1.
Luigi Stipa
–
Stipa was born in Ascoli Piceno, Italy in 1900. He left school to serve in the Italian Armys Bersaglieri Corps during World War I, after the war, he earned academic degrees in aeronautical engineering, hydraulic engineering and civil engineering. He went to work for the Italian Air Ministry, where he rose to the position of inspector of the Engineering Division of the Regia Aeronautica. In the 1920s, Stipa applied his study of engineering to develop a theory of how to make aircraft more efficient as they traveled through the air. The propeller would be of the diameter as the tube. Stipa spent years studying the idea mathematically, eventually determining that the venturi tubes inner surface needed to be shaped like an airfoil in order to achieve the greatest efficiency. He also determined the shape of the propeller, the most efficient distance between the leading edge of the tube and the propeller, and the best rate of revolution of the propeller. Stipa published his ideas in the Italian aviation journal Rivista Aeronautica, the prototype, named the Stipa-Caproni, first flew on October 7,1932. The Stipa-Caproni also had a low landing speed and was much quieter than conventional aircraft. The Stipa-Capronis great drawback was that the propeller design created so much aerodynamic drag that most of the designs benefits in efficiency were negated by the drag. Despite the lack of Regia Aeronautica interest in developing the intubed propeller concept further, the Regia Aeronauticas tests also sparked academic interest in the intubed propeller. Stipa died in 1992, embittered over never having received what he viewed as his just recognition for inventing the jet engine. Some aviation historians do at least partially agree with Stipa, noting that the modern turbofan engine has features which show it to be the descendant of his intubed propeller concept, caproni Flying Barrel, Luigi Stipa Claimed His Intubed Propeller Was the Ancestor of the Jet Engine
2.
Stipa-Caproni
–
The Stipa-Caproni, also generally called the Caproni Stipa, was an experimental Italian aircraft designed in 1932 by Luigi Stipa and built by Caproni. It featured a hollow, barrel-shaped fuselage with the engine and propeller completely enclosed by the fuselage—in essence, although the Regia Aeronautica was not interested in pursuing development of the Stipa-Caproni, its design was an important step in the development of jet propulsion. He also determined the shape of the propeller, the most efficient distance between the leading edge of the tube and the propeller, and the best rate of revolution of the propeller. Finally, he petitioned the Italian Fascist government to produce a prototype aircraft, the government, seeking to showcase Italian technological achievement—particularly in aviation—contracted the Caproni company to construct the aircraft in 1932. The resulting aircraft—a midwing monoplane of wooden construction dubbed the Stipa-Caproni or Caproni Stipa—was strikingly ungainly in appearance. The fuselage was a tube, short and fat, open at both ends to form the tapered duct, with twin open cockpits in tandem mounted in a hump on top of it. The wings were elliptical and passed through the duct and the engine nacelle inside it, the aircraft had low, fixed, spatted main landing gear and a tailwheel, making it look as if it was squatting when on the ground. It was painted in a scheme of the type used on racing aircraft of the day. The Stipa-Caproni first flew on 7 October 1932 with Caproni company test pilot Domenico Antonini at the controls, the Stipa-Caproni proved to be noticeably quieter than conventional aircraft of the time. Unfortunately, the propeller design also induced so much aerodynamic drag that the benefits in engine efficiency were cancelled out. When Caproni had completed testing, the Regia Aeronautica took control of the plane. As the plane did not perform better than conventional aircraft designs. They built it in 1998 and in October 2001 succeeded in making two directional test flights with it with Bryce Wolff at the controls, the replica may never have flown again, and apparently now is on static display in Australia. Kingdom of Italy Regia Aeronautica General characteristics Crew,1 or 2 Length,5.88 m Wingspan,14, Caproni Flying Barrel, Luigi Stipa Claimed His Intubed Propeller Was the Ancestor of the Jet Engine
3.
Taxonomy (biology)
–
Taxonomy is the science of defining groups of biological organisms on the basis of shared characteristics and giving names to those groups. The exact definition of taxonomy varies from source to source, but the core of the remains, the conception, naming. There is some disagreement as to whether biological nomenclature is considered a part of taxonomy, the broadest meaning of taxonomy is used here. The word taxonomy was introduced in 1813 by Candolle, in his Théorie élémentaire de la botanique, the term alpha taxonomy is primarily used today to refer to the discipline of finding, describing, and naming taxa, particularly species. In earlier literature, the term had a different meaning, referring to morphological taxonomy, ideals can, it may be said, never be completely realized. They have, however, a value of acting as permanent stimulants. Some of us please ourselves by thinking we are now groping in a beta taxonomy, turrill thus explicitly excludes from alpha taxonomy various areas of study that he includes within taxonomy as a whole, such as ecology, physiology, genetics, and cytology. He further excludes phylogenetic reconstruction from alpha taxonomy, thus, Ernst Mayr in 1968 defined beta taxonomy as the classification of ranks higher than species. This activity is what the term denotes, it is also referred to as beta taxonomy. How species should be defined in a group of organisms gives rise to practical and theoretical problems that are referred to as the species problem. The scientific work of deciding how to define species has been called microtaxonomy, by extension, macrotaxonomy is the study of groups at higher taxonomic ranks, from subgenus and above only, than species. While some descriptions of taxonomic history attempt to date taxonomy to ancient civilizations, earlier works were primarily descriptive, and focused on plants that were useful in agriculture or medicine. There are a number of stages in scientific thinking. Early taxonomy was based on criteria, the so-called artificial systems. Later came systems based on a complete consideration of the characteristics of taxa, referred to as natural systems, such as those of de Jussieu, de Candolle and Bentham. The publication of Charles Darwins Origin of Species led to new ways of thinking about classification based on evolutionary relationships and this was the concept of phyletic systems, from 1883 onwards. This approach was typified by those of Eichler and Engler, the advent of molecular genetics and statistical methodology allowed the creation of the modern era of phylogenetic systems based on cladistics, rather than morphology alone. Taxonomy has been called the worlds oldest profession, and naming and classifying our surroundings has likely been taking place as long as mankind has been able to communicate
4.
Plant
–
Plants are mainly multicellular, predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. The term is generally limited to the green plants, which form an unranked clade Viridiplantae. This includes the plants, conifers and other gymnosperms, ferns, clubmosses, hornworts, liverworts, mosses and the green algae. Green plants have cell walls containing cellulose and obtain most of their energy from sunlight via photosynthesis by primary chloroplasts and their chloroplasts contain chlorophylls a and b, which gives them their green color. Some plants are parasitic and have lost the ability to produce amounts of chlorophyll or to photosynthesize. Plants are characterized by sexual reproduction and alternation of generations, although reproduction is also common. There are about 300–315 thousand species of plants, of which the great majority, green plants provide most of the worlds molecular oxygen and are the basis of most of Earths ecologies, especially on land. Plants that produce grains, fruits and vegetables form humankinds basic foodstuffs, Plants play many roles in culture. They are used as ornaments and, until recently and in variety, they have served as the source of most medicines. The scientific study of plants is known as botany, a branch of biology, Plants are one of the two groups into which all living things were traditionally divided, the other is animals. The division goes back at least as far as Aristotle, who distinguished between plants, which generally do not move, and animals, which often are mobile to catch their food. Much later, when Linnaeus created the basis of the system of scientific classification. Since then, it has become clear that the plant kingdom as originally defined included several unrelated groups, however, these organisms are still often considered plants, particularly in popular contexts. When the name Plantae or plant is applied to a group of organisms or taxon. The evolutionary history of plants is not yet settled. Those which have been called plants are in bold, the way in which the groups of green algae are combined and named varies considerably between authors. Algae comprise several different groups of organisms which produce energy through photosynthesis, most conspicuous among the algae are the seaweeds, multicellular algae that may roughly resemble land plants, but are classified among the brown, red and green algae. Each of these groups also includes various microscopic and single-celled organisms
5.
Flowering plant
–
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
6.
Monocotyledon
–
Monocotyledons, commonly referred to as monocots, are flowering plants whose seeds typically contain only one embryonic leaf, or cotyledon. However, molecular research has shown that while the monocots form a monophyletic group or clade. Monocots have almost always recognized as a group, but with various taxonomic ranks. The APG III system of 2009 recognises a clade called monocots, the monocots include about 60,000 species. The largest family in this group by number of species are the orchids, about half as many species belong to the true grasses, which are economically the most important family of monocots. In agriculture the majority of the biomass produced comes from monocots and these include not only major grains, but also forage grasses, sugar cane, and the bamboos. Other economically important monocot crops include various palms, bananas, gingers and their relatives, turmeric and cardamom, asparagus and the onions and garlic family. Additionally most of the bulbs, plants cultivated for their blooms, such as lilies, daffodils, irises, amaryllis, cannas, bluebells. The monocots or monocotyledons have, as the name implies, a single cotyledon, or embryonic leaf, from a diagnostic point of view the number of cotyledons is neither a particularly useful characteristic, nor is it completely reliable. Nevertheless, monocots are sufficiently distinctive that there has rarely been disagreement as to membership of this group, however, morphological features that reliably characterise major clades are rare. Thus monocots are distinguishable from other angiosperms both in terms of their uniformity and diversity, although largely herbaceous, some arboraceous monocots reach great height, length and mass. The latter include agaves, palms, pandans, and bamboos and this creates challenges in water transport that monocots deal with in various ways. Some such as species of Yucca develop anomalous secondary growth, while palm trees, the axis undergoes primary thickening, that progresses from internode to internode, resulting in a typical inverted conical shape of the basal primary axis. The limited conductivity also contributes to limited branching of the stems, despite these limitations a wide variety of adaptive growth forms has resulted from epiphytic orchids and bromeliads to submarine Alismatales and mycotrophic Burmanniaceae and Triuridaceae. Other monocots, particularly Poales have adopted a life form. Leaves The cotyledon, the primordial Angiosperm leaf consists of a proximal leaf base or hypophyll, in moncots the hypophyll tends to be the dominant part in contrast to other angiosperms. Mature monocot leaves are narrow and linear, forming a sheathing around the stem at its base. There is usually only one leaf per node because the leaf base encompasses more than half the circumference, the evolution of this monocot characteristic has been attributed to developmental differences in early zonal differentiation rather than meristem activity
7.
Commelinids
–
In plant taxonomy, commelinids is a name used by the APG III system for a clade within the monocots, which in its turn is a clade within the angiosperms. The commelinids are the clade that the APG has informally named within the monocots. The remaining monocots are a paraphyletic unit, also known as the commelinid monocots it forms one of three groupings within the monocots, and the final branch, the other two groups being the alismatid monocots and the lilioid monocots. Members of the clade have cell walls containing UV-fluorescent ferulic acid. The commelinids were first recognized as a group in 1967 by Armen Takhtajan. However, by the release of his 1980 system of classification, the commelinids constitute a well-supported clade within the monocots, and this clade has been recognized in all four APG classification systems. The commelinids of APG II and APG III contain essentially the same plants as the commelinoids of the earlier APG system, in APG IV the family Dasypogonaceae is no longer directly placed under commelinids but instead a family of order Arecales. Media related to Commelinids at Wikimedia Commons
8.
Poales
–
The Poales are a large order of flowering plants in the monocotyledons, and includes families of plants such as the grasses, bromeliads, and sedges. Sixteen plant families are recognized by botanists to be part of Poales. The flowers are small, enclosed by bracts, and arranged in inflorescences. The flowers of species are wind pollinated, the seeds usually contain starch. It did not include the Bromeliaceae and Mayaceae, but had the additional families Prioniaceae, Sparganiaceae, the morphology-based Cronquist system did not include an order named Poales, assigning these families to the orders Bromeliales, Cyperales, Hydatellales, Juncales, Restionales and Typhales. The earliest known fossils include pollen and fruits, major lineages within the Poales have been referred to as bromeliad, cyperid, xyrid, graminid, and restiid clades. A phylogenetic analysis resolved most relationships within the order but found support for the monophyly of the cyperid clade. The relationship between Centrolepidaceae and Restoniaceae within the clade remains unclear, the first may actually be embedded in the latter. Within the order, by far the most important family economically is the family of grasses, which includes barley, maize, millet, rice, many Bromeliaceae are used as ornamental plants. Bremer, K. Gondwanan Evolution of the Grass Alliance of Families, judd, W. S. C. S. Campbell, E. A. Kellogg, P. F. Stevens, M. J. Donoghue. Plant Systematics, A Phylogenetic Approach, 2nd edition, linder, H. Peter, Rudall, Paula J. Evolutionary History of the Poales. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, flora of the Southeastern United States,48
9.
Poaceae
–
Poaceae or Gramineae is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants known as grasses. Poaceae includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and cultivated lawns, Grasses have stems that are hollow except at the nodes and narrow alternate leaves borne in two ranks. The lower part of each leaf encloses the stem, forming a leaf-sheath, with ca 780 genera and around 12,000 species, Poaceae are the fifth-largest plant family, following the Asteraceae, Orchidaceae, Fabaceae and Rubiaceae. Grasslands such as savannah and prairie grasses are dominant are estimated to constitute 40. 5% of the land area of the Earth, excluding Greenland. Grasses are also an important part of the vegetation in many habitats, including wetlands, forests. Though commonly called grasses, seagrasses, rushes, and sedges fall outside this family, the rushes and sedges are related to the Poaceae, being members of the order Poales, but the seagrasses are members of order Alismatales. The name Poaceae was given by John Hendley Barnhart in 1895, based on the tribe Poeae described in 1814 by Robert Brown, the term is derived from the Ancient Greek πόα. Grasses include some of the most versatile plant life-forms, a cladogram shows subfamilies and approximate species numbers in brackets, Before 2005, fossil findings indicated that grasses evolved around 55 million years ago. Recent findings of grass-like phytoliths in Cretaceous dinosaur coprolites have pushed this back to 66 million years ago. In 2011, revised dating of the origins of the rice tribe Oryzeae suggested a date as early as 107 to 129 Mya, a multituberculate mammal with grass-eating adaptations seems to suggest that grasses were already around at 120 mya. This separation occurred within the short time span of about 4 million years. Grass leaves are always alternate and distichous, and have parallel veins. Each leaf is differentiated into a lower sheath hugging the stem, the leaf blades of many grasses are hardened with silica phytoliths, which discourage grazing animals, some, such as sword grass, are sharp enough to cut human skin. A membranous appendage or fringe of hairs called the ligule lies at the junction between sheath and blade, preventing water or insects from penetrating into the sheath, flowers of Poaceae are characteristically arranged in spikelets, each having one or more florets. The spikelets are further grouped into panicles or spikes, the part of the spikelet that bears the florets is called the rachilla. A spikelet consists of two bracts at the base, called glumes, followed by one or more florets, a floret consists of the flower surrounded by two bracts, one external—the lemma—and one internal—the palea. The flowers are usually hermaphroditic—maize being an important exception—and anemophilous or wind-pollinated, the perianth is reduced to two scales, called lodicules, that expand and contract to spread the lemma and palea, these are generally interpreted to be modified sepals. This complex structure can be seen in the image on the right, the fruit of grasses is a caryopsis, in which the seed coat is fused to the fruit wall
10.
Pooideae
–
The Pooideae are the largest subfamily of the grass family Poaceae, with over 4,200 species in 14 tribes and roughly 200 genera. They include some major cereals such as wheat, barley, oat, rye and many lawn and they are often referred to as cool-season grasses, because they are distributed in temperate climate. All of them use the C3 photosynthetic pathway, the Pooideae are the sister group of the bamboos within the BOP clade, and are themselves subdivided into 14 tribes. Relationships of tribes in the Pooideae according to a 2015 phylogenetic classification, also showing the bamboos as sister group
11.
Carl Linnaeus
–
Carl Linnaeus, also known after his ennoblement as Carl von Linné, was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who formalised the modern system of naming organisms called binomial nomenclature. He is known by the father of modern taxonomy. Many of his writings were in Latin, and his name is rendered in Latin as Carolus Linnæus, Linnaeus was born in the countryside of Småland, in southern Sweden. He received most of his education at Uppsala University. He lived abroad between 1735 and 1738, where he studied and also published a first edition of his Systema Naturae in the Netherlands and he then returned to Sweden, where he became professor of medicine and botany at Uppsala. In the 1740s, he was sent on journeys through Sweden to find and classify plants. In the 1750s and 1760s, he continued to collect and classify animals, plants, and minerals, at the time of his death, he was one of the most acclaimed scientists in Europe. The philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau sent him the message, Tell him I know no man on earth. The German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote, With the exception of Shakespeare and Spinoza, Swedish author August Strindberg wrote, Linnaeus was in reality a poet who happened to become a naturalist. Among other compliments, Linnaeus has been called Princeps botanicorum, The Pliny of the North and he is also considered as one of the founders of modern ecology. In botany, the abbreviation used to indicate Linnaeus as the authority for species names is L. In older publications, sometimes the abbreviation Linn. is found, Linnæus was born in the village of Råshult in Småland, Sweden, on 23 May 1707. He was the first child of Nicolaus Ingemarsson and Christina Brodersonia and his siblings were Anna Maria Linnæa, Sofia Juliana Linnæa, Samuel Linnæus, and Emerentia Linnæa. One of a line of peasants and priests, Nils was an amateur botanist, a Lutheran minister. Christina was the daughter of the rector of Stenbrohult, Samuel Brodersonius, a year after Linnæus birth, his grandfather Samuel Brodersonius died, and his father Nils became the rector of Stenbrohult. The family moved into the rectory from the curates house, even in his early years, Linnæus seemed to have a liking for plants, flowers in particular. Whenever he was upset, he was given a flower, which calmed him. Nils spent much time in his garden and often showed flowers to Linnaeus, soon Linnæus was given his own patch of earth where he could grow plants
12.
Synonym (taxonomy)
–
For example, Linnaeus was the first to give a scientific name to the Norway spruce, which he called Pinus abies. This name is no longer in use, it is now a synonym of the current scientific name which is Picea abies, unlike synonyms in other contexts, in taxonomy a synonym is not interchangeable with the name of which it is a synonym. In taxonomy, synonyms are not equals, but have a different status, for any taxon with a particular circumscription, position, and rank, only one scientific name is considered to be the correct one at any given time. A synonym cannot exist in isolation, it is always an alternative to a different scientific name, given that the correct name of a taxon depends on the taxonomic viewpoint used a name that is one taxonomists synonym may be another taxonomists correct name. Synonyms may arise whenever the same taxon is described and named more than once, independently. They may also arise when existing taxa are changed, as when two taxa are joined to one, a species is moved to a different genus. To the general user of scientific names, in such as agriculture, horticulture, ecology, general science. A synonym is a name that was used as the correct scientific name but which has been displaced by another scientific name. Thus Oxford Dictionaries Online defines the term as a name which has the same application as another. In handbooks and general texts, it is useful to have mentioned as such after the current scientific name. Synonyms used in this way may not always meet the strict definitions of the synonym in the formal rules of nomenclature which govern scientific names. Changes of scientific name have two causes, they may be taxonomic or nomenclatural, a name change may be caused by changes in the circumscription, position or rank of a taxon, representing a change in taxonomic, scientific insight. A name change may be due to purely nomenclatural reasons, that is, based on the rules of nomenclature, the earliest such name is called the senior synonym, while the later name is the junior synonym. One basic principle of zoological nomenclature is that the earliest correctly published name, synonyms are important because if the earliest name cannot be used, then the next available junior synonym must be used for the taxon. Objective synonyms refer to taxa with the type and same rank. For example, John Edward Gray published the name Antilocapra anteflexa in 1855 for a species of pronghorn, however, it is now commonly accepted that his specimen was an unusual individual of the species Antilocapra americana published by George Ord in 1815. Ords name thus takes precedence, with Antilocapra anteflexa being a subjective synonym. Objective synonyms are common at the level of genera, because for various reasons two genera may contain the type species, these are objective synonyms
13.
Perennial plant
–
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
14.
Hermaphrodite
–
In biology, a hermaphrodite is an organism that has reproductive organs normally associated with both male and female sexes. Many taxonomic groups of animals do not have separate sexes, in these groups, hermaphroditism is a normal condition, enabling a form of sexual reproduction in which either partner can act as the female or male. For example, the majority of tunicates, pulmonate snails, opisthobranch snails. Hermaphroditism is also found in fish species and to a lesser degree in other vertebrates. Historically, the term hermaphrodite has also used to describe ambiguous genitalia and gonadal mosaicism in individuals of gonochoristic species. A rough estimate of the number of animal species is 65,000. Since the estimated number of animal species is 8.6 million. Arthropods are the phylum with the largest number of species, most hermaphroditic species exhibit some degree of self-fertilization. The distribution of self-fertilization rates among animals is similar to that of plants, suggesting that similar processes are operating to direct the evolution of selfing in animals and plants. The term derives from the Latin, hermaphroditus, from Ancient Greek, ἑρμαφρόδιτος hermaphroditos, which derives from Hermaphroditus, the word hermaphrodite entered the English lexicon as early as the late fourteenth century. Sequential hermaphrodites occur in species in which the individual is born as one sex and this contrasts simultaneous hermaphrodites, in which an individual may possess fully functional male and female gonads. Sequential hermaphroditism is common in fish and some jellyfish, many gastropods, while some sequential hermaphrodites can change sex multiple times, most can only change sex once. Generally one anemone contains a harem, consisting of a female, a smaller reproductive male. If the female is removed, the male will change sex. It has been shown that fishing pressure can change when the switch from male to female occurs, the populations are generally changing sex at a smaller size, due to natural selection. Protogyny, Where the organism is born as a female, and then changes sex to a male. Example, wrasses also have an uncommon life history strategy, which is termed diandry. In these species, two male morphs exists, an initial phase male and a terminal phase male, initial phase males do not look like males and spawn in groups with other females. Terminal phase males are territorial and have a distinctively bright coloration, individuals are born as males or females, but if they are born males, they are not born as terminal phase males
15.
Ornamental plant
–
Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as houseplants, for cut flowers and specimen display. The cultivation of these, called floriculture, forms a branch of horticulture. Commonly, ornamental plants are grown for the display of aesthetic features including, leaves, scent, overall foliage texture, fruit, stem and bark, and aesthetic form. In some cases, unusual features may be considered to be of interest, such as the prominent thorns of Rosa sericea, in all cases, their purpose is for the enjoyment of gardeners, visitors, and the public institutions. Similarly certain trees may be called ornamental trees and this term is used when they are used as part of a garden, park, or landscape setting, for instance for their flowers, their texture, form, size and shape, and other aesthetic characteristics. In some countries trees in utilitarian landscape use such as screening, for plants to be considered to be ornamental, they may require specific work and activity by a gardener. Ornamental plants and trees are distinguished from utilitarian and crop plants, such as used for agriculture and vegetable crops. This does not preclude any type of plant being grown both for ornamental qualities in the garden, and for utilitarian purposes in other settings. Thus lavender is typically grown as a plant in gardens. The term ornamental plant is used here in the sense that it is generally used in the horticultural trades. The term largely corresponds to garden plant, though the latter is less precise. Ornamental plants are plants which are grown for display purposes, rather than functional ones, Ornamental plants are the keystone of ornamental gardening, and they come in a range of shapes, sizes and colors suitable to a broad array of climates, landscapes, and gardening needs. Some ornamental plants are grown for showy foliage and their foliage may be deciduous, turning bright orange, red, and yellow before dropping off in the fall, or evergreen, in which case it stays green year-round. Other ornamental plants are cultivated for their blooms, flowering ornamentals are a key aspect of many gardens, with many flower gardeners preferring to plant a variety of flowers so that the garden is continuously in flower through the spring and summer. Media related to Ornamental plants at Wikimedia Commons
16.
Esparto
–
Esparto, halfah grass, or esparto grass, is a fiber produced from two species of perennial grasses of north Africa and southern Europe. It is used for crafts, such as cords, basketry, stipa tenacissima and Lygeum spartum are the species used to produce esparto. Stipa tenacissima produces the better and stronger esparto and it is endemic to the Western Mediterranean. The Spanish name for the plant is atocha, a pre-Roman word, Esparto or σπάρτο in Greek may refer to any woven products of sedge or broom, including cords and ropes. This species grows forming a steppic landscape - esparto grasslands - which covers parts of Spain. Esparto leaves have been used for millennia, the oldest baskets of esparto, dating back 7.000 years, were found in a cave in southern Spain. This collection is now in the National Archaeological Museum of Spain, there are many esparto remains in archaeological settlements from as long ago as the Neolithic period, including rugs, ropes, clothes, etc. Iberians used esparto rugs as floor coverings, for Greeks, Phoenicians and Romans, esparto was the best raw material for boat ropes. For centuries, esparto grasslands have been managed by local populations in order to boost the harvest, in southern Spain there is an Esparto culture, a deep knowledge about the many uses of this fiber forms part of the traditions of these communities. After the Spanish Civil War, esparto was declared a national fiber, the opening of markets to other fibers and plastics eventually led to the decline of the esparto industry. Esparto leaves are harvested with a stick, usually of wood or iron. The stick is used to pull up a handful of leaves at a time, the esparto is not normally used immediately after harvesting. Instead, the leaves are left to dry in the sun until they turn yellowish and this is the raw esparto, which is used for different basketry techniques. An alternative is to soak the leaves in water for about a month, before drying and this material is known as crushed esparto, which is stronger and easier to weave. The main techniques are, Plaited esparto, people weave a long strip of raw esparto or crushed esparto, the artifact is made by sewing this strip in different ways. Every kind of plait has a different name, examples include the pleita and the recincho, but there is a rich Spanish vocabulary for the techniques and artifacts of the esparto craft. In many cases, different terms are used in different regions, mainly, this vocabulary belongs to the Castilian and Catalan dialect of Valencia. All techniques involve working with an odd number of strands, from 5 to 31 or more, coiled esparto, just sewing in spiral a bunch of esparto leaves, every turn over the former one
17.
Stipa tenacissima
–
Stipa tenacissima, is a perennial grass of northwestern Africa and the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula. Stipa tenacissima is a species of the Western Mediterranean countries. It grows in Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, grows over poor soils in dry conditions, forming a steppic grasslands, managed by people since centuries. Stipa tenacissima produces a product called esparto which is used for crafts, such as cords, basketry. By Gavin McQuarrie, University of Durham, England
18.
Craft
–
A craft is a pastime or a profession that requires particular skills and knowledge of skilled work. The traditional terms craftsman and craftswoman are nowadays often replaced by artisan, the beginning of crafts in areas like the Ottoman empire involved the governing bodies requiring members of the city who were skilled at creating goods to open shops in the center of town. These people slowly stopped acting as subsistence farmers and began to represent what we think of a craftsman today, historically, craftsmen tended to concentrate in urban centers and formed guilds. The households of craftsmen were not as self-sufficient as those of people engaged in agricultural work, once an apprentice of a craft had finished his apprenticeship, he would become a journeyman searching for a place to set up his own shop and make a living. After he set up his own shop, he could call himself a master of his craft. But crafts have undergone deep structural changes during and since the era of the Industrial Revolution, thus, they participate in a certain division of labour between industry and craft. There are three aspects to human creativity - Art, Crafts, and Science, roughly determinated, art relies upon intuitive sensing, vision and expression, crafts upon sophisticated technique and science upon knowledge. Handicraft is the main sector of the crafts, it is a type of work where useful. Usually the term is applied to traditional means of making goods, the individual artisanship of the items is a paramount criterion, such items often have cultural and/or religious significance. Items made by mass production or machines are not handicraft goods, handicraft goods are made with craft production processes. Crafts practiced by independent artists working alone or in groups are often referred to as studio craft. Studio craft includes studio pottery, metal work, weaving, wood turning, paper and other forms of working, glass blowing. A craft fair is an event to display and sell crafts. There are craft shops where such goods are sold and craft communities, such as Craftster, a tradesperson is a skilled manual worker in a particular trade or craft. Economically and socially, a status is considered between a laborer and a professional, with a high degree of both practical and theoretical knowledge of their trade. In cultures where professional careers are highly prized there can be a shortage of skilled manual workers, media related to Crafts at Wikimedia Commons
19.
Paper
–
Paper is a thin material produced by pressing together moist fibres of cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets. It is a material with many uses, including writing, printing, packaging, cleaning. The modern pulp and paper industry is global, with China leading its production, the oldest known archaeological fragments of the immediate precursor to modern paper, date to the 2nd century BC in China. The pulp papermaking process is ascribed to Cai Lun, a 2nd-century AD Han court eunuch, with paper as an effective substitute for silk in many applications, China could export silk in greater quantity, contributing to a Golden Age. Because of papers introduction to the West through the city of Baghdad, in the 19th century, industrial manufacture greatly lowered its cost, enabling mass exchange of information and contributing to significant cultural shifts. In 1844, the Canadian inventor Charles Fenerty and the German F. G. Keller independently developed processes for pulping wood fibres, before the industrialisation of the paper production the most common fibre source was recycled fibres from used textiles, called rags. The rags were from hemp, linen and cotton, a process for removing printing inks from recycled paper was invented by German jurist Justus Claproth in 1774. Today this method is called deinking and it was not until the introduction of wood pulp in 1843 that paper production was not dependent on recycled materials from ragpickers. The word paper is etymologically derived from Latin papyrus, which comes from the Greek πάπυρος, although the word paper is etymologically derived from papyrus, the two are produced very differently and the development of the first is distinct from the development of the second. Papyrus is a lamination of natural plant fibres, while paper is manufactured from fibres whose properties have changed by maceration. To make pulp from wood, a chemical pulping process separates lignin from cellulose fibres and this is accomplished by dissolving lignin in a cooking liquor, so that it may be washed from the cellulose, this preserves the length of the cellulose fibres. Paper made from chemical pulps are also known as wood-free papers–not to be confused with paper, this is because they do not contain lignin. The pulp can also be bleached to produce paper, but this consumes 5% of the fibres, chemical pulping processes are not used to make paper made from cotton. There are three main chemical pulping processes, the process dates back to the 1840s and it was the dominant method extent before the second world war. Most pulping operations using the process are net contributors to the electricity grid or use the electricity to run an adjacent paper mill. Another advantage is that this process recovers and reuses all inorganic chemical reagents, soda pulping is another specialty process used to pulp straws, bagasse and hardwoods with high silicate content. There are two major mechanical pulps, thermomechanical pulp and groundwood pulp, in the TMP process, wood is chipped and then fed into steam heated refiners, where the chips are squeezed and converted to fibres between two steel discs. In the groundwood process, debarked logs are fed into grinders where they are pressed against rotating stones to be made into fibres
20.
Grassland
–
Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses, however sedge and rush families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica, grasslands are found in most ecoregions of the Earth. For example, there are five terrestrial ecoregion classifications of the grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome. Grassland vegetation can vary in height from short, as in chalk grassland, to quite tall, as in the case of North American tallgrass prairie, South American grasslands. Woody plants, shrubs or trees, may occur on some grasslands – forming savannas, scrubby grassland or semi-wooded grassland, as flowering plants and trees, grasses grow in great concentrations in climates where annual rainfall ranges between 500 and 900 mm. The root systems of perennial grasses and forbs form complex mats that hold the soil in place, graminoids are among the most versatile life forms. Existing forest biomes declined, and grasslands became much more widespread, following the Pleistocene ice ages, grasslands expanded in range in the hotter, drier climates, and began to become the dominant land feature worldwide. Grasslands often occur in areas with annual precipitation between 600 mm and 1,500 mm and average annual temperatures ranges from −5 and 20 °C. However, some occur in colder and hotter climatic conditions. Grassland can exist in habitats that are disturbed by grazing or fire. Grasslands dominated by unsown wild-plant communities can be called natural or semi-natural habitats. The majority of grasslands in temperate climates are semi-natural and these grasslands contain many species of wild plants – grasses, sedges, rushes and herbs –25 or more species per square metre is not unusual. Chalk downlands in England can support over 40 species per square metre, in many parts of the world, few examples have escaped agricultural improvement. For example, original North American prairie grasslands or lowland wildflower meadows in the UK are now rare and their associated wild flora equally threatened. Some of the worlds largest expanses of grassland are found in African savanna, grasslands may occur naturally or as the result of human activity. Grasslands created and maintained by human activity are called anthropogenic grasslands, hunting peoples around the world often set regular fires to maintain and extend grasslands, and prevent fire-intolerant trees and shrubs from taking hold. The tallgrass prairies in the U. S. Midwest may have been extended eastward into Illinois, Indiana, much grassland in northwest Europe developed after the Neolithic Period, when people gradually cleared the forest to create areas for raising their livestock. Grassland types by Schimper, meadow steppe savannah Grassland types by Ellenberg & Mueller-Dombois, terrestrial herbaceous communities A. Savannas and related grasslands B
21.
Savanna
–
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland grassland ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support a herbaceous layer consisting primarily of grasses. Savannas maintain an open canopy despite a high tree density and it is often believed that savannas feature widely spaced, scattered trees. However, in savannas, tree densities are higher and trees are more regularly spaced than in forests. Savanna covers approximately 20% of the Earths land area, the word originally entered English in 1555 as the Latin Zauana, equivalent in the orthography of the times to zavana. Peter Martyr reported it as the name for the plain around Comagre. The accounts are inexact, but this is placed in present-day Madugandí or at points on the nearby Guna Yala coast opposite Ustupo or on Point Mosquitos. These areas are now given over to modern cropland or jungle. The common usage meaning to describe vegetation now conflicts with a simplified yet widespread climatic concept meaning, the divergence has sometimes caused areas such as extensive savannas north and south of the Congo and Amazon Rivers to be excluded from mapped savanna categories. Barrens has been used almost interchangeably with savanna in different parts of North America, sometimes midwestern savanna were described as grassland with trees. Different authors have defined the limits of savanna tree coverage as 5–10%. Two factors common to all environments are rainfall variations from year to year. In the Americas, e. g. in Belize, Central America, savanna vegetation is similar from Mexico to South America, savannas are subject to regular wildfires and the ecosystem appears to be the result of human use of fire. For example, Native Americans created the Pre-Columbian savannas of North America by periodically burning where fire-resistant plants were the dominant species, pine barrens in scattered locations from New Jersey to coastal New England are remnants of these savannas. Aboriginal burning appears to have responsible for the widespread occurrence of savanna in tropical Australia and New Guinea. The maquis shrub savannas of the Mediterranean region were created and maintained by anthropogenic fire. These fires are usually confined to the layer and do little long term damage to mature trees. However, these either kill or suppress tree seedlings, thus preventing the establishment of a continuous tree canopy which would prevent further grass growth
22.
Habitat
–
A habitat is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant, or other type of organism. The term typically refers to the zone in which the organism lives and it is the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the physical environment that surrounds a species population. Every organism has certain habitat needs for the conditions in which it will thrive, habitat types include polar, temperate, subtropical and tropical. The terrestrial vegetation type may be forest, steppe, grassland, the word habitat has been in use since about 1755 and derives from the Latin third-person singular present indicative of habitāre, to inhabit, from habēre, to have or to hold. Habitat can be defined as the environment of an organism. It is similar in meaning to a biotope, an area of environmental conditions associated with a particular community of plants. Generally speaking, animal communities are reliant on specific types of plant communities, some plants and animals are generalists, and their habitat requirements are met in a wide range of locations. The small white butterfly for example is found on all the continents of the world apart from Antarctica and its larvae feed on a wide range of Brassicas and various other plant species, and it thrives in any open location with diverse plant associations. Disturbance is important in the creation of biodiverse habitats, in the absence of disturbance, a climax vegetation cover develops that prevents the establishment of other species. Lightning strikes and toppled trees in tropical forests allow species richness to be maintained as pioneering species move in to fill the gaps created. Similarly coastal habitats can become dominated by kelp until the seabed is disturbed by a storm, another cause of disturbance is when an area may be overwhelmed by an invasive introduced species which is not kept under control by natural enemies in its new habitat. Terrestrial habitat types include forests, grasslands, wetlands and deserts, within these broad biomes are more specific habitats with varying climate types, temperature regimes, soils, altitudes and vegetation types. Many of these habitats grade into each other and each one has its own communities of plants. A habitat may suit a particular species well, but its presence or absence at any particular location depends to some extent on chance, on its dispersal abilities, freshwater habitats include rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, marshes and bogs. Although some organisms are found across most of these habitats, the majority have more specific requirements, similarly, aquatic plants can be floating, semi-submerged, submerged or grow in permanently or temporarily saturated soils besides bodies of water. Marine habitats include brackish water, estuaries, bays, the sea, the intertidal zone. Further variations include rock pools, sand banks, mudflats, brackish lagoons, sandy and pebbly beaches, the benthic zone or seabed provides a home for both static organisms, anchored to the substrate, and for a large range of organisms crawling on or burrowing into the surface. A desert is not the kind of habitat that favours the presence of amphibians, with their requirement for water to keep their skins moist, nevertheless, some frogs live in deserts, creating moist habitats underground and hibernating while conditions are adverse
23.
Prairie
–
Temperate grassland regions include the Pampas of Argentina, southern Brazil and Uruguay as well as the steppes of Eurasia. Lands typically referred to as prairie tend to be in North America, the Central Valley of California is also a prairie. The Canadian Prairies occupy vast areas of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Prairie is the French word for meadow, but the ultimate root is the Latin pratum. The formation of the North American Prairies started with the upwelling of the Rocky Mountains near Alberta, the mountains created a rain shadow that resulted in lower precipitation rates downwind, creating an environment in which most tree species will not tolerate. The parent material of most prairie soil was distributed during the last glacial advance that began about 110,000 years ago, the glaciers expanding southward scraped the landscape, picking up geologic material and leveling the terrain. As the glaciers retreated about 10,000 years ago, it deposited this material in the form of till, wind based loess deposits also form an important parent material for prairie soils. Tallgrass Prairie evolved over tens of thousands of years with the disturbances of grazing, native ungulates such as bison, elk, and white-tailed deer, roamed the expansive, diverse, plentiful grassland before European colonization of the Americas. For 10, 000-20,000 years native people used fire annually as a tool to assist in hunting, transportation, evidence of ignition sources of fire in the tallgrass prairie are overwhelmingly human as opposed to lightning. Humans, and grazing animals, were participants in the process of prairie formation. Fire has the effect on prairies of removing trees, clearing dead plant matter, fire kills the vascular tissue of trees, but not prairie, as up to 75% of the total plant biomass is below the soil surface and will re-grow from its deep roots. Without disturbance, trees will encroach on a grassland, cast shade, Prairie and widely spaced oak trees evolved to coexist in the oak savanna ecosystem. In spite of long recurrent droughts and occasional torrential rains, the grasslands of the Great Plains were not subject to soil erosion. The root systems of native prairie grasses firmly held the soil in place to prevent run-off of soil, when the plant died, the fungi, bacteria returned its nutrients to the soil. These deep roots also helped native prairie plants reach water in even the driest conditions, the native grasses suffered much less damage from dry conditions than the farm crops currently grown. Prairie in North America is usually split into three groups, wet, mesic, and dry and they are generally characterized by tallgrass prairie, mixed, or shortgrass prairie, depending on the quality of soil and rainfall. In wet prairies the soil is very moist, including during most of the growing season. The resulting stagnant water is conducive to the formation of bogs, wet prairies have excellent farming soil. The average precipitation amount is 10-30 inches a year, mesic prairie /ˈmiːzɪk/ has good drainage, but good soil during the growing season
24.
Quercus douglasii
–
Quercus douglasii, known as blue oak, is a species of oak endemic to California, common in the Coast Ranges and foothills of the Sierra Nevada. It is occasionally known as oak and iron oak. Quercus douglasii is a tree, generally 6–20 m tall. The tallest recorded specimen was found in Alameda County, at 28.7 m, the bark is light gray with many medium-sized dark cracks, from a distance, it can appear almost white. The name blue oak derives from the dark blue-green tint of its leaves, which are deciduous, 4–10 cm long, the acorns are 2–3 cm long, with a moderately sweet kernel, and mature in 6–7 months from pollination. Quercus douglasii prefers dry soil and plenty of sunlight and it is the most drought tolerant of Californias deciduous oaks. Quercus douglasii often co-habitates with gray pine, and is found with interior live oak, valley oak, Oregon white oak, canyon live oak. Natural hybrids between Q. douglasii and the related shrub live oak, Q. lobata, and Q. garryana often occur where the species grow together in the same area, individual trees over 500 years old have been recorded, although most are less than 300 years old. Recent research has found several unlogged stands of oak woodlands. Quercus douglasii is not susceptible to the disease known as sudden oak death. Ancient Blue Oak Woodlands of California
25.
Prehistory
–
Prehistory means literally before history, from the Latin word for before, præ, and Greek ιστορία. Neighbouring civilisations were the first to follow, most other civilisations reached the end of prehistory during the Iron Age. The period when a culture is written about by others, but has not developed its own writing is known as the protohistory of the culture. By definition, there are no records from human prehistory. Clear techniques for dating were not well-developed until the 19th century and this article is concerned with human prehistory as defined here above. There are separate articles for the history of the Earth. However, for the race as a whole, prehistory ends when recorded history begins with the accounts of the ancient world around the 4th millennium BC. For example, in Egypt it is accepted that prehistory ended around 3200 BC, whereas in New Guinea the end of the prehistoric era is set much more recently. The three-age system is the periodization of prehistory into three consecutive time periods, named for their respective predominant tool-making technologies, Stone Age Bronze Age Iron Age. The notion of prehistory began to surface during the Enlightenment in the work of antiquarians who used the word primitive to describe societies that existed before written records, the first use of the word prehistory in English, however, occurred in the Foreign Quarterly Review in 1836. The main source for prehistory is archaeology, but some scholars are beginning to more use of evidence from the natural and social sciences. This view has been articulated by advocates of deep history, human population geneticists and historical linguists are also providing valuable insight for these questions. Human prehistory differs from history not only in terms of its chronology, restricted to material processes, remains and artifacts rather than written records, prehistory is anonymous. Because of this, reference terms that use, such as Neanderthal or Iron Age are modern labels with definitions sometimes subject to debate. Palaeolithic means Old Stone Age, and begins with the first use of stone tools, the Paleolithic is the earliest period of the Stone Age. The early part of the Palaeolithic is called the Lower Palaeolithic, evidence of control of fire by early humans during the Lower Palaeolithic Era is uncertain and has at best limited scholarly support. The most widely accepted claim is that H. erectus or H. ergaster made fires between 790,000 and 690,000 BP in a site at Bnot Yaakov Bridge, Israel. The use of fire enabled early humans to cook food, provide warmth, Early Homo sapiens originated some 200,000 years ago, ushering in the Middle Palaeolithic
26.
Anemanthele
–
Anemanthele is a genus of plants in the grass family native to New Zealand. The only known species is Anemanthele lessoniana, often called gossamer grass or New Zealand wind grass or pheasants tail grass and this is a naturally rare grass in the wild but it is widely cultivated for use as an attractive ornamental garden plant. It is marginal in zone 8, going dormant and deciduous in cold winters and it has green arching foliage to 3 feet in USDA8, with highlights of orange, copper, and gold, especially in drier soils. This plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Societys Award of Garden Merit
27.
Stipa avenacea
–
Stipa avenacea - renamed Piptochaetium avenaceum, and commonly called black oat grass, blackseed needle grass or blackseed speargrass, is a perennial bunchgrass native to Eastern North America. It is a member of the grass family Poaceae, Stipa avenacea is commonly found in the Eastern United States, within various types of habitats, which include, grasslands deciduous hardwood hammocks, thickets, and dry woods. The species distribution is found in the Southeastern and Northeastern United States. It is found in the Great Lakes region of the U. S. Midwest and Ontario, and the shortgrass prairies of the south-central U. S. as well. The range has been documented in, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, New York and Florida, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Illinois, Oklahoma, Stipa avenacea, Black oat grass, consists of fine leaf texture that appear to be bristle-like. Its leaves are long and elongate, reaching up to 3 feet in height, the plant is easily recognizable when flowering or fruiting. It can be identified by its open inflorescences, which are thin, the branches within these inflorescences are very thin and thus can create effects of spikelets that appear to be floating in mid air. It also consists of awns, which are hairlike projections containing multicellular organisms that obtain nutrients through photosynthesis, the awns can twist and un-twist in circumstances depending on the humidity and temperature of the area, which is required for them in order to thrive within soil. They also protrude from individual flowers in the clusters, which tend to develop between late spring and early summer. Panicles also exist within this species where it rises above the plants rolled and it contains slender open branches, a few narrow scales and spikelets that consist of one flower. The ripened flowering heads within the spikelet remain on the grass usually until autumn, in which the awns tend to bend and twist, the seeds are formed as sharp needles. The palea tends to be long and blackish, in which the part consists of bent. One specific aspect for which Stipa avenacea is used is the transport of plant awns through the net transport in deforming environments, with the use of Stipa avenacea, researchers were able to conclude several types of deformation within the use of this plant. One kind of deformation is in the skins of animals, specifically with the dispersal of the foxtail, and shrinkage and swelling of the soil that is caused by the variation of temperature and humidity. The second kind of deformation is swelling and shrinkage of soil due to the burial of the seed and awn into the soil, along with the deformation of certain environments by net transport, lengths of certain grasses can also vary. According to the study, Stipa avenacea, along with other Stipa species, appeared to reveal a kind of kinking and coiling of their awns and this would eventually yield linear strains of up to 20%. Due to this, it was observed that strain variations were possibly rectified in the direction of the grass tips and this would thus conclude that long grass awns would serve more efficiently as fluctuation amplifiers. Black oat grass or Blackseed speargrass is known to be a food source
28.
Stipa barbata
–
Stipa barbata is a species of perennial grass native to southern Europe, North Africa, and the Levant in the Mediterranean Basin, and temperate Asia. The plant is a bunchgrass with, culms that are 30–60 cm long leaf blades are flexuous, filiform, leaf blades are 15–30 cm long by 1–2 mm wide. GBIF entry Flora Atlantica sive Historia Plantarum, quae in Atlante, media related to Stipa barbata at Wikimedia Commons GrassBase - The Online World Grass Flora — USDA Plants Profile, Stipa barbata
29.
Hesperostipa comata
–
Hesperostipa comata, commonly known as needle-and-thread grass, is a species of grass native to North America, especially the western third. It has a distribution spanning from northern Canada to Mexico. Hesperostipa comata is a perennial bunchgrass producing erect, unbranched stems to about a meter-3 feet in maximum height, the narrow inflorescence is up to 28 centimeters long in taller plants, with the mature spikelet bearing a spiraling, hairy, spear-shaped awn up to 19 centimeters in length. The seeds of grass have hygroscopic extensions that bend with changes in humidity. Each seed has an awn that twists several turns when the seed is released, increased moisture causes it to untwist, and, upon drying, to twist again, thus the seed is drilled into the ground. This is a grass of many types, from grassland to pine forest. Young shoots provide a food source for black-tailed prairie dogs and black-tailed jackrabbits. This species was described by the explorers during the Lewis and Clark Expedition, needle and thread grass is the provincial grass of the prairie province of Saskatchewan. This species is popular among children because of the ability to be thrown
30.
Stipa gigantea
–
Stipa gigantea, commonly called giant feather grass, giant needle grass, or golden oats, is a bunchgrass in the genus Stipa, native to southern Europe. It occurs in Spain and other Mediterranean countries, Stipa gigantea has leaf blades that are narrow and gray-green, creating a bunchgrass foliage mass 2–3 feet in diameter. It is evergreen to semi-evergreen, depending on the climate, the plant has prominent flower spikes emerging silver-laveneder in the late spring, aging to a radiant golden over the summer, and persisting in tan into winter. The spikes typically grow to 8 feet tall, rising high above the foliage, cultivation Stipa gigantea is grown as an ornamental grass for planting as single specimens and massed drifts in parks, public landscapes, and gardens. It is used in drought tolerant and Mediterranean climate—plant palette gardens, the tall golden flower spikes are attractive on the plant, especially radiant when backlit by the sun. They may also be used for dried flowers and this plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Societys Award of Garden Merit. Ornamental grasses Index, Bunchgrasses of Europe European Garden Flora, volume II
31.
Oryzopsis hymenoides
–
Oryzopsis hymenoides is a perennial cool-season bunchgrass with very narrow, rolled leaf blades. It is native to western North America east of the Cascades from British Columbia and Alberta south to southern California, northeastern Mexico, in the wild, it typically grows 4 to 24 in tall and 8 to 12 in wide. O. hymenoides grows in a variety of habitats from scrub to ponderosa pine forests. It can live in soils from sand to clay, but it particularly well in sand, where it is the dominant grass growing with sagebrush. Indian ricegrass is an important food for livestock and for wild grazers such as bison, desert sheep, elk, mule deer, pronghorns. For some of species, it is especially vital in late winter. The seeds are consumed by many rodents and birds, notably mourning doves. This tough grass is known for its ability to reseed and establish itself on sites damaged by fire or overgrazing, much germination occurs in years with wet Aprils. It is grown in xeriscapes—cultivars are available—and will become quite large if given sufficient space, the open, spangled appearance when in flower or fruit is very attractive, especially in backlight. The flower stalk is used in dry flower arrangements. In the past, the grass was a food of Native Americans. Seed of the ricegrass was gathered and ground into meal or flour, since 2000, the ricegrass has been cultivated in Montana and marketed under the trade name Montina as a gluten-free grain. The Zuni people used the seeds as a staple before the availability of corn. It was officially recognized as the Nevada state grass in 1977, the state-grass bill was introduced by Senator Alarik Myrin, a member of the Society, in 1989
32.
Stipa pennata
–
Its foliage is green in summer while the flowers are silvery-grey during the same season
33.
Stipa spartea
–
Stipa spartea - renamed Hesperostipa spartea, and commonly called Porcupine grass, is a bunchgrass species in the genus Stipa. Stipa spartea or Hesperostipa spartea is native to the Great Plains and it is also found in grasslands of the Rocky Mountains in Western Canada and the Western United States. Hesperostipa spartea has a bunchgrass foliage mass of 3–6 feet in diameter The flower stalks are upright and arching, yellow, the seeds are needle-like with sharp tips and long tails. The tails are composed of two different strands that dry at different rates and twist around each other, causing the head of the seed to be driven into the soil. Just behind the sharp, needle-like tip, is a collar of long hairs that face backward. This species of grass can have its seeds entangled in sheeps hair while they are feeding, Hesperostipa spartea is cultivated as an ornamental grass for native plant gardens and natural landscaping, and as a plant for Great Plains—Prairie habitat restoration. Media related to Hesperostipa spartea at Wikimedia Commons USDA Plants Profile for Hesperostipa spartea Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Native Plant Information Network — Hesperostipa spartea
34.
Stipa speciosa
–
Achnatherum speciosum is a species of grass known by the common name desert needlegrass. It is native to much of the south-western United States from California to Colorado and it is also known from Mexico and parts of South America. This is a perennial bunchgrass reaching a maximum height of 1–2 ft. The leaf blades are less than a wide and rolled along the edges. The bases are stiff and remain as the dense grass clump dries, the inflorescence is up to about 2 inches long and is dense and fluffy. Each spikelet is very hairy and has a bent awn up to about a centimeter long which is coated in long hairs, the stiff awn and the sharp tip of the spikelet make the seeds hazardous for animals. The hairs on the help in catch in animal coats. The awn also twists when wet, helping the seed bury itself in the soil. C
35.
Stipa turkestanica
–
Stipa turkestanica is a species of grass in the Poaceae family, endemic to India and Russian central and western Asia. Its culms are 30–70 cm long, and panicles 8–14 cm long, bearing few spikelets, Sada 26,59 Trudy Imperatorskago S. -Peterburgskago Botaničeskago Sada 26,59. The Plant List entry Encyclopedia of Life entry GrassBase entry
36.
Stipa zalesskii
–
Stipa zalesskii is a species of grass in the Poaceae family, endemic in Europe and Asia. Its culms are 30–75 cm long, and leaf-blades 20–35 cm long by 0. 6–1 mm wide, Stipa dobrogensis Prodán Stipa glabrata P. A. Smirn. Stipa maeotica Klokov & Osychnyuk Stipa maeotica Klokov & Ossycznjuk Stipa pennata subsp, Stipa smirnovii Martinovský Stipa turcomanica P. A. Smirn. Canescens Tzvelev Stipa zalesskii var. glabrata Tzvelev Stipa zalesskii var. iljinii Tzvelev Stipa zalesskii var. maeotica Tzvelev Stipa zalesskii var. rubens Tzvelev Stipa zalesskii subsp, ucrainica Tzvelev Repertorium Specierum Novarum Regni Vegetabilis 21,232. 1928 The Plant List entry Encyclopedia of Life entry GBIF entry USDA Germplasm Resources Information Network entry GrassBase entry Hortipedia entry NCBI Nucleotide database
37.
Achnatherum aridum
–
Achnatherum aridum is a species of grass known by the common name Mormon needlegrass. It is native to the southwestern United States from the Mojave Desert in California east to Colorado, Achnatherum aridum is a resident of high desert scrub and woodland habitat at some elevation. It is a perennial bunchgrass without rhizomes. The bunches of stems reach a height of around 85 centimetres. The inflorescence is a panicle often partly enfolded in the sheath of the uppermost leaf. The spikelets have hairlike awns 4–8 centimetres long, jepson Manual Treatment - Achnatherum aridum USDA Plants Profile, Achnatherum aridum Achnatherum aridum - Photo gallery
