1.
National Register of Historic Places
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The National Register of Historic Places is the United States federal governments official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation. The passage of the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966 established the National Register, of the more than one million properties on the National Register,80,000 are listed individually. The remainder are contributing resources within historic districts, each year approximately 30,000 properties are added to the National Register as part of districts or by individual listings. For most of its history the National Register has been administered by the National Park Service and its goals are to help property owners and interest groups, such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, coordinate, identify, and protect historic sites in the United States. While National Register listings are mostly symbolic, their recognition of significance provides some financial incentive to owners of listed properties, protection of the property is not guaranteed. During the nomination process, the property is evaluated in terms of the four criteria for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, the application of those criteria has been the subject of criticism by academics of history and preservation, as well as the public and politicians. Occasionally, historic sites outside the proper, but associated with the United States are also listed. Properties can be nominated in a variety of forms, including individual properties, historic districts, the Register categorizes general listings into one of five types of properties, district, site, structure, building, or object. National Register Historic Districts are defined geographical areas consisting of contributing and non-contributing properties, some properties are added automatically to the National Register when they become administered by the National Park Service. These include National Historic Landmarks, National Historic Sites, National Historical Parks, National Military Parks/Battlefields, National Memorials, on October 15,1966, the Historic Preservation Act created the National Register of Historic Places and the corresponding State Historic Preservation Offices. Initially, the National Register consisted of the National Historic Landmarks designated before the Registers creation, approval of the act, which was amended in 1980 and 1992, represented the first time the United States had a broad-based historic preservation policy. To administer the newly created National Register of Historic Places, the National Park Service of the U. S. Department of the Interior, hartzog, Jr. established an administrative division named the Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation. Hartzog charged OAHP with creating the National Register program mandated by the 1966 law, ernest Connally was the Offices first director. Within OAHP new divisions were created to deal with the National Register, the first official Keeper of the Register was William J. Murtagh, an architectural historian. During the Registers earliest years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, organization was lax and SHPOs were small, understaffed, and underfunded. A few years later in 1979, the NPS history programs affiliated with both the U. S. National Parks system and the National Register were categorized formally into two Assistant Directorates. Established were the Assistant Directorate for Archeology and Historic Preservation and the Assistant Directorate for Park Historic Preservation, from 1978 until 1981, the main agency for the National Register was the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service of the United States Department of the Interior. In February 1983, the two assistant directorates were merged to promote efficiency and recognize the interdependency of their programs, jerry L. Rogers was selected to direct this newly merged associate directorate
2.
United States Capitol
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The United States Capitol, often called the Capitol Building or Capitol Hill, is the home of the United States Congress, and the seat of the legislative branch of the U. S. federal government. It sits atop Capitol Hill at the end of the National Mall in Washington. Though not at the center of the Federal District, the Capitol forms the origin point for the Districts street-numbering system. The original building was completed in 1800 and was subsequently expanded, like the principal buildings of the executive and judicial branches, the Capitol is built in a distinctive neoclassical style and has a white exterior. Both its east and west elevations are referred to as fronts, though only the east front was intended for the reception of visitors. In 2014, scaffolding was erected around the dome for a project scheduled to be completed by early 2017. All exterior scaffolding was removed by the end of summer 2016, prior to establishing the nations capital in Washington, D. C. the United States Congress and its predecessors had met in Philadelphia, New York City, and a number of other locations. In September 1774, the First Continental Congress brought together delegates from the colonies in Philadelphia, followed by the Second Continental Congress, Congress requested that John Dickinson, the Governor of Pennsylvania, call up the militia to defend Congress from attacks by the protesters. In what became known as the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, Dickinson sympathized with the protesters and refused to remove them from Philadelphia. As a result, Congress was forced to flee to Princeton, New Jersey, on June 21,1783, and met in Annapolis, Maryland, the United States Congress was established upon ratification of the United States Constitution and formally began on March 4,1789. New York City remained home to Congress until July 1790, when the Residence Act was passed to pave the way for a permanent capital. As part of the legislation, Philadelphia was chosen as a capital for ten years, until the nations capital in Washington. Pierre Charles LEnfant was given the task of creating the city plan for the new capital city, in reviewing LEnfants plan, Thomas Jefferson insisted the legislative building be called the Capitol rather than Congress House. The word Capitol comes from Latin and is associated with the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on Capitoline Hill, the connection between the two is not, however, crystal clear. In spring 1792, United States Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson proposed a competition to solicit designs for the Capitol and the Presidents House. The prize for the competition was $500 and a lot in the Federal City, the most promising of the submissions was by Stephen Hallet, a trained French architect. However, Hallets designs were overly fancy, with too much French influence, a late entry by amateur architect William Thornton was submitted on January 31,1793, to much praise for its Grandeur, Simplicity, and Beauty by Washington, along with praise from Thomas Jefferson. Thornton was inspired by the east front of the Louvre, as well as the Paris Pantheon for the portion of the design
3.
Arboretum
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An arboretum in a narrow sense is a collection of trees only. Related collections include a fruticetum, and a viticetum, a collection of vines, more commonly, today, an arboretum is a botanical garden containing living collections of woody plants intended at least partly for scientific study. An arboretum specializing in growing conifers is known as a pinetum, other specialist arboreta include saliceta, populeta, and querceta. The term arboretum was first used in an English publication by John Claudius Loudon in 1833 in The Gardeners Magazine, egyptian Pharaohs planted exotic trees and cared for them, they brought ebony wood from the Sudan, and pine and cedar from Syria. It is reported that Hatshepsut had these trees planted in the courts of her Deir el Bahri mortuary temple complex, Arboreta are special places for the cultivation and display of a wide variety of different kinds of trees and shrubs. Many tree collections have been claimed as the first arboretum, in most cases, however, Arboreta differ from pieces of woodland or plantations because they are botanically significant collections with a variety of examples rather than just a few kinds. Of course there are many tree collections that are older than the eighteenth century in different parts of the world. Loudons Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum,8 vols, Loudon urged that a national arboretum be created and called for arboreta and other systematic collections to be established in public parks, private gardens, country estates and other places. He regarded the Derby Arboretum as the most important landscape-gardening commission of the part of his career because it demonstrated the benefits of a public arboretum. The more lofty trees suffered from the high winds. We walked round the two spirals of this coil of trees and shrubs, viz. from Acer to Quercus. There is no garden scene about London so interesting, a plan of Loddiges arboretum was included in The Encyclopaedia of Gardening,1834 edition. One example of an early European tree collection is the Trsteno Arboretum, the date of its founding is unknown, but it was already in existence by 1492, when a 15 m span aqueduct to irrigate the arboretum was constructed, this aqueduct is still in use. The garden was created by the prominent local Gučetić/Gozze family and it suffered two major disasters in the 1990s but its two unique and ancient Oriental Planes remained standing. Udhagamandalam Arboretum, The Nilgiris, India The arboretum at Ooty was established in 1992 with an aim of conserving native and indigenous trees and it was established during the year 1992 and maintained by Department of Horticulture with Hill Area Development Programme funds. The area is the natural habitats of indigenous and migratory birds. During the year 2005-2006, it was rehabilated with funds provided by the Hill Area Development Programme by providing permanent fencing, a foot path, and other infrastructure facilities. The arboretum is the realization of the dream of William Douglas Cook, the arboretum is now the National Arboretum of New Zealand, and holds some 4,000 different trees, shrubs and climbers
4.
United States Department of Agriculture
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Approximately 80% of USDAs $140 billion budget goes to the Food and Nutrition Service program. The largest component of the FNS budget is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, after the resignation of Thomas Vilsack on January 13,2017 and the departure of President Barack Obama from office on January 20,2017, the acting Secretary of Agriculture is Michael Young. Activities in this include the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which provides healthy food to over 40 million low-income. The USDA also is concerned with assisting farmers and food producers with the sale of crops and it plays a role in overseas aid programs by providing surplus foods to developing countries. This aid can go through USAID, foreign governments, international bodies such as World Food Program, the Agricultural Act of 1949, section 416 and Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954, also known as Food for Peace, provides the legal basis of such actions. The USDA is a partner of the World Cocoa Foundation, early in its history, the economy of the United States was largely agrarian. Officials in the government had long sought new and improved varieties of seeds, plants. In 1837 Henry Leavitt Ellsworth, a Yale-educated attorney interested in improving agriculture, became Commissioner of Patents and he began collecting and distributing new varieties of seeds and plants through members of the Congress and agricultural societies. In 1839, Congress established the Agricultural Division within the Patent Office and allotted $1,000 for the collection of agricultural statistics, Ellsworth was called the Father of the Department of Agriculture. In 1849, the Patent Office was transferred to the newly created Department of the Interior, in the ensuing years, agitation for a separate bureau of agriculture within the department or a separate department devoted to agriculture kept recurring. Lincoln called it the peoples department, in the 1880s, varied advocacy groups were lobbying for Cabinet representation. Business interests sought a Department of Commerce and Industry, and farmers tried to raise the Department of Agriculture to Cabinet rank, finally, on February 9,1889, President Grover Cleveland signed a bill into law elevating the Department of Agriculture to Cabinet level. In 1887, the Hatch Act provided for the funding of agricultural experiment stations in each state. The Smith-Lever Act of 1914 then funded cooperative extension services in each state to teach agriculture, home economics, with these and similar provisions, the USDA reached out to every county of every state. During the Great Depression, farming remained a way of life for millions of Americans. The Department of Agricultures Bureau of Home Economics, established in 1923, published shopping advice and recipes to stretch family budgets and make food go farther. USDA helped ensure that continued to be produced and distributed to those who needed it, assisted with loans for small landowners. The Department of Agriculture was authorized a budget for Fiscal Year 2015 of $139.7 billion, the Washington Post reports that he said There are days when I have literally nothing to do, he recalled thinking as he weighed his decision to quit
5.
Botany
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Botany, also called plant science, plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who specialises in this field, the term botany comes from the Ancient Greek word βοτάνη meaning pasture, grass, or fodder, βοτάνη is in turn derived from βόσκειν, to feed or to graze. Nowadays, botanists study approximately 410,000 species of plants of which some 391,000 species are vascular plants. Medieval physic gardens, often attached to monasteries, contained plants of medical importance and they were forerunners of the first botanical gardens attached to universities, founded from the 1540s onwards. One of the earliest was the Padua botanical garden and these gardens facilitated the academic study of plants. Efforts to catalogue and describe their collections were the beginnings of plant taxonomy, in the last two decades of the 20th century, botanists exploited the techniques of molecular genetic analysis, including genomics and proteomics and DNA sequences to classify plants more accurately. Modern botany is a broad, multidisciplinary subject with inputs from most other areas of science, dominant themes in 21st century plant science are molecular genetics and epigenetics, which are the mechanisms and control of gene expression during differentiation of plant cells and tissues. Botany originated as herbalism, the study and use of plants for their medicinal properties, many records of the Holocene period date early botanical knowledge as far back as 10,000 years ago. This early unrecorded knowledge of plants was discovered in ancient sites of human occupation within Tennessee, the early recorded history of botany includes many ancient writings and plant classifications. Examples of early works have been found in ancient texts from India dating back to before 1100 BC, in archaic Avestan writings. His major works, Enquiry into Plants and On the Causes of Plants, constitute the most important contributions to science until the Middle Ages. De Materia Medica was widely read for more than 1,500 years, important contributions from the medieval Muslim world include Ibn Wahshiyyas Nabatean Agriculture, Abū Ḥanīfa Dīnawarīs the Book of Plants, and Ibn Bassals The Classification of Soils. In the early 13th century, Abu al-Abbas al-Nabati, and Ibn al-Baitar wrote on botany in a systematic and scientific manner and these gardens continued the practical value of earlier physic gardens, often associated with monasteries, in which plants were cultivated for medical use. They supported the growth of botany as an academic subject, lectures were given about the plants grown in the gardens and their medical uses demonstrated. Botanical gardens came much later to northern Europe, the first in England was the University of Oxford Botanic Garden in 1621, throughout this period, botany remained firmly subordinate to medicine. German physician Leonhart Fuchs was one of the three German fathers of botany, along with theologian Otto Brunfels and physician Hieronymus Bock, Fuchs and Brunfels broke away from the tradition of copying earlier works to make original observations of their own. Bock created his own system of plant classification, physician Valerius Cordus authored a botanically and pharmacologically important herbal Historia Plantarum in 1544 and a pharmacopoeia of lasting importance, the Dispensatorium in 1546. Naturalist Conrad von Gesner and herbalist John Gerard published herbals covering the medicinal uses of plants, naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi was considered the father of natural history, which included the study of plants
6.
Persimmon
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The persimmon /pərˈsɪmən/ is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees in the genus Diospyros. Diospyros is in the family Ebenaceae, and other members of the genus are grown for ebony timber, the most widely cultivated species is the Oriental or Japanese persimmon, Diospyros kaki. In color, the fruit of the cultivated strains range from light yellow-orange to dark red-orange depending on the species. They similarly vary in size from 1.5 to 9 cm in diameter, the calyx generally remains attached to the fruit after harvesting, but becomes easy to remove once the fruit is ripe. The ripe fruit has a high glucose content, the protein content is low, but it has a balanced protein profile. Persimmon fruits have been put to various medicinal and chemical uses, like the tomato, persimmons are not popularly considered to be berries, but in terms of botanical morphology, the fruit is in fact a berry. The word Diospyros comes from the ancient Greek words dios and pyron, a popular etymology construed this as divine fruit, or as meaning wheat of Zeus or Gods pear and Joves fire. The dio-, as shown by the vowel i has nothing to do with divine, dio- being an affix attached to plant names. The Modern Greek name for the fruit is λωτός, which leads modern Greeks to the assumption that this is the referred to in Homers Odyssey. The word persimmon itself is derived from putchamin, pasiminan, or pessamin, from Powhatan and it is deciduous, with broad, stiff leaves, and is known as the shizi, and also as the Japanese Persimmon or kaki in Japanese. It is the most widely cultivated species and its fruits are sweet and slightly tangy with a soft to occasionally fibrous texture. It is edible in its crisp, firm state but has its best flavor when allowed to rest, the Japanese cultivar Hachiya is widely grown. The fruit has a tannin content, which makes the unripe fruit astringent. The tannin levels are reduced as the fruit matures, Persimmons like Hachiya must be completely ripened before consumption. When ripe, this fruit comprises thick, pulpy jelly encased in a waxy thin-skinned shell, sharon fruit is the marketing name for the Israeli-bred cultivar Triumph. As with all pollination-variant-astringent persimmons, the fruit are ripened off the tree by exposing them to carbon dioxide, the sharon fruit has no core, is seedless and particularly sweet, and can be eaten whole. In the Valencia region of Spain, there is a form of kaki called the Ribera del Xuquer. Date-plum, also known as lotus persimmon, is native to southwest Asia and it was known to the ancient Greeks as the fruit of the gods and often referred to as natures candy
7.
Ronald Reagan
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Ronald Wilson Reagan was an American politician and actor who was the 40th President of the United States, from 1981 to 1989. Before his presidency, he was the 33rd Governor of California, from 1967 to 1975, after a career as a Hollywood actor and union leader. Raised in a family in small towns of northern Illinois, Reagan graduated from Eureka College in 1932. After moving to Hollywood in 1937, he became an actor, Reagan was twice elected President of the Screen Actors Guild, the labor union for actors, where he worked to root out Communist influence. In the 1950s, he moved into television and was a speaker at General Electric factories. Having been a lifelong Democrat, his views changed and he became a conservative and in 1962 switched to the Republican Party. In 1964, Reagans speech, A Time for Choosing, in support of Barry Goldwaters foundering presidential campaign, Building a network of supporters, he was elected Governor of California in 1966. Entering the presidency in 1981, Reagan implemented sweeping new political, in his first term he survived an assassination attempt, spurred the War on Drugs, and fought public sector labor. During his re-election bid, Reagan campaigned on the notion that it was Morning in America, foreign affairs dominated his second term, including ending of the Cold War, the bombing of Libya, and the Iran–Contra affair. Publicly describing the Soviet Union as an empire, and during his famous speech at the Brandenburg Gate. Jack, a salesman and storyteller, was the grandson of Irish Catholic immigrants from County Tipperary, Reagan had one older brother, John Neil Reagan, who became an advertising executive. As a boy, Reagans father nicknamed his son Dutch, due to his fat little Dutchman-like appearance and Dutchboy haircut, Reagans family briefly lived in several towns and cities in Illinois, including Monmouth, Galesburg, and Chicago. In 1919, they returned to Tampico and lived above the H. C, Pitney Variety Store until finally settling in Dixon. After his election as president, residing in the upstairs White House private quarters, for the time, Reagan was unusual in his opposition to racial discrimination, and recalled a time in Dixon when the local inn would not allow black people to stay there. Reagan brought them back to his house, where his mother invited them to stay the night and have breakfast the next morning, after the closure of the Pitney Store in late 1920 and the familys move to Dixon, the midwestern small universe had a lasting impression on Reagan. Reagan attended Dixon High School, where he developed interests in acting, sports and his first job was as a lifeguard at the Rock River in Lowell Park in 1927. Over a six-year period, Reagan reportedly performed 77 rescues as a lifeguard and he attended Eureka College, a Disciples-oriented liberal arts school, where he became a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, a cheerleader, and studied economics and sociology. While involved, the Miller Center of Public Affairs described him as an indifferent student and he majored in economics and sociology, and graduated with a C grade
8.
National Bonsai Foundation
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The National Bonsai Foundation is a nonprofit organization that was created to sustain the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum. NBF also helps the United States National Arboretum showcase the arts of Bonsai, the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum is located on the 446-acre campus of the US National Arboretum in northeast Washington, D. C. Each year over 200,000 people visit the museum, distinguished national and international guests of various Federal Departments are also among the visitors. The National Bonsai Foundation is a section 501 nonprofit organization established in 1982 to sustain the National Bonsai and it cooperates with the U. S. National Arboretum by offering support and advice to the museum. In 1976, the country of Japan gave a gift of 53 Bonsai trees to America for the United States Bicentennial, the trees were selected by the Nippon Bonsai Association, with financial assistance from the Japan Foundation. The trees arrived at the Potomac Bonsai Association, and volunteers worked with the staff of the US National Arboretum to keep the trees in display condition. In 1979, Janet Lanman talked with Dr. John Creech, Dr. Creech proposed this idea to well-known Bonsai teacher Marion Gyllenswan. An independent body of Bonsai authorities was assigned to review private Bonsai collections and these Bonsai authorities were called the National Bonsai Committee. In 1982, the National Bonsai Committee was reformed into the National Bonsai Foundation, the National Bonsai Foundation recruited people from all across the country to be directors. The members of the first Board were Marybel Balendonck, Larry Ragle, Melba Tucker, Frederic Ballard, maryAnn Orlando served as the Executive Director and principal fund raiser for the NBF. Marion Gyllenswan was appointed the first president of the NBF and this became a reality in 1990. That October 1, the American Bonsai Pavilion was dedicated to two American Bonsai Masters, the Yuji Yoshimura Educational Center is a work space and a classroom. Naka North American Pavilion provides the area for the North American Bonsai Collection. With donations from the Bonsai community, the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum grew greatly in the early 1990s, the Kaneshiro Tropical Conservatory was added in 1993 for delicate trees. A behind-the-scenes greenhouse was added for trees in development. The Mary E. Mrose International Pavilion for Information, Education, and the NBF website was launched three years later. Awakening the Soul, The National Viewing Stone Collection became the first book published by the National Bonsai Foundation, johann F. Klodzen was appointed NBF Executive Director
9.
Azalea
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Azaleas /əˈzeɪliə/ are flowering shrubs in the genus Rhododendron, particularly the former sections Tsutsuji and Pentanthera. Azaleas bloom in spring, their flowers often lasting several weeks, shade tolerant, they prefer living near or under trees. They are part of the family Ericaceae, plant enthusiasts have selectively bred azaleas for hundreds of years. This human selection has produced over 10,000 different cultivars which are propagated by cuttings, Azalea seeds can also be collected and germinated. Azaleas are generally slow-growing and do best in well-drained acidic soil, fertilizer needs are low, some species need regular pruning. Azaleas are native to several continents including Asia, Europe and North America and they are planted abundantly as ornamentals in the southeastern USA, southern Asia, and parts of southwest Europe. Magnolias owner John Grimke Drayton imported the plants for use in his estate garden from Philadelphia, with encouragement from Charles Sprague Sargent from Harvards Arnold Arboretum, Magnolia Gardens was opened to the public in 1871, following the American Civil War. Magnolia is one of the oldest public gardens in America, since the late nineteenth century, in late March and early April, thousands visit to see the azaleas bloom in their full glory. R. occidentale flowers are larger than other azaleas and are white with a splotch of yellow. R. arborescens are native to the east coast of North America and can be found growing wild from Alabama to Pennsylvania in wooded, plants grow up to 20 feet high and flowers are white and fragrant. The Flame Azalea, R. Native to the regions of Pennsylvania to Georgia. Flowers do not smell but bloom in every shade from yellow to crimson red. Flowers bloom in the late spring, a good variety for drier soils and shady areas. Foliage turns bright yellow in the Fall, Azalea leafy gall can be particularly destructive to azalea leaves during the early spring. Hand picking infected leaves is the method of control. They can also be subject to root rot in moist. In Chinese culture, the azalea is known as thinking of home bush and is immortalized in the poetry of Du Fu, the azalea is also one of the symbols of the city of São Paulo, in Brazil. In addition to being renowned for its beauty, the azalea is also highly toxic—it contains andromedotoxins in both its leaves and nectar, including honey from the nectar
10.
Bonsai
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Bonsai is a Japanese art form using trees grown in containers. Similar practices exist in other cultures, including the Chinese tradition of penjing from which the art originated, the Japanese tradition dates back over a thousand years. Bonsai is a Japanese pronunciation of the earlier Chinese term penzai, the word bonsai is often used in English as an umbrella term for all miniature trees in containers or pots. The purposes of bonsai are primarily contemplation and the pleasant exercise of effort, by contrast with other plant cultivation practices, bonsai is not intended for production of food or for medicine. Instead, bonsai practice focuses on long-term cultivation and shaping of one or more trees growing in a container. A bonsai is created beginning with a specimen of source material and this may be a cutting, seedling, or small tree of a species suitable for bonsai development. Some species are popular as bonsai material because they have characteristics, such as leaves or needles. The source specimen is shaped to be small and to meet the aesthetic standards of bonsai. When the candidate bonsai nears its planned final size it is planted in a pot, usually one designed for bonsai display in one of a few accepted shapes. From that point forward, its growth is restricted by the pot environment, throughout the year, the bonsai is shaped to limit growth, redistribute foliar vigor to areas requiring further development, and meet the artists detailed design. Bonsai does not require genetically dwarfed trees, but rather depends on growing trees from regular stock. Bonsai uses cultivation techniques like pruning, root reduction, potting, defoliation, the Japanese art of bonsai originated from the Chinese practice of penjing. From the 6th century onward, Imperial embassy personnel and Buddhist students from Japan visited and returned from mainland China and they brought back many Chinese ideas and goods, including container plantings. Over time, these container plantings began to appear in Japanese writings, in the medieval period, recognizable bonsai were portrayed in handscroll paintings like the Ippen shonin eden. The 1195 scroll Saigyo Monogatari Emaki was the earliest known to depict dwarfed potted trees in Japan, wooden tray and dish-like pots with dwarf landscapes on modern-looking wooden shelves also appear in the 1309 Kasuga-gongen-genki scroll. In 1351, dwarf trees displayed on short poles were portrayed in the Boki Ekotoba scroll, several other scrolls and paintings also included depictions of these kinds of trees. A close relationship between Japans Zen Buddhism and the trees began to shape bonsai reputation and esthetics. In this period, Chinese Chan Buddhist monks taught at Japans monasteries, one of the monks activities was to introduce political leaders to various arts of miniature landscapes as admirable accomplishments for men of taste and learning
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Geographic data related to United States National Arboretum at OpenStreetMap
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