Turnip (terminology)

The word "turnip" can refer to any of the following four vegetables:
Regional differences in terminology.
Regional differences in terminology are summarised in the table below.
"Brassica napus" and "B. napobrassica" are mostly called "swedes" (a shortening of "Swedish turnip") in England, especially in the South, and in most dialects of the Commonwealth. "Rutabaga", from the Swedish "rotabagga," for "root bag" is mostly used in North America, in the United States and some parts of Canada. The rutabaga or swede differs from the turnip ("Brassica rapa") in that it is typically larger and yellow-orange rather than white. In the Canadian provinces of Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador and Atlantic Canada, the yellow-fleshed variety are referred to as "turnips", whilst the white-fleshed variety are called "white turnips".
However, in some dialects of British English the two vegetables have overlapping or reversed names: in the north of England and Scotland, the larger, yellow variety may be called "yellow turnip" or "neep" (from folk etymology), while the smaller white variety are called "swede" or "white turnip". The yellow-fleshed type are known as "narkies" in Sunderland, and in past years used to be hollowed out and used as lanterns at Halloween.
Other vegetables.
Kohlrabi is also called German turnip, turnip cabbage or cabbage turnip, although there the stem, not the root, is the enlarged part.


Achnatherum occidentale

Achnatherum occidentale is a species of grass known by the common name western needlegrass. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to California to Colorado, where it grows in many types of habitat. This is a tufting perennial bunchgrass forming tight clumps of erect stems up to about in maximum height, but sometimes much shorter. The hairlike leaves are less than a millimeter wide and may have rolled edges. The inflorescence is up to long, with each hairy spikelet bearing an awn up to 4 or 5 centimeters long. The awn is kinked twice.


Aristolochia thwaitesii

Aristolochia thwaitesii is a species of plant in the family Aristolochiaceae. It is endemic to China.


Bonnetia

Bonnetia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Bonnetiaceae. Most of the roughly 30 species are shrubs. The remaining species, all trees, are among the dominant species in the forest vegetation on the tepui plateaus of northern South America, such as "B. roraimae" on the summit of Mount Roraima.
Species.
"Bonnetia" contains the following species:


Dipterygium

Dipterygium is a genus of flowering plant in the family Capparaceae.


Silvorchis

Silvorchis is a genus of flowering plants from the orchid family, Orchidaceae. Only one species is known, Silvorchis colorata, endemic to Java. This is a holomycotrophic species, completely lacking in chlorophyll.
"Silvorchis" was previously included in the subtribe Epipogiinae, but is now placed in Orchidinae.


British NVC community CG4

NVC community CG4 ("Brachypodium pinnatum" grassland) is one of the calcicolous grassland communities in the British National Vegetation Classification system. It is one of four communities of rank, tussocky grassland associated with low levels of grazing, within the lowland calcicolous grassland group.
It is a comparatively widely distributed community. There are three subcommunities.
Community composition.
The following constant species are found in this community:
The following rare species are also associated with the community:
Distribution.
This community is found in lowland limestone grassland throughout England.
Subcommunities.
There are three subcommunities:


Old Jarrah Tree

The Old Jarrah tree is an exceptionally large and old "Eucalyptus marginata" (Jarrah) tree near inside the carpark the entrance at the corner Third Road and Church Avenue in Armadale, Western Australia. It is estimated to be between 400 and 800 years old. Trees of such a great size and age are rare in and around the Perth metropolitan area, because of extensive logging of the area in the 19th century. The tree is in fairly poor condition: about three quarters of its canopy is dead or gone, and it is less than half its normal height due to lopping. It was ringbarked by vandals in 1997, and it has responded by producing numerous epicormic shoots on its north side. Despite these issues, the tree is considered to be in a stable condition.
Attempts to have the tree destroyed were twice defeated by community groups, in 1987 and again in 1997. In 1997 a Conservation Order was issued for the tree after the Minister for Heritage received 1,147 submissions asking that it be saved. It is now part of the Bicentennial Heritage Tree Trail, and is included on both the Heritage Council of Western Australia's Register of Heritage Areas and the Tree Register of the National Trust of Australia (Western Australia). It is one of only three trees or groups of trees in Western Australia to be heritage listed.


Eucalyptus buprestium

Eucalyptus buprestium, also known as the apple mallee or ball-fruited mallee, is a small mallee that is endemic to an area along the south coast of Western Australia. It has smooth bark, narrow lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds arranged in groups of between nine and fifteen, white flowers and almost spherical fruit with a small opening.
Description.
"Eucalyptus buprestium" is a mallee that typically grows to a height of and forms a lignotuber. It has smooth greenish brown and cream-coloured bark that ages to grey and is shed in ribbons. Young plants have dull green, elliptic, sessile leaves arranged in opposite pairs, long and wide. Adult leaves are arranged alternately, greyish green, narrow lance-shaped, long and wide on a petiole long. The flower buds are arranged in groups of between nine and fifteen on a peduncle long, the individual flowers on a pedicel long. The mature buds are oval to pear-shaped, long and wide with a rounded operculum sometimes with a small point on the end. Flowering occurs from September to December, sometimes as late as April and the flowers are white. November and April producing white flowers. The fruit is a woody, almost spherical capsule long and wide, with a small opening enclosing the valves.
Taxonomy.
"Eucalyptus buprestium" was first formally described by the botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in 1862 and the description was published in his book "Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae". The specific epithet ("buprestium") alludes to the beetle genus "Bupestris", "referring to the attraction the mallees had for some beetles".
The species is part of the "Eucalyptus" subgenus series "Diversiformae", a group of mallees that all have adult leaves held erect, buds with a single unscarred operculum and pyramidal seeds. The other species in this series include "E. erectifolia", "E. platydisca", "E.diversifolia", "E. todtiana", "E. lateritica", "E. dolorosa" and "E. pachyloma".
Distribution.
Apple mallee is found on coastal and near-coastal sandplains and ridge tops along the south coast in the Great Southern region of Western Australia between Albany in the west, Mount Barker in the north and Jerramungup in the east where it grows in gravelly sandy-clay soils.


Dryopoa

Dryopoa , or giant mountain grass, is a genus of Australian plants in the grass family.
The only known species is Dryopoa dives, native to New South Wales, Tasmania, and Victoria. The name "Dryopoa" ("tree-grass") is derived from the Greek language, with "dryos" meaning "tree" and "poa" meaning "grass".


Samara (fruit)

A samara (, ) is a winged achene, a type of fruit in which a flattened wing of fibrous, papery tissue develops from the ovary wall. A samara is a simple dry fruit and indehiscent (not opening along a seam). The shape of a samara enables the wind to carry the seed farther away than regular seeds from the parent tree, and is thus a form of anemochory.
In some cases the seed is in the centre of the wing, as in the elms (genus "Ulmus"), the hoptree ("Ptelea trifoliata"), and the bushwillows (genus "Combretum").
In other cases the seed is on one side, with the wing extending to the other side, making the seed autorotate as it falls, as in the maples (genus "Acer") and ash trees (genus "Fraxinus").
Some species that normally produce paired samaras, such as "Acer pseudoplatanus", also produce them in groups of three or four.
In culture.
A samara is sometimes called a "key" and is often referred to as a "wingnut", "helicopter", "whirlybird", "whirligig", "polynose", or, in the north of England, a "spinning jenny". During the autumn months, they are a popular source of amusement for children who enjoy tossing them in the air and watching them spin to the ground.


Gymnocalycium monvillei

Gymnocalycium monvillei is a species of "Gymnocalycium" from Argentina.


Juncales

Juncales is an order of flowering plants. In the Engler system (update, of 1964) and in the Cronquist system (of 1981, which placed this order in subclass Commelinidae) it is circumscribed as:
However, the Thorne system (1992) accepts it as consisting of :
The APG II system, used here, assigns the plants involved to the order Poales.


Carallia calycina

Carallia calycina is a species of plant in the family Rhizophoraceae endemic to Sri Lanka.


Atriplex paludosa

Atriplex paludosa, commonly known as marsh saltbush, is a species of saltbush endemic to Australia.
Description.
It grows as an erect shrub up to a metre high. Leaves are oval in shape, one to four centimetres long, and 2 to 15 millimetres wide.
Taxonomy.
It was first published by Robert Brown in 1810 based on specimen material collected at Port Dalrymple, the site of present-day Launceston, Tasmania. Four subspecies are recognised: "A. paludosa" subsp. "paludosa", "A. paludosa" subsp. "baudinii", "A. paludosa" subsp. "cordata" and "A. paludosa" subsp. "moquiniana".
Distribution and habitat.
It occurs in southwestern Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and coastal Tasmania.


Arbutus Oak

The Arbutus Oak was a large white oak tree in Arbutus, Maryland four miles southwest of Baltimore. The tree is located in the west of the Baltimore Beltway and I-95 interchange. The tree is inaccessible since it is located on a triangular median island in between I-95, I-695, and the I-695 southbound exit 11 ramp.
The oak split in half and has fallen. Based on user-submitted photos to Google Maps, it has been down since at least June 2019.
Significance.
The 300 year old Arbutus Oak stands at over 70 feet tall, making it one of Maryland's largest and oldest white oak trees. It has been said that General Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette passed by the oak tree in 1781 with his troops while en route to Elkridge during the Revolutionary War. When the highway interchange was being constructed in the 1950s, the government found Native American artifacts surrounding the tree. The historic nature of the tree prompted highway planners to adjust the highway ramp southward in order to save the tree. Today, motorists can now view the tree heading south on Interstate 95 towards Washington.
Memorials.
Two plaques surround the Arbutus Oak. First being an original plaque posted on the fence stating "THE ARBUTUS OAK. DEDICATED TO THE CITIZENS OF ARBUTUS AND HALETHORPE. 1972. SPONSORED BY THE LIONS CLUB OF ARBUTUS. ESTIMATED TO BE 300 YEARS OLD IN 1990." The Arbutus Lion's Club also installed an enclosed fence around the tree in 1972. The second plaque states the name of tree on highway signage as a legible alternative for motorists traveling south on I-95. In addition to the plaques, a marked tombstone of Emmanual Wade, the original landowner of the area now known as Arbutus, sits in front of the tree.


Asian soybean rust


Harpanthus scutatus

Harpanthus scutatus is a species of liverworts belonging to the family Geocalycaceae.
It is native to Eurasia and Northern America.


Cyanea lobata

Cyanea lobata is a rare species of flowering plant in the bellflower family known by the common name Waihee Valley cyanea. It is endemic to Hawaii, where it is known from Lanai and Maui. It is a federally listed endangered species. Like other "Cyanea" it is known as haha in Hawaiian.
This Hawaiian lobelioid is a shrub which may exceed 2 meters in height. The stem may have branches. The inflorescence bears greenish or purplish flowers.
There are two subspecies of this plant, both very rare. One individual of ssp. "lobata" was found in Maui in 1982 after several decades of no observations. This plant was later killed in a landslide. In 1996 three more individuals were found. The ssp. "baldwinii" had not been seen since 1934 when two plants were discovered on Lanai in 2006. These are being carefully watched.
The five plants remaining of this species are threatened by the destruction and degradation of their wet and moist forest habitat. The Lanai subspecies is found in an understory where the ground is 80% covered by ferns.


Tillandsia recurvifolia

Tillandsia recurvifolia is a species in the genus "Tillandsia". This species is native to Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, and Brazil.


Gratiola neglecta

Gratiola neglecta is a species of flowering plant known by the common name clammy hedgehyssop. It is native to much of North America, including most all of the United States and the southern half of Canada. It is generally found in moist to wet habitat. This is an unobtrusive annual herb producing a glandular stem up to about 30 centimeters tall. The lance-shaped to oval leaves are arranged oppositely about the stem. They are up to 5 centimeters long and sometimes toothed along the edges. The inflorescence is a raceme of nearly cylindrical tubular whitish flowers each about a centimeter long. At the base of each flower is a fringe of five pointed sepals. The fruit is a spherical capsule about half a centimeter wide.


Psammagrostis wiseana


Robert Statham Williams

Robert Statham Williams (May 6, 1859 – March 14, 1945) was an American bryologist who specialized in the mosses of the Yukon and South America.
Early life.
Williams was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 6, 1859. Since childhood, he had always been interested in natural history, particularly in birds and plants. As a teen, he published a series of nature columns in a Minneapolis newspaper. Williams, captivated by ornithology, prepared an almost complete set of taxidermied skins of birds from Minnesota. He sold his collection to the Minnesota Museum of Natural History to fund his later explorations, a decision which he regretted later in life.
Career.
In 1879 at the age of 20, Williams moved from his hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota to Montana. Here, he made a living working as a miner, businessman, and explorer. Williams lived as a homesteader, and built the first cabin in what became the city of Great Falls, Montana. While living in Montana, Columbia College, on behalf of Elizabeth Britton, gave Williams a grant to collect bryophytes in the area.
In 1898, Williams followed the Klondike Gold Rush, taking the Chilkoot Trail to the Yukon. Williams conducted business rather than searching for gold, which earned him a small fortune. In his spare time, he began to collect plants. The specimens he gathered during 1898 and 1899 represent the first extensive collections made in the Klondike.
In 1899, Williams traveled to New York. He arrived at the New York Botanical Garden with his plant collections and determinations, and was hired as a museum aide by Nathaniel Britton. In 1901, under direction of Henry Hurd Rusby, Williams was sent to Bolivia and Peru. He worked as a botanist for an exploration party, collecting seeds and materials from more than 200 species of vascular plants found in the Amazon basin for use by the Garden. He also collected moss specimens for his personal research.
In 1903, he was sent to the Philippines to collect specimens on the islands of Luzon and Mindanao. He returned in 1905. His last expedition was to Panama in 1908. He also collected specimens of exotic and local birds, many of which are now in the collection of the American Museum of Natural History.
In 1906, he was named Assistant Curator of the New York Botanical Garden and in 1910, he advanced to Administrative Assistant. From 1924 to 1930, he served as president of the Sullivant Moss Society. In 1932, his title became Research Assistant in Bryology at the New York Botanical Garden. In 1936, he took a permanent leave of absence from the Garden and returned to his childhood home in Minneapolis, where he remained until his death.
Legacy.
A genus of flowering plants, "Williamsia", and two genera of mosses, "Williamsia" and "Williamsiella", are named in his honor. Several species of flowering plants from areas of his expeditions also bear his name.


Carlemanniaceae

The Carlemanniaceae are a tropical East Asian and Southeast Asian family of subshrub to herbaceous perennial flowering plants with 2 genera. Older systems of plant taxonomy place the two genera, "Carlemannia", and "Silvianthus" within the Caprifoliaceae or the Rubiaceae. The Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification of 2003 places the group in the Lamiales, as a plant family more closely related to the Oleaceae than to the Caprifoliaceae.


Homalanthus polyandrus

Homalanthus polyandrus is a species of plant in the family Euphorbiaceae. It is endemic to New Zealand.
Description.
"Homalanthus polyandrus" is a slender tree or shrub, 3-7m tall. Branches brittle. Leaves of younger plants are up to 30 cm in diameter; of adult plants 5–10 cm long.
Racemes slender and erect, 10–20 cm long, Male flowers are numerous, about 2mm in diameter. There are 1-5 female flowers at the base of the raceme, on quite long, slender pedicels.


Heteroblasty (botany)

Heteroblasty is significant and abrupt change in form and function that occurs over the lifespan of certain plants. Characteristics affected include internode length and stem structure as well as leaf form, size and arrangement. It should not be confused with seasonal heterophylly, where early and late growth in a season are markedly different. This change is different from a homoblastic change which is a gradual change or little change at all so that there is little difference between the juvenile and adult stages. Some characteristics affected by heteroblastic change include internode length and stem structure as well as leaf form, size and arrangement. Heteroblasty is found in many different Families as well as different species within a genus, this random spread of heteroblastic plants across species is believed to be caused by convergent evolution.
The earlier and later stages of development are commonly labeled as juvenile and adult respectively, particularly in relation to leaves.
The term was coined by German botanist Karl Ritter von Goebel, along with homoblasty for plants with leaf characteristics that do not change significantly. Leonard Cockayne observed that heteroblasty occurred in an unusually high proportion of tree species native to New Zealand.
Origins.
There are two ways to look at how heteroblasty developed. The first is to look at the evolution of heteroblasty, and the second is to consider the ecological interactions of heteroblastic plants.
Evolution.
Many hypothesize that heteroblasty is a result of natural selection for species that can best survive in both low and high light environments. As a plant grows in the forest it experiences predictable changes in light intensity. With this in mind a plant that changes its leaf morphology and phyllotaxy to best suit these changes in light intensity could be more competitive than one that has only on leaf form and phyllotaxy. It is also hypothesized that the development of heteroblastic trees preceded the development of divaricating shrub forms which are now very common in New Zealand. It is thought that these shrubs are a mutation from the heteroblastic trees and have lost the ability to develop into the adult stage and so are very similar to heteroblastic trees in their juvenile form. It has also been observed that heteroblastic species do not stem from a single point of origin they are found in many different and unrelated species, because of this it is believed that large-scale convergent evolution has to have occurred for so many unrelated plants to exhibit similar behavior.
Ecology.
Heteroblasty can affect all parts of the plant but the leaves are the most common examples and by far the most studied. It has been hypothesized that the heteroblastic changes are due to changes in the plant's exposure to sun because many species spend their juvenile years in the understory then grow to maturity where they are a part of the top canopy and so have full exposure to the sun. This has not been well studied because the common heteroblastic plants are woody and take so long to grow such as "Eucalyptus grandis". The juvenile plants tend to face more competition and must make special adaptations to succeed that are then unnecessary as a mature plant. For example, a sampling in a dense forest must grow quickly to succeed at first but once it has established itself most woody plants no longer compete severely with their neighbor and so the adaptations needed as a juvenile plant are no longer necessary. This can lead to a change in growth in maturity as the tree faces new environmental factors. Such as a need to resist new pathogens or parasites.
Mechanism.
At the cellular level, there are different ways that a plant controls its growth and development. There are internal and external signals that result in a change in the plant's response. The plants also have genetic predetermined growth patterns.
Signaling.
Hormones are known to regulate heteroblastic change in plants. One hormone that has been identified is gibberellin. In a study, it was used to spontaneously revert the mature form of Hedera "helix" (a common English ivy) to its juvenile form. After being sprayed with gibberellin acid some of the ivies began to produce aerial roots which are a characteristic of the juvenile form as well as three lobed leaves another characteristic. It is also hypothesized that auxin and cytokinin when working together can cause the sudden change in phyllotaxy of heterogenetic plants. The gene ABPH1 has been found to code for cytokinin and when changed in a mutant affected the plant's ability to regulate the phyllotaxy of the stem. The hypothesis is based mostly on studies done on non-heteroblastic plants and so it is not certain that these are the cause of the sudden changes in a heteroblastic plant. A dramatic change in leaf size is another example of a heteroblastic change in plants and researchers have looked to studies done on non-heteroblastic plants for answers about what hormones and genes could regulate these changes. Aintegumenta has been found to be one of these regulatory genes that regulated cell growth. It is believed that many genes are involved in the regulation of leaf size and these genes do not closely interact meaning they are not caused by a master regulator but instead are a part of many different pathways.
Genetics.
The most common model plants are "Arabidopsis thaliana" (common name: mouse-ear cress), "Antirrhinum majus" (common name: snapdragon), and "Zea mays" (common name: corn). None of these are helpful in the study of gene expression in heteroblastic plants because none of them express obvious heteroblastic traits. Researchers in this area of study can use "Arabidopsis" to some degree for study as it does undergo some change form the juvenile phase to the mature phase but it is not clearly heteroblastic. If we assume the process of change is similar and uses similar regulations we can use "Arabidopsis" to analyze the causes of change in plant growth that may be occurring in the same way but more dramatically in heteroblastic plants and so can only be used to analyze heteroblastic changes. This involves many assumptions though and so researchers are seeking other plants to use as model subjects. The problem with this is that most plants that display heteroblastic growth are woody plants. Their life spans are much longer in general and unlike "Arabidopsis" very little of their genomes are known or mapped. A species that shows promise is "Eucalyptus grandis". This tree is grown commonly because of its many uses for teas, oils, and wood. The tree overall is fast growing and widely grown due to its many uses and so is one of the best candidates for genome sequencing, which is being done now so that the tree can be better studied in the future. There is already a complete quantitative trait loci map for the juvenile traits.
Examples.
These plants are a few of the common examples of heteroblastic plants often found in studies and is far from an all-encompassing list. All listed are plants because they are the only organisms that have been found to undergo this growth change it is absent in animals, fungi, and microbes as far as is known to this point.
Geographic distribution.
This is a list of places heteroblastic plants have been commonly found and documented but not a complete list of all places as heteroblastic plants can be hard to identify and do not appear in families predictably.
Similar processes.
Processes often confused with heteroblasty include:


Cylindropuntia californica

Cylindropuntia californica is a species of cactus known by the common names California cholla, snake cholla, and cane cholla.
Distribution.
"Cylindropuntia californica" is native to southern California and Baja California, where it grows in coastal sage scrub, chaparral, and other local habitat.
Description.
"Cylindropuntia californica" is a sprawling cactus which can approach 3 meters in maximum height or width. The green or purple-tinged segments are narrow and cylindrical, surfaced in fleshy tubercles bearing many gray or reddish spines up to 3 centimeters long. The flowers are yellow, sometimes tinged with green or purple. The fruit is dry, leathery, greenish or yellow, and up to 2 or 3 centimeters in length.


Maclura tinctoria

Maclura tinctoria, known as old fustic and dyer's mulberry, is a medium to large tree of the Neotropics, from Mexico to Argentina. It produces a yellow dye called fustic primarily known for coloring khaki fabric for U.S. military apparel during World War I. This dye contains the flavonoid morin.
The leaves can be used to feed silk worms.
Old fustic is not to be confused with young fustic ("Rhus cotinus") from southern Europe and Asia, which provides a more fugitive colour.
Dyeing.
Fustic is a bright yellow dye that is very color-fast when used with mordants. It is frequently combined with other dyestuffs and various mordants to produce a range of yellow and greenish colors:


John R. Reeder

John Raymond Reeder (July 29, 1914 – February 8, 2009) was an American agrostologist who was active in identifying the grasses of New Guinea, Wyoming, and Arizona.
Biography.
Reeder was born on a farm in Charlotte, Michigan on July 29, 1914. He went on to attend Oregon State University and met Charlotte Olive Goodding, whom he married in 1941. Reeder joined the military upon the involvement of America in World War II. He was stationed in a malaria unit in New Guinea. While on duty, he collected grasses for curation back in America.
Upon his return from the war, Reeder was accepted into a Ph.D. program at Harvard University. He took classes while also working at the Arnold Arboretum, and eventually earned his doctorate. In 1947, he accepted a position at Yale University in the forestry department. He taught courses on dendrology, agrostology, and plant taxonomy. He also served as Curator of the Herbarium at the Peabody Museum of Natural History.
In 1968, Reeder and his wife left Connecticut after his retirement from Yale. They continued their research at the Rocky Mountain Herbarium of the University of Wyoming. The couple relocated to Tucson, Arizona to research at the University of Arizona Herbarium in 1983.
After a severe car accident, the two decided to retire.
Legacy.
The genus "Reederochloa" and species "Muhlenbergia reederorum" were named in honor of the Reeders by Thomas Robert Soderstrom.


Polygala paniculata

Polygala paniculata is a species of flowering plant in the milkwort family (Polygalaceae). It is native to grasslands with altitudes between . It is native to Central and South America and has been introduced to East Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. It is an annual herb which has a height between It is used as a medicine against snake bites and blenorrhagias. The flowers of the plant have been described as pink or white.


Eucrypta micrantha

Eucrypta micrantha is a species of flowering plant in the waterleaf family known by the common name dainty desert hideseed.
It is native to the southwestern United States, the California deserts, and northwestern Mexico. It can be found in a number of desert and mountain habitat types.
Description.
This is one of two species of "Eucrypta", which are sticky, aromatic annual herbs. This species produces a number of thin, densely glandular stems not more than about 30 centimeters long. The leaves are roughly oval in shape but are intricately divided into many lobes of varying shapes. Most of the leaves are located on the lower stem; any leaves higher up are much smaller.
The inflorescence produces several tiny flowers with sepals often coated in black glands. The flower is just a few millimeters wide and white or purple with a yellow throat. The fruit is a bristly capsule 2 or 3 millimeters wide.


Pseudomonas oryzihabitans

Pseudomonas oryzihabitans, also known as Flavimonas oryzihabitans, is a nonfermenting yellow-pigmented, gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium that can cause sepsis, peritonitis, endophthalmitis, and bacteremia. It is an opportunistic pathogen of humans and warm-blooded animals that is commonly found in several environmental sources, from soil to rice paddies. They can be distinguished from other nonfermenters by their negative oxidase reaction and aerobic character. This organism can infect individuals that have major illnesses, including those undergoing surgery or with catheters in their body. Based on the 16S RNA analysis, these bacteria have been placed in the "Pseudomonas putida" group.
History.
Part of the genus "Pseudomonas", originally described in 1894, these bacteria were first identified in urine and gastrointestinal specimens in 1928 by two scientists, E.G. Dresel and O Stickl. At first, this organism was named "Chromobacterium typhiflavuum" because it closely resembled the bacteria that caused enteric fever. The name change to "Pseudomonas oryzihabitans" occurred in 1985 after scientist Kentaro Kodama and his team isolated the bacteria from a rice field and found that it had a phenotypic similarity to the pseudomonas organisms. This organism has also been isolated in the hospital environment from a wide variety of sites such as wounds, eyes, skin, ears, and several other places, although they can be found in damp environments as well. As of today, there is little known about the pathogenic qualities of "P. oryzihabitans", so possible virulent strains cannot be described or identified absolutely.
Pathogenesis.
"Pseudomonas oryzihabitans", although an uncommon pathogen, is able to cause infections in individuals that usually have compromised immune systems. While most strains of this bacteria do not cause infections, the patients that acquire "P. oryzihabitans" most likely have an underlying disease, and it spreads while the patients are hospitalized. This includes patients that have recently undergone surgery and also those affected by diseases such as AIDS, leukemia, and other illnesses that have a detrimental effect on the immune system.
From several studies involving cases of "P. oryzihabitans", research reveals that there is a close relationship between infection, underlying disease, and the presence of catheters in patients. This means that infections occur most in people that have debilitating disease and have artificial material located in their bodies. Along with catheters, "P. oryzihabitans" are most commonly found at sites involved with respiratory equipment and devices for continuous ambulatory dialysis, and these bacteria can spread through contaminated fluids and unsterilized or defiled medical tools. If this is the case, it is important for hygiene to be maintained internally and externally to help stop the spread of the bacteria and prevent infectious disease. Infections can be either nosocomially acquired, which means that the bacteria originated during a patient's duration in the hospital forty-eight hours after admittance, or they are community-acquired, which means that the patient had evidence of infection before admission or during the first forty-eight hours in the hospital.
Most infections result in bacteraemia in patients that are extremely sick or peritonitis in individuals that undergo ambulatory peritoneal dialysis consistently. Several reports of infections these bacteria cause are correlated with patients who have AIDS. "P. oryzihabitans" is increasingly identified as a cause of opportunistic infections, taking advantage of weak immune systems in people. However, it is rare for the infection to escalate into sepsis, but there have been cases where patients have acquired the disease. Although these bacteria are able to cause infections, its role as a pathogen is questionable since this does not happen very often.
Diagnosis/symptoms.
Symptoms of an infection of "P. oryzihabitans" are actually quite vague and similar to the signs that can indicate other illnesses or diseases, so it is relatively difficult to identify when only looking at symptoms. However, in several cases, these infections result after an individual's immune system has been weakened, so it is likely to occur in recovering or ill patients. Most patients, after receiving treatment for another disease or during recovery from surgery, experience chills and increase in body temperature. While these symptoms could mean a variety of things, it is clear that the patient's recovery is halted and that there is an infection of some sort. In an example where a woman developed an infection of "P. oryzihabitans" from a case of sinusitis, she experienced the same chills and elevated temperature, but also nasal discharge containing pus, right facial pain, and a fever.
To establish that these patients are infected with Pseudomonas oryzihabitans, blood samples are collected for tests and sent for cultures to be identified. Since the presence of these bacteria may not initially be known by any symptoms, having it identified in a lab will help with treating it. In certain situations, its role as a pathogen is also identified through evidence of pulmonary signs and symptoms, radiograph findings, and positive blood cultures.
Treatment.
In the past reported cases of "P. oryzihabitans", the patients were given antibiotics to treat the infection. These bacteria are fairly easy to treat, with a range of antibiotics that they are susceptible to. The antibiotics that the infectious disease responded to are gentamicin, ciprofloxacin, carbapenems, cephalosprins, aminoglycosides, and quinolones. While there are several kinds of medicines that can treat "P. oryzihabitans", the carbapenem displayed the best results against infections. In a study where cultures of these bacteria were grown, tests showed that all the isolates were susceptible to carbapenem antibiotics, however, the vulnerability to other medicines differed among the groups. Past studies also revealed that "P. oryzihabitans" were susceptible in vitro to antipseudomonal penicillins. Treatments for the bacteria differ and depend on the host and the different strains of "P. oryzihabitans".
Resistance.
The types of antibiotics that "P. oryzihabitans" are resistant to ampicillin, amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, and cefazolin. Since these bacteria are not as harmful or virulent to the host, antibiotics should clear up the infection, although in some cases, since they can be found around the sites of prosthetic material, catheter removal is required.
Prevention.
In order to prevent an infection from these bacteria, good hygiene is required, especially when foreign materials or objects like catheters are in the body. However, even this cannot completely prevent "P. oryzihabitans" because of environmental contamination that could lead to acquirement of this organism.
In cases of patients with indwelling catheters, special care should be taken so that a community-acquired infection does not occur. It is recommended that these people should avoid the use of bath sponges and wet items for skin care, as these can be sites of growth and contamination of the bacteria.
Ecology.
By studying the environments in which "P. oryzihabitans" are found, scientists are able to get a clearer picture on how infections occur and how these bacteria may be found on individuals outside hospitals. Although the bacteria can be nosocomially acquired, the environment must be taken into account as a host for them. These bacteria, while observed in hospital sites, can originally be found in damp environments such as locations with water, stagnant or running, and soil. Data indicates that environmental sources could be a reason for the development of an infectious disease, as well as the presence of foreign objects in the body.
These bacteria were first studied in depth and identified after they were isolated from a rice paddy.
In one study, researchers found that "P. oryzihabitans" contaminated drinking water supply and questioned whether or not these bacteria are commonly found in naturally distributed water. The water supply systems were in contact with an object that is directly connected to sinkholes, which are known sites for the bacteria to linger. Since sinkholes are large underground cavities, they have enough room to foster water, making this environment an ideal place for "P. oryzihabitans" to grow.
These bacteria are able to persist in biofilms where they are relatively protected from chlorine disinfection.
Their presence in drinking water is attributable to this fact.
When an infection caused by "P. oryzihabitans" was reported in a patient with AIDS and an indwelling catheter, scientists took samples from the man's home to see where these bacteria were located and to find out a possible explanation for his infection. The patient claimed that he followed the strict hygienic guidelines pertaining to catheters, so an environmental factor is responsible for the infection. They ended up tracing the origin of the bacteria to a bath sponge. In order for researchers to validate these findings, they also tested bath sponges from other households and found "P. oryzihabitans" in some separate samples as well. This suggests that the water could be contaminated with these bacteria, which in turn, could lead to potential infections in certain individuals.
Clinical significance.
Infections from "P. oryzihabitans" are increasingly associated with catheter-related bacteremia, peritonitis, wound infections, and meningitis (after surgery), mostly in patients with diseases that significantly weaken the individual.
Foreign material present in the body predisposes patients to infections, as well as those with severely weakened immune systems.
Most cases are nosocomially acquired, however, there are infections detected upon admission to a hospital. There are also cases where "P. oryzihabitans" was a causation of sepsis in some people. The only other oxidase negative Pseudomonas is "P. luteola".
Physiology.
The cells of "Pseudomonas oryzihabitans" are rods with rounded ends. These Gram-negative bacteria are able to move due to a flagellum, and the cells occur singularly and very rarely in pairs. Strains of these bacteria produce a yellow water-insoluble pigment in their cells.
Their metabolism is restricted to an aerobic respiratory system. They are oxidative but not fermentative, and when isolated and cultured, their growth occurs on MacConkey agar and SS agar.


Alsophila geluensis

Alsophila geluensis, synonym Cyathea geluensis, is a species of tree fern native to central and eastern New Guinea as well as the Louisiade Archipelago, where it grows in mossy forest. In New Guinea itself, plants grow at an altitude of 1000–2000 m, however they are present at lower elevations of 700–900 m on associated islands. The trunk of this tree fern is erect and may be 5 m tall or more. Fronds are bi- or tripinnate and 1–2.5 m long. They are usually about ten live fronds present in the crown at once. The stipe may be warty and/or have short spines as well as many scattered scales towards the base. These scales are pale to dark and have dull, fragile edges. Sori occur near the fertile pinnule midvein and are protected by pale, thin indusia. "A. geluensis" is a variable taxon and further study is needed to determine whether it does not in fact represent a species complex.
Large and Braggins (2004) note that the specific epithet "geluensis" probably refers to or Gelun Island.


Judd system

A 20th-century system of plant taxonomy, the Judd system (1999-2016) of plant classification was drawn up by the American botanist Walter S. Judd (1951-) and collaborators, partially based on APG schemes.


Geniostoma petiolosum

Geniostoma petiolosum, commonly known as boar tree, is a flowering plant in the Loganiaceae family. The specific epithet refers to the relatively long and narrow petioles.
Description.
It is a shrub or small tree, growing to 5 m in height. The lanceolate-elliptic leaves are 5.5–14 cm long and 2–4.5 cm wide. The inflorescences are clustered, 1–2 cm long, bearing 5–20 small flowers. The ovoid-globose capsules, 6–7 mm long, contain small, black seeds in yellow pulp.
Distribution and habitat.
The plant is endemic to Australia's subtropical Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea. It is an uncommon inhabitant of sheltered forest throughout the Island, especially at lower elevations.


Eucalyptus leprophloia

Eucalyptus leprophloia, commonly known as scaly butt mallee, is a species of mallee that is endemic to a small area in Western Australia. It has rough, fibrous bark on the base of the trunk, smooth bark above, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven to eleven, white flowers and cup-shaped to barrel-shaped fruit.
Description.
"Eucalyptus leprophloia" is a mallee that typically grows to a height of and forms a lignotuber. It has rough, fibrous, greyish brown bark on the base of the trunks, smooth greyish over pale copper-coloured bark above. Young plants and coppice regrowth have elliptic to egg-shaped leaves that are long, wide and have a petiole. Adult leaves are the same glossy green on both sides, lance-shaped, long and wide on a petiole long. The flower buds are arranged in leaf axils in groups of seven, nine or eleven on a flattened, unbranched peduncle long, the individual buds on pedicels about long. Mature buds are oval, long, about wide with a rounded operculum. Flowering occurs from August to October and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody, cup-shaped to barrel-shaped capsule long and wide with the valves at rim level.
Taxonomy and naming.
"Eucalyptus leprophloia" was first formally described in 1993 by Ian Brooker and Stephen Hopper from a specimen Hopper collected near Badgingarra in 1986. The description was published in the journal "Nuytsia". According to Brooker and Hopper the specific epithet ("leprophloia") is derived from Greek and means "scaly bark".
Distribution and habitat.
Scaly butt mallee is only known from near Badgingarra to the Mount Adams area where it grows in a range of habitats including hill slopes and gentle valleys with powderbark wandoo and coastal blackbutt.
Conservation status.
This mallee is listed as "endangered" under the Australian Government "Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999" and an interim recovery plant has been prepared. It is also classified as "Threatened Flora (Declared Rare Flora — Extant)" by the Department of Environment and Conservation (Western Australia). Several populations of the species occur on private property and the main threats to the species relate to farming activities including ploughing, use of fertiliser and herbicide, grazing by livestock and rabbits. Land clearing and inappropriate fire regimes are also a threat.


Oleolophozia

Oleolophozia is a genus of liverworts belonging to the family Cephaloziellaceae.
The species of this genus are found in Europe and Russia.
Species:


Triuridales

Triuridales was an order of flower plants that was used in the Cronquist system, in the subclass Alismatidae, with this circumscription:
In the classification system of Dahlgren the Triuridales contained the single family Triuridaceae and was the sole order in the superorder Triuridiflorae (also called Triuridanae).
The APG II system leaves the first of these two families unassigned in the clade monocots while the second is moved to order Pandanales. The name was a botanical name.


Chaetocolea

Chaetocolea is a genus of liverworts belonging to the family Pseudolepicoleaceae.
The species of this genus are found in Southern America.
Species:


Martensia projecta

Martensia projecta is a species of red algae.


Trichodiadema mirabile

Trichodiadema mirabile is succulent plant of the genus "Trichodiadema", native to the Western Cape Province, South Africa, where it is known from the Laingsburg area and especially from south-facing slopes.
Description.
A small, erect shrub, reaching up to 11 cm.
The leaves are erect, stiff and papillate, and each leaf is tipped with dark-brown, erect, inclining bristles.
The flowers are white to pale-cream in colour, with white filamentous staminodes at the centre, and are on short stalks.
The fruit capsule has six locules, each locule with distinctive V-shaped covering membranes.


Lindley system

An early system of plant taxonomy, the Lindley system, was first published by John Lindley as "An Introduction to the Natural System of Botany" ("Natural History", 1830). This was a minor modification of that of de Candolle (1813). He developed this further over a number of publications, including the "Nixus plantarum" (1833) and a second edition of "Natural History" (1836), in which he introduced the concept of a higher order of taxonomic rank, the Alliances, in which to embedded the Tribes (families). He also expanded his ideas on Exogens in his entry of that name in the Penny Cyclopedia (1838). In 1839 he revised his division of the plant kingdom into classes in an article in the Botanical Register. Lindley's system culminated in the three editions of his "Vegetable Kingdom" (1846, 1847, 1853).
The schema of the "Natural History" is shown on pages xxxv and xxxvii-xlviii. In the "Vegetable Kingdom", the schema for the first edition is on pp. lv–lxviii. The third and final edition was published in 1853, with the schema on p. "lv". Cross references from "Natural History" to "Vegetable Kingdom" in [Square brackets].
Summary.
"Vegetable Kingdom" (1846–1853).
Flowerless plants (Asexual)
Flowering plants (Sexual)
Natural History orders.
165 orders (list p. 3)
Class I: Vasculares: Flowering plants.
p. 1
Subclass II: Endogenae (Monocotyledons).
Endogenae, or Monocotyledonous Plants p. 251
Class II: Cellulares: Flowerless plants.
p. 307
Vegetable Kingdom alliances and orders.
Flowerless plants.
p. 5
Class I: Thallogens.
3 Alliances
Class II: Acrogens.
3 Alliances p. 51
Flowering plants.
Class III: Rhizogens.
3 orders p. 83
Class IV: Endogens (Monocotyledons).
11 Alliances p. 95
Class V: Dictyogens.
5 orders p. 211
Class VI: Gymnogens.
4 orders p. 221
Class VII: Exogens.
4 subclasses
Notes.
His final schemata is illustrated in the "Vegetable Kingdom", his last work, on pages lv-lxvii. In this work he also reviews all his previous publications relative to the many known systems published at that time.


Hackelia micrantha

Hackelia micrantha is a species of flowering plant in the borage family known by the common names Jessica sticktight and Jessica's stickseed.
Distribution.
It is native to western North America from British Columbia and Alberta, southeast through Montana into Colorado and Utah, and south to the Sierra Nevada in California and Nevada.
It grows at elevations of , including in the Rocky Mountains. It is native to meadows, shrubby slopes, open forests, and streambank habitats.
Description.
"Hackelia micrantha" is a lush perennial herb growing to heights of to over . Its erect stems are surrounded at the base by many oval-shaped to lance-shaped leaves, the longest over long.
The upper stems are generally leafless and hold cyme inflorescences of bright blue flowers. Each petite flower has five rounded lobes with a smaller petallike appendage at the base of each. The bloom period is June to August.
The fruit is a nutlet with pointed prickles.


Dracaena cinnabari

Dracaena cinnabari, the Socotra dragon tree or dragon blood tree, is a dragon tree native to the Socotra archipelago, part of Yemen, located in the Arabian Sea. It is so called due to the red sap that the trees produce.
Description.
The dragon blood tree has a unique and strange appearance, with an "upturned, densely packed crown having the shape of an uprightly held umbrella". This evergreen species is named after its dark red resin, which is known as "dragon's blood". Unlike most monocot plants, "Dracaena" displays secondary growth, "D. cinnabari" even has growth zones resembling tree rings found in dicot tree species. Along with other arborescent "Dracaena" species it has a distinctive growth habit called "dracoid ". Its leaves are found only at the end of its youngest branches; its leaves are all shed every 3 or 4 years before new leaves simultaneously mature. Branching tends to occur when the growth of the terminal bud is stopped, due to either flowering or traumatic events (e.g. herbivory).
Its fruits are small fleshy berries containing between 1 and 4 seeds. As they develop they turn from green to black, and then become orange when ripe. The berries are eaten by birds (e.g. "Onychognatus" species) and thereby dispersed. The seeds are 4–5 mm in diameter and weigh on average 68 mg. The berries exude a deep red resin, known as dragon's blood.
Like other monocotyledons, such as palms, the dragon's blood tree grows from the tip of the stem, with the long, stiff leaves borne in dense rosettes at the end (4, 5, 7). It branches at maturity to produce an umbrella-shaped crown, with leaves that measure up to 60 cm long and 3 cm wide. The trunk and the branches of the dragon blood are thick and stout and display dichotomous branching, where each of the branches repeatedly divides into two sections.
Biology.
The dragon's blood tree usually produces its flowers around March, though flowering does vary with location. The flowers tend to grow at the end of the branches. The plants have inflorescences and bear small clusters of fragrant, white, or green flowers. The fruits take five months to completely mature. The fruits are described as a fleshy berry, which changes from green to black as it gradually ripens. The fleshy berry fruit ends up being an orange-red color that contains one to three seeds. The berries are usually eaten and dispersed by birds and other animals.
The unusual shape of the dragon's blood tree is an adaptation for survival in arid conditions with low amounts of soil, such as in mountaintops. The large, packed crown provides shade and reduces evaporation. This shade also aids in the survival of seedlings growing beneath the adult tree, explaining why the trees tend to grow closer together.
Taxonomy.
The first description of "D. cinnabari" was made during a survey of Socotra led by Lieutenant Wellsted of the East India Company in 1835. It was first named Pterocarpus draco, but in 1880, the Scottish botanist Isaac Bayley Balfour made a formal description of the species and renamed it as "Dracaena cinnabari". Of between 60 and 100 "Dracaena" species, "D. cinnabari" is one of only six species that grow as a tree.
Evolution.
Along with other plants on Socotra, "D. cinnabari" is thought to have derived from the Tethyan flora. It is considered a remnant of the Mio-Pliocene Laurasian subtropical forests that are now almost extinct due to the extensive desertification of North Africa.
Conservation.
Threats.
Although most of its ecological habitats are still intact, there is an increasing population with industrial and tourism development. This is putting more pressure on the vegetation through the process of logging, overgrazing, woodcutting and infrastructure of development plans. Though the dragon's blood tree is highly widespread, it has become fragmented due to the development that has occurred in its habitats. Many of its populations are suffering due to poor regeneration. Human activities have greatly reduced the dragon's blood population through overgrazing, and feeding the flowers and fruits to the livestock of the island. One of the species' greatest threats is the gradual drying out of the Socotra Archipelago, which has been an ongoing process for the last few hundred years. This has resulted in non-flourishing trees, and the duration of the mist and cloud around the area seems to also be decreasing. Increasing arid environments is predicted to cause a 45 percent reduction in the available habitat for "D. cinnabari" by the year 2080.
Additional threats to the dragon's blood tree include harvesting of its resin and use of the leaves to make rope. Presently some of the dragon's blood trees have been used to make beehives. This was generally prohibited; this displays how the species may be threatened by a breakdown in the traditional practices of the island.
The best preserved and largest stand of "D. cinnabari" is on the limestone plateau named Rokeb di Firmihin. This approximately forest has numerous rare and endemic species. Research shows that in coming decades the number of trees in this forest will decrease due to the lack of natural regeneration.
Management.
The unique flora and fauna of the Socotra Archipelago are in a World Heritage Site and a Global 200 ecoregion. It is a Centre of Plant Diversity and an Endemic Bird Area. It also lies within the Horn of Africa biodiversity hotspot. There are multiple efforts that are being developed to help create and support a sustainable habitat and biodiversity management programs on Socotra. The dragon's blood tree is considered as an important species for commodity and for conservation efforts on the island. The dragon's blood falls under an umbrella species. This is a species selected for making conservation related decisions, typically because protecting these species indirectly protects the many other species that make up the ecological community of its habitat. Species conservation can be subjective because it is difficult to determine the status of many species. Thus, the dragons blood protection efforts would also benefit many other plants and animals within the area.
The dragon's blood tree is given some protection from international commercial trade under the listing of all "Dracaena" species on Appendix II of CITES (3), but if its populations are to be effectively preserved, a variety of measures will need to be taken. These include urgent monitoring of the species' natural regeneration and the expansion of Skund Nature Sanctuary to cover important areas of the habitats. Also, efforts to avoid road construction in the dragon blood's habitat, and limit grazing need to be brought to attention. Additional conservation efforts for the tree involve fencing against livestock, watering of seedlings in open areas, and involving local communities in planting seedlings.
Uses.
Dragon's blood is used as a stimulant and abortifacient. The root yields a gum-resin, used in gargle water as a stimulant, astringent and in toothpaste. The root is used in rheumatism, the leaves are a carminative.
The trees can be harvested for their crimson red resin, called dragon's blood, which was highly prized in the ancient world and is still used today. Around the Mediterranean basin it is used as a dye and as a medicine, Socotrans use it ornamentally as well as dying wool, gluing pottery, a breath freshener, and lipstick. Because of the belief that it is the blood of the dragon it is also used in ritual magic and alchemy. In 1883, the Scottish botanist Isaac Bayley Balfour identified three grades of resin: the most valuable were tear-like in appearance, then a mixture of small chips and fragments, with a mixture of fragments and debris being the cheapest. The resin of "D. cinnabari" is thought to have been the original source of dragon's blood until during the medieval and renaissance periods when other plants were used instead.
The local inhabitants of the city in the Socotra Island use the dragon's blood resin as a cure-all. Greeks, Romans, and Arabs use it in general wound healing, as a coagulant, cure for diarrhea, for dysentery diseases, for lowering fevers. It is also taken for ulcers in the mouth, throat, intestines and stomach.
Dragon's blood from "D. cinnabari" was used as a source of varnish for 18th-century Italian violin-makers. It was also used as tooth-paste in the 18th century. It is still used as varnish for violins and for photoengraving. Dragon's blood is also listed in a 16th-century text, "Stahel und Eyssen", as an ingredient in a quenching bath for tempering steel. However this text is vague and poorly regarded as either an accurate description of smith's practice, or as a viable recipe.


Triodia pungens

Triodia pungens, commonly known as soft spinifex, is a species of grass native to northwestern Australia.
Originally described by botanist Robert Brown in his 1810 work "Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae", "Triodia pungens" still bears its original binomial name.


Ilex amelanchier

Ilex amelanchier, the swamp holly or sarvis holly, is a rare species of holly from the southeastern United States. It is a close relative of mountain holly ("Ilex mucronata") which used to be placed in a monotypic genus "Nemopanthus". "Ilex amelanchier" grows near water, for example on streambanks.
The dull red drupes appear in October to November, and may persist until the following spring.
Its native range is limited to the Atlantic coastal plain and gulf coastal plain, and extends as far south as Florida, as far west as Louisiana, and as far north as North Carolina.


Begonia oxyanthera

Begonia oxyanthera is a species of plant in the family Begoniaceae. It is found in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and possibly Nigeria. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. It is threatened by habitat loss.


Spirodela polyrhiza

Spirodela polyrhiza (orth. var. "S. polyrrhiza") is a species of duckweed known by the common names common duckmeat, greater duckweed, great duckmeat, common duckweed, and duckmeat. It can be found nearly worldwide in many types of freshwater habitat.
Description.
S. Polyrhiza is a perennial aquatic plant usually growing in dense colonies, forming a mat on the water surface. Each plant is a smooth, round, flat disc 0.5 to 1.0 cm wide. Its upper surface is mostly green, sometimes red, while the lower surface is dark red. It produces several minute roots and a pouch containing male and female flowers. The top part dies in the fall and the plant often overwinters as a turion. The turion sinks to the bottom of the water body and stays in a dormant phase, until water temperature reaches 15 °C. The turions then germinate on the bottom of the water body and start a new life cycle. S. polyrhiza, living in ponds and slow-moving water bodies, differs developmentally from terrestrial plants in morphology and physiology. It undergoes mainly vegetative growth in spring and summer, forming new fronds. S. polyrhiza only flowers rarely. In fall and winter it switches into a dormant phase represented by the turions due to nutrition starvation and freezing temperatures.
S.polyrhiza is an ideal system for biofuels, bioremediation, and carbon cycling due to its aspects of fast-growing, direct contact with media, and small genome size (~150 Mb). A comprehensive genomic study of S. polyrhiza was published in February 2014. The results provide insights into how this organism is adapted to rapid growth and an aquatic lifestyle.
Turion Induction by Abscisic acid.
Turions were induced by the plant hormone Abscisic acid (ABA) in the lab. Researchers reported that turions were rich in anthocyanin pigmentation and had a density that submerged them in liquid media. Transmission electron microscopy of turions showed in comparison to fronds shrunken vacuoles, smaller intercellular space, and abundant starch granules surrounded by thylakoid membranes. Turions accumulated more than 60% starch in dry mass after two weeks of ABA treatment.
Distribution.
S. polyrhiza is found worldwide, namely in North America, Asia, more rarely in Central and South America, but also in Central Europe. It grows in tropical and temperate climates. It is not prevalent in New Zealand and only rarely in Australia.
Cultivation.
Large scale cultivation is done in outdoor water tanks, mostly in connection with wastewater treatment. Tanks are fed with wastewater and the floating duckweed is harvested from the surface. It is then further used as a biofuel from industrial wastewater or as animal feed from agricultural wastewater treatment facilities.
Use.
S. Polyrhiza can be used for bioremediation, removing toxic substances from aquatic environment as well as cleaning eutrophic waters, especially in wastewater treatment plants. Its uses as biofuel and animal feed are also gaining importance. It is hardly used for human nutrition.
Bioremediation.
Because of its capability to hyperaccumulate heavy metals and its high uptake of nutrients from the water, S. polyrhiza is used for bioremediation. The main pollutants it can be used to remediate are Arsenic (As) and Mercury (Hg) and common wastewater nutrients, like Sulphate (SO42-), Phosphate (PO43-) and Nitrate (NO3-).
Arsenic.
Greater duckweed showed accumulation of arsenic in laboratory tests. Arsenic uptake was found to be negatively correlated with phosphate and positively correlated with iron uptake. This indicates that phosphate and arsenic compete for uptake by S. polyrhiza, while arsenics’ absorption is facilitated by iron oxides, because it shows an affinity to the root surface of S. polyrhiza, where it is taken up. S. polyrhiza is thought to detoxify the Arsenic by reducing As (V) to the less toxic As (III). Difficulties arise with the management of the plants with high As contents. One possible use of the biomass containing As is production of charcoal and gas as a byproduct, which can be used as a fuel. The problems with this approach are low charcoal quality and high investments. Direct burning or burning of the coal is thought to release arsenic into the air, which would pollute the environment. Other options for fuel production would be hydrolysis and fermentation, which are economically not feasible. The biomass would have to be treated with strong acids and heat, which are both capital intensive. Briquetting is considered one of the best options, where the plants are dried and pressed into pellets of briquets. This raises the question of whether the arsenic is released back into the environment during the burning process. The production of biogas is also considered, but again, the redistribution of the As has to be avoided .
Mercury.
S. polyrhiza was found to be an efficient bio accumulator of mercuric chloride (HgCl2) in labor settings. Its plant biomass showed a 1000 times higher mercuric chloride concentration than its aquatic environment. Spirodela polyrhiza showed the highes accumulation factor compared to Lemna gibba and Lemna minor, which were also investigated.
Urban wastewater treatment.
S. Polyrhiza has been used to remove common pollutants from wastewater. In a laboratory setting, S. Polyrhiza showed a maximum of 90% removal efficiency of Nitrate, 99.6% of Phosphate and 69.8% Sulphate. All three nutrients together, the efficiency was 85.6%, which makes it an environmentally and economically viable bioremediatory for wastewater treatment.
Biofuel.
S. polyrhiza has great potential in bioethanol production due to space-efficient starch production and good growth in animal wastewater. Despite environmental problems associated with production and competition from human and animal feed, corn is the main raw material for bioethanol. S. polyrhiza could produce up to 50% more bioethanol on the same area. At the same time the production of bioethanol from S. polyrhiza is not in competition with human food. The production of bioethanol from S. polyrhiza is still in the development phase.
Animal Feed.
In small-scale agriculture S. polyrhiza is used as fish or poultry feed. Due to its fast growth and high protein content it is an interesting feedstuff. Because of sanitary problems and the risk of heavy metal accumulation, it is not yet used for feeding in larger animal husbandry systems. For rainbow trout, poorer growth rates were found when S. polyrhiza was added to the feed. For tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus L.) greater weight gains were found when 30% of the fish meal in the feed was replaced with S. polyrhiza. A review has also shown that duckweed can be used in cattle, pig and poultry diets. However, the problems of heavy metals and pathogen contamination occur.
Human nutrition.
Although other duckweed species, such as Wolffia arrhiza, are consumed by people in rural areas, S.polyrhiza is not cultivated for human consumption. This is because of high concerns about heavy metal accumulation and possible contamination with Escherichia coli or Clostridium botulinum. In contrast to W. arrhiza, S. polyrhiza contains, like most duckweed species, calcium oxalate crystals who are known to cause kidney stones.


Vlokia

Vlokia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Aizoaceae. The first description of the genus (along with the species "Vlokia ater") was published in 1994 by Steven A. Hammer. The generic name honors the discoverer of "Vlokia ater", South African botanist, Jan H. J. Vlok (1957-). The pronunciation "Flow-key-a" has been recommended based on the pronunciation of his name.


Athyrium niponicum

Athyrium niponicum, the Japanese painted fern, is a species of fern native to eastern Asia.
This species was redefined as a member of genus "Anisocampium" in 2011 based on phylogenetic analyses., but the genus has since been sunk into "Athyrium".
This deciduous fern has a creeping rhizome and a tuft-shape array of fronds. The fronds are variable in length, generally 30 to 75 centimeters long but occasionally over a meter in length. They have alternately arranged, subdivided pinnae. The spore-bearing sori on the undersides of the fertile pinnae are variable in shape, being "oblong, hooked, J-shaped, or horseshoe-shaped".
This is a commonly cultivated fern, especially "A. niponicum" var. "pictum". It thrives in many kinds of shady garden conditions and produces thick colonies of gray-green fronds with reddish midribs. 'Pictum' is also considered to be a cultivar; varieties and cultivars are bred to achieve midribs in many shades of red.
"A. niponicum" var. "pictum" has gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit.
as has the cultivar ‘Silver Falls’.


Coccothrinax torrida

Coccothrinax torrida is a palm endemic to southeastern Cuba. It is known from a single isolated hill on the coast of the Guantánamo Province. The climate of the area is described as semi-desert with 9 or 10 dry months. Like other members of the genus, "C. torrida" is a fan palm. Trees are single-stemmed, between 2 and 8 m tall with stems 2.5 to 3.9 (occasionally up to 4.5) cm in diameter. The fruit is creamy white, 4.8–6.3 mm in diameter.
The species was first described in 2006 from material collected in 2003. It is related to "C. pauciramosa", and is characterized by the following features: narrow semiorbicular flat leaves that are covered on the adaxial surface by white wax; a small irregular palman; long and erect inflorescences; and small, white, smooth fruits. "C. torrida" and "C. montana" are the only described species with white fruits in the genus "Coccothrinax". Since it is known from a single population of about 5000 individuals, the species is considered Vulnerable.


Echinopsis macrogona

Echinopsis macrogona, syn. Trichocereus macrogonus, is a species of cactus found in Bolivia.
Description.
It has a shrubby habit, with erect columnar stems around tall and in diameter. The stem is bluish green with 6–9 prominent ribs. The gray colored areoles have yellow-brown spines; there are 1–3 longer central spines, up to long, and 6–9 shorter radial spines, up to long. Large white flowers, up to long, are borne at the top of the stems.


Ulvaria (alga)

Ulvaria is a genus of green algae in the family Ulvaceae. It is similar to "Ulva", but rather than being two cells thick, it is only one, despite its darker colour.


Humiriastrum melanocarpum

Humiriastrum melanocarpum is a species of plant in the Humiriaceae family. It is endemic to Colombia.


Plagiantha

Plagiantha is a genus of Brazilian plants in the grass family. The only known species is Plagiantha tenella, native to the state of Bahia in eastern Brazil.


Puccinellia nuttalliana

Puccinellia nuttalliana is a species of grass known by the common name Nuttall's alkaligrass. It is native to North America, where it is widespread from Alaska east throughout Canada to Greenland, and common in the western and central United States. It is present in the Arctic, throughout the temperate mountain ranges, the Great Plains, the Great Basin, and along the western coastline of North America down through California.
"Puccinellia nuttalliana" is a halophytic grass, found in areas with saline soils. This is a perennial bunchgrass that is variable in form, remaining small and clumpy or producing erect stems up to a meter tall. The inflorescence is made up of a few thin, spreading branches which spread further and sometimes become reflexed as the fruit matures.


Roystoneae


Scabiosa triandra

Scabiosa triandra is a species of scabious belonging to the family Caprifoliaceae.
Description.
"Scabiosa triandra" can grow up to in height. Flowering period extends from June to September.
Distribution.
This species can be found in Southern Europe.


Botrytis squamosa

Botrytis squamosa (teleomorph: "Botryotinia squamosa") is a fungus that causes leaf blight on onion (often termed ‘blast’) that is distinctly characterized by the two stages – leaf spotting followed by blighting. The pathogen is an ascomycete that belongs to the family "Sclerotiniaceae" in the order "Helotiales". The lesions start out as whitish streaks and take on a yellow tinge as they mature. They cause yield losses up to 30%. This fungus is endemic to the USA and has also been reported in Europe, Asia, and Australia. Typical management of this disease includes chemical fungicides with significant efforts being made to establish a means of biological control.
Host and symptoms.
This pathogen only affects onion, garlic and leek – "Allium" spp.
The first symptom of the disease occurs in the leaves 24–48 hours after initial exposure to the pathogen, appearing as long white lesions 1–5 mm in length surrounded by a greenish-white halo. The tissue then turns soft due to pectolytic enzymes produced by the pathogen and the center of the lesion takes on a straw-color. Complete blighting can be seen about 12 days after initial infection. Symptoms towards the later stages also include leaf tip dieback and necrosis. These necrotic spots are the sites of secondary conidial production.
Disease cycle.
As mentioned earlier, the pathogen makes sclerotia that overwinter in the field debris (infected leaves, bulbs) and cull piles and germinate in the spring. As a result of this germination, conidiophores arise that produce conidia (anamorphic phase). Apothecia also arise out of the sclerotia and release ascospores (teleomorphic phase) although these are not a very significant source of primary inoculum for infection. The sclerotia are capable of continuous and prolonged production of conidia thus resulting in a huge amount of primary inoculum. The conidia and ascospores then go on to produce primary infection on leaves causing leaf blights. Conidia are produced in the necrotic tissues that act as sources of dissemination and secondary inoculum. Towards maturity, Sclerotia are produced in the leaves and necks of infected bulbs (blackened appearance) that overwinter and germinate the following spring. Sclerotia can survive up to 21 months at a depth greater than 15 cm from the soil surface.
Environment.
The optimum temperature for the disease development has been reported to be 15-20 °C, the first symptom seen after 6 hours of leaf wetness, with the lesion development decreasing with increasing periods of dryness. At temperatures between 9-25 °C, lesion development increases with increasing temperature and leaf wetness. Based on studies conducted in controlled environments, sporulation on dead leaves has been found to occur with an increase in temperature until 30 °C and leaf wetness.
Disease control.
Chemical and cultural controls are the two most practiced ways of control. No commercial varieties resistant to "B. squamosa" have been reported so far. Cultural controls include avoiding cull piles and 2–3 years of rotation with non host (species other than "Allium") plants. It is important to discard damaged and diseased onions at harvest. Dithiocarbamates have been identified as the most effective protectant fungicides. Weather forecasting is generally used to aid in limiting the number of sprays per cropping season. It has also been observed that ground spraying is much more effective than aerial spraying. The optimal frequency has also found to be one spray every 7–10 days.


Xanthophyllum pachycarpon

Xanthophyllum pachycarpon is a tree in the family Polygalaceae. The specific epithet "" is from the Greek meaning "thick fruit", referring to the thick wall of the fruit.
Description.
"Xanthophyllum pachycarpon" grows up to tall with a trunk diameter of up to . The smooth bark is greyish or dark green. The light brown fruits are round and measure up to in diameter.
Distribution and habitat.
"Xanthophyllum pachycarpon" is endemic to Borneo. Its habitat is mixed dipterocarp forests from sea-level to altitude.


Cupressus pigmaea

Cupressus pigmaea, the Mendocino cypress or pygmy cypress, is a taxon of disputed status in the genus "Cupressus" endemic to certain coastal terraces and coastal mountain ranges of Mendocino and Sonoma Counties in northwestern California. It is a highly variable tree, and closely related to "Cupressus goveniana," enough to sometimes be considered a subspecies of it.
Description.
The foliage is a dull dark to light green color, with scale-like leaves 1–1.5 mm long, with the leaf tips not spreading; seedlings bear needle-like leaves 8–10 mm long. The cones are small, 11–24 mm long, and almost spherical, with six or eight scales arranged in opposite decussate pairs, with the bract visible as no more than a small lump or short spine on the scale. The seeds are 3–5 mm long, with a pair of small wings along the sides. The cones remain closed on the trees for many years, until the trees are killed by a forest fire; after the tree is dead, the cones open to release the seeds which can then germinate successfully on the bare fire-cleared ground.
The Mendocino cypress differs little from "C. goveniana" in morphology, with the most conspicuous difference in herbarium material being the usually glossy black seeds, unlike the dull brown seeds of "C. goveniana", but even this character is not constant, with dull brown seeds found in the southernmost populations of "C. pigmaea" near Point Arena. Preliminary genetic studies have shown some differences, with notably some plastid sequences ("matK", "rbcL", and "trnL") suggesting a possible closer relationship to "C. macrocarpa", though other sequences confirm its close relationship to "C. goveniana". In cultivation together with "C. goveniana", it retains a very different crown shape, with a tall slender crown, contrasting with the broad, shrubby crown of "C. goveniana"; it also has darker green foliage (paler, yellow-green in "C. goveniana").
The largest recorded specimen is located in Mendocino County, with recorded dimensions of 43 m height, 2.13 m diameter, and 12 m crown spread, in 2000.
Taxonomy.
Its taxonomic status is disputed by different authors. Some treat "Cupressus pigmaea" as a distinct species, following Sargent, including Wolf (1948), Griffin & Critchfield (1976), Lanner (1999), and Little "et al." (2004), while others treat it within "Cupressus goveniana" as either a variety ("C. goveniana var. pigmaea" Lemmon) or a subspecies ("C. goveniana subsp. pigmaea" (Lemmon) A.Camus), including Camus (1914), and the "Jepson Manual" (1993), and yet others do not distinguish it at all within "C. goveniana", including the "Flora of North America" and Farjon (2005).
The scientific name is sometimes spelled "pygmaea", though this is an orthographic error.
Distribution and habitat.
The Mendocino cypress is highly variable in growth form, depending on soil conditions. In the pygmy forest plant community on poor, acidic, nutrient-starved podsol soils with drainage impeded by an iron hardpan, it is a stunted tree from 0.2–5 meters in height at maturity. When occurring in its pygmy form, it is sometimes called pygmy cypress. When growing on deep, well-drained soils it can be a large tree up to 30–50 meters in height and 1–2.4 m in trunk diameter. The bark is dark gray-brown, with stringy texture, and fissured on old trees.
Mendocino cypress occurs in very limited ranges within only Mendocino County, on some of the historical lands of the Yuki Native American people. In Mendocino County the occurrence is in a discontinuous coastal terrace strip, primarily as a pygmy forest associated with bishop pine ("Pinus muricata") and Mendocino shore pine ("P. contorta var. bolanderi"). Occurrences are typically below 500 m in elevation. The Mendocino County official soils survey states that "While not formally recognized as a major forest cover type, the coastal portion of the survey area also includes bishop pine and Mendocino cypress (pygmy) forest types".
Productivity.
Along the Mendocino coastal terraces, whose geological age is approximately one million years, studies have been conducted of the biomass density and primary productivity of the "Cupressus pygmaea"-dominated pygmy forest. The terraces in this area extend a full five to ten kilometers inland from the Pacific Ocean.
In the Mendocino cypress pygmy forests, biomass was measured to range between 1.6 and 4.4 kilograms per square meter aboveground; moreover, net primary productivity was found to measure 180 to 360 grams per square meter per annum above the ground surface. Mean below-ground values are 3.5 kilograms biomass per square meter, productivity being 402 grams per meter per annum. The leaf-area ratio of the pygmy forest was estimated as 2.1 grams per square meter implying a high production efficiency per unit leaf area for an evergreen community (150 grams per meter aboveground ). According to Westman, productivity of the "C. pygmaea" forest lies within the range expected for open, dry woodlands. A similar community for which data is available is a pygmy conifer-oak scrubland in southern Arizona.


Nepenthes lavicola

Nepenthes lavicola (; from Latin: "lavicola" growing upon lava) is a tropical pitcher plant species endemic to the Geureudong Massif of Aceh, northern Sumatra, where it grows at 2000–2600 m above sea level. It is thought to be most closely related to "N. singalana" and "N. spectabilis".
"Nepenthes lavicola" is notable for its very prominent bracts, which often overarch the flowers and may be up to 7 cm long at the base of female inflorescences. This species is also unusual in that it bears up to two bracts per pedicel or partial peduncle.
Swiss botanist Albert Friedrich Frey-Wyssling mentioned "N. lavicola" in a 1931 article as an unidentified "Nepenthes" species.
"Nepenthes lavicola" has no known natural hybrids. No forms or varieties have been described.


List of tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregions

This is a list of tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregions, arranged by biogeographic realm.


Juncus bufonius

Juncus bufonius, known commonly as toad rush, is a widespread flowering plant species complex in the rush family Juncaceae.
Distribution.
Its native range is circumpolar throughout tropical, subtropical, subarctic, and temperate climate areas of the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere.
It is also widely distributed as an introduced species in suitable habitats worldwide. It grows in moist and muddy places, often in wetlands and riparian areas.
In habitats where it is not native and has naturalized it may be considered a weed. The relationship of North America plants to the Eurasian "Juncus ranarius" is weakly delineated.
Description.
"Juncus bufonius" is an annual monocot that is quite variable in appearance. It is generally a green clumping grasslike rush, with many thin stems wrapped with few threadlike leaves.
The flowers are borne in inflorescences and also in the joint where the inflorescence branches off of the stem. It is a grassy flower folded within tough bracts and sepals. The blooming period is March through May.
Varieties.
Varieties include:


Lycium afrum

Lycium afrum, the kraal honey thorn (Afrikaans: kraalkriedoring) is a shrub in the potato family (Solanaceae). The species is native to the Cape Province in South Africa. It has appeared in Australia and is regarded with some concern as possibly invasive. Australian government factsheets remark that in Australia it is an uncommon hedge plant, sparingly naturalised in a few areas in Victoria.
Description.
"Lycium afrum" is a moderate-sized shrub that may grow as high as and is formidably armed with straight, woody thorns.
Its leaves are leathery and tufted on short shoots.
It bears tubular purple flowers long, with flared petals about one quarter the length of the tube.
The fruit is a subspherical berry, red when ripe, eaten by birds.
It is not clear how safe it is to eat the fruit, though berries of some species of "Lycium" certainly are eaten with impunity by humans and animals.


Echinopepon

Echinopepon is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cucurbitaceae, native to the southwestern United States, Mexico, Central America, and South America. Tendrillate vines, their prickly fruits are operculate, with the prickles themselves being stipitate glandular.
Species.
Currently accepted species include:


Pedicularis

Pedicularis is a genus of perennial green root parasite plants currently placed in the family Orobanchaceae (the genus previously having been placed in Scrophulariaceae "sensu lato").
Description.
Between 350 and 600 species are accepted by different authorities, mostly from the wetter northern temperate zones, as well as from South America. The highest diversity is in eastern Asia, with 352 species accepted in China alone.
Taxonomy.
The common name lousewort, applied to several species, derives from an old belief that these plants, when ingested, were responsible for lice infestations in livestock. The genus name "Pedicularis" is from the Latin "pediculus" meaning louse.
Pollination.
"Bombus polaris" has an essential role in the pollination of the large zygomorphic flowers of "Pedicularis". "B. polaris" has a special adaption that allows it to work the spikes of "Pedicularis" from the bottom towards the top.


Hypnodendron

Hypnodendron is a genus of mosses belonging to the family Hypnodendraceae.
Species:


Selaginella denticulata

Selaginella denticulata, or Mediterranean clubmoss, is a non-flowering plant of the spikemoss genus "Selaginella" with a wide distribution around the Northern Hemisphere. "Selaginella denticulata" (L.) Spring., Formerly known as "Lycopodium denticulatum" L. and treintanudos is the common name in the Canaries.
Description.
It is in the genus "Selaginella" and this creeper is characterized by having flattened stems, bearing four rows of ovate leaves which vary in size according to their position. Its specific epithet, "denticulata" comes from the Latin "dens" which means tooth, and alludes to the denticles that appear on the leaves. It was identified by the nineteenth century botanist Antoine Frédéric Spring.
It is distributed throughout the Mediterranean region except for the Cape Verde islands. It is not under threat although it is less common in the Eastern Mediterranean. It prefers dark cave environments and it is found on Gibraltar, throughout the Mediterranean region and in Portugal. In the spring it is green but as it dries out the plant is red.


Keckiella lemmonii

Keckiella lemmonii (formerly "Penstemon lemmonii") is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family known by the common name Lemmon's keckiella.
It is native to Oregon and northern California, where it grows in the coniferous forests and chaparral of coastal and inland mountain ranges. Its range may extend just into Nevada in the High Sierra.
Description.
"Keckiella lemmonii" is a small shrub with long, narrow, mostly unbranched stems reaching maximum heights near 1.5 meters.
Oval-shaped, slightly toothed green leaves are arranged oppositely along the stems. Each leaf is up to about 6 centimeters long.
The flower is dull purple and streaked with purple-brown. Pointed lobes curl away from the mouth of the flower, revealing a hairy yellow sterile stamen known as a staminode. The flower is up to 2 centimeters in length.


Glottiphyllum surrectum

Glottiphyllum surrectum is a species of succulent plant, of the family "Aizoaceae". It is indigenous to arid areas of the Little Karoo, in the Western Cape, South Africa.
Description.
The stems are horizontal but the leaves are slender, erect and rounded in cross-section.
The seed capsule is rounded and raised at the top (valves high and rim low), with a hard, woody (not spongy) base, and no valve wings or awns.


Phaenanthoecium

Phaenanthoecium is a genus of plants in the grass family. The only known species is Phaenanthoecium koestlinii, native to Northeast Tropical Africa (Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea) and Yemen.


Golenkiniopsis

Golenkiniopsis is a genus of green algae in the family Chlorellaceae.


Grammatophyllum speciosum

Grammatophyllum speciosum, also called giant orchid, tiger orchid, sugar cane orchid or queen of the orchids, is a species of orchid native to Indonesia. It is listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's tallest orchid, with specimens recorded up to in height.
Description.
It is an epiphytic and occasionally a lithophytic plant, forming spectacular root bundles. Its cylindric pseudobulbs can grow to a length of 2.5 m. It can grow to gigantic clusters weighing from several hundred kilograms to more than one ton.
Each raceme can grow to a height of 3m, bearing up to eighty flowers, each 10 cm wide. The flowers are yellow colored with maroon or dark red spots. These flowers are remarkable, since the lowest flowers have no lip and these flowers function as osmophores for the entire inflorescence and continue to emit chemical scent to attract pollinators as flowers open in succession. It blooms only once every two to four years. This orchid can, however, remain in bloom for up to two months. In addition, this plant has been found to have potential medicinal benefits; for example one research article by Harikarnpakdee and Chowjarean found it specifically aided in wound healing in humans.
Distribution and habitat.
It is native to New Guinea, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines, growing in crotches of large trees on exposed areas of the lowland tropical rainforest.
Ecology.
A giant orchid weighing two tons was one of the highlights in the 1851 exhibition at the Crystal Palace in London.
Because of its enormous size, it is rarely cultivated as this species is usually too large to be accommodated in most greenhouses. Cultivated specimens of this species are always grown as terrestrials, as the plants grow as both an epiphyte and terrestrial in habitat.


Gastrodia procera

Gastrodia procera, commonly known as the tall potato orchid, is a leafless terrestrial mycotrophic orchid in the family Orchidaceae. It has a robust, dark brown to blackish flowering stem with up to seventy cinnamon brown, tube-shaped flowers that are white inside. It grows in high rainfall forest in southeastern Australia.
Description.
"Gastrodia procera" is a leafless terrestrial, mycotrophic herb that has a robust, dark brown to blackish flowering stem tall bearing between five and seventy cinnamon brown, tube-shaped flowers that are warty outside and white inside. The sepals and petals are joined, forming a tube long. The petals have wavy edges. The labellum is long, wide and white with orange-coloured edges. Flowering occurs from December to January and flowering is enhanced by fire the previous summer.
Taxonomy and naming.
"Gastrodia procera" was first formally described in 1991 by Geoffrey William Carr from a specimen collected in the Dandenong Ranges near Albany in 1958. The description was published in the "Indigenous Flora and Fauna Association Miscellaneous Paper". The specific epithet ("procera") is a Latin word meaning "tall", "slender" or "long".
Distribution and habitat.
The tall potato orchid is widespread and common in high rainfall forest south from the Barrington Tops in New South Wales, through the Australian Capital Territory and southeastern Victoria to Tasmania.


Ficus fraseri

Ficus fraseri, the white sandpaper fig or shiny sandpaper fig, is one of several fig species commonly known as sandpaper figs. It is native to New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory in Australia and to New Caledonia and Vanuatu. Other common names are "figwood" and "watery fig".
It grows as either a shrub or tree with height ranging from around 6 to 15 metres.
Its leaves are 6 to 14 cm long and 2.5 to 6.5 cm wide on petioles that are 1 to 2 cm long. The rounded figs are 1 to 1.5 cm long and start out yellow in colour, maturing to orange-red between May and February in the species' native range. They are edible, but insipid.
In Australia, the species occurs from Tuggerah Lake in New South Wales, northwards to the Atherton Tableland in Queensland, and rarely in the Northern Territory.
The grey-headed flying fox feeds on the figs.
Although rarely seen in cultivation, it is a fast-growing, ornamental species. It can be easily propagated from seed.
Distribution.
Chew states that "F. fraseri" is found in the Northern Territory, a statement repeated by Govaerts "et. al.". However, Harden (1990) gives New South Wales and Queensland as the only Australian states where it is found. Botanists in Australia seem in little doubt about where it is found when the Australasian Virtual Herbarium data are consulted, giving a distribution map. GBIF, unlike the Australian Plant Name Index and Plants of the World online, states that "Ficus fraseri" is a synonym of "Ficus virens" Aiton. However, Australian botanists clearly distinguish the two species. (See the occurrence map for "F. virens.)
Taxonomy.
It was first described by Miquel in 1848.


Bergia texana

Bergia texana is a species of flowering plant in the waterwort family known by the common name Texas bergia. It is native to the western and central United States and northern Mexico, where it is a plant of wetlands, living in mud and moist soils along the edges of rivers and pools. This is an annual or perennial herb producing a branching, glandular, hairy stem which grows upright or trailing up to 30 centimeters long. The leaves are 2 to 4 centimeters long, mainly oval in shape and pointed, and lightly toothed along the edges. The inflorescences appear at the tips of stem branches and in the leaf axils, bearing single flowers or small clusters. Each small flower has five green sepals and five greenish white petals. Some of the flowers open, while others are cleistogamous, remaining closed and self-pollinating. The fruit is an oval capsule with many seeds in each of its five chambers.


Lissanthe strigosa

Lissanthe strigosa, sometimes referred as the peach heath, is a common shrub from the heath family, found in eastern and southern Australia.
This plant first appeared in the scientific literature in A Specimen of the Botany of New Holland by James Edward Smith in 1793. Then in 1810, in the "Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae", authored by the Scottish botanist, Robert Brown.


Thelesperma megapotamicum

Thelesperma megapotamicum is a perennial species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common name wild tea and rayless greenthread. It is native to sections of the Americas, including the central United States, where it grows in many types of habitat.
Description.
It is a perennial herb producing a slender, branching stem 30 to 60 centimeters tall or more. The leaves are narrow, mostly compound with linear or threadlike segments measuring a few centimeters long. The inflorescence bears several flower heads each in a cuplike involucre of phyllaries with purple-tinged, pointed lobes with white edges. The head contains many yellow or orange disc florets, and sometimes one or more yellow ray florets, although these may be absent.
Human uses.
Native American groups such as the Hopi and Navajo use this plant to make herbal teas, as a medicinal remedy and a yellow dye. The Hopi name for this plant is Hohoysi. The plant can be boiled whole until the water turns a rusty color and used as a tea. In addition, the Hopi people also add the plant, along with water, into large glass jars and place in the sun to make sun tea.
It is known aa "izeets'ósé" in Apache.


Frailea castanea

Frailea castanea is a species of Frailea found in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.


Melianthus comosus

Melianthus comosus, the honey flower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Francoaceae. It is native to the mostly dry regions of southern Africa. The attractive multi-stemmed shrubs are popular garden subjects. The Afrikaans name kruidjie-roer-my-nie ("herb-touch-me-not") alludes to the unpleasant smell that results from bruising of any part of the plant. The vegetative parts are very toxic, as with other "Melianthus" species, and extracts of the leaves and stem have anti-bacterial properties.
Range.
It is native to South Africa, western Lesotho and southern Namibia, where it occurs from 400 to 2,000 m above sea level. In South Africa it occurs in the greater part of the Cape and Free State provinces, and locally in North West, Gauteng and Mpumalanga.
Flowers.
The flowers which produce copious black nectar are zygomorphic in shape, and green to pale pink in colour. The black nectar is visible through the pale green, semi-transparent sepals. A flower produces an average of 42 μl of nectar a day, with a 10% sugar content, which has been described as a "rich black honey" that almost fills the cup. Vahl's description of the species in 1794 however omitted any mention of the coloured nectar, or its abundance.
Uses and species associations.
Honey from its flowers is dark in colour, and apparently not toxic to humans. The flowers are visited by insects and birds, especially sunbirds which eagerly seek them out.


Kallstroemia californica

Kallstroemia californica is a species of flowering plant in the caltrop family known by the common name California caltrop. It is native to the deserts of the Southwestern United States, California, and northern Mexico.
Description.
"Kallstroemia californica" is a mat-forming annual herb which grows in thick carpetlike masses on sandy substrates. The branching stem has compound leaves which are each made up of several widely spaced pairs of small oval-shaped green leaflets.
It produces individual flowers with five rounded or oval petals and a ring of ten stamens. The fruit is a small body a few millimeters wide of ten conjoined nutlets which split apart.


Centropogon heteropilis

Centropogon heteropilis is a species of plant in the family Campanulaceae. It is endemic to Ecuador. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.


Lomatogonium

Lomatogonium is a genus of 18 species in the family Gentianaceae, found in cool temperate to subarctic regions of Asia, with two species ("L. carinthiacum", "L. rotatum") also in Europe and one species ("L. rotatum") also in North America. By far the highest diversity is in China, with 16 species.
They are annual or perennial plants, growing to 5–15 cm tall, with a basal rosette of 2–3 cm long leaves, and sometimes secondary whorls of smaller leaves on the flower stems. The flowers are 2 cm across, with the five white to pale blue petals joined at the base.


Markea spruceana

Markea spruceana is a species of plant in the family Solanaceae. It is endemic to Ecuador.


Cipocereus bradei

Cipocereus bradei is a species of cactus. It is endemic to the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil. It is threatened by habitat loss.


Lemnaceae