Auturus evides

Auturus evides is a species of flat-backed millipede in the family Euryuridae and is found in North America. Auturus evides is dark brown with light orange spots on the posterior part of each segment. The lateral portion of each segment has a spot of the same color which widens toward the posterior end. The average total length is 27.1 mm; width, 3.1 mm; and weight, 0.153 g. Auturus evides respond negatively to light and positively to moisture, and are usually found within and beneath rotting logs of varying size and length. However, many have been found in low or damp places in and around logs with very little decay. They are never found in aggregations, but at times as many as a dozen have been recorded nesting under logs.


Dipljapyx hirpinus

Dipljapyx hirpinus is a species of forcepstail in the family Japygidae.


Peristylus maingayi

Peristylus maingayi, commonly known as the white ogre orchid, is a species of orchid that is native to southern Indochina, New Guinea and north Queensland. It has two or three broad leaves near its base and up to fifteen small white flowers that are tube-shaped near the base and have a three-lobed labellum.
Description.
"Peristylus banfieldii" is a tuberous, perennial herb with between two and three leaves long and wide. Between eight and fifteen tube-shaped, white flowers long and wide are borne on a flowering stem tall. The dorsal sepal is long, about wide and forms a partial hood over the column. The lateral sepals are a similar length to the dorsal sepal but slightly narrower and spread apart from each other. The petals are more or less triangular, about long and wide. The labellum is long, about wide with its tip divided into three lobes about long and wide. Flowering occurs from March to May.
Taxonomy and naming.
The white ogre orchid was first formally described in 1897 by George King and Robert Pantling who gave it the name "Habenaria maingayi" and published the description in "Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal". In 2001 Jeffrey James Wood and Paul Abel Ormerod changed the name to "Peristylus maingayi". The specific epithet ("maingayi") honours the collector of the type specimen, Alexander Carroll Maingay.
Distribution and habitat.
"Peristylus maingayi" grows in swampy grassland, and grassy forest and woodland. It is found in Malesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, New Guinea and northern Australia where it occurs on the Cape York Peninsula and as far south as Proserpine.


Castilleja schizotricha

Castilleja schizotricha is a species of Indian paintbrush known by the common name splithair Indian paintbrush.
It is endemic to the Klamath Mountains of northwestern California southwestern Oregon. It grows in rocky soils in temperate coniferous forests.
Description.
"Castilleja schizotricha" is a perennial herb and wildflower growing not more than about 15 centimeters tall and coated thickly in light-colored hairs, giving it a gray or white color.
The woolly inflorescence is made up of layers of dusty red or pink bracts. Between the bracts emerge pouched dull reddish flowers.


Leucospermum glabrum

Leucospermum glabrum is an evergreen, rounded, upright shrub of up to 2½ m (8 ft) high, that is assigned to the family Proteaceae. It has broad inverted egg-shaped leaves with seven to fourteen teeth near their tips, and oval flower heads of about 8 cm (3.2 in) in diameter, with hairy, orange and carmine-coloured flowers from which long styles with a thickened end emerge, giving the flowerhead as a whole the appearance of a pincushion. It flowers between August and October. Its common name is Outeniqua pincushion in English and Outeniekwa-kreupelhout in Afrikaans. It naturally occurs in a limited area on the south coast of South Africa.
Description.
"L. glabrum" is an upright, rounded shrub of up to 2½ m (8 ft) high, with a central stem at its foot of up to 10 cm (4 in) in diameter, with a reddish brown bark. Its
flowering stems are woody and upright, ½–1 cm (0.2–0.4 in) in diameter, initially withsoft but clearly separated hairs which are soon lost. The leaves with a very short stalk, are slightly rising up, inverted egg-shaped to broadly so, wedge-shaped at its base, 8–12 cm (3.2–4.8 in) long and 3–5 cm (1.2–2.0 in) broad, hairless and bright green in colour, with seven to fourteen teeth near the tip.
The flower heads are oval in shape, 7–9 cm (2.8–3.6 in) in diameter, subsessile, usually on its own but sometimes grouped with two or three. The common base of the flowers in the same head is cone-shaped, about 4½ cm (1.8 in) long, and 1¼ cm (0.9 in) wide. The bracts subtending the common base are oval with a curved pointy tip, about 9 mm (0.35 in) long and 6 mm (0.24 in) wide, overlapping and tidily pressed against the surface, rubbery in consistency and softly hairy.
The bracts subtending each individually flower, envelops it at its base, is about 1½ cm (0.6 in) long and 1 cm (0.4 in) wide, with a strongly recurved pointed tip ending in a short thread, and the margins with a regular row of equal hairs, the outside deep carmine in colour in life, rubbery in consistency, densely woolly at base and softly hairy towards the tip. The perianth is about 3½ cm (1.4 in) long, carmine to bright orange in colour. The lower part with the lobes fused (called tube) is about 1 cm (0.4 in) long and lacks hair. The middle part where at least one of the lobes becomes free when the flower opens (called claws), is bright crimson inside the outside of the lobe facing the rim of the head sparsely felty hairy, the outer three densely covered in cringed adpressed hairs. The higher part of the lobes (called limbs) is narrowly elliptic in shape with a pointy tip, variably covered with long soft hairs. The style is stout, 5–6 cm (2.0–2.4 in) long and 2–3 mm (0.08–0.12 in) in diameter, when fully developed slightly curved towards the center of the head. The slightly thickened part at the tip of the style that hovered up the pollen while in the bud called pollen presenter is conical in shape with a pointy tip, about 6 mm (0.24 in) long and half as wide, with a groove that acts as the stigma at the very tip. The ovary is subtended by four triangular, ivory to cream coloured scales of about 1½ mm (0.06 in) long.
Differences with other pincushions.
"L. glabrum" differs from other pincushions because of its large inverted egg-shaped, bright green, hairless leaves of 8–12 cm (3.2–4.8 in) long and 3–5 cm (1.2–2.0 in) wide, with seven to fourteen teeth near the tip, the stems hairless when matured and the bracts substending the common base of the flowers in one head with pointy and recurved tips.
Taxonomy.
The Outeniqua pincushion was first recognised as a separate species and described by Edwin Percy Phillips in 1910, but the type specimen was already collected in 1814 by English explorer and naturalist William John Burchell. "Leucospermum glabrum" is assigned to the tree pincushions, section "Conocarpodendron".
The name of the species "glabrum" is Latin and means "hairless", a reference to the lack of hair on the leaves.
Distribution, habitat and ecology.
The Outeniqua pincushion occurs here and there between the Cradockberg near George and Prince Alfred's Pass near Plettenberg Bay in the southern foothills of the Outeniqua Mountains. It only grows on south-facing, sheltered, cool slopes between of 150–450 m (500–1500 ft) altitude, where it experiences an annual precipitation of 750–1000 mm (30–40 in) more or less evenly distributed over the year. Plants are found in fynbos on moist peat soils between other very tall shrubs such as "Laurophyllus capensis", several species of "Leucadendron", "Berzelia" and "Erica", forming a dense vegetation called "hygrophilous macchia".
Conservation.
The Outeniqua pincushion is considered an endangered species because there are only fourteen subpopulations. The total population size is falling due to invasive plant species, conversion to forest and the maintenance of fire breaks. Subpopulations strongly fluctuate in size because of wildfires. The total size of the population is below a thousand mature plants. New stands of this species may develop from the underground soil seed bank after a fire and subsequent rains.


Ramaria rielii

Ramaria rielii is a European species of coral fungus in the family Gomphaceae. It was described in 1897 by Jean Louis Émile Boudier. It is quite similar in appearance to the more common and widely distributed "Ramaria botrytis", but can be distinguished from that species by the lack of clamped hyphae, its longer and wider spores, and warts instead of striations on the spore surface.


Stagonospora recedens

Stagonospora recedens is a fungal plant pathogen infecting red clover.


Proturentomon iowaense

Proturentomon iowaense is a species of proturan in the family Protentomidae. It is found in North America.


Aechmea woronowii

Aechmea woronowii is a plant species in the genus "Aechmea". This species is native to Ecuador, Peru and Colombia.


Bonamia rosea

Bonamia rosea, commonly known as felty bellflower, is a herb in the family Convolvulaceae.
The perennial herb or shrub has an erect or diffuse habit and typically grows to a height of . It blooms between May to October and produces white-pink-yellow flowers.
It is found on sand plains in the Mid West and Pilbara regions of Western Australia where it grows in stony sandy-clay soils.


Mycomedusiospora flavida


Mount Pinbarren National Park

Mount Pinbarren is a national park in Queensland, Australia, 129 km north of Brisbane. It is located in Pinbarren, a locality in the Shire of Noosa. Mount Pinbarren lies within the South East Queensland bioregion and the Mary River catchment area.
The park protects the naturally vegetated slopes of Mount Pinbarren. It was established to preserve significant hoop pine complex microphyll vine forest and habitat for the endangered Coxen’s fig parrot.
Access to the park is limited as it is surrounded by private property.


Hulsea algida

Hulsea algida is a species of flowering plant in the daisy family, known by the common name Pacific hulsea or alpine gold.
"Hulsea algida" is native to California, Oregon, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. Within California, it grows in the Sierra Nevada and in the White Mountains. It grows between in elevation, in alpine and subalpine talus habitats.
Description.
"Hulsea algida" is a hairy, glandular perennial herb producing stout erect stems approaching 40 centimeters (16 inches) in height. The dark green leaves are narrow and covered in white hairs, and the edges are wavy and toothed. Most of the leaves occur in a thick patch at the base of the plant and some grow from the stems.
The flower head is encased in a cup of densely woolly reddish green phyllaries which open to reveal a daisy-like bloom one to three centimeters (0.4-1.2 inches) across. The center of the head is filled with yellow or orange disc florets and the circumference has up to 60 bright yellow or gold ray florets each about a centimeter (0.4 inches) long with rounded or toothed tips.
The fruit is an achene up to a centimeter long with a pappus which may be longer.


Adelolecia kolaensis

Adelolecia kolaensis is a species of crustose lichen belonging to the family Lecanoraceae.
It is native to Europe and Northern America.


Solidago sciaphila

Solidago sciaphilia is known as shadowy goldenrod or cliff goldenrod. The species is endemic to bluffs along the Mississippi River in southern Minnesota, and the driftless area of southwestern Wisconsin, northern Iowa and Illinois. Throughout its range, "S. sciaphila" is strongly associated with dolomite and sandstone bedrock, especially dry cliffs. It can be similar to "Solidago speciosa" but has more serrate lower and mid stem leaves and is generally smaller to much smaller when growing in pockets of shallow soil on cliffs. Small plants are similar to "Solidago hispida" in general appearance. Blooming occurs late August through late September; fruiting occurs throughout September. Shadowy Goldenrod is considered a Special Concern species in Wisconsin and Minnesota, and considered threatened in Illinois. This species can be significantly impacted by rock climbing activities.
The type collection was made by E. S. Steele in 1909, Vicinity of Kilbourn, on the Wisconsin River. Reports of "Solidago sciaphila" from North Carolina are "Solidago villosicarpa" instead (LeBlond, 2000).


Aspergillus insuetus

Aspergillus insuetus is a species of fungus in the genus "Aspergillus". It is from the "Usti" section. The species was first described in 1929. It has been reported to produce drimans, ophiobolin G, and ophiobolin H.
Growth and morphology.
"A. insuetus" has been cultivated on both Czapek yeast extract agar (CYA) plates and Malt Extract Agar Oxoid® (MEAOX) plates. The growth morphology of the colonies can be seen in the pictures below.


Hydnodon thelephorus


Belmont Lake State Park

Belmont Lake State Park is a day-use state park located in Babylon, New York on Long Island.
History.
Belmont Lake State Park was established in 1926 on land that was formerly part of the "Nursery Stud Farm", a Thoroughbred horse farm owned by August Belmont, namesake of the Belmont Stakes.
The park was selected by Robert Moses as regional headquarters for all state parks on Long Island in 1935. The park served as the headquarters of the Long Island State Park Commission and Long Island State Parkway Police from their founding in 1946 until their disbandment in 1977 and 1980, respectively. It now serves as the headquarters of the Long Island region of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, as well as the New York State Park Police.
Park description.
Belmont Lake State Park is a day-use park, featuring boating and picnicking facilities in addition to playing fields for popular sports. Two modern children's playgrounds are also available. Pedal boats, rowboats and kayaks can be rented at the boat dock during May through Columbus Day, times/days of the week vary, however swimming is never permitted. If you own a kayak, it can be launched ONLY when the boat dock is open and ONLY from the boat dock, free of charge. Boat fees are: Kayaks/$20.00 for 2 hours. Rowboats and Pedal Boats/$15.00 for 1 hour and a half. When the parking fee is in effect, that is $8.00 per vehicle.
The park is located near the Southern State Parkway at Exit 38. Bike and pedestrian entrances exist at several points around the perimeter which are free all year long. Although these entrance points are free, it is illegal to park along the roadway to access them.
Permits may be purchased at the Long Island State Park Headquarters, located on Belmont Avenue at Exit 37N.
The park also contains a bicycle path leading to Argyle Lake in the Village of Babylon.


Sebastiania potamophila

Sebastiania potamophila is a species of flowering plant in the family Euphorbiaceae. It was originally described as "Excoecaria potamophila" in 1874. It is native to Bahia, Brazil.


Acacia pustula

Acacia pustula is a tree belonging to the genus "Acacia" and the subgenus "Phyllodineae" native to north eastern Australia.
Description.
The tree can grow to a height of up to with glabrous dark-reddish coloured branchlets that are angled at extremities. Like most species of "Acacia" it has phyllodes rather than true leaves. The variable, evergreen phyllodes have a linear to narrowly elliptic shape. They have a length of and a width of and are wider on young plants and appear narrower on mature plants and similar to "Acacia angusta". It blooms during the winter from around May to July and it produces racemose inflorescences along an axis of and have spherical flower-heads containing 18 to 25 golden coloured flowers. After flowering thinly coriaceous, mid-brown coloured, linear seed pods form that are linear but slightly raised over seeds. The glabrous pods have a length of up to around and a width of containing longitudinally arranged seeds. The slightly shiny black seeds have an oblong to elliptic shape with a length of with a clavate aril.
Taxonomy.
The specific epithet is Latin in origin and means "blister or pimple-like" in reference to the prominence of the marginal gland on the phyllode.
Distribution.
It is endemic to south eastern Queensland where the bulk of the population is found between Cracow, Condamin, Kingaroy and Eidsvold with scattered smaller populations in the Carnarvon National Park and Salvator Rosa National Park. where it grows in sandy to sandy loam soils over sandstone as a part of open "Eucalyptus" woodland communities.


Vanderbylia vicina

Vanderbylia vicina is a species of poroid fungus in the family Polyporaceae, and the type species of the genus "Vanderbylia".
Taxonomy.
The fungus was originally described by Curtis Gates Lloyd in 1924 as "Polyporus vicinus". Specimens were sent to Lloyd by Paul Andries van der Bijl from collections made in South Africa. Derek Reid transferred the species to the new genus "Vanderbylia" in 1973, in which it is the type species. Cony Decock and Leif Ryvarden proposed a transfer to "Perenniporia" in 1993.
Description.
"Vanderbylia vicina" has a shelf-like, semicircular fruit body that measures up to long, wide, and thick at the base. It has a dimitic hyphal system, with tree-like ("arboriform") skeletal hyphae in the tube tissue. The spores are more or less spherical to obovoid in shape, with dimensions averaging 8.2 by 6.6 μm. They have a dextrinoid reaction with Melzer's reagent, and have a small germ pore opposite the apiculus.
Distribution.
"Vanderbylia vicina" is found in east and southern Africa. Collections have been made in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Ethiopia.


Anthopleura michaelseni

Anthopleura michaelseni, commonly known as the long-tentacled anemone or crevice anemone, is a species of sea anemone in the family Actiniidae. It is native to very shallow water round the coasts of southern Africa between Lüderitz and Durban.
Description.
The long-tentacled anemone is a large anemone of up to 15 cm in diameter. Its column has large sticky pads to which sand and debris particles adhere. On the oral surface, dark stripes run from the mouth to the tentacles. It has 96 long tentacles with small round protrusions (spherules) at their base.
Distribution.
The long-tentacled anemone is found only around the southern African coast from Luderitz to Durban. It lives from the mid-shore and down to 10m in depth. The long-tentacled anemone is often found partially buried in sand in rock crevices.
Ecology.
Sea anemones lack the free-swimming medusal stage of the lifecycle of the typical Cnidarian; the long-tentacled anemone produces eggs and sperm, and the fertilized egg develops into a planula larva which drifts as part of the plankton before settling on the seabed and developing directly into a juvenile sea anemone.*


Frigg gas field

Frigg gas field is a natural gas field on Norwegian block 25/1 in the North Sea, on the boundary between the United Kingdom and Norway. The field is named after the goddess Frigg. King Olav V of Norway officially opened production on 8 May 1978. Production was closed on 26 October 2004. The field is situated northwest of Stavanger. Operator for the field was the French oil company Elf Aquitaine, which merged and changed name to Total S.A.
Operations were regulated according to an agreement between the UK and Norwegian governments called the Frigg Treaty.
Infrastructural changes were made in three phases:
Geology.
The field was discovered at a depth of by the Petronord group (Elf Aquitaine, Total Oil Marine Norsk, and Norsk Hydro) and the Norwegian State in 1971 with Well 25/1-1 using the Semi-submersible Neptune P 81 in of water. The well was located following interpretation of a 15 by 20 km grid of Reflection seismology lines recorded in 1965. A 5 by 5 km finer grid of seismic lines were recorded in 1969, followed by a 1 by 1 km grid in 1973, combined with four appraisal wells determined the field was in area with a gas column in Lower Eocene sandstones forming an abyssal fan in the Viking Structural basin. The fan structure appears on seismic sections as a low relief Anticline that includes a Flat spot caused by the Density contrast of the gas.


Quercus gambleana

Quercus gambleana is a species of tree in the beech family. It has been found in northeastern India and southwestern China (Guizhou, Hubei, Sichuan, Tibet, Yunnan).
"Quercus gambleana" is a tree which grows to tall. Leaves can be as much as .


Juncus leiospermus

Juncus leiospermus is an uncommon species of rush known by the common name Red Bluff dwarf rush. It is endemic to California, where it is known only from the Central Valley and adjacent Sierra Nevada foothills to the east.
Description.
"Juncus leiospermus" is a plant of vernal pools and other wet seasonal depressions in the local habitat. It is a small annual herb forming dense clumps of hairlike reddish brown stems no more than tall. The stems are surrounded by a few thready leaves.
The inflorescence is a single cluster of several reddish flowers atop the small stems.


Proturentomon minimum

Proturentomon minimum is a species of proturan in the family Protentomidae. It is found in Europe and Northern Asia (excluding China).


Mahonia setosa

Mahonia setosa is a shrub in the Berberidaceae described as a species in 1908. It is endemic to China, known from the provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan.


Erigeron petiolaris

Erigeron petiolaris is a species of flowering plant in the daisy family. It is native to northern and central Asia (Siberia, Xinjiang, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan).
"Erigeron petiolaris" a perennial herb up to 28 cm tall, with a short rhizome. It produces flower heads one at a time or in groups of 2 or 3, each head containing pink or white ray florets and yellow disc florets. The species grows in arctic or alpine regions on rocky slopes.


Scholtzia involucrata

Scholtzia involucrata, commonly known as spiked scholtzia, is a shrub species in the family Myrtaceae that is endemic to Western Australia.
The erect, spreading to decumbent shrub typically grows to a height of . The evergreen leaves are in length. It blooms between November and May producing pink-white flowers. Each flower has a diameter of .
The species was first formally described by the botanist George Claridge Druce in 1917 as part of the work "Nomenclatorial Notes: chiefly African and Australian" as published in "The Botanical Exchange Club and Society of the British Isles Report for 1916" There are three known synonyms; "Baeckea obovata", "Scholtzia obovata" and "Baeckea involucrata".
It is found on sand plains and ridges along the west coast in the Wheatbelt and Peel regions of Western Australia where it grows in sandy soils. The plant is part of the understorey in kwongan or "Banksia" woodland communities.


Rio Doce State Park

The Rio Doce State Park () is a state park in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil.
It protects a large remnant of Atlantic Forest, and includes a system of lagoons rich in species of native fish.
Location.
The Rio Doce State Park is in the southwest of Minas Gerais, from Belo Horizonte, in the Vale do Aço region.
It is divided between the municipalities of Marliéria, Dionísio and Timóteo.
It has an area of .
The Doce River forms the eastern boundary of the park, and its tributary the Piracicaba River forms the northern boundary.
The park protects part of the third largest lake system in Brazil after the Amazon and the Pantanal of Mato Grosso.
This is a system of forty natural lagoons including the Lagoa Dom Helvécio, with a depth of up to .
The lake system is at an altitude of .
The lakes are above the river, and are not connected with the river system.
History.
Creation of the park was first suggested in the early 1930s by Dom Helvécio Gomes de Oliveira, Archbishop of Mariana.
After a long campaign, the Rio Doce State Park was created by state decree-law 1.119 of 14 July 1944, the first state-level conservation unit in Minas Gerais.
During the first years the park was not monitored and access was uncontrolled, so the fauna suffered considerably from unrestricted hunting and fishing.
A fire in the dry season destroyed of forest, with 11 deaths.
In the 1970s some tourism infrastructure was established.
A renovation was undertaken from 1986 to 1993, when the park was reopened to visitors.
The park became an administrative unit of the State Forestry Institute (IEF) through law 11.337 of 1993.
As of 2002, when the management plan was issued, 82% of land titles had been acquired by the state.
Environment.
Average annual rainfall is , with a dry period from May to September.
Mean annual temperature is .
The park contains a remnant of Atlantic Forest, mostly seasonal semideciduous forest in various stages of succession.
It is the largest contiguous remnant of Atlantic forest in Minas Gerais, with 1,129 plant species from 134 families.
Trees such as "jequitibá", "garapa", "vinhático" and "sapucaia" are common.
In some places rare specimens such as the "jacarandá-da-baía" and "canela sassafrás" also appear.
The park has rich fauna, including 77 species of mammals in 9 orders, with 7 species of primates.
12 species of mammal are on the national list of endangered species.
325 species of birds have been recorded, including 20 considered endangered.
The lagoons are home to 27 species of fish. 38 species of amphibians have been recorded.
Exotic species of fish such as Tucunaré (Cichla), piranha and oscar ("Astronotus ocellatus") have caused changes to the food chain.
Mammals include the capybara ("Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris"), South American tapir ("Tapirus terrestris"), robust capuchin monkeys, titis, lowland paca ("Cuniculus paca") and common agoutis, and endangered species such as jaguar ("Panthera onca"), solitary tinamou ("Tinamus solitarius") and the southern muriqui ("Brachyteles arachnoides").
Birds species include the glittering-bellied emerald ("Chlorostilbon lucidus"), red-browed amazon ("Amazona rhodocorytha"), dusky-legged guan ("Penelope obscura"), finches and Forbes's blackbird ("Anumara forbesi").
Threats include illegal hunting and fishing, fires, urban sprawl in the municipality of Timóteo and road kill on the Ponte Queimada road.
Visiting.
There were more than 21,000 visitors in 2000.
The park is open for visits Tuesday to Sunday and holidays from 08:00 to 17:00.
There is parking, a camping area, changing rooms, a restaurant, amphitheater, visitor center, research center, plant nursery and environment police post.
The main attraction is the Lagoa Dom Helvécio, also known as Bishop's pond, where visitors can swim, fish, and make boat trips.
There are also hiking trails in the woods.
The Dom Helvécio Lagoon in the southwest of the park is the largest natural lagoon in Brazil.
There is a public beach on the bank of the lagoon at the end of the park road, from the entrance, which may be used for swimming and sports fishing.
It is delimited by a cord of buoys, and has male and female changing rooms.
Lifeguards are on duty on long weekends.
Sports fishing is allowed with limitations, and only earthworms are allowed as live bait.
Kayaks and paddle boats can be rented.
Rowing boats and boats with electric motors can be used to tour the lagoon, but disembarkation is not allowed.


Eremophila cuneifolia

Eremophila cuneifolia, commonly known as pinyuru, is a flowering plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to the north-west of Western Australia. It is a spreading, sticky shrub with wedge-shaped leaves, coloured sepals and usually deep purple flowers.
Description.
"Eremophila cuneifolia" is a spreading shrub growing to a height of between with hairy branches and with branches and leaves that are thickly covered with sticky, shiny resin. The leaves are arranged alternately and clustered near the ends of the stems, mostly long, about wide, wedge-shaped or heart-shaped but with a distinct small point at the tip. They are thick and stiff and the top surface of the leaves is glabrous while the lower surface is hairy.
The flowers are borne singly in leaf axils on hairy stalks long. There are five cream-coloured to pale reddish-purple, slightly overlapping, egg-shaped sepals differing in size from each other but mostly long. The petals are long and joined at their lower end to form a tube. The petal tube is usually deep purple on the outside, sometimes paler, and white inside with purple spots. There are scattered hairs on the outside of the tube and on the lobes but the tube is filled with long, soft hairs. The four stamens are fully enclosed within the tube. Flowering occurs mostly from June to October and is followed by fruits which are oval to cone-shaped, shiny and long.
Taxonomy and naming.
The species was first formally described by Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Kraenzlin in 1929 and the description was published in "Repertorium Specierum Novarum Regni Vegetabilis Beihefte". The type specimen was collected by the explorer Charles Crossland, near Mount Hale on the upper reaches of the Murchison River, about west north west of Meekatharra. The specific epithet ("cuneifolia") is from the Latin words "cuneus" meaning "wedge" and "folium" meaning "a leaf".
Distribution.
Pinyuru occurs between Leonora, Jigalong and Onslow in the Carnarvon, Little Sandy Desert, Central Ranges, Murchison, Pilbara and Gascoyne biogeographic regions. It grows in a range of soils and habitats, often in association with other "Eremophila" species and is sometimes the dominant plant species.
Conservation status.
"Eremophila cuneifolia" is classified as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife.
Use in horticulture.
This is one of the most attractive eremophilas in cultivation with its colourful sepals and deep purple flowers. It is not easy to propagate or to maintain, especially in areas like Sydney where the humidity is high. It is usually propagated by grafting onto "Myoporum" and needs a well-drained soil. Pinyuru is also frost sensitive and for this reason is probably best grown in a container which can be moved as the seasons change.


Folsomia candida

Folsomia candida is a species of springtail in the family Isotomidae. It is found in soil in many locations around the world, having been spread inadvertently by humans. It reproduces by parthenogenesis and has been used as a model organism in research.
Description.
"Folsomia candida" has an unpigmented, slender body up to in length. The head bears a pair of four-segmented antennae and a pair of post-antennal organs but no eyespots. The dorsal part of the first thoracic segment is reduced and the posterior three abdominal segments are fused. The ventral side of the fourth abdominal segment bears a furca, used in jumping, and it is the number of bristles on this organ that distinguishes this species from others in the genus.
Distribution and habitat.
This springtail has been called a "tramp" species as it has spread around the world in soil and in plant pots and its original distribution is unclear. It occurs in mines and caves, and in soils with a high organic content, on farms, in leaf litter in forests and on stream verges.
Ecology.
Populations consist only of females, which reproduce by parthenogenesis. The globular white eggs take about one week to hatch at and three weeks to reach maturity, having moulted five times. Development takes longer at lower temperatures. Adults continue to moult, doing so about 45 times during their lives, including shedding the lining of the midgut. They may live for 110 to 240 days, depending on the temperature, and each may lay about a thousand eggs. The diet consists mainly of the hyphae of fungi including grazing on root mycorrhizae.
Invertebrates living among the soil particles in underground habitats often experience raised levels of carbon dioxide, which tends to increase with depth. Researchers have found that the surface-dwelling springtail "Allacma fusca" can tolerate a 10% level of carbon dioxide for a few hours while in contrast, "Folsomia candida", which lives deeper in the soil, can survive under the same conditions for more than six weeks.
It is unclear whether springtails in soil are on balance beneficial to crops or disadvantageous. In the case of "Folsomia candida", beneficial actions include feeding on plant-pathogenic nematodes and mites.
Use in research.
"Folsomia candida" is easily kept in the laboratory where it can be maintained on granulated baker's yeast. Researchers have developed strains bred from single individuals. It has been used for over forty years to test the effects, on non-target soil invertebrates, of pesticides and soil pollutants. It has also been used as a model organism to investigate many different characteristics including cold tolerance, carbon dioxide tolerance and the effects of its grazing activities on soil fungi and mycorrhizae growing on roots. It has been used to study the processes involved in the decomposition of leaf litter, circadian rhythms, circaseptan (weekly) rhythms, the palatability and nutritious value of different plant residues and species of fungi, the effects on ageing of different environmental conditions, population dynamics and behaviour. Strains have been kept growing in cultures for upwards of five years, and excess individuals can be used as invertebrate food for other organisms kept in the laboratory.


Indjapyx indicus

Indjapyx indicus is a species of forcepstail in the family Japygidae.
Subspecies.
These two subspecies belong to the species "Indjapyx indicus":


Anemone thomsonii

Anemone thomsonii is a low to high (7–70 cm) geophyte with finely divided leaves from the ground, and a stem that carries one flower, which has about twenty sepals, that are white or light pink inside and mostly have a very wide purple stripe at the outside, that belongs to the buttercup family. The species is limited to the highlands of East Africa.
Description.
"Anemone thomsonii" is a geophyte with a short and stout rhizome. The leaves at the base are 3–40 cm, usually totally split into three, each of which is again split into three, and this is repeated a third time so that one leaf is composited of about twenty seven lobes, each of which itself is more or less deeply incised, resulting in narrow segments. The lower surface of the leaves is more or less hairy. The stems are 7–70 cm high and have silky hairs pressed to the surface of the stem, particularly near the tip. The bract is well below the flower, small and ones incised. The only flower at the tip of the stem is 2½–6½ cm in diameter. The sepals are white or white tinged with pink on the inner surface, while the outer surface is often pink, red, or purple. The many, single carpels, and the single-seeded, dry and indehiscent fruits (called achenes), that they develop into, are covered in dense silky hairs. The style is short and hairless, and under 1 mm long when the fruits are ripe.
Taxonomy.
"Anemone thomsonii" was first described by Daniel Oliver in 1885, based on a specimen that was collected by Joseph Thomson during his 1883-1884 mission to Mount Kilimanjaro and the Aberdare Range, and now resides at the Kew Herbarium. There are currently no recognized synonyms.
Etymology.
The species was named to commemorate Joseph Thomson's successful 1883-1884 plant collecting mission.
Distribution.
"Anemone thomsonii" is known from the highlands of East-Africa, including Mount Hanang and the Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, and the Aberdare Range and Mount Kenya in Kenya.


Cyrtopora elegans


Oeceoclades lonchophylla

Oeceoclades lonchophylla is a terrestrial orchid species in the genus "Oeceoclades" that is native to Tanzania, Mozambique, KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, and Comoros. It was first described by the German botanist Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach in 1885 as "Eulophia lonchophylla", then moved to the genus "Eulophidium" by Rudolf Schlechter in 1925 and to the genus "Lissochilus" by Joseph Marie Henry Alfred Perrier de la Bâthie in 1941. It was last transferred to the genus "Oeceoclades" in 1976 by Leslie Andrew Garay and Peter Taylor. Garay and Taylor also reduced the species "Eulophia tainioides" to a synonym of "O. lonchophylla" for lack of distinguishing characteristics that could separate the two species.


Aporocidaris fragilis

Aporocidaris fragilis is a species of sea urchin of the family Ctenocidaridae. It is well-armoured with spines. It is placed in the genus Aporocidaris and lives in the sea. "Aporocidaris fragilis" was first scientifically described in 1907 by Alexander Emanuel Agassiz & Hubert Lyman Clark.
This species is morphologically very similar to "Aporocidaris milleri" and "Aporocidaris antarctica" and they may not be separate species. "Aporocidaris fragilis" is found in the North Pacific Ocean between the Kamchatka Peninsula and Alaska at depths of more than .


Melaleuca chisholmii

Melaleuca chisholmii commonly known as Burra bottlebrush is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to Queensland. It is a shrub with rough bark, an open habit and spiky foliage but in winter has bright red flower spikes tipped with yellow.
Description.
"Melaleuca chisholmii" is a shrub growing to tall with rough, dark grey or fibrous brown bark. Its leaves are arranged alternately and are long, wide, flat, linear to narrow egg-shaped with the narrower end near the base and with the end tapering to a sharp point.
The flowers are arranged in spikes on the ends of branches that continue to grow after flowering. The spikes are up to in diameter and long with ten to thirty individual flowers. The petals are long and fall off as the flower ages. There are 25 to 57 stamens in each flower, with red filaments red yellow anthers. Flowering occurs from May to August and is followed by fruit that are woody capsules, long in cylindrical spikes that remain on the stem for a lengthy period.
Taxonomy and naming.
Burra bottlebrush was first formally described in 1925 by Edwin Cheel, who gave it the name "Callistemon chisholmii" in the "Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales" from a specimen collected on the "western watershed, Thompson River Fall, North Queensland". In 2006 Lyndley Craven changed the name to "Melaleuca chisholmii" in the journal "Novon". (Cheel gave the incorrect spelling "Callistemon chisholmi".) The specific epithet ("chisholmii") honours J.R. Chisholm (1855-1927), a botanical collector who collected the type specimen of this species.
Some Australian state herbaria continue to use the name "Callistemon chisholmii", but "Melaleuca chisholmii" is the accepted name in Queensland. "Callistemon chisholmii" is regarded as a synonym of "Melaleuca chisholmii" by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Distribution and habitat.
This melaleuca occurs in higher areas of central Queensland in woodland and forest near watercourses.
Conservation status.
Burra bottlebrush is listed as of "least concern" under the Queensland Government "Nature Conservation Act 1992".
Use in horticulture.
"Melaleuca chisholmii" is a hardy plant from dry inland areas but has been grown successfully in Townsville.


Eucalyptus badjensis

Eucalyptus badjensis, commonly known as the Big Badja gum, is a tree that is endemic to south-eastern New South Wales. It has hard, rough bark on the lower part of the trunk, smooth grey bark above, often hanging in strips on the upper branches, linear to narrow lance-shaped, often curved adult leaves, green to yellow buds in groups of three in leaf axils, white flowers and conical or bell-shaped fruit.
Description.
"Eucalyptus badjensis" is a tree that grows to a height of and has hard, rough, greyish brown bark near the base of the trunk and smooth grey, green to light brownish or grey bark on the branches and upper part of the trunk. The upper bark is often shed in ribbons. The leaves on young plants and coppice regrowth are lance-shaped, long, wide and lack a petiole. The adult leaves are linear to narrow lance-shaped, long and wide on a petiole long. They are the same dull green colour on both surfaces. The flower buds are arranged in groups of three in leaf axils on an unbranched peduncle long, the individual buds on a pedicel up to long. The mature buds are oval, green to yellow, long and wide with a conical operculum. Flowering occurs in January and the flowers are white. The fruit is a conical or bell-shaped capsule long and wide on a pedicel up to long.
Taxonomy and naming.
"Eucalyptus badjensis" was first formally described in 1924 by Wilfred de Beuzeville and Marcus Welch "at an elevation of about 4,000 feet, three miles south of the Big Badja Mountain". The description was published in "Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales". The specific epithet ("badjensis") is a reference to the distribution of this eucalypt. The ending "-ensis" is a Latin suffix "denoting place, locality [or] country".
Distribution and habitat.
Big Badja gum is found in wet forest, on hills and plateaus on the eastern side of the Southern Tablelands in New South Wales. It grows in soils that are relatively fertile and where the rainfall is high and occurs from Big Badja Hill to Cathcart and Brown Mountain, west of Bega.


Robiquetia gracilistipes

Robiquetia gracilistipes, commonly known as the large pouched orchid, is an epiphytic or lithophytic orchid from the family Orchidaceae that forms large, hanging, straggly clumps. It has long, thick, roots, a single stem, many thick, leathery leaves and up to forty cream-coloured, pale green or brownish flowers with red spots and a three-lobed labellum. It grows on trees and rocks in rainforest, usually in bright light. It is found in Malesia including New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and tropical North Queensland, Australia.
Description.
"Robiquetia gracilistipes" is an epiphytic or lithophytic herb that forms large, straggly hanging clumps. It has thick roots and a pendulous stem, long and about thick. There are many thick, leathery leaves long and wide. Between ten and forty resupinate, cup-shaped, cream-coloured, pale green or brownish flowers with red spots are crowded on a pendulous flowering stem long. The flowers are long, and are fragrant. The sepals and petals are fleshy, oblong to egg-shaped, long and about wide. The labellum is yellow, about long and wide with three lobes. The middle lobe is fleshy, about long with a downturned spur about long. Flowering occurs from March to May.
Taxonomy and naming.
The large pouched orchid was first formally described in 1905 by Rudolf Schlechter who gave it the name "Saccolabium gracilistipes" and published the description in "Die Flora der Deutschen Schutzgebiete in der Sudsee und Nachtrage". In 1912 Johannes Jacobus Smith changed the name to "Robiquetia gracilistipes". The specific epithet ("gracilistipes") is derived from the Latin word "gracilis" meaning "slender" or "thin" and "stipes" meaning "stock", "stem" or "trunk".
Distribution and habitat.
The large pouched orchid grows on trees and rocks in rainforest, usually in strong light. It occurs in Malesia, including New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Queensland, Australia where it is found from the Iron Range to Ingham.


Hoeft State Park

P. H. Hoeft State Park is a public recreation area on the shores of Lake Huron, northwest of Rogers City on US 23 in Presque Isle County, Michigan. The park was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.
History.
Paul H. Hoeft was a local Rogers City lumberman, who acquired parcels of land in the area in the early 1900s. In 1920, soon after the establishment of the Michigan state park system, Hoeft offered to donate land to the state to create a park. At the time the state was also upgrading the main trunkline running through Rogers City - now US23 - and area tourism was on an upswing. Paul H. Hoeft State Park was formally established in 1921. A picnic area was immediately constructed, and substantial development came in 1923 after the US23 improvements were completed. An early campsite loop was developed, and a log and stone bathhouse was constructed. A concrete bandstand and a play area were constructed in 1926-27, and in 1929 a two-story frame house was built for the park manager.
In 1933, additional development was undertaken as part of the Civilian Conservation Corps. CCC workers constructed foot trails, a gravel road, and a garage/workshop. In addition, they implemented an extensive reforestation project, planting over 50,000 seedlings. Over the next few years, the park entrance was moved and a new parking lot was constructed. In addition, water and sewer services were connected to the campground and day use areas. In 1937, the earlier bathhouse was demolished and work began on a new replacement, designed by architect Ralph B. Herrick.
Further infrastructure improvements were made in the 1940s and 1950s, including a new water system, electrical work, and a laundry building. In the 1960s a new campground loop was added, and in the 1970s the campground roads were paved.
Description.
The heavily wooded Hoeft State Park sits on of Lake Huron shoreline and offers 144 campsites along with of hiking trails, hunting, playgrounds, a picnic pavilion and a lodge. The Huron Sunrise Trail bicycle path connects the park to Rogers City and the 40 Mile Lighthouse county park.
The day use area contains a parking lot and beach with an associated picnic and play area, and a picnic shelter/bathhouse. The picnic shelter is situated just off of the beach and was erected in the late 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. With its open beam construction, split rock foundation, large floor, fireplace and separate changing rooms this pavilion offers facilities for a family picnic or family reunion.
The campground consists of two loops. The westernmost contains the original 66 campsites constructed in the 1920s. A 1930s CCC landscaping plan gives these sites plenty of shade. In the 1960s, additional campsites were constructed on the western loop, and an eastern loop added, giving the campground 76 new campsites. The campground has a 1937-38 toilet building sided with clapboard on a stone foundation. A second toilet building was constructed in 1962.
The Park Ranger cabin originally purchased from a Sears and Roebuck catalog in 1929 was the home of the park caretaker until its retirement in 2006. It has since been reopened as a year-round lodge that sleeps eight people and offers modern amenities such as electricity, bathrooms and a kitchen.
Activities and amenities.
The park offers swimming, a four-and-half-mile hiking trail, cross-country skiing, picnicking, campgrounds, and lodge. A trail connects the park to the Huron Sunrise Trail which parallels Lake Huron from Rogers City to the 40 Mile Lighthouse.


Brenneria salicis

Brenneria salicis is a Gram-negative bacterium that is pathogenic on plants.
The bacterium is known to cause 'watermark disease' in willow ("Salix" ssp.) trees. Watermark disease affects infected trees by occluding the xylem vessels, impeding circulation. Early signs of the disease are wilting or dried-out, dead leaves on intermittent branches throughout the tree's crown. Cross sections from affected branches show a watery, transparent discoloration to an orange-brown staining in the wood. Cross sections of a killed tree's main stem are blanched completely white.
The white willow, "S. alba", is very sensitive to watermark disease, while the crack willow, "S. fragilis", is considerably less so. Hybrids of these two species have shown intermediate sensitivity.
Host and symptoms.
The only known susceptible host of watermark disease are trees of the genus "Salix", or willows. Watermark disease typically occurs in willow in lowland areas, but has been observed in mountainous areas of Japan as well. "Salix alba", white willow in Europe, has been shown to be particularly susceptible to watermark disease and is the host on which most observations of watermark disease have been made.
Symptoms of watermark disease include wilting and browning of stems. Infected branches and trunks can be identified by red-brown staining in the sapwood that is restricted to the outer most rings. More severe symptoms include death of the entire tree. Shoot development from infected branches usually results in the spread of the pathogen onto these shoots. An identifiable sign of the casual pathogen is oozing of "Brenneria salicis" from wounded, stained wood. The pathogen is capable of infecting plant matter without creating symptoms as well.
Signs and symptoms of watermark disease caused by "Brenneria salicis" are summarized in the following table.
Pathogenesis.
"Brenneria salicis" infects the xylem of its host. Studies using large amounts of inoculum released from infected hosts reveal that the bacteria do not readily infect other hosts. Experimental attempts at inoculation have resulted in only 10% of hosts successfully developing symptoms. Culturing "Brenneria salicis" has shown to be difficult, further complicating the study of the pathogen.
"Brenneria salicis" has a long incubation period prior to the development of symptoms. The presence of the pathogen on foliage during this latent phase does not mean infection, and willows with "Brenneria salicis" present in the latent phase may never develop symptoms. As with most bacterial plant pathogens, the bacteria require a wound or opening such as stomata to enter the plant.
Like many bacterial pathogens, "Brenneria salicis" is naturally dispersed in air and water. There is no evidence of the spread of the pathogen through insect vectors or seeds. The propagation of willows vegetatively reveal infection in young (one to three years old) willow trees, suggesting the pathogen can survive latently in propagating material.
After emerging from its latent phase, branches will wilt and turn reddish-brown as the bacteria colonize the xylem. Bacterial colonies occlude xylem vessels, impeding circulation. The spread of the pathogen continues within the xylem, and the infection will transfer hosts with wounding or propagation of infected material.
Management.
Watermark disease was first investigated in cultivated willows in England and is common among "Salix alba" of Europe in lowlands; however, the disease has also been observed at elevation in Japan. Inoculation studies have suggested that climate is a key factor, yet differences between known environments suggest more research is needed to understand the environmental range of "Brenneria salicis".
The most effective form of management of watermark disease is the removal of infected willow trees. Laws in certain communities that use willow commercially for cricket bats require the removal of infected trees. It is recommended to look for symptoms between May and October. If symptoms are present it is recommended that the trees are felled, and the plant matter is destroyed by burning. There are no known clones of willow tree that are resistant or immune to the disease. Breeding for resistance is not a control method that is employed due to the limited incidence and impact of watermark disease.


Eucalyptus rodwayi

Eucalyptus rodwayi, commonly known as the swamp peppermint, is a species of small to medium-sized tree that is endemic to Tasmania. It has rough, fibrous to flaky bark on the trunk and branches, narrow lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of between seven and eleven, white flowers and conical to hemispherical fruit.
Description.
"Eucalyptus rodwayi" is a tree that typically grows to a height of and forms a lignotuber. It has rough, greyish fibrous or flaky bark on the trunk and branches. Young plants and coppice regrowth have lance-shaped to elliptical leaves long and wide. Adult leaves are the same shade of glossy green on both sides, narrow lance-shaped or curved, long and wide, tapering to a petiole long. The flower buds are arranged in groups of seven, nine or eleven on a peduncle long, the individual flowers on pedicels long. Mature buds are oval to diamond-shaped, long and wide with a conical operculum about equal in length to the floral cup. Flowering occurs between December and March and the flowers are white. The fruit is a conical to hemispherical capsule long and wide with the valves near rim level.
Taxonomy and naming.
"Eucalyptus rodwayi" was first formally described in 1902 by Richard Thomas Baker and Henry George Smith in their book "A research on the eucalypts of Tasmania and their essential oils". The specific epithet ("rodwayi") honours Leonard Rodway for his contribution to botanical research in Tasmania.
Distribution and habitat.
Swamp peppermint grows in poorly-drained areas in valleys from the central plateau to the east coast of Tasmania.


Union Gas

Union Gas was a major Canadian natural gas company based in Ontario. Its distribution arm serviced approximately 1.5 million customers in northern, southwestern and eastern Ontario. Union Gas has been a subsidiary of Enbridge since February 2017, when former parent Spectra Energy merged into Enbridge.
Union Gas Limited and Enbridge Gas Distribution merged under the corporate name Enbridge Gas Inc. on January 1, 2019. Enbridge has since begun to gradually phase out the Union Gas name in favour of its corporate brand.
In addition to natural gas service, Union Gas formerly rented gas-powered water heaters to residential customers; this operation was separated into a sister company, Union Energy, in 1999. Union Energy was acquired by outside interests in 2001, and is now known as Reliance Home Comfort.


Dendrobium maidenianum

Dendrobium maidenianum, commonly known as the coastal burr orchid, is an epiphytic or lithophytic orchid in the family Orchidaceae and is endemic to tropical North Queensland, Australia. It has a single thin, dark green leaf on a thin stem and one or two small white flowers that self-pollinate. It grows on trees and rocks in shady rainforest.
Description.
"Dendrobium maidenianum" is an epiphytic or lithophytic herb that usually forms small clumps. It has a flattened stem, long and wide with a single fleshy, dark green leaf long and wide. There is a single, sometimes two white flowers wide with fleshy, hair-like tubercles about long on the ovary. The dorsal sepal is about long, wide and the lateral sepals are about long and wide. The petals are about long and less than wide. The labellum is about long and wide. Flowering occurs between January and July but the flowers are short-lived and self-pollinated.
Taxonomy and naming.
"Dendrobium maidenianum" was first formally described in 1905 by Rudolf Schlechter in Schumann and Lauterbach's book "Nachträge zur Flora der deutschen Schutzgebiete in der Südsee". Schlechter noted that the forms of "Dendrobium hispidum" from northern Australia are different from those of Vanikoro in having "small white or female flowers" and gave them the name "D. maidenianum" in honor of the director of the Botanic Garden in Sydney, who at that time was Joseph Maiden.
The World Checklist of Selected Plant Families gives the year of description as 1912, referring to "Repertorium specierum novarum regni vegetabilis. Beihefte.", but in that journal, published in 1914, Schlechter refers to the 1905 publication.
Distribution and habitat.
The coastal burr orchid is endemic to tropical North Queensland, Australia. It grows on trees and rocks, usually in shady places in rainforest in coastal and near-coastal ranges at altitudes up to .


Aechmea victoriana

Aechmea victoriana is a plant species in the genus "Aechmea".
This bromeliad is endemic to the State of Espírito Santo and to the Atlantic Forest biome ("Mata Atlantica Brasileira"), located in southeastern Brazil.


Alloxylon pinnatum

Alloxylon pinnatum, known as Dorrigo waratah, is a tree of the family Proteaceae found in warm-temperate rainforest of south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales in eastern Australia. It has shiny green leaves that are either pinnate (lobed) and up to long, or lanceolate (spear-shaped) and up to long. The prominent pinkish-red flower heads, known as inflorescences, appear in spring and summer; these are made up of 50 to 140 individual flowers arranged in corymb or raceme. These are followed by rectangular woody seed pods, which bear two rows of winged seeds.
Known for many years as "Oreocallis pinnata", it was transferred to the new genus "Alloxylon" by Peter Weston and Mike Crisp in 1991. This genus contains the four species previously classified in "Oreocallis" that are found in Australasia. Its terminal globular flowers indicate that the species is pollinated by birds. Classified as "near threatened" under the Queensland Nature Conservation Act 1992, the Dorrigo waratah has proven difficult to keep alive in cultivation.
Description.
The Dorrigo waratah is a rainforest tree that reaches high, with a non-buttressed trunk of diameter at breast height (dbh). The bark is greyish brown and covered in many small pimples, rendering it sandpaper-like in texture. The green foliage consists of several distinct juvenile and adult leaf forms, which are arranged alternately along the stems. Juvenile leaves are light green and at first simple, with a single blade. Successive leaves on more mature plants become more complex, or pinnate, with deep lobes; these leaves are up to long with 2–11 leaflets. Some adult leaves are simple—with a single lanceolate leaf blade—and up to long; these are generally located near the flower heads. Among the green foliage there are occasional yellow leaves. New branchlets and leaves are covered in brown hair.
The pinkish-red compound flowerheads, known as inflorescences, are up to 20 cm (8 in) across in spring to summer, and contain between 50 and 140 smaller flowers, arranged in a corymb or raceme. These individual flowers are long and sit atop stalks (known as pedicels) up to in length, which arise in pairs off the main stalk within the inflorescence. Each flower consists of a tubular perianth, which partly splits along one side at anthesis to release the thick style. The stigma is contained within a slanting disc-like structure at the tip of the style. The tubular perianth splits into four segments at its tip, and the anther lies in the concave parts within each of these segments. The flower parts are smooth and hairless. The pollen is crimson. After flowering, the long woody seedpod develops. Cylindrical in shape, it splits down one side to release the seeds, which are ripe from February to June. They are arranged in two rows, with at least four seeds in each row. Each seed is separated from the others by a membranous separator, and has a long rectangular wing, which is much longer than the seed itself.
The Dorrigo waratah can be distinguished from other members of the genus "Alloxylon" by its pinnate adult leaves. This feature serves to differentiate it as other species in the genus have simple adult leaves. The other species have inflorescences with fewer flowers (50 maximum), and have yellow pollen.
Taxonomy.
First described as a variety of what was then known as "Embothrium wickhamii" by Joseph Maiden and Ernst Betche in 1911 after a collection by J.L.Boorman, the Dorrigo waratah was raised to species status and reclassified as "Oreocallis pinnata" by Dutch botanist Hermann Otto Sleumer in 1954. The Australian members of the genus "Oreocallis" were recognised as markedly distinct from the South American species, which saw them allocated to the new genus "Alloxylon". Hence, "Oreocallis pinnata" was given the new combination "Alloxylon pinnatum" in 1991 by Peter Weston and Mike Crisp of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney. The species name refers to the pinnate leaves. Aside from Dorrigo waratah, it has also been called the Dorrigo oak, red silky oak, tree waratah, pink silky oak, red oak, Queensland waratah, and waratah oak. The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek "allo-", meaning "other" or "strange", and "xylon", meaning "wood". It refers to the genus's unusual cell architecture compared with the related genera "Telopea" and "Oreocallis".
"A. pinnatum" and the other three tree waratah species lie in the subtribe Embothriinae, along with the true waratahs ("Telopea"), "Oreocallis" and the Chilean firetree ("Embothrium coccineum") from South America. Almost all these species have red flowers that are terminal (arising at the ends of branches), and hence the subtribe's origin and floral appearance most likely predates the splitting of the supercontinent Gondwana into Australia, Antarctica, and South America over 60 million years ago. The position, colour and tubular shape of the flowers suggest that they are bird-pollinated, and have been so since the radiation of nectar-feeding birds such as honeyeaters in the Eocene. "Triporopollenites ambiguus" is an ancient member of the proteaceae known only from pollen deposits, originally described from Eocene deposits in Victoria. The fossil pollen closely resembles that of the Tasmanian waratah ("Telopea truncata"), "A. pinnatum" and "Oreocallis grandiflora". Cladistic analysis of morphological features within the Embothriinae showed "A. pinnatum" to be the earliest offshoot within the genus and sister to the other three species. Along with members of other genera in the Embothriinae, "A. pinnatum" has crimson pollen, while the other three "Alloxylon" species have yellow pollen. Hence the ancestral pollen colour was likely red, and remained so with the emergence of the genus "Alloxylon", yet changed to yellow after the divergence of "A. pinnatum".
Distribution and habitat.
The Dorrigo waratah is found in warm-temperate rainforest from altitudes of along the McPherson Range in south-east Queensland and the Dorrigo Plateau in northern New South Wales, with dominant tree species such as coachwood ("Ceratopetalum apetalum") and Antarctic beech ("Lophozonia moorei"). In Queensland it is associated with golden sassafras ("Doryphora sassafras") and native crabapple ("Schizomeria ovata"). It commonly grows on southern aspects of hills and slopes.
Conservation status.
The Dorrigo waratah is classified as 3RCa under the Rare or Threatened Australian Plant (ROTAP) criteria for threatened species, and listed as "near threatened" under the Queensland Nature Conservation Act 1992. The flowers are visited by the rare Richmond birdwing butterfly ("Ornithoptera richmondia"), which occurs in the same region. In 2016, the Dorrigo waratah was one of eleven species selected for the Save a Species Walk campaign in April 2016; scientists walked to raise money for collection of seeds to be prepared and stored at the Australian PlantBank at the Australian Botanic Garden, Mount Annan. Protected areas it grows in in New South Wales include Bellinger River National Park and Dorrigo National Park.
Cultivation.
The bright, prominently displayed flowers and bird-attracting properties of the Dorrigo waratah make it a desirable garden plant. It reaches only about in cultivation, but has proven difficult to grow. The Dorrigo waratah has been successfully cultivated at the Australian National Botanic Gardens in Canberra in a sheltered position in part-shade with a thick layer of mulch. It is propagated most easily by seed, which is ripe from February to June and keeps for around twelve months. Seedlings often perish when they reach high, and are difficult to transplant. It has also been grown at Mount Tomah Botanic Garden, where it was noted to be exacting in its requirements, needing very good drainage as well as a sheltered location to survive. It is slow growing; specimens planted in 1989 have been flowering since 1999. The considerably easier to grow Queensland tree waratah ("A. flammeum") has been considered as a stock plant for grafting. The pinkish red timber has been used for making cabinets and furniture. It is soft and light, weighing 500 kg (1100 lb) per cubic metre. The cut flowers have a long vase life.


Notocrinus virilis

Notocrinus virilis is a marine invertebrate, a species of crinoid or feather star in the family Notocrinidae. It is found in deep water in the Southern Ocean around the coasts of Antarctica and adjacent islands. A sea snail sometimes parasitizes it.
Description.
"Notocrinus virilis" is a robust, stalkless crinoid with ten arms (five arms, each subdivided into two) up to long. There are five deep radial pits on the centro-dorsal axis of the disc, forming a "radial star". There are fewer than fifty cirri at the base of the calyx. The pinnules that extend from either side of the arms are relatively short and are circular in cross section. The gonads are on the lower pinnules and there are brood pouches between these pinnules and the arms. This crinoid is dark red in colour, a colour that is already becoming apparent in the late stage, stalked larvae.
Distribution and habitat.
Endemic to the Southern Ocean waters around Antarctica, "N. virilis" probably has a circumpolar distribution. It is known from the Antarctic Peninsula, the South Orkney Islands, the Enderby Land, the Adélie Land, the Balleny Islands and the Ross Sea. Its depth range is between .
Ecology.
This species can crawl around using its cirri and can also use them to climb to an elevated position in which to feed. Like all crinoids, it is a filter feeder, spreading its arms and pinnules widely to catch plankton and small particles of detritus from the water flowing past. The sexes are separate, and females brood their young in their brood pouches; the larvae may reach in length before being expelled from the pouch and falling to the sea bed, to which they will anchor themselves.
In early deep sea research, organisms were dredged up from the sea bed but during the trawl, any link between one species and another was often lost. More recently, it has been discovered that "N. virilis" often has a gastropod mollusc, "Bathycrinicola tumidula", attached to it, the first time a snail from this family has been associated with a crinoid. Research in 2007 by Schiaparelli showed that "B. tumidula" is parasitic on "N. virilis", and no other Antarctic crinoids have been found to act as hosts to the mollusc. Some of the parasitic snails were found to have inserted their proboscises between ossicles near the base of the crown while others were attached between calcareous plates on the arms.


Anderson Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area

Anderson Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area is an Illinois state park on in Fulton County, Illinois, United States. A small part at the southern end extends into Schuyler County. Anderson Lake is located in the area.


Trichophyton verrucosum

Trichophyton verrucosum, commonly known as the cattle ringworm fungus, is a dermatophyte largely responsible for fungal skin disease in cattle, but is also a common cause of ringworm in donkeys, dogs, goat, sheep, and horses. It has a worldwide distribution, however human infection is more common in rural areas where contact with animals is more frequent, and can cause severe inflammation of the afflicted region. "Trichophyton verrucosum" was first described by Emile Bodin in 1902.
Growth and morphology.
"Trichophyton verrucosum" is very slow-growing compared to other dermatophytes. In culture, it is characterized by being flat, white/cream colour, having an occasional dome, with a glabrous texture, known as the variant "album", however other variations are also found: "T. verrucosum" var. "ochraceum" has a flat, yellow, glabrous colony; "T. verrucosum" var. "discoides" has a gray-white, flat, and tomentose colony; and "T. verrucosum" var. "autotrophicum" is rarely seen and is associated with sheep. Under a microscope, macronidia are rare, and have a rat-tail or string bean shape, while micronidia are tear-shaped and have been only observed in laboratories when grown under enriched conditions. It lacks a teleomorph (sexual) stage. At 37 °C (the only dermatophyte with an optimum growth temperature this high), chlamydospores become thick-walled and found in long chains. Macronidia are more commonly produced on BCP-milk solids-yeast extract agar, and only on colonies over 7 days old. Under refrigeration, it will die. Regions infected with "T. verrucosum" will fluoresce under a blacklight in cattle, but not in humans.
Epidemiology and pathology.
Infections in cattle.
"Trichophyton verrucosum" is thought to have evolved from a soil-dwelling ancestor that migrated to its contemporary cattle host, losing many features that it previously required for survival in soil habitats through genetic drift, including vitamin prototrophy, urease activity, and the ability to perforate hair. Infection is characterized by 10–50 mm patches of hair loss, desquamation, and formation of thick crusts. "Trichophyton verrucosum" is endemic in cattle, and almost exclusively the fungus that is isolated from cattle with ringworm, with younger cattle being more prone to infection due to their skin having higher pH, and having weaker immune systems.
The disease is important economically, as it can spoil milk, meat, and leather quality of cattle. Infection in cattle peaks in fall and winter in overcrowded and cramped cattle-housing. Transmission can occur directly through contact between sick and healthy animals, and indirectly through fomites that can be viable for up to 4 years. Rearing cattle together with other ruminants, such as sheep, may increase prevalence of infection due to ruminants being able to roam free, spreading the infection. One study in Italy of 20 farms and 294 cattle found all farms contained infected cattle, with prevalence within farms ranging between 25-100%. In contrast, immunization has eradicated "T. verrucosum" from herds in Eastern Germany and by 2012 only two herds in Norway were affected. The LTF-130 vaccine was developed in the early 1970s by a team led by Lyubov Yablochnik and A. K. Sarkisov at the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Experimental Veterinary Medicine.
Infections in humans.
While distribution is worldwide, "T. verrucosum" and other zoophilic dermatophytes are the most frequently isolated fungi from skin lesions in Southern Europe and the Middle East ("T. rubrum", a dermatophyte that more commonly infects humans, is the most prevalent in other regions). Infection to humans is largely zoonotic, and can be transmitted through direct contact or bites, but there have also been recorded cases of laboratory acquired infection, and needlestick injury during vaccination. Contact with horse blankets and cattle posts can also cause infection, and "T. verrucosum" has also been isolated from flies, although it is unknown whether flies can serve as vectors of transmission. The majority of infections are occupational, and this includes agricultural workers, veterinarians, stockyard workers, and grain handlers (infection can also be transmitted human-to-human, thus family members of these workers are also at risk). Infection of the hair is ectothrix, and can cause tinea capitis (with potential for kerions and irreversible scarring and alopecia), as well as tinea corporis, tinea manuum, tinea barbae, and tinea profunda. It is the most common cause of tinea barbae in man. A vaccine exists for both cattle and humans, and combined with hygienic practices has led to a decline in cases. It has also been observed that recurrent infections do not occur. Treatment can include oral terbinafine, fluconazole, or griseofulvin; topical treatment is also possible, however it requires more time and may have lower rates of compliance, proving to be less effective.
Isolation and identification.
In preparing samples for diagnosis, a scraping of the skin from the active border of infection is taken, and is inoculated directly onto the test medium. "Trichophyton verrucosum" is auxotrophic for inositol and thiamine, and as such can be distinguished from other dermatophytes by observing strong growth on Trichophyton agar 3 (a medium rich in thiamine and inositol) and none to weak growth on Trichophyton agars 1 and 2 (deficient in these nutrients). It will also grow on Sabouraud agar, but only with the addition of yeast extract (which provides the inositol and thiamine it requires). In Bromocresol purple (BCP) milk solids glucose agar, a medium used to distinguish the dermatophytes from bacteria and other organisms by evaluating ammonium production during proteolysis, "T. verrucosum" produces a weakly alkaline result (faint purple) and clearing of milk solids with a characteristic halo on the periphery. Negative test results occur for the urease test, hair perforation test, and casamino acids erythritol albumin agar. In conjunction to physiological tests, contact with cattle should also be used as a criterion due to the zoophilic and occupational nature of the disease. Otherwise, misdiagnosis as pyoderma or bacterial folliculitis can occur, with the prescribed antibacterial treatment having no effect. Indeed, one study found that people infected with "T. verrucosum" had to visit a physician on average of 2.5 times, with 25 days elapsing, before a proper diagnosis was obtained. This may lead to an underestimation of the true number of cases, as many people will recover from the disease before obtaining a proper diagnosis. Looking at the stratum corneum under a microscope may also aid in diagnosis, which is done by adding 10% KOH solution and a Periodic acid-Schiff stain. Swollen chlamydospores 5-10 μm in diameter will appear outside the hair shaft, while skin samples will have swollen spores mixed with dermatophyte filaments.


Eucalyptus confluens

Eucalyptus confluens, commonly known as Kimberley gum, is a species of small tree that is endemic to northern Australia. It has smooth, powdery white bark, lance-shaped adult leaves, more or less spherical flower buds in groups of seven, white flowers and cup-shaped to hemispherical fruit. It grows in the Kimberley region of Western Australia and in adjacent areas of the Northern Territory.
Description.
"Eucalyptus confluens" is a tree that typically grows to a height of and forms a lignotuber. It has smooth, powdery, white over pale pink bark throughout. Young plants and coppice regrowth have stems that are more or less square in cross-section, and broadly egg-shaped to almost round, dull green leaves that are long and wide. The 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 on a peduncle long, the individual buds sessile or on a very short pedicel. Mature buds are oval to almost spherical, long and wide with a rounded to conical operculum. Flowering occurs between February and March and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody cup-shaped to hemispherical capsule long and wide with the valves level with or slightly raised above the rim.
Taxonomy and naming.
"Eucalyptus confluens" was first formally described in 1916 by Joseph Maiden from an incomplete description by William Vincent Fitzgerald. The specific epithet ("confluens") is a Latin word meaning "place where two streams meet", referring to the arrangement of the leaf veins.
"Eucalyptus confluens" is similar in appearance two other white gums within its area of occurrence, "E. brevifolia" and "E. gregoriensis".
Distribution and habitat.
Kimberley gum is found in two disjunct populations in the Kimberley region of Western Australia and adjacent areas of the Northern Territory. One population grows on the Wunaamin Miliwundi Ranges and the other in the Lake Argyle area on the Western Australia-Northern Territory border. It is often found on rocky hillsides or ridges growing in sandy stony soils over sandstone, granite or quartzite.


Benxi Steel Group

Benxi Steel Group Corp., Ltd. known as Benxi Steel Group (or Bengang in China) is a Chinese holding company based in Benxi, Liaoning Province, for two steel making group.
The company was formed in 2010 as the holding company for Benxi Iron and Steel (Group) Co., Ltd. () and Beitai Iron and Steel (Group) Co., Ltd. (), the latter now known as Benxi Beiying Iron and Steel (Group) Co., Ltd. ().
According to World Steel Association (Chinese companies data was provided by China Iron and Steel Association), the corporation was ranked the 21st in 2015 the world ranking by production volume.
It was owned by State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of Liaoning Provincial People's Government.
History.
In 1905, after the Russo-Japanese War, Liaoning fall under the sphere of influence of Japan. Japanese Okura Kihachiro opened a coal mine in Benxi. After the protest of Qing Government, it became a Sino-Japanese joint venture in 1910 (as ). In the next year the company added "Iron" in the denomination (as ). After the Mukden Incident, the company was under sole Japanese control until the end of World War II. During Chinese Civil War, in 1948 the company and Liaoning fall under Communist Party of China controls. In 1953, the coal mine was separated from the company as Benxi Mining Bureau. (now part of Shenyang Coal Industry) The steel refinery was also modified under the aid of Soviet Union as 1 of of the First Five-year plan of China. It was one of the 512 important state-owned enterprises in 1997. (1 of 47 iron and steel insudtry)
In 2005 a merger between Benxi Iron and Steel and Anshan Iron & Steel Group Corporation was announced but never materialized. In 2010 a new holding company was formed to takeover "Benxi Iron and Steel" and "Beitai Iron and Steel", located in Beitai, a town in Pingshan District, Benxi. The latter was owned by SASAC of Benxi City, but was transferred to Liaoning SASAC in order to finalize the merger.
See history of Benxi Steel Group since foundation.
Subsidiaries.
Bengang Steel Plates, a subsidiary of Benxi Iron and Steel, is a listed company in Shenzhen Stock Exchange (). As at 7 November 2016, Bengang Steel Plates was a constituent of SZSE 1000 Index (top 1000 companies by capitalization) and SZSE 700 Sub-Index (the 301st to 1,000th companies by capitalization), but not a constituent of SZSE Component Index (top 500 companies by capitalization), making the listed company was ranked between the 501st to 1000th by free float adjusted market capitalization.


Taraxacum platycarpum

Taraxacum platycarpum, also called the Korean dandelion, is a species of dandelion that grows in Korea.
A member of the Cichorieae tribe of the Asteraceae, it also grows in other countries as a native plant, such as China and Japan.


Ceanothus sonomensis

Ceanothus sonomensis, with the common name Sonoma ceanothus, is a rare species of shrub in the family Rhamnaceae. It is endemic to northern California.
Description.
The "Ceanothus sonomensis" shrub is erect in form, approaching a maximum height of one meter. The flat evergreen leaves are oppositely arranged, each oval to rounded in shape with spiny teeth along the edges. They are shiny green on top, paler and fuzzy on the undersides. The inflorescence is a small cluster of blue or lavender flowers, and the fruit is a ridged, horned capsule about half a centimeter long.
Distribution.
"Ceanothus sonomensis" is known only from the Hood Mountain Range. Most of its 10 or so occurrences are located in Sonoma County, and one remains in Napa County. "Ceanothus sonomensis" is a member of the chaparral plant community in the California montane chaparral and woodlands sub-ecoregion.


Hieracium radyrense

Radyr hawkweed is the common name of "Hieracium radyrense", a very rare endemic species restricted to Radyr in south Wales, UK. First identified in 1907 it was described as a variety in 1948 and a species in 1955. and belongs to "Hieracium" section "Vulgata". It has rarely been seen and surveys between 1998 and 2004 indicate that only one population of about 25 plants survives.
A polycarpic perennial, Radyr hawkweed flowers from late May to early June or July. Specimens found at Danybryn in Radyr grew on a grassy bank and lawn under the partial shade of trees and shrubs.
Identification.
The main features are broadly ovate-lanceolate, acute basal rosette leaves, with diagnostic marked teeth on the rosette leaves and dense stellate hairs on the involucral bracts. With two or three acuminate stem leaves irregularly and sharply toothed, these are laciniate dentate towards the base. The ligules are hairy at the apex.


Yuchengia narymica


Claytonia saxosa

Claytonia saxosa, known by the common name Brandegee's springbeauty, is a species of wildflower in the family Montiaceae.
Distribution.
The wildflower is endemic to northern California and southern Oregon.
In northern California it is located on serpentine soils.
In Oregon it is located in three places on basalt soils in the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in southern Oregon. It is found on rocky open slopes at mid to high elevations.
Description.
"Claytonia saxosa" is a small, compact annual herb forming clumps a few centimeters wide in rock crevices. Serpentinite is the favored geologic substrate of this species. The leaves are small, with fleshy spatulate blades. The basal leaves and flowering stems are pink or red in color, packed densely together about the short stem that surmounts a minute, tuberous caudex. The chromosome number of the species is 2n = 16.
Two to ten flowers emerge from the clump, each with five light pink petals under a centimeter long. The bloom period is March to May.


Boronia keysii

Boronia keysii, commonly known as Keys boronia, is a flowering plant that is endemic to Queensland in Australia. It is a sprawling shrub with thin stems, hairy young shoots, pinnate leaves and pink, four-petalled flowers over a long period.
Description.
"Boronia keysii" is an open, thin-stemmed, sprawling shrub that typically grows to a height and width of about . The young stems are covered with brownish, star-shaped hairs. It has pinnate leaves with a single, or three, five or seven leaflets long, wide in outline. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs and lack a petiole. The leaflets are elliptic to lance-shaped, the end leaflet long and wide and longer than the side leaflets. The flowers are arranged in groups of between three and six on a peduncle long, the individual flowers on a pedicel long. The four sepals are egg-shaped to triangular, long with a hairy back. The four petals are deep rose pink to white, long and and hairy on the back. There are eight stamens with the four nearest the sepals slightly long than the four near the petals. Flowering occurs throughout the year but mostly from May to November. The fruit is a capsule long and wide containing four black seeds.
Taxonomy and naming.
"Boronia keysii" was first formally described in 1926 by Karel Domin from specimens collected by James Keys at Lake Cootharaba in 1909. The description was published in the journal "Bibliotheca Botanica" published in Stuttgart under the heading "Beitrage zur Flora und Pflanzengeographie Australiens" (Contributions to the Flora and Plant Geography of Australia). The specific epithet ("keysii") honours the collector of the type specimen.
Distribution and habitat.
Key's boronia is usually found in the ecotone between forest and heath and commonly as an understorey species in open forest. It is only known from the Cooloola region near Lake Cootharaba.
Conservation.
"Boronia keysii" is listed as "vulnerable" under the Australian Government Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and the Queensland Government Nature Conservation Act 1992. The main threats to the species include changes to the water table, inappropriate fire regimes and invasion by exotic pines from nearby plantations.


Hypogastruridae

Hypogastruridae is a family of springtails. Members of the family are common and widespread with a cosmopolitan distribution of about 660 species in about 40 genera.
Selected genera.
These 43 genera belong to the family Hypogastruridae:


Melaleuca polandii

Melaleuca polandii, commonly known as gold-tipped bottlebrush, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic a small area in far northern Queensland in Australia. (Some Australian state herbaria continue to use the name "Callistemon polandii".) It is a dense shrub with bronze-coloured, hairy new growth and spikes of red flowers tipped with yellow.
Description.
"Melaleuca polandii" is a shrub growing to high. Its leaves are arranged alternately and are long, wide, flat, narrow egg-shaped and tapering to a point. The leaves have a distinct mid-vein and 19 to 25 lateral veins. The young leaves and branches are covered with fine, silky hairs.
The flowers are bright red and are arranged in spikes on the ends of branches that continue to grow after flowering and sometimes in the upper leaf axils. The spikes are in diameter. The petals are long, fall off as the flower ages and there are 35-50 stamens in each flower. Flowering occurs from late winter to summer, sometimes in other months and is followed by fruit that are woody capsules, long.
Taxonomy and naming.
"Melaleuca polandii" was first named in 2006 by Lyndley Craven in Novon when "Callistemon polandii" was transferred to the present genus. "Callistemon polandii" was first formally described in 1902 by Frederick Manson Bailey from a specimen collected in "Bloomfield River [by] Rev. W. Poland". The specific epithet ("polandii") honours Wilhelm Poland, a missionary at Wujal Wujal (formerly the Bloomfield River Mission).
"Callistemon polandii" is regarded as a synonym of "Melaleuca polandii" by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Distribution and habitat.
This melaleuca occurs in the Cape Flattery and Cooktown districts of Queensland where it grows in dense wallum heath in sandy or peaty soils.
Use in horticulture.
"Melaleuca polandii" is a hardy shrub, suitable for warm coastal areas. It is useful as a screen or hedge but is known to damage wastewater pipes.


Sinofranchetia chinensis


Archidendron lovelliae

Archidendron lovelliae, the Bacon wood or Tulip siris, is a small tree with a very restricted range in eastern Australia.
The bacon wood stands about 5 meters tall and has a rounded habit. Flowers are red, and the black seeds are contained in orange pods. Leaves are bipinnate.


Carolina parakeet

The Carolina parakeet ("Conuropsis carolinensis"), or Carolina conure, is an extinct species of small green neotropical parrot with a bright yellow head, reddish orange face and pale beak that was native to the eastern, Midwest and plains states of the United States. It was the only indigenous parrot within its range, as well as one of only three parrot species native to the United States (the others being the thick-billed parrot, now extirpated, and the green parakeet still present in Texas; a fourth parrot species, the red-crowned amazon, is debated). It was found from southern New York and Wisconsin to Kentucky, Tennessee and the Gulf of Mexico, from the Atlantic seaboard to as far west as eastern Colorado. It lived in old-growth forests along rivers and in swamps. It was called "puzzi la née" ("head of yellow") or "pot pot chee" by the Seminole and "kelinky" in Chickasaw. Though formerly prevalent within its range, the bird had become rare by the middle of the 19th century. The last confirmed sighting in the wild was of the "ludovicianus" subspecies in 1910. The last known specimen perished in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo in 1918 and the species was declared extinct in 1939.
The earliest reference to these parrots was in 1583 in Florida reported by Sir George Peckham in "A True Report of the Late Discoveries of the Newfound Lands" of expeditions conducted by English explorer Sir Humphrey Gilbert who notes that explorers in North America "doe testifie that they have found in those countryes; ... parrots." They were first scientifically described in English naturalist Mark Catesby's two volume "Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands" published in London in 1731 and 1743.
Carolina parakeets were probably poisonous—American naturalist and painter John J. Audubon noted that cats apparently died from eating them, and they are known to have eaten the toxic seeds of cockleburs.
Taxonomy.
"Carolinensis" is a species of the genus "Conuropsis", one of numerous genera of New World Neotropical parrots in family Psittacidae of true parrots.
The specific name "Psittacus carolinensis" was assigned by Swedish zoologist Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae published in 1758. The species was given its own genus "Conuropsis" by Italian zoologist and ornithologist Tommaso Salvadori in 1891 in his "Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum", volume 20. The name is derived from the Greek-ified "conure" ("parrot of the genus "Conurus"" an obsolete name of genus "Aratinga") + "-opsis" ("likeness of") and Latinized "Carolina" (from Carolana, an English colonial province) + "-ensis" (of or "from a place"), therefore a bird "like a conure from Carolina."
There are two recognized subspecies. The Louisiana subspecies of the Carolina parakeet, "C. c. ludovicianus", was slightly different in color than the nominate subspecies, being more bluish-green and generally of a somewhat subdued coloration, and became extinct in much the same way, but at a somewhat earlier date (early 1910s). The Appalachian Mountains separated these birds from the eastern "C. c. carolinensis".
Evolution.
According to a study of mitochondrial DNA recovered from museum specimens, their closest living relatives include some of the South American "Aratinga" parakeets: The Nanday parakeet, the sun parakeet, and the golden-capped parakeet. The authors note the bright yellow and orange plumage and blue wing feathers found in "Conuropsis carolinensis" are traits shared by another species, the jandaya parakeet ("A. jandaya"), that was not sampled in the study but is generally thought to be closely related. To help resolve the divergence time a whole genome of a preserved specimen has now been sequenced. Carolinensis is in a sister clade to that of Spix's macaw. The Carolina parakeet colonized North America about 5.5 million years ago. This was well before North America and South America were joined together by the formation of the Panama land bridge about 3.5 mya. Since the Carolina parakeets' more distant relations are geographically closer to its own historic range while its closest relatives are more geographically distant to it, these data are consistent with the generally accepted hypothesis that Central and North America were colonized at different times by distinct lineages of parrots – parrots that originally invaded South America from Antarctica some time after the breakup of Gondwana, where Neotropical parrots originated approximately 50 mya.
The following cladogram shows the placement of the Carolina parakeet among its closest relatives, after a DNA study by Kirchman "et al". (2012):
A fossil parrot, designated "Conuropsis fratercula", was described based on a single humerus from the Miocene Sheep Creek Formation (possibly late Hemingfordian, c. 16 mya, possibly later) of Snake River, Nebraska. It was a smaller bird, three-quarters the size of the Carolina parakeet. "The present "species" is of peculiar interest as it represents the first known parrot-like bird to be described as a fossil from North America." (Wetmore 1926; italics added) However, it is not completely certain that the species is correctly assigned to "Conuropsis", but some authors consider it a paleosubspecies of the Carolina parakeet.
Description.
The Carolina parakeet was a small green parrot very similar in size and coloration to the extant jenday parakeet and sun conure. The majority of the plumage was green with lighter green underparts, a bright yellow head and orange forehead and face extending to behind the eyes and upper cheeks (lores). The shoulders were yellow, continuing down the outer edge of the wings. The primary feathers were mostly green, but with yellow edges on the outer primaries. Thighs were green towards the top and yellow towards the feet. Male and female adults were identical in plumage, however males were slightly larger than females (sexually dimorphic). The legs and feet were light brown. They share the zygodactyl feet of the parrot family. The skin around the eyes was white and the beak was pale flesh colored. These birds weigh about 3.5 oz., are 13 in. long, and have wingspans of 2123 in.
Young Carolina parakeets differed slightly in coloration from adults. The face and entire body was green, with paler underparts. They lacked yellow or orange plumage on the face, wings, and thighs. Hatchlings were covered in mouse-gray down, until about 39–40 days when green wings and tails appear. Fledglings had full adult plumage at around 1 year of age. ("Nature Serve, Conuropsis carolinensis", 2005; Fuller, 2001; Mauler, 2001; Rising, 2004; Snyder and Russell, 2002)
These birds were fairly long lived, at least in captivity - a pair was kept at the Cincinnati Zoo for over 35 years.
Distribution and habitat.
The Carolina parakeet had the northernmost range of any known parrot. It was found from southern New England and New York and Wisconsin to Kentucky, Tennessee and the Gulf of Mexico. It has also had a wide distribution west of the Mississippi River, as far west as eastern Colorado. Its range was described by early explorers thus: the 43rd parallel as the northern limit, the 26th as the most southern, the 73rd and 106th meridians as the eastern and western boundaries respectively, the range included all or portions of at least 28 states. Its habitats were old-growth wetland forests along rivers and in swamps especially in the Mississippi-Missouri drainage basin with large hollow trees including cypress and sycamore to use as roosting and nesting sites.
Only very rough estimates of the birds' former prevalence can be made: with an estimated range of 20,000 to 2.5 million km2, and population density of 0.5 to 2.0 parrots per km2, population estimates range from tens of thousands to a few million birds (though the densest populations occurred in Florida covering 170,000 km2, so there may have been hundreds of thousands of the birds in that state alone).
The species may have appeared as a very rare vagrant in places as far north as Southern Ontario. A few bones, including a pygostyle found at the Calvert Site in Southern Ontario, came from the Carolina parakeet. The possibility remains open that this specimen was taken to Southern Ontario for ceremonial purposes.
Behavior and diet.
The bird lived in huge, noisy flocks of as many as 200–300 birds. It built its nest in a hollow tree, laying two to five (most accounts say two) round white eggs.
It mostly ate the seeds of forest trees and shrubs including those of cypress, hackberry, beech, sycamore, elm, pine, maple, oak, and other plants such as thistles and sandspurs ("Cenchrus" species). It also ate fruits, including apples, grapes and figs (often from orchards by the time of its decline). It was especially noted for its predilection for cockleburs ("Xanthium strumarium"), a plant which contains a toxic glucoside, and it was considered to be an agricultural pest of grain crops.
Extinction.
The last captive Carolina parakeet, Incas, died at the Cincinnati Zoo on February 21, 1918, in the same cage as Martha, the last passenger pigeon, who died in 1914. There are no scientific studies or surveys of this bird by American naturalists; most information about it is from anecdotal accounts and museum specimens. Therefore, details of its prevalence and decline are unverified or speculative.
There are extensive accounts of the pre-colonial and early colonial prevalence of this bird. The existence of flocks of gregarious, very colorful and raucous parrots could hardly have gone unnoted by European explorers, as parrots were virtually unknown in seafaring European nations in the 16th and 17th centuries. Later accounts in the latter half of the 19th century onward noted the birds' sparseness and absence.
The birds' range collapsed from east to west with settlement and clearing of the eastern and southern deciduous forests. John J. Audubon commented as early as 1832 on the decline of the birds. The bird was rarely reported outside Florida after 1860. The last reported sighting east of the Mississippi River (except Florida) was in 1878 in Kentucky. By the turn of the century it was restricted to the swamps of central Florida. The last known wild specimen was killed in Okeechobee County, Florida, in 1904, and the last captive bird died at the Cincinnati Zoo on February 21, 1918. This was the male specimen, called "Incas," who died within a year of his mate, "Lady Jane." Additional reports of the bird were made in Okeechobee County, Florida, until the late 1920s, but these are not supported by specimens. It was not until 1939, however, that the American Ornithologists' Union declared that the Carolina parakeet had become extinct. The IUCN has listed the species as extinct since 1920.
In 1937, three parakeets resembling this species were sighted and filmed in the Okefenokee Swamp of Georgia. However, the American Ornithologists' Union analyzed the film and concluded that they had probably filmed feral parakeets. A year later, in 1938, a flock of parakeets was apparently sighted by a group of experienced ornithologists in the swamps of the Santee River basin in South Carolina. However, this sighting was doubted by most other ornithologists. The birds were never seen again after this sighting, and shortly after a portion of the area was destroyed to make way for power lines, making the species' continued existence unlikely.
About 720 skins and 16 skeletons are housed in museums around the world and analyzable DNA has been extracted from them.
Reasons for extinction.
The evidence is indicative that humans had at least a contributory role in the extinction of the Carolina parakeet, through a variety of means. Chief was deforestation in the 18th and 19th centuries. Hunting played a significant role, both for decorative use of their colorful feathers, for example, adornment of women's hats, and for reduction of crop predation. This was partially offset by the recognition of their value in controlling invasive cockleburs. Minor roles were played by capture for the pet trade and, as noted in "Pacific Standard", by the introduction for crop pollination of European honeybees that competed for nest sites.
A factor that exacerbated their decline to extinction was the flocking behavior that led them to return to the vicinity of dead and dying birds (e.g., birds downed by hunting), enabling wholesale slaughter.
The final extinction of the species in the early years of the 20th century is somewhat of a mystery, as it happened so rapidly. Vigorous flocks with many juveniles and reproducing pairs were noted as late as 1896, and the birds were long-lived in captivity, but they had virtually disappeared by 1904. Sufficient nest sites remained intact, so deforestation was not the final cause. American ornithologist Noel F. Snyder speculates that the most likely cause seems to be that the birds succumbed to poultry disease, although no recent or historical records exist of New World parrot populations being afflicted by domestic poultry diseases. The modern poultry scourge Newcastle disease was not detected until 1926 in Indonesia, and only a subacute form of it was reported in the United States in 1938.