1.
Aldershot
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Aldershot is a town in the English county of Hampshire, located on heathland about 37 mi southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council, the town has a population of 36,321, while the Farnborough/Aldershot Built-up Area, a loose conurbation has a population of 243,344, making it the thirtieth-largest urban area in the UK. Aldershot is known as the Home of the British Army, a connection led to its rapid growth from a small village to a Victorian town. Aldershot is twinned with Sulechów in Poland, Meudon in France, the name may have derived from alder trees found in the area. Aldershot was included as part of the Hundred of Crondall referred to in the Domesday Book of 1086, john Nordens map of Hampshire, published in the 1607 edition of William Camdens Britannia, indicates that Aldershot was a market town. Prior to 1850, Aldershott was little known, the area was a vast stretch of common land, a lonely wasteland unsuitable for most forms of agriculture with scant population. In the 18th century, the stretch of the London to Winchester turnpike that passed through Aldershot between Bagshot and Farnham was the scene of highway robberies, at one time it had almost as bad a reputation as Hounslow Heath. Dick Turpin is said to have operated in the area having his headquarters nearby in Farnborough, in 1854, at the time of the Crimean War, Aldershot Garrison was established as the first permanent training camp for the British Army. This led to an expansion of Aldershots population going from 875 in 1851. Mrs Louisa Daniell arrived in the town at this time and set up her Soldiers Home and Institute to cater for the needs of the soldiers. The Aldershot riot of July 1945 caused considerable damage to the centre when disgruntled Canadian troops rioted in the streets for two evenings. A substantial rebuilding of the barracks was carried out between 1961 and 1969, by the architecture and engineering firm Building Design Partnership, the work was sped up under government pressure, and various new building technologies were employed with mixed success. In 1974 Aldershot and Farnborough urban districts were merged to form the Borough of Rushmoor under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972. After a 2009 campaign, the British Government allowed veteran Gurkha soldiers who had served for more four years. As many Gurkha soldiers had been based in and around Aldershot, between the 2001 Census and the 2011 Census, Rushmoors Nepalese population increased to approximately 6,000 people, making up 6. 5% of the overall population. Howarth was later criticised for suggesting that Nepalese migrants should be dispersed across the UK, the Aldershot Military Tattoo was an annual event dating back to 1894. In the 1920s and 30s, the Aldershot Command Searchlight Tattoo held at the Rushmoor Arena presented displays from all branches of the services, at one time the performances attracted crowds of up to 500,000 people. The Tattoo was organised to raise money for military charities, by the end of the 1930s the event was raising around £40,000 annually
2.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
3.
Isleworth
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Isleworth is a small town of Saxon origin sited within the London Borough of Hounslow in west London, England. It lies immediately east of the town of Hounslow and west of the River Thames, Isleworths original area of settlement, alongside the Thames, is known as Old Isleworth. The north-west corner of the town, bordering on Osterley to the north, as a result, most of Isleworths Thames-side is that part overlooking the 8. Excavations around the end of the Syon Park estate have unearthed evidence of a Romano-British settlement. Gislheresuuyrth, meaning in Old English Enclosure belonging to Gīslhere, is first referred to as a permanent settlement in an Anglo-Saxon charter in the year 695. The Domesday Book says that during the reign of Edward the Confessor the manor belonged to Earl Algar, the Domesday Book as Gistelesworde records its 55 ploughlands,118 households and amount rendered, £72 per year, to its feudal system overlords. After the Conquest, successive Norman barons of the St Valeri family held the manor of Isleworth but there is no evidence that ever lived there – it being held as a source of revenue. One of the later gave several manorial rents and privileges to Londons Hospital of St Giles. He also gave the church and advowson to the Abbey of St Valeri and he built a new moated manor house, which is described in the Black Book of the Exchequer – having a tiled roof, chimney, two bedchambers and an inner courtyard. Beyond the moat was a courtyard with a number of buildings for servants and supplies. The seemingly classic medieval manor house was burned down during the Second Barons War in 1264, the Wardens and Scholars of Winchester College therefore became proprietors of productive rectory. This lasted for 150 years, then in 1543 King Henry VIII exchanged with Winchester certain manors elsewhere for five churches in Middlesex, including All Saints. Four years later he gave the Isleworth rectory and advowson to the Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, soon after, they were given to the Dean and Canons of St Georges Chapel, Windsor, with whom they remain today. The castle-like stone church tower by the remains from this period. In 1415 Henry V granted nuns from the Swedish Bridgettine order land on the bank of the Thames, in Twickenham parish opposite his new Sheen Palace, where they built their first house Syon Monastery. In 1422 Henry V transferred ownership of Isleworth Manor from the Duchy of Cornwall to Syon Monastery and this is the site of the present Syon House Henry VIII demolished most of Syon Monastery after 1539 and the site and manor was granted to Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset. It was Seymour who built Syon House in 1548 and it has remained in the possession of the Percy family, now the Dukedom of Northumberland, for over four hundred years. The Royalist army occupied the house during the Battle of Brentford in November 1642, Syon Park was rebuilt and landscaped by the Adam brothers and Capability Brown between 1766 and 1773
4.
Curtis's Botanical Magazine
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The Botanical Magazine, or Flower-Garden Displayed, is an illustrated publication which began in 1787. The longest running botanical magazine, it is referred to by the subsequent name Curtiss Botanical Magazine. Each of the issues contains a description, in yet accessible language. Many plants received their first publication on the pages, and the description given was enhanced by the keenly detailed illustrations, the first issue, published on 1 February 1787, was begun by William Curtis, as both an illustrated gardening and botanical journal. Curtis was an apothecary and botanist who held a position at Kew Gardens, the publication familiarized its readers with ornamental and exotic plants, which it presented in octavo format. Artists who had given over their flower paintings to an affluent audience. The illustrations were initially hand-coloured prints, taken from copper engravings, identification by a general reader was given in exploded details, some of which were given as a section. This was accompanied by a page or two of text describing the properties, history, growth characteristics, and some common names for the species. The first volumes illustrations were mostly by Sydenham Edwards, a dispute with the editors saw his departure to start the rival The Botanical Register. The credit for the first plate goes to James Sowerby, as did a dozen of Edwards contributions, the first thirty volumes used copper engraving to provide the plates, the hand colouring of these was performed by up to thirty people. An issue might have a circulation of 3000 copies, with 3 plates in each, as costs of production rose, and demand increased, results would be variable within a run. The later use of machine colouring would provide uniformity to the artists work, the magazine has been considered to be the premier journal for early botanical illustration. When Curtis died, having completed 13 volumes, his friend John Sims became editor between 1801 and 1807 and changed the name, William Hooker was the editor from 1826, bringing to it his experience as a botanist, and as author of the rival magazine, Exotic Botany. W. J. Hooker brought the artist Walter Hood Fitch to the magazine, Joseph Dalton Hooker followed his father, becoming the Director of Kew Gardens in 1865, and editor of its magazine. She rendered almost 100 illustrations for publication during the period 1878–1880, helping to keep the magazine viable until the principal artist. Like Thiselton-Dyer, Smith was brought to the magazine by Hooker, between 1878 and 1923 Smith drew over 2,300 plates for Curtiss. Her exceptional contribution was to see her become the first botanic artist of Kew, the scientific value of the figures and illustration, a source of pride and notability for the magazine, required the careful training of the illustrators. The magazine is the greatest serial of botanical illustration yet produced, other 19th century artists who contributed largely to the magazine include Augusta Innes Withers and Anne Henslow Barnard, Joseph Dalton Hookers sister-in-law, who was active in the period 1879–1894
5.
Lithography
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Lithography is a method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone or a plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by German author and actor Alois Senefelder as a method of publishing theatrical works. Lithography can be used to print text or artwork onto paper or other suitable material, Lithography originally used an image drawn with oil, fat, or wax onto the surface of a smooth, level lithographic limestone plate. The stone was treated with a mixture of acid and gum arabic, when the stone was subsequently moistened, these etched areas retained water, an oil-based ink could then be applied and would be repelled by the water, sticking only to the original drawing. The ink would finally be transferred to a paper sheet. This traditional technique is used in some fine art printmaking applications. In modern lithography, the image is made of a coating applied to a flexible aluminum plate. The image can be printed directly from the plate, or it can be offset, by transferring the image onto a sheet for printing. In fact, photolithography is used synonymously with offset printing, the technique as well as the term were introduced in Europe in the 1850s. Beginning in the 1960s, photolithography has played an important role in the fabrication, Lithography uses simple chemical processes to create an image. For instance, the part of an image is a water-repelling substance. Thus, when the plate is introduced to a printing ink and water mixture, the ink will adhere to the positive image. This allows a flat print plate to be used, enabling much longer, Lithography was invented by Alois Senefelder in the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1796. In the early days of lithography, a piece of limestone was used. After the oil-based image was put on the surface, a solution of gum arabic in water was applied, during printing, water adhered to the gum arabic surfaces and was repelled by the oily parts, while the oily ink used for printing did the opposite. Lithography works because of the repulsion of oil and water. The image is drawn on the surface of the print plate with a fat or oil-based medium such as a wax crayon, which may be pigmented to make the drawing visible
6.
Flowering plant
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The flowering plants, also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants, with 416 families, approx. 13,164 known genera and a total of c.295,383 known species, etymologically, angiosperm means a plant that produces seeds within an enclosure, in other words, a fruiting plant. The term angiosperm comes from the Greek composite word meaning enclosed seeds, the ancestors of flowering plants diverged from gymnosperms in the Triassic Period, during the range 245 to 202 million years ago, and the first flowering plants are known from 160 mya. They diversified extensively during the Lower Cretaceous, became widespread by 120 mya, angiosperms differ from other seed plants in several ways, described in the table. These distinguishing characteristics taken together have made the angiosperms the most diverse and numerous land plants, the amount and complexity of tissue-formation in flowering plants exceeds that of gymnosperms. The vascular bundles of the stem are arranged such that the xylem and phloem form concentric rings, in the dicotyledons, the bundles in the very young stem are arranged in an open ring, separating a central pith from an outer cortex. In each bundle, separating the xylem and phloem, is a layer of meristem or active formative tissue known as cambium, the soft phloem becomes crushed, but the hard wood persists and forms the bulk of the stem and branches of the woody perennial. Among the monocotyledons, the bundles are more numerous in the stem and are scattered through the ground tissue. They contain no cambium and once formed the stem increases in diameter only in exceptional cases, the characteristic feature of angiosperms is the flower. Flowers show remarkable variation in form and elaboration, and provide the most trustworthy external characteristics for establishing relationships among angiosperm species, the function of the flower is to ensure fertilization of the ovule and development of fruit containing seeds. The floral apparatus may arise terminally on a shoot or from the axil of a leaf, occasionally, as in violets, a flower arises singly in the axil of an ordinary foliage-leaf. There are two kinds of cells produced by flowers. Microspores, which divide to become pollen grains, are the male cells and are borne in the stamens. The female cells called megaspores, which divide to become the egg cell, are contained in the ovule. The flower may consist only of parts, as in willow. Usually, other structures are present and serve to protect the sporophylls, the individual members of these surrounding structures are known as sepals and petals. The outer series is usually green and leaf-like, and functions to protect the rest of the flower, the inner series is, in general, white or brightly colored, and is more delicate in structure. It functions to attract insect or bird pollinators, attraction is effected by color, scent, and nectar, which may be secreted in some part of the flower
7.
Cyperaceae
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The Cyperaceae are a family of monocotyledonous graminoid flowering plants known as sedges, which superficially resemble grasses and rushes. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera and these species are widely distributed, with the centers of diversity for the group occurring in tropical Asia and tropical South America. While sedges may be growing in almost all environments, many are associated with wetlands. Ecological communities dominated by sedges are known as sedgelands, features distinguishing members of the sedge family from grasses or rushes are stems with triangular cross-sections and leaves that are spirally arranged in three ranks. Some well-known sedges include the chestnut and the papyrus sedge. This family also includes cotton-grass, spike-rush, sawgrass, nutsedge or nutgrass, and white star sedge
8.
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
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The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is a scientific centre for the study of plants, their diversity and conservation, as well as a popular tourist attraction. Founded in 1670 as a garden to grow medicinal plants, today it occupies four sites across Scotland — Edinburgh, Dawyck, Logan. The RBGEs living collection consists of more than 13,302 plant species, the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. The Edinburgh site is the garden and the headquarters of the public body. The Edinburgh botanic garden was founded in 1670 at St. Annes Yard, near Holyrood Palace, by Dr. Robert Sibbald and it is the second oldest botanic garden in Britain after Oxfords. The site was occupied by tracks of the North British Railway. In 1763, the collections were moved away from the citys pollution to a larger Physick Garden on the west side of Leith Walk. The Temperate Palm House, which remains the tallest in Britain, was built in 1858, in 1877 the city acquired Inverleith House from the Fettes Trust and added it to the existing gardens, opening the remodelled grounds to the public in 1881. The botanic garden at Benmore became the first Regional Garden of the RBGE in 1929 and it was followed by the gardens at Logan and Dawyck in 1969 and 1978. Located one mile from the city centre it covers 70 acres, the RBGE is actively involved in, and coordinates numerous in situ and ex situ conservation projects both in the UK and internationally. The three main cross-cutting themes of work at the RBGE are, Scottish Biodiversity, Plants & Climate Change. In addition to the RBGEs scientific activities the garden remains a destination for both tourists and locals. Locally known as The Botanics, the garden is a place to go for a walk. Entrance to the garden is free, although a small entry charge exists for the glasshouses. During the year the garden hosts many events including performances, guided tours. The RBGE is also an important centre for education, offering taught courses across all levels, in 2009, the John Hope Gateway was opened. John Hope was the first Regius Keeper of RBGE, nearly 273,000 individual plants are grown at the Botanics in Edinburgh or its three smaller satellite gardens located in other parts of Scotland. These represent around 13,300 different species all over the world
9.
Linnean Society of London
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The Linnean Society of London is a society dedicated to the study of, and the dissemination of information concerning, natural history and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature collections and publishes academic journals and books on plant, the society also awards a number of prestigious medals and prizes for achievement. A product of the 18th century enlightenment, the society is important as the venue for the first public presentation of the Theory of Evolution. The patron of the society is Queen Elizabeth II, the Linnean Society was founded in 1788 by botanist Sir James Edward Smith. The society derives its name from the Swedish naturalist Carolus Linnaeus, the father of taxonomy and he was known as Carl von Linné after his ennoblement, hence the spelling Linnean, rather than Linnaean. The society had a number of minor name variations before it gained its Royal Charter on 26 March 1802, in 1802, as a newly incorporated society, it comprised 228 fellows. It is the oldest extant natural history society in the world, throughout its history the society has been a non-political and non-sectarian institution, existing solely for the furtherance of natural history. The society has numbered many prominent scientists amongst its fellows, one such was the botanist Robert Brown, who was president, he named the cell nucleus and discovered Brownian motion. In 1854 Charles Darwin was elected a fellow, he is undoubtedly the most illustrious scientist ever to appear on the rolls of the society. Another famous fellow was biologist Thomas Huxley, who gained the nickname Darwins bulldog for his defence of evolution. At this meeting a joint presentation of papers by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace was made, sponsored by Joseph Hooker, in 1904 the society experienced the novelty of electing women fellows, this followed a number of years of campaigning by the botanist Marian Farquharson. Whilst the societys council was reluctant to admit women, the fellows were much less so, among the first to benefit from this were, Lilian J. Veley, a microbiologist and Annie Lorrain Smith, a lichenologist and mycologist, both formally admitted on 19 January 1905. Also amongst the first women to be elected in 1904 was the paleobotanist, the societys connection with evolution remained strong into the 20th century. Sir Edward Poulton, who was president 1912-1916, was a defender of natural selection and was the first biologist to recognise the importance of frequency-dependent selection. The first female president of the society was Irene Manton, who pioneered the use of electron microscopy. Her work revealed the structure of the flagellum and cilia, which are central to systems of cellular motility. Recent years have seen an increased interest within the society in issues of biodiversity conservation and this was highlighted by the inception in 2015 of an annual award, the John Spedan Lewis Medal, specifically honouring persons making significant and innovative contributions to conservation. Fellowship requires nomination by at least one fellow, and election by a minimum of two thirds of those electors voting, fellows may employ the post-nominal letters FLS
