrastus. This name, in turn, seems to originate from the name of the ancient Canaan city of Ashkelon, the plant itself came from farther east of Europe. However, the scallions from A. cepa var. cepa is from a plant, harvested before bulbs form. A. cepa var. aggregatum, formerly A. ascalonicum), shallots are also referred to as eschalot. Diced scallions are used in soup, noodle and seafood dishes, in many Eastern sauces, the bottom half-centimetre of scallions roots is commonly removed before use. In Mexico and the Southwest United States, cebollitas are scallions that are sprinkled with salt and grilled whole and used with cheese, topped with lime juice, they typically serve as a traditional accompaniment to asado dishes. In Catalan cuisine, calçot is a type of onion traditionally eaten in a calçotada. A popular gastronomic event of the name is held between the end of winter and early spring, where calçots are grilled, dipped in salvitxada or romesco sauce. In Japan, scallions are cultivated in two separate ways, in Western Japan, leaf green scallions are typically consumed, where the green portion is consumed. In Eastern Japan, root green scallions are popular, the scallions are partially buried, so a portion of the stalk is kept underground. As a result, a significant part of the stalk remains white in color, the green portion of these root scallions are discarded, and the thick white portions of the scallion are consumed. In Japanese cuisine, scallions are used in abundance, as an accompaniment to tofu, noodle dishes, hot pots, in Vietnam, Welsh onion is important to prepare dưa hành which is served for Tết, the Vietnamese New Year. A kind of sauce, mỡ hành, is used in such as cơm tấm, bánh ít, cà tím nướng. Welsh onion is the ingredient in the dish cháo hành. In India it is eaten as an appetizer with main meals, in north India Coriander, Mint and Onion Chutney is made using scallions
Scallion
–
A bundle of "red scallions"
Scallion
–
Germinating scallion, 10 days old
Scallion
–
Chopped scallions
Scallion
–
Onion cultivars
4.
Spices
–
A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring, coloring or preserving food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, sometimes, spices may be ground into a powder for convenience. Spices are sometimes used in medicine, religious rituals, cosmetics or perfume production, the spice trade developed throughout South Asia and Middle East by at least 2000 BCE with cinnamon and black pepper, and in East Asia with herbs and pepper. The Egyptians used herbs for mummification and their demand for exotic spices and herbs helped stimulate world trade. The word spice comes from the Old French word espice, which became epice, and which came from the Latin root spec, by 1000 BCE, medical systems based upon herbs could be found in China, Korea, and India. Early uses were connected with magic, medicine, religion, tradition, archaeological excavations have uncovered clove burnt onto the floor of a kitchen, dated to 1700 BCE, at the Mesopotamian site of Terqa, in modern-day Syria. The ancient Indian epic Ramayana mentions cloves, the Romans had cloves in the 1st century CE, as Pliny the Elder wrote about them. In the story of Genesis, Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers to spice merchants, in the biblical poem Song of Solomon, the male speaker compares his beloved to many forms of spices. The earliest written records of spices come from ancient Egyptian, Chinese, the Ebers Papyrus from Early Egyptians that dates from 1550 B. C. E. Describes some eight hundred different medicinal remedies and numerous medicinal procedures, historians believe that nutmeg, which originates from the Banda Islands in Southeast Asia, was introduced to Europe in the 6th century BCE. Indonesian merchants traveled around China, India, the Middle East, Arab merchants facilitated the routes through the Middle East and India. This resulted in the Egyptian port city of Alexandria being the trading center for spices. The most important discovery prior to the European spice trade were the monsoon winds, sailing from Eastern spice cultivators to Western European consumers gradually replaced the land-locked spice routes once facilitated by the Middle East Arab caravans. Spices were among the most demanded and expensive available in Europe in the Middle Ages. Given medieval medicines main theory of humorism, spices and herbs were indispensable to balance humors in food, in addition to being desired by those using medieval medicine, the European elite also craved spices in the Middle Ages. An example of the European aristocracys demand for spice comes from the King of Aragon and he was specifically looking for spices to put in wine, and was not alone among European monarchs at the time to have such a desire for spice. Spices were all imported from plantations in Asia and Africa, which made them expensive, from the 8th until the 15th century, the Republic of Venice had the monopoly on spice trade with the Middle East, and along with it the neighboring Italian city-states. The trade made the region rich and it has been estimated that around 1,000 tons of pepper and 1,000 tons of the other common spices were imported into Western Europe each year during the Late Middle Ages
Spices
–
A spice shop selling a variety of spices in Iran
Spices
–
A group of
Indian spices and herbs in bowls
Spices
–
An assortment of spices used in
Indian cuisine
Spices
–
Spice market,
Marakesh
5.
Leaf
–
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
Leaf
–
The leaves of a
beech tree
Leaf
–
Near the ground these
Eucalyptus saplings have juvenile dorsiventral foliage from the previous year, but this season their newly sprouting foliage is isobilateral, like the mature foliage on the adult trees above
Leaf
–
A leaf shed in
autumn.
Leaf
–
Cross-section of a leaf
6.
Flower
–
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
Flower
–
A poster with flowers or clusters of flowers produced by twelve species of flowering plants from different families
Flower
–
Main parts of a mature flower (
Ranunculus glaberrimus)
Flower
–
Reproductive parts of Easter Lily (Lilium longiflorum). 1. Stigma, 2. Style, 3. Stamens, 4. Filament, 5. Petal
Flower
–
Left: A normal zygomorphic Streptocarpus flower. Right: An aberrant peloric Streptocarpus flower. Both of these flowers appeared on the Streptocarpus hybrid 'Anderson's Crows' Wings'.
7.
Seed
–
A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering. The formation of the seed is part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, Seeds are the product of the ripened ovule, after fertilization by pollen and some growth within the mother plant. The embryo is developed from the zygote and the coat from the integuments of the ovule. Seed plants now dominate biological niches on land, from forests to both in hot and cold climates. The term seed also has a meaning that antedates the above—anything that can be sown, e. g. seed potatoes. In the case of sunflower and corn seeds, what is sown is the seed enclosed in a shell or husk, many structures commonly referred to as seeds are actually dry fruits. Plants producing berries are called baccate, sunflower seeds are sometimes sold commercially while still enclosed within the hard wall of the fruit, which must be split open to reach the seed. Different groups of plants have other modifications, the stone fruits have a hardened fruit layer fused to. Nuts are the one-seeded, hard-shelled fruit of plants with an indehiscent seed. Seeds are produced in several related groups of plants, and their manner of production distinguishes the angiosperms from the gymnosperms, angiosperm seeds are produced in a hard or fleshy structure called a fruit that encloses the seeds, hence the name. Some fruits have layers of hard and fleshy material. In gymnosperms, no special structure develops to enclose the seeds, however, the seeds do become covered by the cone scales as they develop in some species of conifer. Seed production in natural plant populations varies widely from year-to-year in response to weather variables, insects and diseases, over a 20-year period, for example, forests composed of loblolly pine and shortleaf pine produced from 0 to nearly 5 million sound pine seeds per hectare. Over this period, there were six bumper, five poor, and nine good seed crops, right after fertilization, the zygote is mostly inactive, but the primary endosperm divides rapidly to form the endosperm tissue. This tissue becomes the food the young plant will consume until the roots have developed after germination, after fertilization the ovules develop into the seeds. The ovule consists of a number of components, The funicle or seed stalk which attaches the ovule to the placenta and hence ovary or fruit wall, the nucellus, the remnant of the megasporangium and main region of the ovule where the megagametophyte develops. The micropyle, a pore or opening in the apex of the integument of the ovule where the pollen tube usually enters during the process of fertilization. The chalaza, the base of the ovule opposite the micropyle, the shape of the ovules as they develop often affects the final shape of the seeds
Seed
–
Brown
flax seeds
Seed
–
The inside of a
Ginkgo seed, showing a well-developed embryo, nutritive tissue (
megagametophyte), and a bit of the surrounding seed coat
Seed
–
Layers within an endospermic maize seed
Seed
–
A collection of various vegetable and herb seeds
8.
Berry
–
In everyday language, a berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Berries are usually juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet or sour, common examples are strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and red- and blackcurrants. In Britain, soft fruit is a term for such fruits. The scientific usage of the term differs from common usage. In scientific terminology, a berry is a fruit produced from the ovary of a flower in which the outer layer of the ovary wall develops into an edible fleshy portion. The definition includes many fruits that are not commonly known as berries, such as grapes, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, fruits excluded by the botanical definition include strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries, which are aggregate fruits. A plant bearing berries is said to be bacciferous or baccate, while many berries are edible, some are poisonous to humans, such as deadly nightshade and pokeweed. Others, such as the white mulberry, red mulberry, and elderberry, are poisonous when unripe, berries are eaten worldwide and often used in jams, preserves, cakes or pies. The berry industry varies from country to country as do types of cultivated or growing in the wild. Berries have been valuable as a source for humans since before the start of agriculture. They were a staple for early hunter-gatherers for thousands of years. In time, humans learned to store berries so that they could be used in the winter and they may be made into fruit preserves, and among Native Americans, mixed with meat and fats as pemmican. Berries also began to be cultivated in Europe and other countries, in Japan, between the 10th and 18th centuries, the term ichibigo referred to many berry crops. The most widely cultivated berry of modern times, however, is the strawberry, the strawberry was mentioned by ancient Romans, who thought it had medicinal properties, but it was then not a staple of agriculture. Woodland strawberries began to be grown in French gardens in the 14th century, the musky-flavored strawberry began to be grown in European gardens in the late 16th century. Later, the Virginia strawberry was grown in Europe and the United States, the most commonly consumed strawberry, the garden strawberry, is an accidental hybrid of the Virginia strawberry and a Chilean variety Fragaria chiloensis. Soon after, Antoine Nicolas Duchesne began to study the breeding of strawberries and made several discoveries crucial to the science of plant breeding, such as the sexual reproduction of strawberry. A form of the berry is found in all the Germanic languages, for example, Old English berie compares with Old Saxon and Old High German beri
Berry
–
Japanese barberries
Berry
Berry
–
Bilberry
Berry
–
Red currants
9.
Bark
–
BARK was an early electromechanical computer. BARK was built using standard phone relays, implementing a 32-bit binary machine and it could perform addition in 150 ms and multiplication in 250 ms. It had a memory with 50 registers and 100 constants and it was later expanded to double the memory. Howard Aiken stated in reference to BARK This is the first computer I have seen outside Harvard that actually works, BARK was developed by Matematikmaskinnämnden a few years before BESK. The machine was built with 8000 standard phone relays,80 km of cable and it was completed in February 1950 at a cost of 400000 Swedish kronor, became operational on April 281950, and was taken offline on September 22,1954. The engineers on the led by Conny Palm were Harry Freese, Gösta Neovius, Olle Karlqvist, Carl-Erik Fröberg, G. Kellberg, Björn Lind, Arne Lindberger, P. Petersson. BESK - Binär Elektronisk Sekvens-Kalkylator - Swedens second computer, SMIL - SifferMaskinen I Lund History of computing hardware Tekn. lic. Olle Karlqvist in memoriam, memorial site of one of the engineers behind BARK and BESK
Bark
–
Conny Palm and BARK.
Bark
10.
Root
–
In vascular plants, the root is the organ of a plant that typically lies below the surface of the soil. Roots can also be aerial or aerating, that is growing up above the ground or especially above water, furthermore, a stem normally occurring below ground is not exceptional either. Therefore, the root is best defined as the non-leaf, non-nodes bearing parts of the plants body, however, important internal structural differences between stems and roots exist. The fossil record of roots – or rather, infilled voids where roots rotted after death – spans back to the late Silurian and their identification is difficult, because casts and molds of roots are so similar in appearance to animal burrows. They can be discriminated using a range of features, the first root that comes from a plant is called the radicle. In response to the concentration of nutrients, roots also synthesise cytokinin, Roots often function in storage of food and nutrients. The roots of most vascular plant species enter into symbiosis with fungi to form mycorrhizae. In its simplest form, the root architecture refers to the spatial configuration of a plant’s root system. This system can be complex and is dependent upon multiple factors such as the species of the plant itself, the composition of the soil. The configuration of root systems serves to support the plant, compete with other plants. Roots grow to specific conditions, which, if changed, can impede a plants growth. For example, a system that has developed in dry soil may not be as efficient in flooded soil, yet plants are able to adapt to other changes in the environment. Root architecture plays the important role of providing a supply of nutrients and water as well as anchorage. The main terms used to classify the architecture of a system are, Branch magnitude. Root angle, the angle of a lateral root’s base around the parent root’s circumference, the angle of a lateral root from its parent root. Link radius, the diameter of a root, all components of the root architecture are regulated through a complex interaction between genetic responses and responses due to environmental stimuli. These developmental stimuli are categorised as intrinsic, the genetic and nutritional influences, or extrinsic, the main hormones and respective pathways responsible for root architecture development include, Auxin – Auxin promotes root initiation, root emergence and primary root elongation. Cytokinins – Cytokinins regulate root apical meristem size and promote lateral root elongation, gibberellins – Together with ethylene they promote crown primordia growth and elongation
Root
–
Primary and secondary roots in a cotton plant
Root
–
Large, mature tree roots above the soil
Root
–
The cross-section of a
barley root
Root
–
Roots of trees
11.
Fruit
–
In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate seeds, accordingly, fruits account for a substantial fraction of the worlds agricultural output, and some have acquired extensive cultural and symbolic meanings. On the other hand, in usage, fruit includes many structures that are not commonly called fruits, such as bean pods, corn kernels, tomatoes. The section of a fungus that produces spores is called a fruiting body. Many common terms for seeds and fruit do not correspond to the botanical classifications, however, in botany, a fruit is the ripened ovary or carpel that contains seeds, a nut is a type of fruit and not a seed, and a seed is a ripened ovule. Examples of culinary vegetables and nuts that are botanically fruit include corn, cucurbits, eggplant, legumes, sweet pepper, in addition, some spices, such as allspice and chili pepper, are fruits, botanically speaking. g. Botanically, a grain, such as corn, rice, or wheat, is also a kind of fruit. However, the wall is very thin and is fused to the seed coat. The outer, often edible layer, is the pericarp, formed from the ovary and surrounding the seeds, the pericarp may be described in three layers from outer to inner, the epicarp, mesocarp and endocarp. Fruit that bears a prominent pointed terminal projection is said to be beaked, a fruit results from maturation of one or more flowers, and the gynoecium of the flower forms all or part of the fruit. Inside the ovary/ovaries are one or more ovules where the megagametophyte contains the egg cell, after double fertilization, these ovules will become seeds. The ovules are fertilized in a process starts with pollination. After pollination, a tube grows from the pollen through the stigma into the ovary to the ovule, later the zygote will give rise to the embryo of the seed, and the endosperm mother cell will give rise to endosperm, a nutritive tissue used by the embryo. As the ovules develop into seeds, the ovary begins to ripen and the ovary wall, in some multiseeded fruits, the extent to which the flesh develops is proportional to the number of fertilized ovules. The pericarp is often differentiated into two or three distinct layers called the exocarp, mesocarp, and endocarp, in some fruits, especially simple fruits derived from an inferior ovary, other parts of the flower, fuse with the ovary and ripen with it. In other cases, the sepals, petals and/or stamens and style of the fall off. When such other floral parts are a significant part of the fruit, it is called an accessory fruit, since other parts of the flower may contribute to the structure of the fruit, it is important to study flower structure to understand how a particular fruit forms. There are three modes of fruit development, Apocarpous fruits develop from a single flower having one or more separate carpels
Fruit
–
Culinary fruits
Fruit
–
Several
culinary fruits
Fruit
–
Mixed fruit
Fruit
–
Fruit shop in
Naggar,
Himachal Pradesh,
India
12.
Botany
–
Botany, also called plant science, plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who specialises in this field, the term botany comes from the Ancient Greek word βοτάνη meaning pasture, grass, or fodder, βοτάνη is in turn derived from βόσκειν, to feed or to graze. Nowadays, botanists study approximately 410,000 species of plants of which some 391,000 species are vascular plants. Medieval physic gardens, often attached to monasteries, contained plants of medical importance and they were forerunners of the first botanical gardens attached to universities, founded from the 1540s onwards. One of the earliest was the Padua botanical garden and these gardens facilitated the academic study of plants. Efforts to catalogue and describe their collections were the beginnings of plant taxonomy, in the last two decades of the 20th century, botanists exploited the techniques of molecular genetic analysis, including genomics and proteomics and DNA sequences to classify plants more accurately. Modern botany is a broad, multidisciplinary subject with inputs from most other areas of science, dominant themes in 21st century plant science are molecular genetics and epigenetics, which are the mechanisms and control of gene expression during differentiation of plant cells and tissues. Botany originated as herbalism, the study and use of plants for their medicinal properties, many records of the Holocene period date early botanical knowledge as far back as 10,000 years ago. This early unrecorded knowledge of plants was discovered in ancient sites of human occupation within Tennessee, the early recorded history of botany includes many ancient writings and plant classifications. Examples of early works have been found in ancient texts from India dating back to before 1100 BC, in archaic Avestan writings. His major works, Enquiry into Plants and On the Causes of Plants, constitute the most important contributions to science until the Middle Ages. De Materia Medica was widely read for more than 1,500 years, important contributions from the medieval Muslim world include Ibn Wahshiyyas Nabatean Agriculture, Abū Ḥanīfa Dīnawarīs the Book of Plants, and Ibn Bassals The Classification of Soils. In the early 13th century, Abu al-Abbas al-Nabati, and Ibn al-Baitar wrote on botany in a systematic and scientific manner and these gardens continued the practical value of earlier physic gardens, often associated with monasteries, in which plants were cultivated for medical use. They supported the growth of botany as an academic subject, lectures were given about the plants grown in the gardens and their medical uses demonstrated. Botanical gardens came much later to northern Europe, the first in England was the University of Oxford Botanic Garden in 1621, throughout this period, botany remained firmly subordinate to medicine. German physician Leonhart Fuchs was one of the three German fathers of botany, along with theologian Otto Brunfels and physician Hieronymus Bock, Fuchs and Brunfels broke away from the tradition of copying earlier works to make original observations of their own. Bock created his own system of plant classification, physician Valerius Cordus authored a botanically and pharmacologically important herbal Historia Plantarum in 1544 and a pharmacopoeia of lasting importance, the Dispensatorium in 1546. Naturalist Conrad von Gesner and herbalist John Gerard published herbals covering the medicinal uses of plants, naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi was considered the father of natural history, which included the study of plants
Botany
–
The fruit of
Myristica fragrans, a species native to
Indonesia, is the source of two valuable spices, the red aril (
mace) enclosing the dark brown
nutmeg.
Botany
–
The
Linnaean Garden of Linnaeus' residence in Uppsala, Sweden, was planted according to his Systema sexuale.
Botany
–
Micropropagation of transgenic plants
Botany
–
Biologist and statistician Ronald Fisher
13.
Medicinal herb
–
Medicinal plants, medicinal herbs, or simply herbs have been identified and used from prehistoric times. Plants make many chemical compounds for biological functions, including defence against insects, fungi, over 12,000 active compounds are known to science. These chemicals work on the body in exactly the same way as pharmaceutical drugs. However, since a plant may contain many substances, the effects of taking a plant as medicine can be complex. The earliest historical records of herbs are found from the Sumerian civilisation, drug research makes use of ethnobotany to search for pharmacologically active substances in nature, and has in this way discovered hundreds of useful compounds. These include the common drugs aspirin, digoxin, quinine, the compounds found in plants are of many kinds, but most are in four major biochemical classes, the alkaloids, glycosides, polyphenols, and terpenes. Medicinal plants are used to treat disease in non-industrialized societies. The annual global export value of plants in 2012 was over US$2.2 billion. Plants, including many now used as herbs and spices, have been used as medicines from prehistoric times. Spices have been used partly to counter food spoilage bacteria, especially in hot climates, angiosperms were the original source of most plant medicines. Human settlements are surrounded by weeds useful as medicines, such as nettle, dandelion. Humans were not alone in using herbs as medicines, some such as non-human primates, monarch butterflies. Plant samples from prehistoric sites are among the lines of evidence that Paleolithic peoples had knowledge of herbal medicine. The mushroom was used to treat whipworm. In ancient Sumeria, hundreds of plants including myrrh and opium are listed on clay tablets. The ancient Egyptian Ebers Papyrus lists over 800 plant medicines such as aloe, cannabis, castor bean, garlic, juniper, the Chinese pharmacopoeia, the Shennong Ben Cao Jing records plant medicines such as chaulmoogra for leprosy, ephedra, and hemp. This was expanded in the Tang Dynasty Yaoxing Lun, in the fourth century BC, Aristotles pupil Theophrastus wrote the first systematic botany text, Historia plantarum. In the Early Middle Ages, Benedictine monasteries preserved medical knowledge in Europe, translating and copying classical texts, hildegard of Bingen wrote Causae et Curae on medicine
Medicinal herb
–
The bark of the
cinchona tree contains
quinine, which today is a widely prescribed treatment for
malaria, especially in countries that cannot afford to purchase the more expensive anti-malarial drugs produced by the
pharmaceutical industry.
Medicinal herb
–
Leaves of
Eucalyptus olida being packed into a steam
distillation unit to gather its
essential oil.
Medicinal herb
–
A herb shop in the
souk of
Marrakesh, Morocco
Medicinal herb
–
Datura stramonium is a highly effective treatment for asthma symptoms when smoked, because it contains
atropine, which acts as an antispasmodic in the lungs. However, datura is also an extremely powerful
hallucinogen and overdoses of the
tropane alkaloids in it can result in hospitalization or death.
14.
Resin
–
In polymer chemistry and materials science, resin is a solid or highly viscous substance of plant or synthetic origin that is typically convertible into polymers. They are often mixtures of compounds, principally terpenes. Many plants, particularly woody plants, produce resin in response to injury, the resin acts as a bandage protecting the plant from invading insects and pathogens. Plants secrete resins and rosins for their protective benefits, the resin produced by most plants is composed mainly of terpenes and derivatives. Some resins also contain a proportion of resin acids. The individual components of resin can be separated by fractional distillation, rosins on the other hand are less volatile and consist, inter alia, of diterpenes. Amber is fossil resin from coniferous and other tree species, copal, kauri gum, dammar and other resins may also be found as subfossil deposits. Subfossil copal can be distinguished from genuine fossil amber because it becomes tacky when a drop of a solvent such as acetone or chloroform is placed on it, african copal and the kauri gum of New Zealand are also procured in a semi-fossil condition. Solidified resin from which the volatile terpene components have been removed by distillation is known as rosin, typical rosin is a transparent or translucent mass, with a vitreous fracture and a faintly yellow or brown colour, non-odorous or having only a slight turpentine odor and taste. Rosin is insoluble in water, mostly soluble in alcohol, essential oils, ether and hot fatty oils, and softens and melts under the influence of heat, rosin consists of a complex mixture of different substances including organic acids named the resin acids. These are closely related to the terpenes, and derive from them through partial oxidation, Resin acids can be dissolved in alkalis to form resin soaps, from which the purified resin acids are regenerated by treatment with acids. Examples of resin acids are abietic acid, C20H30O2, plicatic acid contained in cedar, and pimaric acid, C20H30O2, a constituent of galipot resin. Abietic acid can also be extracted from rosin by means of hot alcohol, it crystallizes in leaflets, pimaric acid closely resembles abietic acid into which it passes when distilled in a vacuum, it has been supposed to consist of three isomers. Rosin is obtained from pines and some plants, mostly conifers. Propolis, consisting largely of resins collected from such as poplars and conifers, is used by honey bees to seal gaps in their hives. Shellac and lacquer are examples of insect-derived resins, asphaltite and Utah resin are petroleum bitumens, not a product secreted by plants, although it was ultimately derived from plants. These were highly prized substances, and required as incense in religious rites. The word resin has been applied in the world to nearly any component of a liquid that will set into a hard lacquer or enamel-like finish
Resin
–
Cedar of Lebanon cone showing flecks of resin as used in the
mummification of
Egyptian Pharaohs.
Resin
–
Insect trapped in resin
Resin
–
Extremely viscous resin extruding from the trunk of a mature
Araucaria columnaris.
Resin
–
Resin of a pine
15.
Pericarp
–
Fruit anatomy is the internal structure of fruits. Fruits are the mature ovary or ovaries of one or more flowers, in fleshy fruits, the outer layer is the pericarp, which is the tissue that develops from the ovary wall of the flower and surrounds the seeds. But in some seemingly pericarp fruits, the portion is not derived from the ovary. For example, in the fruit of the tree the edible portion is an aril. The outer covering of a seed is tough because the parent plant needs to protect the plant growing, some plants commonly called vegetables, such as cucumbers, tomatoes, and squash, are actually fruits. Fruits are found in three main categories, Simple fruits are formed from a single ovary and may contain one or many seeds. They can be fleshy or dry. Berries and drupes are examples of simple fleshy fruits, pomes are both accessory fruits and simple fruits. Aggregate fruits are formed from a compound flower and contain many ovaries. Multiple fruits are formed from the ovaries of multiple flowers. An example of a fruit is pineapple. In berries and drupes, the forms the edible tissue around the seeds. In other fruits such as Citrus stone fruits only some layers of the pericarp are eaten, in accessory fruits, other tissues develop into the edible portion of the fruit instead, for example the receptacle of the flower in strawberries. In a citrus fruit, the epicarp and mesocarp make up the peel, epicarp is a botanical term for the outermost layer of the pericarp. The epicarp forms the outer skin of the fruit, if there is one. The epicarp is sometimes called the exocarp, or, especially in Citrus, in citrus fruits, the flavedo constitutes the peripheral surface of the pericarp. When ripe, the cells contain carotenoids inside chromoplasts, which, in a previous developmental stage. This hormonally controlled progression in development is responsible for the change of color from green to yellow upon ripening
Pericarp
–
Longitudinal section of a female flower of a
squash plant (courgette), showing the
ovary,
ovules,
pistil, and
petals.
Pericarp
–
A segment of an
orange that has been opened to show the pulp (
juice vesicles) of the endocarp
Pericarp
–
Olive drupe endocarp (left and center) and the seed (right).
16.
Commonwealth of Nations
–
The Commonwealth of Nations, also known as simply the Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of 52 member states that are mostly former territories of the British Empire. The Commonwealth dates back to the century with the decolonisation of the British Empire through increased self-governance of its territories. It was formally constituted by the London Declaration in 1949, which established the states as free. The symbol of free association is Queen Elizabeth II who is the Head of the Commonwealth. The Queen is also the monarch of 16 members of the Commonwealth, the other Commonwealth members have different heads of state,31 members are republics and five are monarchies with a different monarch. Member states have no obligation to one another. Instead, they are united by language, history, culture and their values of democracy, free speech, human rights. These values are enshrined in the Commonwealth Charter and promoted by the quadrennial Commonwealth Games, the Commonwealth covers more than 29,958,050 km2, 20% of the worlds land area, and spans all six inhabited continents. She declared, So, it marks the beginning of that free association of independent states which is now known as the Commonwealth of Nations. As long ago as 1884, however, Lord Rosebery, while visiting Australia, had described the changing British Empire—as some of its colonies became more independent—as a Commonwealth of Nations. Conferences of British and colonial prime ministers occurred periodically from the first one in 1887, the Commonwealth developed from the imperial conferences. Newfoundland never did, as on 16 February 1934, with the consent of its parliament, Newfoundland later joined Canada as its 10th province in 1949. Australia and New Zealand ratified the Statute in 1942 and 1947 respectively, after World War II ended, the British Empire was gradually dismantled. Most of its components have become independent countries, whether Commonwealth realms or republics, there remain the 14 British overseas territories still held by the United Kingdom. In April 1949, following the London Declaration, the word British was dropped from the title of the Commonwealth to reflect its changing nature, burma and Aden are the only states that were British colonies at the time of the war not to have joined the Commonwealth upon independence. Hoped for success was reinforced by such achievements as climbing Mount Everest in 1953, breaking the four minute mile in 1954, however, the humiliation of the Suez Crisis of 1956 badly hurt morale of Britain and the Commonwealth as a whole. More broadly, there was the loss of a role of the British Empire. That role was no longer militarily or financially feasible, as Britains withdrawal from Greece in 1947 painfully demonstrated, Britain itself was now just one part of the NATO military alliance in which the Commonwealth had no role apart from Canada
Commonwealth of Nations
–
Flag
Commonwealth of Nations
–
The prime ministers of five members at the 1944
Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference. (L-R)
Mackenzie King (Canada);
Jan Smuts (South Africa);
Winston Churchill (United Kingdom);
Peter Fraser (New Zealand);
John Curtin (Australia)
Commonwealth of Nations
–
Queen
Elizabeth II,
Head of the Commonwealth
Commonwealth of Nations
–
Marlborough House, London, the headquarters of the
Commonwealth Secretariat, the Commonwealth's principal intergovernmental institution
17.
H-dropping
–
H-dropping or aitch-dropping or haitch-dopping is the deletion of the voiceless glottal fricative or H sound. The phenomenon is common in many dialects of English, and is found in certain other languages. Although common in most regions of England and in some other English-speaking countries, in Old English phonology, the sounds, and are taken to be allophones of a single phoneme /h/. The sound appeared at the start of a syllable, either alone or in a cluster with another consonant, the other two sounds were used in the syllable coda. The instances of /h/ in coda position were lost during the Middle English and Early Modern English periods, most of the initial clusters involving /h/ also disappeared. As a result, in the varieties of Modern English. The usual realizations of the two clusters are and. The phenomenon of H-dropping considered as a feature of contemporary English is the omission, in accents and dialects, of this syllable-initial /h/. H-dropping, in accents and dialects of Modern English, causes words like harm, heat, and behind to be pronounced arm, eat. Cases of H-dropping occur in all English dialects in the forms of function words like he, him, her, his, had. The pronoun it is a product of historical H-dropping – the older hit survives as a form in a few dialects such as Southern American English. Because the /h/ of unstressed have is usually dropped, the word is usually pronounced /əv/ in phrases like should have, would have and these can be spelled out in informal writing as shouldve, wouldve, and couldve. Because /əv/ is also the form of the word of. There is evidence of h-dropping in texts from the 13th century and it may originally have arisen through contact with the Norman language, where h-dropping also occurred. Puns which rely on the omission of the /h/ sound can be found in works by William Shakespeare. It is suggested that the phenomenon probably spread from the middle to the orders of society. It started to become stigmatized, being seen as a sign of poor education and it is not generally found in Scottish English or Hiberno-English. It is also absent in certain regions of England, including Northumberland and East Anglia
H-dropping
–
H-dropping in the dialects of England (based on Upton and Widdowson, 2006). Dialects in the regions marked no /h/ feature (variable) H-dropping, while those in the regions marked /h/ generally do not, although there is some local variation within these regions.
18.
Sumer
–
Living along the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates, Sumerian farmers were able to grow an abundance of grain and other crops, the surplus of which enabled them to settle in one place. Proto-writing in the dates back to c.3000 BC. The earliest texts come from the cities of Uruk and Jemdet Nasr and date back to 3300 BC, modern historians have suggested that Sumer was first permanently settled between c.5500 and 4000 BC by a West Asian people who spoke the Sumerian language, an agglutinative language isolate. These conjectured, prehistoric people are now called proto-Euphrateans or Ubaidians, some scholars contest the idea of a Proto-Euphratean language or one substrate language. Reliable historical records begin much later, there are none in Sumer of any kind that have dated before Enmebaragesi. Juris Zarins believes the Sumerians lived along the coast of Eastern Arabia, todays Persian Gulf region, Sumerian civilization took form in the Uruk period, continuing into the Jemdet Nasr and Early Dynastic periods. During the 3rd millennium BC, a cultural symbiosis developed between the Sumerians, who spoke a language isolate, and Akkadian-speakers, which included widespread bilingualism. The influence of Sumerian on Akkadian is evident in all areas, from lexical borrowing on a scale, to syntactic, morphological. This has prompted scholars to refer to Sumerian and Akkadian in the 3rd millennium BC as a Sprachbund, Sumer was conquered by the Semitic-speaking kings of the Akkadian Empire around 2270 BC, but Sumerian continued as a sacred language. Native Sumerian rule re-emerged for about a century in the Neo-Sumerian Empire or Third Dynasty of Ur approximately 2100-2000 BC, the term Sumerian is the common name given to the ancient non-Semitic-speaking inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Sumer, by the East Semitic-speaking Akkadians. The Sumerians referred to themselves as ùĝ saĝ gíg ga, phonetically /uŋ saŋ gi ga/, literally meaning the black-headed people, the Akkadian word Shumer may represent the geographical name in dialect, but the phonological development leading to the Akkadian term šumerû is uncertain. Hebrew Shinar, Egyptian Sngr, and Hittite Šanhar, all referring to southern Mesopotamia, in the late 4th millennium BC, Sumer was divided into many independent city-states, which were divided by canals and boundary stones. Each was centered on a dedicated to the particular patron god or goddess of the city. The Sumerian city-states rose to power during the prehistoric Ubaid and Uruk periods, classical Sumer ends with the rise of the Akkadian Empire in the 23rd century BC. Following the Gutian period, there is a brief Sumerian Renaissance in the 21st century BC, the Amorite dynasty of Isin persisted until c.1700 BC, when Mesopotamia was united under Babylonian rule. The Sumerians were eventually absorbed into the Akkadian population, 2500–2334 BC Akkadian Empire period, c. 2218–2047 BC Ur III period, c, 2047–1940 BC The Ubaid period is marked by a distinctive style of fine quality painted pottery which spread throughout Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf. It appears that this culture was derived from the Samarran culture from northern Mesopotamia and it is not known whether or not these were the actual Sumerians who are identified with the later Uruk culture
Sumer
–
Map of Sumer
Sumer
–
The
Samarra bowl, at the
Pergamonmuseum, Berlin. The
swastika in the center of the design is a reconstruction.
Sumer
–
Fragment of
Eannatum 's
Stele of the Vultures
19.
Fennel
–
Fennel is a flowering plant species in the carrot family. It is a hardy, perennial herb with flowers and feathery leaves. It is indigenous to the shores of the Mediterranean but has become naturalized in many parts of the world, especially on dry soils near the sea-coast. It is an aromatic and flavorful herb with culinary and medicinal uses and. Florence fennel or finocchio is a selection with a swollen, bulb-like stem base that is used as a vegetable, fennel is used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including in its native range the mouse moth and the Old-World swallowtail. Where it has introduced in north America it may be used by the anise swallowtail. The word fennel developed from the Middle English fenel or fenyl and this came from the Old English fenol or finol, which in turn came from the Latin feniculum or foeniculum, the diminutive of fenum or faenum, meaning hay. The Latin word for the plant was ferula, which is now used as the name of a related plant. The Greek name for fennel is marathon or marathos, and the place of the battle of Marathon. The word is first attested in Mycenaean Linear B form as ma-ra-tu-wo, as Old English finule, fennel is one of the nine plants invoked in the pagan Anglo-Saxon Nine Herbs Charm, recorded in the 10th century. In the 15th century, Portuguese settlers on Madeira noticed the abundance of fennel, and used the Portuguese word funcho. Fennel, Foeniculum vulgare, is a perennial herb and it is erect, glaucous green, and grows to heights of up to 2.5 m, with hollow stems. The leaves grow up to 40 cm long, they are finely dissected, with the ultimate segments filiform, the flowers are produced in terminal compound umbels 5–15 cm wide, each umbel section having 20–50 tiny yellow flowers on short pedicels. The fruit is a dry seed from 4–10 mm long, half as wide or less, fennel is widely cultivated, both in its native range and elsewhere, for its edible, strongly flavored leaves and fruits. Its aniseed flavor comes from anethole, a compound also found in anise and star anise. Florence fennel is a group with inflated leaf bases which form a bulb-like structure. It is of cultivated origin, and has a mild anise-like flavor, Florence fennel plants are smaller than the wild type. The inflated leaf bases are eaten as a vegetable, both raw and cooked, several cultivars of Florence fennel are also known by several other names, notably the Italian name finocchio
Fennel
–
Fennel Foeniculum vulgare
Fennel
–
Fennel, from Koehler's Medicinal-plants (1887)
Fennel
–
Fennel flowerheads
Fennel
–
Fennel seeds
20.
Coriander
–
Coriander, also known as cilantro or Chinese parsley, is an annual herb in the family Apiaceae. All parts of the plant are edible, but the fresh leaves, Coriander is native to regions spanning from southern Europe and northern Africa to southwestern Asia. It is a plant growing to 50 cm tall. The leaves are variable in shape, broadly lobed at the base of the plant, the flowers are borne in small umbels, white or very pale pink, asymmetrical, with the petals pointing away from the center of the umbel longer than those pointing toward it. The fruit is a globular, dry schizocarp 3–5 mm in diameter, the earliest attested form of the word is the Mycenaean Greek ko-ri-ja-da-na written in Linear B syllabic script which later evolved to koriannon or koriandron. Cilantro is the Spanish word for coriander, also deriving from coriandrum and it is the common term in North American English for coriander leaves, due to their extensive use in Mexican cuisine. Coriander grows wild over an area of Western Asia and southern Europe, prompting the comment, It is hard to define exactly where this plant is wild. Fifteen desiccated mericarps were found in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B level of the Nahal Hemar Cave in Israel, Coriander seems to have been cultivated in Greece since at least the second millennium BC. Coriander was brought to the British colonies in North America in 1670, all parts of the plant are edible, but the fresh leaves and the dried seeds are the parts most traditionally used in cooking. Coriander is used in cuisines throughout the world, the leaves are variously referred to as coriander leaves, fresh coriander, dhania, Chinese parsley, or cilantro. Coriander potentially may be confused with culantro, an Apiaceae like coriander, culantro has a distinctly different spiny appearance, a more potent volatile leaf oil and a stronger aroma. The leaves have a different taste from the seeds, with citrus overtones, however, some people find the leaves to have an unpleasant soapy taste or a rank smell and avoid them. Chopped coriander leaves are a garnish on Indian dishes such as dal, as heat diminishes their flavour, coriander leaves are often used raw or added to the dish immediately before serving. In Indian and Central Asian recipes, coriander leaves are used in large amounts, the leaves spoil quickly when removed from the plant, and lose their aroma when dried or frozen. The dry fruits are known as coriander seeds, the word coriander in food preparation may refer solely to these seeds, rather than to the plant. The seeds have a citrus flavour when crushed, due to terpenes linalool. It is described as warm, nutty, spicy, and orange-flavoured and they are used extensively for grinding and blending purposes in the spice trade. Types with smaller fruit are produced in regions and usually have a volatile oil content around 0. 4-1. 8%
Coriander
–
Coriander or Cilantro
Coriander
–
Coriander plants
Coriander
–
Coriander leaves
Coriander
–
Coriander roots
21.
Thyme
–
Thyme is an evergreen herb with culinary, medicinal, and ornamental uses. The most common variety is Thymus vulgaris, Thyme is of the genus Thymus of the mint family, and a relative of the oregano genus Origanum. Ancient Egyptians used thyme for embalming, the ancient Greeks used it in their baths and burnt it as incense in their temples, believing it was a source of courage. The spread of thyme throughout Europe was thought to be due to the Romans, as used it to purify their rooms and to give an aromatic flavour to cheese. In the European Middle Ages, the herb was placed beneath pillows to aid sleep, in this period, women also often gave knights and warriors gifts that included thyme leaves, as it was believed to bring courage to the bearer. Thyme was also used as incense and placed on coffins during funerals, the name of the genus of fish Thymallus, first given to the grayling originates from the faint smell of the herb thyme, which emanates from the flesh. Thyme is best cultivated in a hot, sunny location with well-drained soil and it is generally planted in the spring, and thereafter grows as a perennial. It can be propagated by seed, cuttings, or dividing rooted sections of the plant, the plants can take deep freezes and are found growing wild on mountain highlands. In some Levantine countries, and Assyria, the condiment zaatar contains thyme as a vital ingredient and it is a common component of the bouquet garni, and of herbes de Provence. Thyme is sold fresh and dried. While summer-seasonal, fresh greenhouse thyme is often available year round, the fresh form is more flavourful, but also less convenient, storage life is rarely more than a week. Although the fresh form only lasts a week or two under refrigeration, it can last many months if carefully frozen, fresh thyme is commonly sold in bunches of sprigs. A sprig is a single stem snipped from the plant and it is composed of a woody stem with paired leaf or flower clusters spaced 1⁄2 to 1 inch apart. A recipe may measure thyme by the bunch, or by the sprig, dried thyme is widely used in Armenia in tisanes. Depending on how it is used in a dish, the whole sprig may be used, or the leaves removed, usually, when a recipe specifies bunch or sprig, it means the whole form, when it specifies spoons, it means the leaves. It is perfectly acceptable to substitute dried for whole thyme, leaves may be removed from stems either by scraping with the back of a knife, or by pulling through the fingers or tines of a fork. Thyme retains its flavour on drying better than other herbs. Oil of thyme, the oil of common thyme, contains 20–54% thymol
Thyme
–
A bundle of thyme
Thyme
–
Flowering thyme
Thyme
–
Variegated lemon thyme
22.
Ancient Greece
–
Ancient Greece was a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th-9th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and this was followed by the period of Classical Greece, an era that began with the Greco-Persian Wars, lasting from the 5th to 4th centuries BC. Due to the conquests by Alexander the Great of Macedonia, Hellenistic civilization flourished from Central Asia to the end of the Mediterranean Sea. Classical Greek culture, especially philosophy, had a influence on ancient Rome. For this reason Classical Greece is generally considered to be the culture which provided the foundation of modern Western culture and is considered the cradle of Western civilization. Classical Antiquity in the Mediterranean region is considered to have begun in the 8th century BC. Classical Antiquity in Greece is preceded by the Greek Dark Ages and this period is succeeded, around the 8th century BC, by the Orientalizing Period during which a strong influence of Syro-Hittite, Jewish, Assyrian, Phoenician and Egyptian cultures becomes apparent. The end of the Dark Ages is also dated to 776 BC. The Archaic period gives way to the Classical period around 500 BC, Ancient Periods Astronomical year numbering Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details The history of Greece during Classical Antiquity may be subdivided into five major periods. The earliest of these is the Archaic period, in which artists made larger free-standing sculptures in stiff, the Archaic period is often taken to end with the overthrow of the last tyrant of Athens and the start of Athenian Democracy in 508 BC. It was followed by the Classical period, characterized by a style which was considered by observers to be exemplary, i. e. classical, as shown in the Parthenon. This period saw the Greco-Persian Wars and the Rise of Macedon, following the Classical period was the Hellenistic period, during which Greek culture and power expanded into the Near and Middle East. This period begins with the death of Alexander and ends with the Roman conquest, Herodotus is widely known as the father of history, his Histories are eponymous of the entire field. Herodotus was succeeded by authors such as Thucydides, Xenophon, Demosthenes, Plato, most of these authors were either Athenian or pro-Athenian, which is why far more is known about the history and politics of Athens than those of many other cities. Their scope is limited by a focus on political, military and diplomatic history, ignoring economic. In the 8th century BC, Greece began to emerge from the Dark Ages which followed the fall of the Mycenaean civilization, literacy had been lost and Mycenaean script forgotten, but the Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet, modifying it to create the Greek alphabet. The Lelantine War is the earliest documented war of the ancient Greek period and it was fought between the important poleis of Chalcis and Eretria over the fertile Lelantine plain of Euboea. Both cities seem to have suffered a decline as result of the long war, a mercantile class arose in the first half of the 7th century BC, shown by the introduction of coinage in about 680 BC
Ancient Greece
–
The
Parthenon, a temple dedicated to
Athena, located on the
Acropolis in
Athens, is one of the most representative symbols of the culture and sophistication of the ancient Greeks.
Ancient Greece
–
Dipylon Vase of the late Geometric period, or the beginning of the Archaic period,
c. 750 BC.
Ancient Greece
–
Political geography of ancient Greece in the Archaic and Classical periods
23.
Galen
–
Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus, often Anglicized as Galen and better known as Galen of Pergamon, was a prominent Greek physician, surgeon and philosopher in the Roman Empire. The son of Aelius Nicon, an architect with scholarly interests, Galen received a comprehensive education that prepared him for a successful career as a physician. Galens understanding of anatomy and medicine was influenced by the then-current theory of humorism. His theories dominated and influenced Western medical science for more than 1,300 years, Medical students continued to study Galens writings until well into the 19th century. Galen saw himself as both a physician and a philosopher, as he wrote in his treatise entitled That the Best Physician is Also a Philosopher. Many of his works have been preserved and/or translated from the original Greek, although many were destroyed, although there is some debate over the date of his death, he was no younger than seventy when he died. In medieval Europe, Galens writings on anatomy became the mainstay of the medieval university curriculum. Some of Galens ideas were incorrect, he did not dissect a human body, Galens original Greek texts gained renewed prominence during the early modern period. In the 1530s, Belgian anatomist and physician Andreas Vesalius took on a project to many of Galens Greek texts into Latin. Vesaliuss most famous work, De humani corporis fabrica, was influenced by Galenic writing. Galens name Γαληνός, Galēnos comes from the adjective γαληνός, calm, Galen describes his early life in On the affections of the mind. Galen describes his father as an amiable, just, good. His studies also took in each of the philosophical systems of the time. His father had planned a career for Galen in philosophy or politics and took care to expose him to literary. However, Galen states that in around AD145 his father had a dream in which the god Asclepius appeared and commanded Nicon to send his son to study medicine, there he came under the influence of men like Aeschrion of Pergamon, Stratonicus and Satyrus. Asclepiea functioned as spas or sanitoria to which the sick would come to seek the ministrations of the priesthood, romans frequented the temple at Pergamon in search of medical relief from illness and disease. It was also the haunt of notable people such as Claudius Charax the historian, Aelius Aristides the orator, Polemo the sophist, in 148, when he was 19, his father died, leaving him independently wealthy. In 157, aged 28, he returned to Pergamon as physician to the gladiators of the High Priest of Asia, one of the most influential and wealthy men in Asia
Galen
–
Eighteenth-century portrait of Galenus by Georg Paul Busch
Galen
–
Statue of Galen in
Bergama, Turkey
Galen
–
De curandi ratione
Galen
–
Mondino dei Liuzzi, Anathomia, 1541
24.
Vegetable
–
In everyday usage, a vegetable is any part of a plant that is consumed by humans as food as part of a meal. The term vegetable is somewhat arbitrary, and largely defined through culinary and it normally excludes other food derived from plants such as fruits, nuts, and cereal grains, but includes seeds such as pulses. The original meaning of the vegetable, still used in biology, was to describe all types of plant, as in the terms vegetable kingdom. At first, plants which grew locally would have been cultivated, nowadays, most vegetables are grown all over the world as climate permits, and crops may be cultivated in protected environments in less suitable locations. China is the largest producer of vegetables and global trade in agricultural products allows consumers to purchase vegetables grown in faraway countries, the scale of production varies from subsistence farmers supplying the needs of their family for food, to agribusinesses with vast acreages of single-product crops. Depending on the type of vegetable concerned, harvesting the crop is followed by grading, storing, processing, and marketing. Vegetables can be either raw or cooked and play an important role in human nutrition, being mostly low in fat and carbohydrates. Many nutritionists encourage people to consume plenty of fruit and vegetables, the word vegetable was first recorded in English in the early 15th century. It comes from Old French, and was applied to all plants. It derives from Medieval Latin vegetabilis growing, flourishing, a change from a Late Latin meaning to be enlivening, quickening. The meaning of vegetable as a plant grown for food was not established until the 18th century, in 1767, the word was specifically used to mean a plant cultivated for food, an edible herb or root. The year 1955 saw the first use of the shortened, slang term veggie, the broadest definition is the words use adjectivally to mean matter of plant origin to distinguish it from animal, meaning matter of animal origin. More specifically, a vegetable may be defined as any plant, part of which is used for food, a secondary meaning then being the edible part of such a plant. A more precise definition is any plant part consumed for food that is not a fruit or seed, falling outside these definitions are edible fungi and edible seaweed which, although not parts of plants, are often treated as vegetables. In everyday language, the fruit and vegetable are mutually exclusive. Fruit has a precise meaning, being a part that developed from the ovary of a flowering plant. This is considerably different from the words culinary meaning, while peaches, plums, and oranges are fruit in both senses, many items commonly called vegetables, such as eggplants, bell peppers, and tomatoes, are botanically fruits. The question of whether the tomato is a fruit or a vegetable found its way into the United States Supreme Court in 1893
Vegetable
–
Vegetables in a
market in the
Philippines
Vegetable
–
Domestic vegetable garden in the United Kingdom
Vegetable
–
cabbage Brassica oleracea
Vegetable
–
turnip Brassica rapa
25.
Food
–
Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for an organism. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, the substance is ingested by an organism and assimilated by the organisms cells to provide energy, maintain life, or stimulate growth. Historically, humans secured food through two methods, hunting and gathering and agriculture, today, the majority of the food energy required by the ever increasing population of the world is supplied by the food industry. They address issues such as sustainability, biological diversity, climate change, nutritional economics, population growth, water supply, most food has its origin in plants. Some food is obtained directly from plants, but even animals that are used as sources are raised by feeding them food derived from plants. Cereal grain is a food that provides more food energy worldwide than any other type of crop. Corn, wheat, and rice – in all of their varieties – account for 87% of all grain production worldwide, most of the grain that is produced worldwide is fed to livestock. Some foods not from animal or plant sources include various edible fungi, fungi and ambient bacteria are used in the preparation of fermented and pickled foods like leavened bread, alcoholic drinks, cheese, pickles, kombucha, and yogurt. Another example is blue-green algae such as Spirulina, inorganic substances such as salt, baking soda and cream of tartar are used to preserve or chemically alter an ingredient. Many plants and plant parts are eaten as food and around 2,000 plant species are cultivated for food, many of these plant species have several distinct cultivars. Seeds of plants are a source of food for animals, including humans, because they contain the nutrients necessary for the plants initial growth, including many healthful fats. In fact, the majority of food consumed by human beings are seed-based foods, edible seeds include cereals, legumes, and nuts. Oilseeds are often pressed to produce rich oils - sunflower, flaxseed, rapeseed, sesame, seeds are typically high in unsaturated fats and, in moderation, are considered a health food, although not all seeds are edible. Large seeds, such as those from a lemon, pose a choking hazard, fruits are the ripened ovaries of plants, including the seeds within. Many plants and animals have coevolved such that the fruits of the former are a food source to the latter. Fruits, therefore, make up a significant part of the diets of most cultures, some botanical fruits, such as tomatoes, pumpkins, and eggplants, are eaten as vegetables. Vegetables are a type of plant matter that is commonly eaten as food. These include root vegetables, bulbs, leaf vegetables, stem vegetables, animals are used as food either directly or indirectly by the products they produce
Food
–
Various foods
Food
–
Foods from plant sources
Food
–
Various raw
meats
Food
–
Tractor and
Chaser bin
26.
Perennial
–
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is widely used to distinguish plants with little or no woody growth from trees and shrubs. Tomato vines, for example, live several years in their natural habitat but are grown as annuals in temperate regions because they dont survive the winter. There is also a class of evergreen, or non-herbaceous, perennials, an intermediate class of plants is known as subshrubs, which retain a vestigial woody structure in winter, e. g. Penstemon. The local climate may dictate whether plants are treated as shrubs or perennials, for instance, many varieties of Fuchsia are shrubs in warm regions, but in colder temperate climates may be cut to the ground every year as a result of winter frosts. The symbol for a plant, based on Species Plantarum by Linnaeus, is. Perennial plants can be short-lived or they can be long-lived, as are some plants like trees. They include an assortment of plant groups from ferns and liverworts to the highly diverse flowering plants like orchids. Plants that flower and fruit only once and then die are termed monocarpic or semelparous, however, most perennials are polycarpic, flowering over many seasons in their lifetime. Perennials typically grow structures that allow them to adapt to living one year to the next through a form of vegetative reproduction rather than seeding. These structures include bulbs, tubers, woody crowns, rhizomes plus others and they might have specialized stems or crowns that allow them to survive periods of dormancy over cold or dry seasons during the year. Many perennials have developed specialized features that allow them to extreme climatic. Some have adapted to hot and dry conditions or cold temperatures. Those plants tend to invest a lot of resource into their adaptations and often do not flower, Many perennials produce relatively large seeds, which can have an advantage, with larger seedlings produced after germination that can better compete with other plants. Some annuals produce many seeds per plant in one season, while some perennials are not under the same pressure to produce large numbers of seeds. In warmer and more favorable climates, perennials grow continuously, in seasonal climates, their growth is limited to the growing season. In some species, perennials retain their foliage all year round, other plants are deciduous perennials, for example, in temperate regions a perennial plant may grow and bloom during the warm part of the year, with the foliage dying back in the winter
Perennial
–
Common chicory,
Cichorium intybus, is a herbaceous perennial plant
Perennial
–
Dahlia plants are perennial.
Perennial
–
Switchgrass is a deep-rooted perennial. These roots are more than 3 meters long.
Perennial
27.
Lavender
–
Lavandula is a genus of 47 known species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is native to the Old World and is found from Cape Verde and the Canary Islands, Europe across to northern and eastern Africa, the Mediterranean, southwest Asia to southeast India. The most widely cultivated species, Lavandula angustifolia, is referred to as lavender. The genus includes annual or short-lived herbaceous perennial plants, and shrub-like perennials, leaf shape is diverse across the genus. They are simple in some commonly cultivated species, in other species they are pinnately toothed, or pinnate, sometimes multiple pinnate, in most species the leaves are covered in fine hairs or indumentum, which normally contain the essential oils. Flowers are borne in whorls, held on spikes rising above the foliage, some species produce coloured bracts at the apices. The flowers may be blue, violet or lilac in the wild species, the corolla is also tubular, usually with five lobes. L. stoechas, L. pedunculata and L. dentata were known in Roman times, from the Middle Ages onwards, the European species were considered two separate groups or genera, Stoechas and Lavandula, until Linnaeus combined them. He only recognised five species in Species Plantarum, L. multifida and L. dentata and L. stoechas, L. pedunculata was included within L. stoechas. By 1790, L. pinnata and L. carnosa were recognised, the latter was subsequently transferred to Anisochilus. By 1826 Frédéric Charles Jean Gingins de la Sarraz listed 12 species in three sections, and by 1848 eighteen species were known, one of the first modern major classifications was that of Dorothy Chaytor in 1937 at Kew. The six sections she proposed for 28 species still left many intermediates that could not easily be assigned and her sections included Stoechas, Spica, Subnudae, Pterostoechas, Chaetostachys and Dentatae. However all the cultivated and commercial forms resided in the Stoechas. There were four species within Stoechas while Spica had three and she believed that the garden varieties were hybrids between true lavender L. angustifolia and spike lavender. More recently, work has been done by Upson and Andrews, subgenus Lavandula is mainly of woody shrubs with entire leaves. It contains the species grown as ornamental plants and for oils. They are found across the Mediterranean region to northeast Africa and western Arabia, subgenus Fabricia consists of shrubs and herbs, and it has a wide distribution from the Atlantic to India. Subgenus Sabaudia constitutes two species in the southwest Arabian peninsula and Eritrea, which are distinct from the other species
Lavender
–
Lavender
Lavender
–
A bee on a lavender flower
Lavender
–
Lavender infused cupcakes
Lavender
–
Bunches of lavender for sale, intended to repel insects
28.
Biennial plant
–
A biennial plant is a flowering plant that takes two years to complete its biological lifecycle. In the first year, the plant grows leaves, stems, usually the stem remains very short and the leaves are low to the ground, forming a rosette. Many biennials require a treatment, or vernalization, before they will flower. During the next spring or summer, the stem of the biennial plant elongates greatly and this typically makes biennial vegetables such as spinach, fennel and lettuce unusable as food. The plant then flowers, producing fruits and seeds before it finally dies, there are far fewer biennials than either perennial plants or annual plants. Under extreme climatic conditions, a plant may complete its life cycle rapidly. This is quite common in vegetable or flower seedlings that were vernalized before they were planted in the ground and this behavior leads to many normally biennial plants being treated as annuals in some areas. From a gardeners perspective, a status as annual, biennial. Biennials grown for flowers, fruits, or seeds need to be grown for two years, biennials that are grown for edible leaves or roots are grown for just one year. Plant breeders have produced annual cultivars of several biennials that will flower the first year from seed, for example, foxglove and stock
Biennial plant
–
Parsley is a common example of a biennial plant.
Biennial plant
–
The Sweet William Dwarf plant is a biennial plant
29.
Parsley
–
Where it grows as a biennial, in the first year, it forms a rosette of tripinnate leaves 10–25 cm long with numerous 1–3 cm leaflets, and a taproot used as a food store over the winter. Parsley is widely used in European, Middle Eastern, and American cooking, curly leaf parsley is often used as a garnish. In central Europe, eastern Europe and southern Europe, as well as in western Asia, root parsley is very common in central, eastern and southern European cuisines, where it is used as a snack or a vegetable in many soups, stews, and casseroles. Mycenaean Greek se-ri-no, in Linear B, is the earliest attested form of the word selinon, garden parsley is a bright green, biennial, plant in temperate climates, or an annual herb in subtropical and tropical areas. Where it grows as a biennial, in the first year, it forms a rosette of tripinnate leaves 10–25 cm long with numerous 1–3 cm leaflets, and a taproot used as a food store over the winter. In the second year, it grows a stem to 75 cm tall with sparser leaves. The seeds are ovoid, 2–3 mm long, with prominent style remnants at the apex, one of the compounds of the essential oil is apiol. The plant normally dies after seed maturation, Parsley grows best in moist, well-drained soil, with full sun. It grows best between 22–30 °C, and usually is grown from seed, germination is slow, taking four to six weeks, and it often is difficult because of furanocoumarins in its seed coat. Typically, plants grown for the crop are spaced 10 cm apart. Parsley attracts several species of wildlife, bees and other nectar-feeding insects also visit the flowers. Birds such as the goldfinch feed on the seeds, in cultivation, parsley is subdivided into several cultivar groups, depending on the form of the plant, which is related to its end use. Often these are treated as varieties, but they are cultivated selections. The two main groups of parsley used as herbs are curly leaf and Italian, or flat leaf, of these, a third type, sometimes grown in southern Italy, has thick leaf stems resembling celery. Another type of parsley is grown as a vegetable, the Hamburg root parsley. This type of parsley produces much thicker roots than types cultivated for their leaves. Although seldom used in Britain and the United States, root parsley is common in central and eastern European cuisine, although root parsley looks similar to the parsnip, which is among its closest relatives in the family Apiaceae, its taste is quite different. Parsley is widely used in Middle Eastern, European, Brazilian and American cooking, curly leaf parsley is used often as a garnish
Parsley
–
Parsley
Parsley
–
Parsley leaves
Parsley
–
Parsley plant, crispum group
Parsley
–
Root parsley
Media related to Herbs at Wikimedia Commons
