1.
Fluorescence
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Fluorescence is the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation. It is a form of luminescence, in most cases, the emitted light has a longer wavelength, and therefore lower energy, than the absorbed radiation. Fluorescent materials cease to glow immediately when the radiation source stops, unlike phosphorescence, Fluorescence also occurs frequently in nature in some minerals and in various biological states in many branches of the animal kingdom. An early observation of fluorescence was described in 1560 by Bernardino de Sahagún and it was derived from the wood of two tree species, Pterocarpus indicus and Eysenhardtia polystachya. The chemical compound responsible for this fluorescence is matlaline, which is the product of one of the flavonoids found in this wood. The name was derived from the fluorite, some examples of which contain traces of divalent europium. In a key experiment he used a prism to isolate ultraviolet radiation from sunlight, the specific frequencies of exciting and emitted light are dependent on the particular system. S0 is called the state of the fluorophore, and S1 is its first excited singlet state. A molecule in S1 can relax by various competing pathways and it can undergo non-radiative relaxation in which the excitation energy is dissipated as heat to the solvent. Excited organic molecules can also relax via conversion to a triplet state, relaxation from S1 can also occur through interaction with a second molecule through fluorescence quenching. Molecular oxygen is an extremely efficient quencher of fluorescence just because of its unusual triplet ground state, in most cases, the emitted light has a longer wavelength, and therefore lower energy, than the absorbed radiation, this phenomenon is known as the Stokes shift. The emitted radiation may also be of the wavelength as the absorbed radiation. Molecules that are excited through light absorption or via a different process can transfer energy to a second sensitized molecule, the fluorescence quantum yield gives the efficiency of the fluorescence process. It is defined as the ratio of the number of photons emitted to the number of photons absorbed, Φ = Number of photons emitted Number of photons absorbed The maximum fluorescence quantum yield is 1.0, each photon absorbed results in a photon emitted. Compounds with quantum yields of 0.10 are still considered quite fluorescent, thus, if the rate of any pathway changes, both the excited state lifetime and the fluorescence quantum yield will be affected. Fluorescence quantum yields are measured by comparison to a standard, the quinine salt quinine sulfate in a sulfuric acid solution is a common fluorescence standard. The fluorescence lifetime refers to the time the molecule stays in its excited state before emitting a photon. This is an instance of exponential decay, various radiative and non-radiative processes can de-populate the excited state
2.
Aloe hereroensis
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Aloe hereroensis is an African Aloe native to Angola, Namibia and South Africa. Succulent plant Dressler, S. Schmidt, M. & Zizka, African plants – a Photo Guide
3.
Peduncle (botany)
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In botany, a peduncle is a stem supporting an inflorescence, or after fecundation, an infructescence. The peduncle is a stem, usually green, though some peduncles are more or less florally colored or neutral in color, having no particular pigmentation. In some species, peduncles are leafless, though others bear leaves, or even cataphylls, at nodes. The peduncle may be ramified, in case the ramifications are called pedicels. When an unbranched peduncle has no obvious nodes, rises directly from a bulb or stem, the acorns of the pedunculate oak are borne on a long peduncle, hence the name of the tree
4.
Flower
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A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in plants that are floral. The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs, Flowers may facilitate outcrossing or allow selfing. Some flowers produce diaspores without fertilization, Flowers contain sporangia and are the site where gametophytes develop. Many flowers have evolved to be attractive to animals, so as to them to be vectors for the transfer of pollen. After fertilization, the ovary of the flower develops into fruit containing seeds, the essential parts of a flower can be considered in two parts, the vegetative part, consisting of petals and associated structures in the perianth, and the reproductive or sexual parts. A stereotypical flower consists of four kinds of structures attached to the tip of a short stalk, each of these kinds of parts is arranged in a whorl on the receptacle. The four main whorls are as follows, Collectively the calyx, corolla, the next whorl toward the apex, composed of units called petals, which are typically thin, soft and colored to attract animals that help the process of pollination. Androecium, the whorl, consisting of units called stamens. Stamens consist of two parts, a called a filament, topped by an anther where pollen is produced by meiosis. Gynoecium, the innermost whorl of a flower, consisting of one or more units called carpels, the carpel or multiple fused carpels form a hollow structure called an ovary, which produces ovules internally. Ovules are megasporangia and they in turn produce megaspores by meiosis which develop into female gametophytes and these give rise to egg cells. The gynoecium of a flower is described using an alternative terminology wherein the structure one sees in the innermost whorl is called a pistil. A pistil may consist of a carpel or a number of carpels fused together. The sticky tip of the pistil, the stigma, is the receptor of pollen, the supportive stalk, the style, becomes the pathway for pollen tubes to grow from pollen grains adhering to the stigma. The relationship to the gynoecium on the receptacle is described as hypogynous, perigynous, although the arrangement described above is considered typical, plant species show a wide variation in floral structure. These modifications have significance in the evolution of flowering plants and are used extensively by botanists to establish relationships among plant species, the four main parts of a flower are generally defined by their positions on the receptacle and not by their function. Many flowers lack some parts or parts may be modified into other functions and/or look like what is typically another part, in some families, like Ranunculaceae, the petals are greatly reduced and in many species the sepals are colorful and petal-like. Other flowers have modified stamens that are petal-like, the flowers of Peonies and Roses are mostly petaloid stamens
5.
Plant stem
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A stem is one of two main structural axes of a vascular plant, the other being the root. The stem is divided into nodes and internodes, The nodes hold one or more leaves. Adventitious roots may also be produced from the nodes, the internodes distance one node from another. The term shoots is often confused with stems, shoots generally refers to new plant growth including both stems and other structures like leaves or flowers. In most plants stems are located above the surface but some plants have underground stems. Stems have four main functions which are, Support for and the elevation of leaves, flowers, the stems keep the leaves in the light and provide a place for the plant to keep its flowers and fruits. Transport of fluids between the roots and the shoots in the xylem and phloem Storage of nutrients Production of new living tissue, the normal lifespan of plant cells is one to three years. Stems have cells called meristems that annually generate new living tissue, Stems are often specialized for storage, asexual reproduction, protection or photosynthesis, including the following, Acaulescent – used to describe stems in plants that appear to be stemless. Actually these stems are just extremely short, the leaves appearing to rise out of the ground. Arborescent – tree like with woody stems normally with a single trunk, branched – aerial stems are described as being branched or unbranched Bud – an embryonic shoot with immature stem tip. Bulb – a short underground stem with fleshy storage leaves attached, e. g. onion, daffodil. Bulbs often function in reproduction by splitting to form new bulbs or producing small new bulbs termed bulblets, bulbs are a combination of stem and leaves so may better be considered as leaves because the leaves make up the greater part. Caespitose – when stems grow in a mass or clump or in low growing mats. Cladode – a flattened stem that appears more-or-less leaf like and is specialized for photosynthesis, climbing – stems that cling or wrap around other plants or structures. Corm – a short enlarged underground, storage stem, e. g. taro, decumbent – stems that lie flat on the ground and turn upwards at the ends. Fruticose – stems that grow shrublike with woody like habit, herbaceous – non woody, they die at the end of the growing season. Pedicel – stems that serve as the stalk of a flower in an inflorescence or infrutescence. Peduncle – a stem that supports an inflorescence Prickle – a sharpened extension of the outer layers
6.
Branch
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A branch or tree branch is a woody structural member connected to but not part of the central trunk of a tree. Large branches are known as boughs and small branches are known as twigs, due to a broad range of species of trees, branches and twigs can be seen in many different shapes and sizes. While branches can be horizontal, vertical, or diagonal. The term twig often refers to a terminus, while bough refers only to branches coming directly from the trunk, because of the enormous quantity of branches in the world, there are a variety of names in English alone for them. In general however, unspecific words for a branch have been replaced by the branch itself. A bough can also be called a limb or arm, and though these are arguably metaphors, a crotch or fork is an area where a trunk splits into two or more boughs. A twig is frequently referred to as a sprig as well, other words for twig include branchlet, spray, and surcle, as well as the technical terms surculus and ramulus. Branches found under larger branches can be called underbranches, some branches from specific trees have their own names, such as osiers and withes or withies, which come from willows. Often trees have certain words which, in English, are naturally collocated, such as holly and mistletoe, similarly, the branch of a cherry tree is generally referred to as a cherry branch, while other such formations carry no such alliance. A good example of this versatility is oak, which could be referred to as variously an oak branch, an oaken branch, a branch of oak, or the branch of an oak. Once a branch has been cut or in any other way removed from its source, it is most commonly referred to as a stick, thin, flexible sticks are called switches, wands, shrags, or vimina. In Old English, there are words for branch, including seten, stofn, telgor. There are also numerous words, such as blēd, bōgincel, ōwæstm. Numerous other words for twigs and boughs abound, including tān, latin words for branch are ramus or cladus. The second term is a found in other modern words such as cladodonts or cladogram. Basal shoot Plant stem Root Shoot Stolon Switch Trunk Turion Twig Wand
7.
Morphology (biology)
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Morphology is a branch of biology dealing with the study of the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features. This includes aspects of the appearance, i. e. external morphology, as well as the form and structure of the internal parts like bones and organs. This is in contrast to physiology, which deals primarily with function, Morphology is a branch of life science dealing with the study of gross structure of an organism or taxon and its component parts. The word morphology is from the Ancient Greek don, morphé, meaning form, among other important theorists of morphology are Lorenz Oken, Georges Cuvier, Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Richard Owen, Karl Gegenbaur and Ernst Haeckel. In English-speaking countries, the term molecular morphology has been used for time for describing the structure of compound molecules, such as polymers. Comparative Morphology is analysis of the patterns of the locus of structures within the plan of an organism. Functional Morphology is the study of the relationship between the structure and function of morphological features, experimental Morphology is the study of the effects of external factors upon the morphology of organisms under experimental conditions, such as the effect of genetic mutation. Anatomy is a branch of morphology that deals with the structure of organisms, most taxa differ morphologically from other taxa. Typically, closely related taxa differ much less than more distantly related ones, cryptic species are species which look very similar, or perhaps even outwardly identical, but are reproductively isolated. Conversely, sometimes unrelated taxa acquire a similar appearance as a result of convergent evolution or even mimicry, in addition, there can be morphological differences within a species, such as in Apoica flavissima where queens are significantly smaller than workers. A further problem with relying on morphological data is that what may appear, morphologically speaking, the significance of these differences can be examined through the use of allometric engineering in which one or both species are manipulated to phenocopy the other species. Invention and development of microscopy enable the observation of 3-D cell morphology with both spatial and temporal resolution. The dynamic processes of cell morphology which are controlled by a complex system play an important role in varied important biological process, such as immune. Comparative anatomy Insect morphology Morphometrics Neuromorphology Phenetics Phenotype Phenotypic plasticity Plant morphology
8.
Shoot
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In botany, shoots consist of stems including their appendages, the leaves and lateral buds, flowering stems and flower buds. The new growth from seed germination that grows upward is a shoot where leaves will develop, in the spring, perennial plant shoots are the new growth that grows from the ground in herbaceous plants or the new stem or flower growth that grows on woody plants. In everyday speech, shoots are often synonymous with stems, stems, which are an integral component of shoots, provide an axis for buds, fruits, and leaves. Young shoots are eaten by animals because the fibres in the new growth have not yet completed secondary cell wall development, making the young shoots softer and easier to chew. As shoots grow and age, the cells develop secondary cell walls that have a hard, some plants produce toxins that make their shoots inedible or less palatable. Many woody plants have distinct short shoots and long shoots, in some angiosperms, the short shoots, also called spur shoots or fruit spurs, produce the majority of flowers and fruit. A similar pattern occurs in some conifers and in Ginkgo, although the short shoots of some such as Picea are so small that they can be mistaken for part of the leaf that they have produced. A related phenomenon is seasonal heterophylly, which involves visibly different leaves from spring growth, whereas spring growth mostly comes from buds formed the previous season, and often includes flowers, lammas growth often involves long shoots
9.
Spermatophyte
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The spermatophytes, also known as phanerogams or phenogamae, comprise those plants that produce seeds, hence the alternative name seed plants. They are a subset of the embryophytes or land plants and these terms distinguished those plants with hidden sexual organs from those with visible sexual organs. In addition to the taxa listed above, the record contains evidence of many extinct taxa of seed plants. The so-called seed ferns were one of the earliest successful groups of land plants, glossopteris was the most prominent tree genus in the ancient southern supercontinent of Gondwana during the Permian period. A whole genome duplication event in the ancestor of seed plants occurred about 319 million years ago and this gave rise to a series of evolutionary changes that resulted in the origin of seed plants. A middle Devonian precursor to seed plants from Belgium has been identified predating the earliest seed plants by about 20 million years, runcaria, small and radially symmetrical, is an integumented megasporangium surrounded by a cupule. The megasporangium bears an unopened distal extension protruding above the mutlilobed integument and it is suspected that the extension was involved in anemophilous pollination. Runcaria sheds new light on the sequence of character acquisition leading to the seed, runcaria has all of the qualities of seed plants except for a solid seed coat and a system to guide the pollen to the seed. Seed-bearing plants were divided into angiosperms, or flowering plants, and gymnosperms, which includes the gnetophytes, cycads, ginkgo. Older morphological studies believed in a relationship between the gnetophytes and the angiosperms, in particular based on vessel elements. However, molecular studies have shown a clade of gymnosperms. For example, one common proposed set of relationships is known as the hypothesis and looks like, However
10.
Phyllotaxis
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In botany, phyllotaxis or phyllotaxy is the arrangement of leaves on a plant stem. Phyllotactic spirals form a class of patterns in nature. The basic arrangements of leaves on a stem are opposite, or alternate = spiral, leaves may also be whorled if several leaves arise, or appear to arise, from the same level on a stem. This arrangement is unusual on plants except for those with particularly short internodes. Examples of trees with whorled phyllotaxis are Brabejum stellatifolium and the related Macadamia genus, with an opposite leaf arrangement, two leaves arise from the stem at the same level, on opposite sides of the stem. An opposite leaf pair can be thought of as a whorl of two leaves, with an alternate pattern, each leaf arises at a different point on the stem. Examples include various bulbous plants such as Boophone and it also occurs in other plant habits such as those of Gasteria or Aloe seedlings, and also in some mature Aloe species such as Aloe plicatilis. In an opposite pattern, if successive leaf pairs are 90 degrees apart and it is common in members of the family Crassulaceae Decussate phyllotaxis also occurs in the Aizoaceae. A whorl can occur as a structure where all the leaves are attached at the base of the shoot. A basal whorl with a number of leaves spread out in a circle is called a rosette. A repeating spiral can be represented by a fraction describing the angle of windings leaf per leaf, alternate distichous leaves will have an angle of 1/2 of a full rotation. In beech and hazel the angle is 1/3, in oak and apricot it is 2/5, in sunflowers, poplar, and pear, it is 3/8, the numerator and denominator normally consist of a Fibonacci number and its second successor. The number of leaves is called rank, in the case of simple Fibonacci ratios. With larger Fibonacci pairs, the pattern becomes complex and non-repeating and this tends to occur with a basal configuration. Examples can be found in flowers and seed heads. The most famous example is the sunflower head and this phyllotactic pattern creates an optical effect of criss-crossing spirals. In the botanical literature, these designs are described by the number of counter-clockwise spirals and these also turn out to be Fibonacci numbers. In some cases, the appear to be multiples of Fibonacci numbers because the spirals consist of whorls
11.
Connation
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Connation in plants is the developmental fusion of organs of the same type, for example, petals to one another to form a tubular corolla. This is in contrast to adnation, the fusion of dissimilar organs, such organs are described as connate or adnate, respectively. When like organs that are well separated are placed next to each other. Synsepalous, All the sepals of a flower are fused into a cup or tube, sympetalous, All the petals of a flower are fused into a cup, tube, or other shape. An apopetalous corolla has free, unfused petals
12.
Rachis
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Rachis /ˈreɪkᵻs/ is a biological term for a main axis or shaft. In vertebrates a rachis can refer to the series of articulated vertebrae, in this case the rachis usually forms the supporting axis of the body and is then called the spine or vertebral column. Rachis can also mean the central shaft of pennaceous feathers, in the gonad of the invertebrate nematode C. The rachis is filled with cytoplasm, in plants, a rachis is the main axis of a compound structure. It can be the stem of a compound leaf, such as in Acacia or ferns, or the main. A ripe head of wheat is easily shattered into dispersal units when touched or blown by the wind. A series of abscission layers forms that divides the rachis into dispersal units consisting of a group of flowers attached to a short segment of the rachis. This is significant in the history of agriculture, and referred to by archaeologists as a brittle rachis, one type of shattering in crop plants
13.
Pedicel (botany)
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A pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to the inflorescence. In the absence of a pedicel, the flowers are described as sessile, pedicel is also applied to the stem of the infructescence. The stem or branch from the stem of the inflorescence that holds a group of pedicels is called a peduncle
14.
Pseudanthium
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The individual flowers of a pseudanthium commonly are called florets. The real flowers are small and often greatly reduced. Pseudanthia are characteristic of the daisy and sunflower family, whose flowers are differentiated into ray flowers and disk flowers, the disk flowers in the center of the pseudanthium are actinomorphic and the corolla is fused into a tube. Flowers on the periphery are zygomorphic and the corolla has one large lobe, either ray or disk flowers may be absent in some plants, Senecio vulgaris lacks ray flowers and Taraxacum officinale lacks disk flowers. The pseudanthium has a whorl of bracts below the flowers, forming an involucre, in all cases, a pseudanthium is superficially indistinguishable from a flower, but closer inspection of its anatomy will reveal that it is composed of multiple flowers. Head This is an equivalent term for head and pseudanthium when used in the botanical sense. Capitulum Capitulum can be used as a synonym for pseudanthium and flower head, however its use is generally. At least one source defines it as a flower head. In addition to its use as a term meaning flower head it is also used to mean the top of the sphagnum plant. Calathid This is a rarely used term. It was defined in the 1966 book, The genera of flowering plants, however, on-line botanical glossaries do not define it and Google Scholar does not link to any significant usage of the term in a botanical sense. Possible pseudanthia of this type may occur in the following families, Hydatellaceae Lemnaceae Pandanaceae Triuridaceae Phyllanthaceae
15.
Fruit
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In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate seeds, accordingly, fruits account for a substantial fraction of the worlds agricultural output, and some have acquired extensive cultural and symbolic meanings. On the other hand, in usage, fruit includes many structures that are not commonly called fruits, such as bean pods, corn kernels, tomatoes. The section of a fungus that produces spores is called a fruiting body. Many common terms for seeds and fruit do not correspond to the botanical classifications, however, in botany, a fruit is the ripened ovary or carpel that contains seeds, a nut is a type of fruit and not a seed, and a seed is a ripened ovule. Examples of culinary vegetables and nuts that are botanically fruit include corn, cucurbits, eggplant, legumes, sweet pepper, in addition, some spices, such as allspice and chili pepper, are fruits, botanically speaking. g. Botanically, a grain, such as corn, rice, or wheat, is also a kind of fruit. However, the wall is very thin and is fused to the seed coat. The outer, often edible layer, is the pericarp, formed from the ovary and surrounding the seeds, the pericarp may be described in three layers from outer to inner, the epicarp, mesocarp and endocarp. Fruit that bears a prominent pointed terminal projection is said to be beaked, a fruit results from maturation of one or more flowers, and the gynoecium of the flower forms all or part of the fruit. Inside the ovary/ovaries are one or more ovules where the megagametophyte contains the egg cell, after double fertilization, these ovules will become seeds. The ovules are fertilized in a process starts with pollination. After pollination, a tube grows from the pollen through the stigma into the ovary to the ovule, later the zygote will give rise to the embryo of the seed, and the endosperm mother cell will give rise to endosperm, a nutritive tissue used by the embryo. As the ovules develop into seeds, the ovary begins to ripen and the ovary wall, in some multiseeded fruits, the extent to which the flesh develops is proportional to the number of fertilized ovules. The pericarp is often differentiated into two or three distinct layers called the exocarp, mesocarp, and endocarp, in some fruits, especially simple fruits derived from an inferior ovary, other parts of the flower, fuse with the ovary and ripen with it. In other cases, the sepals, petals and/or stamens and style of the fall off. When such other floral parts are a significant part of the fruit, it is called an accessory fruit, since other parts of the flower may contribute to the structure of the fruit, it is important to study flower structure to understand how a particular fruit forms. There are three modes of fruit development, Apocarpous fruits develop from a single flower having one or more separate carpels
16.
Infructescence
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Infructescence is defined as the ensemble of fruits derived from the ovaries of an inflorescence. It usually retains the size and structure of the inflorescence, in some cases, infructescences are similar in appearance to simple fruits. One example is the infructescence of Ananas, which is formed from the fusion of the berries with receptacle tissues, the mature infructescence of a grain, such as wheat or corn, is known as an ear. The infructescence of Ficus is called a syconium
17.
Panicle
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A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. Some authors distinguish it from a spike, by requiring that the flowers be pedicellate. The branches of a panicle are often racemes, a panicle may have determinate or indeterminate growth. This type of inflorescence is largely characteristic of such as oat and crabgrass, as well as other plants such as pistachio. Botanists use the term paniculate in two ways, having a true panicle inflorescence as well as having an inflorescence with the form but not necessarily the structure of a panicle. A corymb may have a branching structure, with the lower flowers having longer pedicels than the upper. Many species in the Maloideae, such as hawthorns and rowans, thyrse, a branched inflorescence where the main axis has indeterminate growth, and the branches have determinate growth
18.
Raceme
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A raceme is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing pedicellate flowers—flowers having short floral stalks called pedicels—along its axis. In botany, an axis means a shoot, in case one bearing the flowers. In indeterminate inflorescence-like racemes, the oldest flowers are borne towards the base and new flowers are produced as the shoot grows, a plant that flowers on a showy raceme may have this reflected in its scientific name, e. g. Cimicifuga racemosa. A compound raceme, also called a panicle, has a main axis. Examples of racemes occur on mustard and radish plants, a spike is an unbranched, indeterminate inflorescence, similar to a raceme, but bearing sessile flowers. Examples occur on Malabar nut and chaff flowers, a true spikelet comprises one or more florets enclosed by two glumes, with flowers and glumes arranged in two opposite rows along the spikelet. Examples occur on rice and wheat, both grasses, an ament or catkin is very similar to a spike or raceme, but with subtending bracts so conspicuous as to conceal the flowers until pollination, as in the pussy–willow, alder, birch. These are sometimes called amentaceous plants, a spadix is a form of spike in which the florets are densely crowded along a fleshy axis, and enclosed by one or more large, brightly–colored bracts called spathes. Usually the female flowers grow at the base, and male flowers grow above and they are a characteristic of the Araceae family, for example jack–in–the–pull it and wild calla. From classical Latin racemus, cluster of grapes
19.
Vegetation
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Vegetation is assemblages of plant species and the ground cover they provide. It is a term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent. It is broader than the flora which refers to species composition. Perhaps the closest synonym is plant community, but vegetation can, primeval redwood forests, coastal mangrove stands, sphagnum bogs, desert soil crusts, roadside weed patches, wheat fields, cultivated gardens and lawns, all are encompassed by the term vegetation. The vegetation type is defined by characteristic dominant species, or an aspect of the assemblage. The contemporary use of vegetation approximates that of ecologist Frederic Clements term earth cover, Natural vegetation refers to plant life undisturbed by humans in its growth and which is controlled by the climatic conditions of that region. The distinction between vegetation and flora was first made by Jules Thurmann, prior to this, the two terms were used indiscriminately, and still are in some contexts. Augustin de Candolle also made a distinction, but he used the terms station and habitation. Later, the concept of vegetation would influence the usage of the term biome, other concepts similar to vegetation are physiognomy of vegetation and formation. Departing from Linnean taxonomy, Humboldt established a new science, dividing plant geography between taxonomists who studied plants as taxa and geographers who studied plants as vegetation. The physiognomic approach in the study of vegetation is common among biogeographers working on vegetation on a world scale, the concept vegetation type is more ambiguous. For some authors, it includes, besides physiognomy, floristic, furthermore, the phytosociological approach in the study of vegetation relies upon a fundamental unit, the plant association, which is defined upon flora. An influential, clear and simple scheme for types of vegetation was produced by Wagner & von Sydow. Like all the systems, plant communities are temporally and spatially dynamic. Dynamism in vegetation is defined primarily as changes in species composition and/or vegetation structure, temporally, a large number of processes or events can cause change, but for sake of simplicity they can be categorized roughly as either abrupt or gradual. Abrupt changes are referred to as disturbances, these include things like wildfires, high winds, landslides, floods, avalanches. Their causes are external to the community—they are natural processes occurring independently of the natural processes of the community. Such events can change vegetation structure and composition very quickly and for time periods
20.
Bract
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In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis, or cone scale. Bracts are often different from foliage leaves and they may be smaller, larger, or of a different color, shape, or texture. Typically, they look different from the parts of the flower. The state of having bracts is referred to as bracteate or bracteolate, some bracts are brightly colored and serve the function of attracting pollinators, either together with the perianth or instead of it. Examples of this type of bract include Euphorbia pulcherrima and Bougainvillea, in grasses, each floret is enclosed in a pair of papery bracts, called the lemma and palea, while each spikelet has a further pair of bracts at its base called glumes. These bracts form the chaff removed from cereal grain during threshing and winnowing, bats may detect acoustic signals from dish-shaped bracts such as those of Marcgravia evenia. A prophyll is a structure, such as a bracteole. The term can mean the lower bract on a peduncle. The frequently showy pair of bracts of Euphorbia species in subgenus Lacanthis are the cyathophylls, bracts subtend the cone scales in the seed cones of many conifers, and in some cases, such as Pseudotsuga, they extend beyond the cone scales. A small bract is called a bracteole or bractlet, technically this is any bract that arises on a pedicel instead of subtending it. Bracts that appear in a whorl subtending an inflorescence are called an involucre. An involucre is a common feature beneath the inflorescences of many Apiaceae, Asteraceae, Dipsacaceae and Polygonaceae, each flower in an inflorescence may have its own whorl of bracts, in this case called an involucel. In this case they may be called chaff, paleas, or receptacular bracts and are usually minute scales or bristles, many asteraceous plants have bracts at the base of each inflorescence. The term involucre is also used for a highly conspicuous bract or bract pair at the base of an inflorescence, in the family Betulaceae, notably in the genera Carpinus and Corylus, the involucre is a leafy structure that protects the developing nuts. Beggar-tick has narrow involucral bracts surrounding each inflorescence, each of which also has a bract below it. There is then a pair of bracts on the main stem. It is a calyx-like extra whorl of floral appendages, each individual segment of the epicalyx is called an episepal because they resemble the sepals. They are present in family Malvaceae, the Hibiscus family, fragaria may or may not have an epicalyx
21.
Asteraceae
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Asteraceae or Compositae is a very large and widespread family of flowering plants. The family currently has 32,913 accepted species names, in 1,911 genera and 13 subfamilies, in terms of numbers of species, the Asteraceae are rivaled only by the Orchidaceae. Many members have composite flowers in the form of flower heads surrounded by involucral bracts, when viewed from a distance, each capitulum may have the appearance of being a single flower. The name Asteraceae comes from the type genus Aster, from the Greek ἀστήρ, meaning star, Compositae is an older but still valid name which refers to the fact that the family is one of the few angiosperm ones to have composite flowers. Most members of Asteraceae are herbaceous, but a significant number are also shrubs, vines, the family has a worldwide distribution, from the polar regions to the tropics, colonizing a wide variety of habitats. It is most common in the arid and semiarid regions of subtropical, the Asteraceae may represent as much as 10% of autochthonous flora in many regions of the world. Asteraceae is an important family, providing products such as cooking oils, lettuce, sunflower seeds, artichokes, sweetening agents, coffee substitutes. Several genera are of importance, including pot marigold, Calendula officinalis, Echinacea, various daisies, fleabane, chrysanthemums, dahlias, zinnias. Asteraceae are important in medicine, including Grindelia, yarrow. A number of species are considered invasive, including, most notably in North America, dandelion, the name Asteraceae comes to international scientific vocabulary from New Latin, from Aster, the type genus, + -aceae, a standardized suffix for plant family names in modern taxonomy. The genus name comes from the Classical Latin word aster, star, Compositae, an older but still valid name, means composite and refers to the characteristic inflorescence, a special type of pseudanthium found in only a few other angiosperm families. The study of family is known as synantherology. The vernacular name daisy, widely applied to members of family, is derived from its Old English name, dægesege, from dæges eage. This is because the open at dawn and close at dusk. Composite flowers have a distribution, and are found everywhere except Antarctica. They are especially numerous in tropical and subtropical regions, Compositae were first described in 1792 by the German botanist Paul Dietrich Giseke. Traditionally, two subfamilies were recognised, Asteroideae and Cichorioideae, the latter has been shown to be extensively paraphyletic, and has now been divided into 12 subfamilies, but the former still stands. The phylogenetic tree presented below is based on Panero & Funk updated in 2014, the diamond denotes a very poorly supported node, the dot a poorly supported node
22.
Wisteria sinensis
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Wisteria sinensis is a woody, deciduous, perennial climbing vine in the genus Wisteria, native to China in the provinces of Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Shaanxi, and Yunnan. While this plant is a vine, it can be trained into a tree-like shape, usually with a wavy trunk. It can grow 20–30 m long over supporting trees by counterclockwise-twining stems, the leaves are shiny, green, pinnately compound, 10–30 cm in length, with 9-13 oblong leaflets that are each 2–6 cm long. The flowers are white, violet, or blue, produced on 15–20 cm racemes in spring, the flowers on each raceme open simultaneously before the foliage has expanded, and have a distinctive fragrance similar to that of grapes. Though it has shorter racemes than Wisteria floribunda, it often has a quantity of racemes. However seed production is low, and most regenerative growth occurs through layering and suckering. It is hardy in USDA plant hardiness zones 5-9, and prefers moist soils and it is considered shade tolerant, but will flower only when exposed to partial or full sun. It will also flower only after passing from juvenile to adult stage and it can live for over a hundred years. All parts of the plant contain a glycoside called wisterin which is toxic if ingested and may cause nausea, vomiting, stomach pains, wisterias have caused poisoning in children of many countries, producing mild to severe gastroenteritis. Captain Richard Rawes of the East Indiaman Warren Hastings brought it from China to Britain in 1816, from where it spread to Europe and it has secured for itself a place as one of the most popular vines for home gardens due to its flowering. It has however become a species in some areas of the eastern United States where the climate closely matches that of China. A one-acre specimen located in Sierra Madre, California is recognized by Guinness World Records as the worlds largest blossoming plant, jiang, Yifan, Chen, Xinlu, Lin, Hong. Floral Scent in Wisteria, Chemical Composition, Emission Pattern, journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science. Zhang, Shu-yong, Xia, Jiang-bao, Zhou, Ze-fu, Zhang, photosynthesis responses to various soil moisture in leaves of Wisteria sinensis
23.
Pedicularis verticillata
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The plant is perennial and is 15–35 centimetres high. The stems are erect at the center and have hairs which come in four lines and it leaves carry 3 centimetres long petioles which are white coloured while its leaf-blades are oblong, lanceolate and are 2. 5–3 centimetres by 1–1.2 centimetres. Both stem and basal leaves are of the same length while the calyx is red and is 6 millimetres long and is ovoid. Raceme is inflorescent and dense, with coloured flowers. It corolla is of purple colour and is 1.3 centimetres with right tube being bent, the galea is falcate,5 millimetres long and rounded at the front. The plant capsule is 1–1.5 centimetres by 4–5 millimetres, Pedicularis lanata Pedicularis sudetica Description of how plant blooms and photos of it every day life on Alaska Wildflowers
24.
Rhinanthus angustifolius
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Rhinanthus angustifolius or Greater Yellow-rattle is a Lamiales plant species of the genus Rhinanthus. It is a wildflower native to temperate grasslands in much of Europe. The yellow flowers are visited by bumblebees. Middle Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Asia Western Asia, Turkey Caucasus, Transcaucasus, in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. Ciscaucasia, in the Russian Federations Eurasian North Caucasian Federal District oblasts and republics, including Chechnya, the Sochi region in Krasnodar Krai, pontic-Caspian steppe, western Kazakhstan, the Russian Federations central-western Asian Southern Federal District oblasts and republics, including Kalmykia Republic and Volgograd. West Siberian Plain, the Russian Federations northwestern Asia region of the western Siberian Federal District, including the Oblasts of Chelyabinsk, Novosibirsk, Alectorolophus glaber Beck Alectorolophus montanus Frits Rhinanthus apterus Rhinanthus glaber Lam. Rhinanthus major Rhinanthus montanus Sauter Rhinanthus parviflorus Noulet Rhinanthus reichenbachii Bentham in DC, Rhinanthus serotinus Oborny Rhinanthus vernalis Schischk. Wildflowers - Rhinanthus angustifolius - website page
25.
Aristolochia clematitis
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Aristolochia clematitis, the birthwort, is a twining herbaceous plant in the Aristolochiaceae family, which is native to Europe. The leaves are shaped and the flowers are pale yellow. The plant seeks light by ascending the stems of surrounding plants and it was formerly used as a medicinal plant, though it is poisonous, and is now occasionally found established outside of its native range as a relic of cultivation. Urinary tract malignacies among those who have consumed the plant are also reported, after a few months, some of the patients experienced kidney failure
26.
Monopodial
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Vascular plants with monopodial growth habits grow upward from a single point. They add leaves to the each year and the stem grows longer accordingly. The word Monopodial is derived from Greek mono-, one and podial, foot and they do not have a rhizome or pseudobulbs so species adapted to dry periods have fleshy succulent leaves instead. Flowers generally come from the stem between the leaves, with some monopodial species, the stem might fork into two, but for all monopodial orchids this is not necessary for continued growth, as opposed to orchids with sympodial growth
27.
Indeterminate growth
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In biology and botany, indeterminate growth is growth that is not terminated in contrast to determinate growth that stops once a genetically pre-determined structure has completely formed. Thus, a plant that grows and produces flowers and fruit until killed by frost or some external factor is called indeterminate. In reference to an inflorescence, a type is one in which the first flowers to develop and open are from the buds at the base. The growth of the shoot is not impeded by the opening of the flowers or development of fruits and its appearance is of growing, producing. Not all plants produce indeterminate inflorescences however, some produce a terminal flower that terminates the development of new buds towards the tip of that inflorescence. In most species produce a determinate inflorescence in this way, all of the flower buds are formed before the first ones begin to open. In some species with determinate inflorescences however, the flower blooms first, which stops the elongation of the main axis. One type of example is Dianthus another type is exemplified by Allium, in zoology, indeterminate growth refers to the condition where animals grow rapidly when young, and continue to grow after reaching adulthood although at a slower pace. It is common in fish, amphibians, reptiles, and many molluscs, the term also refers to the pattern of hair growth sometimes seen in humans and a few domestic breeds, where hair continues to grow in length until it is cut. Some mushrooms – notably Cantharellus californicus – also exhibit indeterminate growth
28.
Leaf
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A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant and is the principal lateral appendage of the stem. The leaves and stem together form the shoot, Leaves are collectively referred to as foliage, as in autumn foliage. Although leaves can be seen in different shapes, sizes and textures, typically a leaf is a thin, dorsiventrally flattened organ, borne above ground. Most leaves have distinctive upper surface and lower surface that differ in colour, hairiness, broad, flat leaves with complex venation are known as megaphylls and the species that bear them, the majority, as broad-leaved or megaphyllous plants. In others, such as the clubmosses, with different evolutionary origins, some leaves, such as bulb scales are not above ground, and in many aquatic species the leaves are submerged in water. Succulent plants often have thick juicy leaves, but some leaves are without major photosynthetic function and may be dead at maturity, as in some cataphylls, furthermore, several kinds of leaf-like structures found in vascular plants are not totally homologous with them. Examples include flattened plant stems called phylloclades and cladodes, and flattened leaf stems called phyllodes which differ from both in their structure and origin. Many structures of plants, such as the phyllids of mosses and liverworts and even of some foliose lichens. Leaves are the most important organs of most vascular plants and these are then further processed by chemical synthesis into more complex organic molecules such as cellulose, the basic structural material in plant cell walls. The plant must therefore bring these three together in the leaf for photosynthesis to take place. Once sugar has been synthesized, it needs to be transported to areas of growth such as the plant shoots and roots. Vascular plants transport sucrose in a tissue called the phloem. The phloem and xylem are parallel to each other but the transport of materials is usually in opposite directions. Within the leaf these vascular systems branch to form veins which supply as much as the leaf as possible and they are arranged on the plant so as to expose their surfaces to light as efficiently as possible without shading each other, but there are many exceptions and complications. For instance plants adapted to windy conditions may have pendent leaves, such as in many willows, the flat, or laminar, shape also maximises thermal contact with the surrounding air, promoting cooling. Functionally, in addition to photosynthesis the leaf is the site of transpiration and guttation. Many gymnosperms have thin needle-like or scale-like leaves that can be advantageous in cold climates with frequent snow and these are interpreted as reduced from megaphyllous leaves of their Devonian ancestors. For xerophytes the major constraint is not light flux or intensity, some window plants such as Fenestraria species and some Haworthia species such as Haworthia tesselata and Haworthia truncata are examples of xerophytes. and Bulbine mesembryanthemoides
29.
Lilium martagon
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Lilium martagon is a Eurasian species of lily. It has a widespread native region extending from Portugal east through Europe, varieties Numerous names have been proposed at the levels of subspecies and varieties. Only two are recognized by the World Checklist, Lilium martagon var. martagon - from Portugal to Mongolia Lilium martagon var. pilosiusculum Freyn - Russia, Kazakhstan, Xinjiang, Mongolia Horticulturally it is in Division IX. It is stem-rooting, growing between 1 metre and 2 metres tall, the flower colour is typically a pink-purple, with dark spots, but is quite variable, extending from near white to near black. Numerous flowers are borne on each plant, and up to 50 can be found on vigorous plants. The green stems can be flushed with purple or red and the leaves are elliptic to lanceolate, mostly in whorls, up to 16 centimetres long. This plant and the white form Album have gained the Royal Horticultural Societys Award of Garden Merit, Lilium martagon was used in hybridising with L. hansonii at the end of the 19th century by Mrs RO Backhouse of Hereford, England. The name Turks cap lily, also applied to a number of species, comes from the characteristic reflexed shape of the petals. The specific epithet martagon is a Turkish word which also means turban or cap and it is also named as Lily of Istanbul or Sultan Lily or Dragon Lily. Suspected cases require urgent veterinary attention
30.
Tomato
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The tomato is the edible fruit of Solanum lycopersicum, commonly known as a tomato plant, which belongs to the nightshade family, Solanaceae. The species originated in Central and South America, the Nahuatl word tomatl gave rise to the Spanish word tomate, from which the English word tomato originates. Numerous varieties of tomato are widely grown in temperate climates across the world, with greenhouses allowing its production throughout the year, the plants typically grow to 1–3 meters in height and have a weak stem that often sprawls over the ground and vines over other plants. It is a perennial in its habitat, and grown as an annual in temperate climates. An average common tomato weighs approximately 100 grams and its use as a food originated in Mexico, and spread throughout the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Tomato is consumed in diverse ways, including raw, as an ingredient in dishes, sauces, salads. While tomatoes are botanically fruits, they are considered culinary vegetables. The word tomato comes from the Spanish tomate, which in turn comes from the Nahuatl word tomatl and it first appeared in print in 1595. The native Mexican tomatillo is tomate, meaning fat water or fat thing), when Aztecs started to cultivate the Andean fruit, bigger and red, they called the new species xitomatl. It first appeared in print in 1595, the scientific species epithet lycopersicum means wolf peach, and comes from German werewolf myths. The Italian word, pomodoro was borrowed into Polish, and via Russian, the usual pronunciations of tomato are /təˈmeɪtoʊ/ and /təˈmɑːtoʊ/. The words dual pronunciations were immortalized in Ira and George Gershwins 1937 song Lets Call the Whole Thing Off and have become a symbol for nitpicking pronunciation disputes. In this capacity, it has become an American and British slang term. Or Its all the same to me, botanically, a tomato is a fruit, a berry, consisting of the ovary, together with its seeds, of a flowering plant. However, the tomato has a lower sugar content than other edible fruits. Typically served as part of a salad or main course of a meal, rather than at dessert, it is, in the US, considered a culinary vegetable. One exception is that tomatoes are treated as a fruit in home canning practices, they are acidic enough to process in a water bath rather than a pressure cooker as vegetables require. Tomatoes are not the food source with this ambiguity, bell peppers, cucumbers, green beans, eggplants, avocados
31.
Tilia cordata
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In the south of its range it is restricted to high elevations. Tilia cordata is a tree growing to 20–40 m tall, diameter 1/3 to 1/2 the height. The bark is smooth and grayish when young, firm with vertical ridges, the crown is rounded in a formal oval shape to pyramidal. Branching is upright and increases in density with age, the buds are alternate, pointed egg shaped and have red scales. The trees favour good, loamy sites, but can also be found on sandy, infertile soils, dormant shoots of T. cordata can resist winter frost temperatures as low as -34°C. In Britain T. cordata is considered an indicator of ancient woodland, owing to its rarity, a number of woods have been given SSSI status. Cocklode Wood, part of the Bardney Limewoods, is the best surviving spread of small leaved limes in England. Another site is Shrawley Wood in Worcestershire, small-leaved lime was once regarded as holy and good for carving. Trees in northern England were found to have established when the climate was warmer and have adapted to the cooling climate. Paleobotanical analysis of tree pollen preserved in peat deposits demonstrates that T. cordata was present as a tree in the southern Lake District c 3100 B. C. Maximum values for Tilia from all pollen diagrams available for the north of England show a concentration of high values in the southern Lake District. At Witherslack values of this magnitude persist for a depth of 3 m which represents about 4000 years, for much of this period Ulmus is approximately 10%, Quercus 20% and the remaining arboreal pollen is largely that of Alnus. For a shorter period Tilia exceeds Quercus and reaches a maximum of 30%, modern mature woodland trees were estimated to have germinated between 1150 and 1300 AD, making them around 800 years old. Precise age determination is impossible as heartwood at the centre disintegrates and therefore rings cannot be counted, and other methods are used. The tree is fairly disease-resistant, though a problem is leaf scorch where planted on dry soils. Pests include Japanese beetles, aphids, lace bugs and various species of moths, Tilia cordata is widely grown as an ornamental tree. It was much planted to form avenues in 17th and early 18th century landscape planning, a famous example is Unter den Linden in Berlin. It is also cultivated in North America as a substitute for the native Tilia americana which has a larger leaf
32.
Spadix (botany)
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In botany, a spadix is a type of spike inflorescence having small flowers borne on a fleshy stem. Spadices are typical of the family Araceae, the arums or aroids, the spadix is typically surrounded by a leaf-like curved bract known as a spathe. For example, the flower of the well known Anthurium spp. is a typical spadix with a large colorful spathe. Monoecious aroids have unisexual male and female flowers on the same individual, typically, the stigmas are no longer receptive when pollen is released which prevents self-fertilization
33.
Araceae
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The Araceae are a family of monocotyledonous flowering plants in which flowers are borne on a type of inflorescence called a spadix. The spadix is usually accompanied by, and sometimes enclosed in. Also known as the family, members are often colloquially known as aroids. This family of 114 genera and about 3750 known species is most diverse in the New World tropics, although also distributed in the Old World tropics, the largest collection of living Araceae is maintained at the Missouri Botanical Gardens. Another large collection of living Araceae can be found at the Munich Botanical Garden, due to the efforts of researcher, species in the Araceae are often rhizomatous or tuberous and are often found to contain calcium oxalate crystals or raphides. The leaves can vary considerably from species to species, the inflorescence is composed of a spadix, which is almost always surrounded by a modified leaf called a spathe. In monoecious aroids, the spadix is usually organized with female flowers towards the bottom, in aroids with perfect flowers, the stigma is no longer receptive when the pollen is released, thus preventing self-fertilization. Many plants in this family are thermogenic and their flowers can reach up to 45 °C even when the surrounding air temperature is much lower. One reason for this high temperature is to attract insects to pollinate the plant. Another reason is to prevent tissue damage in cold regions, some examples of thermogenic Araceae are, Symplocarpus foetidus, Amorphophallus titanum, Amorphophallus paeoniifolius, Helicodiceros muscivorus, and Sauromatum venosum. Species such as titan arum and the dead horse arum give off a pungent smell, often resembling rotten flesh. The heat produced by the plant helps to convey the scent further, one of the earliest observations of species in the Araceae was conducted by Theophrastus in his work Enquiry into Plants. The Araceae were not recognized as a group of plants until the 16th century. In 1789, Antoine Laurent de Jussieu classified all climbing aroids as Pothos, the first major system of classification for the family was produced by Heinrich Wilhelm Schott, who published Genera Aroidearum in 1858 and Prodromus Systematis Aroidearum in 1860. Schotts system was based on floral characteristics, and used a narrow conception of a genus, adolf Engler produced a classification in 1876, which was steadily refined up to 1920. His system is different from Schotts, being based more on vegetative characters. The two systems were to some extent rivals, with Englers having more adherents before the advent of molecular phylogenetics brought new approaches, modern studies based on gene sequences show the Araceae to be monophyletic, and the first diverging group within the Alismatales. The APG III system of 2009 recognizes the family, including the formerly segregated in the Lemnaceae
34.
Dipsacaceae
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The Dipsacaceae have been recognized as a family of the order Dipsacales containing 350 species of perennial or biennial herbs and shrubs in eleven genera. The species are placed in the family Caprifoliaceae. Native to most temperate climates, they are found in Europe, Asia, some species of this family have been naturalized in other places. The spikes of the common teasel are not particularly spiny and may be quite soft, in some places, the spikes are used in cotton threading. The family has contained these genera, acanthocalyx Dipsacus Knautia Scabiosa Succisa Succisella Morina -- also placed in its own family, Morinaceae Cephalaria Pterocephalus Pycnocomon Triplostegia Dipsacaceae of Mongolia in FloraGREIF
35.
Catkin
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A catkin or ament is a slim, cylindrical flower cluster, with inconspicuous or no petals, usually wind-pollinated but sometimes insect-pollinated. They contain many, usually flowers, arranged closely along a central stem which is often drooping. They are found in plant families, including Betulaceae, Fagaceae, Moraceae. For some time, they were believed to be a key synapomorphy among the proposed Hamamelididae, based on molecular phylogeny work, it is now believed that Hamamelididae is a polyphyletic group. This suggests that the flower arrangement has arisen at least twice independently by convergent evolution, in Fagales. Such a convergent evolution raises questions about what the ancestral inflorescence characters might be, in many of these plants, only the male flowers form catkins, and the female flowers are single, a cone or other types. In other plants both male and female flowers are borne in catkins, catkin-bearing plants include many other trees or shrubs such as birch, willow, hickory, sweet chestnut and sweetfern. The word catkin is a loanword from the old Dutch katteken, meaning kitten, ament is from the Latin amentum, meaning thong or strap. Catkins in Fagales Catkins in Salicaceae
36.
Chamaenerion angustifolium
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It is also known by the synonyms Chamerion angustifolium and Epilobium angustifolium. It is native throughout the temperate Northern Hemisphere, including parts of the boreal forests. Under this taxonomic arrangement, Chamaenerion and Epilobium are monophyletic sister genera, two subspecies are recognized as valid, Chamaenerion angustifolium subsp. Circumvagum Hoch The specific epithet angustifolium is constructed from the Latin words angustus meaning narrow and it shares this name with other species of plant including Vaccinium angustifolium. The common British name, from the resemblance of the flowers to roses. The common name fireweed derives from the species abundance as a coloniser on burnt sites after forest fires, the reddish stems of this herbaceous perennial are usually simple, erect, smooth,0. 5–2.5 m high with scattered alternate leaves. The inflorescence is a terminal raceme that blooms progressively from bottom to top. The flowers are 2 to 3 cm in diameter, slightly asymmetrical, with four magenta to pink petals, the protruding style has four stigmas. The floral formula is ✶/↓ K4 C4 A4+4 or 4+0 Ğ, the upright, reddish-brown linear seed capsule splits from the apex and curls open. It bears many minute seeds, about 300 to 400 per capsule and 80,000 per plant. The seeds have hairs to aid wind dispersal and are very easily spread by the wind, often becoming a weed. Once established, the plants also spread extensively by underground roots, Fireweed is often abundant in wet calcareous to slightly acidic soils in open fields, pastures, and particularly burned-over lands. It is a species that quickly colonizes open areas with little competition, such as the sites of forest fires. Plants grow and flower as long as there is open space, as trees and brush grow larger the plants die out, but the seeds remain viable in the soil seed bank for many years. When a new fire or other disturbance occurs that opens up the ground to light again, the seeds germinate. Some areas with heavy seed counts in the soil can, after burning, be covered with dense stands of this species. In Britain the plant was considered a species in the 18th century. It was misidentified as great hairy willowherb in contemporary floras, the plants rise from local rarity to widespread weed seems to have occurred at the same time as the expansion of the railway network and the associated soil disturbance
37.
Plantago media
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Plantago media, known as the hoary plantain, is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae. It is native to central and western Europe, including Great Britain and its generic name is derived from the Latin for sole, like other members of the genus Plantago, it should not be confused with the unrelated plantain, a starchy banana. Plantago media grows in grassy meadows up to an altitude of 2000 m. A slender stalk of between 5 and 50 cm develops from a rosette of finely-haired leaves. Delicate pink-white flowers are borne between May and September, P. media is hermaphrodite and is pollinated by wind or insects, particularly bees. Plantago media can be found in lawns and waste places, the plant is edible and has long maintained a reputation for medicinal effects as an astringent for treating wounds. In antiquity it was employed against toothache and eye infections, archeological finds testify to its use during the Roman era in Britain
38.
Iberis umbellata
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Iberis umbellata, common name garden candytuft or globe candytuft, is a herbaceous annual flowering plant of the genus Iberis and the family Brassicaceae. The genus name derives from Iberia, the ancient name of Spain, while the species comes from the Latin umbel, meaning umbrella. The biological form of Iberis umbellata is hemicryptophyte scapose, as its overwintering buds are situated just below the soil surface, the stem is twisted at the base while the flowering branches are erect and leafy. This plant reaches a height of 30–50 centimetres, the leaves are green and linear-lanceolate, 15–25 millimetres long. The flowers are in umbel-shaped corymbs, the calyx is violet and the corolla is composed of four white, pink or purple petals. The petals are rounded at the apex, with the ones forming a large vexillum 8–10 millimetres long. The flowering period extends from May through June, the flowers are hermaphroditic and pollinated by bees and butterflies. The fruit is a silique 7–10 millimetres long and this species is native to the Mediterranean region. It is present in most of Europe, especially along the coasts, from Spain to Greece and it grows in dry rocky hillsides, in bushy areas and in clearings, preferably on calcareous soils, at an altitude of 0–1,300 metres above sea level. The International Plant Name List Acta Plantarum Plants for a future Biolib USDA
39.
Astrantia minor
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The flowers are 30-40 per umbel, of the same length or slightly shorter than the bracts, generally hermaphroditic in the centre and male peripherally. Calices have teeth about 1 mm in size, ovate-oblong, subobtuse, petals are similar in size to the sepals and white or cream. Fruit ovoid 2–5 mm with scales in the form of a vesicle and it differs from its congener Astrantia major, by its smaller size, and basal leaves of seven segments with calyx teeth that are obtuse and slightly mucronate. Found in some clumps of plants near streams and in clearings in the scrubland of mountain azalea. It prefers a pure silicaceous substrate, at elevations of 2100 -2300 meters, flowering occurs from July to August and fruiting in August–September. Endemic to central and southern Europe, in the Iberian Peninsula it is found only in the Pyrenees, the Catalan lands and Huesca where it is found in the extreme southwest Valle de Benasque. Minor Bonnier & Layens Astrantia helleborifolia Salisb
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