Forestiera cartaginensis

Forestiera cartaginensis, the Central American olive, is a shrub native to Central America and to Chiapas in southern Mexico.


Thuidiopsis sparsa

Thuidiopsis sparsa is a species of moss in the family Thuidiaceae. The natural distribution includes Australia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and nearby islands.


Eucalyptus youmanii

Eucalyptus youmanii, commonly known as Youman's stringybark, is a species of small to medium-sized tree that is endemic to eastern Australia. It has rough, stringy bark on the trunk and branches, lance-shaped or curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven, white flowers and hemispherical fruit.
Description.
"Eucalyptus youmanii" is a tree that typically grows to a height of and forms a lignotuber. It has rough, stringy, greyish, furrowed bark on the trunk and branches. Young plants and coppice regrowth have leaves that are paler on the lower surface, egg-shaped to lance-shaped, long and wide. Adult leaves are slightly paler on the lower surface, lance-shaped to curved, long and wide on a petiole long. The flower buds are arranged in leaf axils in groups of seven on an unbranched peduncle long, the individual buds sessile or on pedicels up to long. Mature buds are oval, spindle-shaped or diamond-shaped, long and wide with a conical operculum. Flowering occurs in February and March and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody hemispherical capsule long and wide with the valves protruding.
Taxonomy and naming.
"Eucalyptus youmanii" was first formally described in 1930 by William Blakely and Ernest McKie in "Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales" from material collected near Guyra in 1920. The specific epithet ("youmanii") honours Thomas Youman (1874–1962), who, with Blakely and McKie, collected the type specimens on his farm.
Distribution and habitat.
Youman's stringybark grows in woodland on poor soils from the Armidale-Guyra area in New South Wales to near Stanthorpe in Queensland.


Nehantic State Forest

Nehantic State Forest is a publicly owned forest and recreation area occupying two parcels, one in the town of Lyme and one in the towns of East Lyme and Salem, in the state of Connecticut. The forest, which totals , is the site of regular prescribed burns and timber-harvesting operations. Purchase of the land began in 1926, when it became the first state forest located in New London County. It is managed by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
Activities and amenities.
The forest offers opportunities for hiking, hunting, picnicking, swimming, and boating. The Lyme portion of the forest provides access to Uncas Pond and Norwich Pond. Boat launches are located on each pond. The ponds and their connecting stream, Falls Brook, sit at the western edge of Becket Hill State Park Reserve. No roads or trails pass from the state forest into the undeveloped and otherwise inaccessible state park reserve though dirt park roads and the Blue-Blazed Nayantaquit Trail hiking trail system make much of the Lyme section (Western Block) of Nehantic State Forest easily accessible to the public.


Quercus longinux

Quercus longinux is an uncommon Asian species of trees in the beech family. It has only been found in Taiwan.
"Quercus longinux" is a tree. Leaves can be as much as 8 cm long. Acorn is up to 12 mm long, narrower than those of most other species in the subgenus.


Darwinia thymoides

Darwinia thymoides is a plant in the myrtle family Myrtaceae and is endemic to Western Australia.
The shrub has a spreading and prostrate habit and typically grows to a height of . It blooms between July and January producing red, green and white flowers.
The species often found among granite outcrops and alongside creeks on the Swan Coastal Plain and extending into the South West region of Western Australia where it grows in sandy to loam or clay soils.


Sarcanthopsis warocqueana

Sarcanthopsis warocqueana, commonly known as the goliath orchid, is a large epiphytic or lithophytic orchid from the family Orchidaceae that forms large clumps. It has a long, thick, branched stems, thick, cord-like roots, many leathery, strap-like leaves and many cream-coloured, yellowish or greenish flowers with purple or brown spots. It grows near the sea, in coastal swamps and in rainforest, usually in full sun. It mainly only occurs in New Guinea.
Description.
"Saccolabiopsis rectifolia" is a large epiphytic or lithophytic herb that forms large, straggly clumps and has thick, cord-like roots and thick, branched stems long. There are many fleshy, strap-like leaves long and wide at intervals about apart. A large number of resupinate cream-coloured, yellowish or greenish flowers with purple or brown spots, long and wide are arranged on a branched flowering stem long with between five and fifteen flowers on each branch. The sepals are long and wide, the petals a similar width but slightly shorter. The labellum is white with rose-coloured spots, about long and wide three lobes. The side lobes are triangular and the middle lobe is fleshy with a spur and a large, fleshy callus. Flowering occurs from April to August.
Taxonomy and naming.
The goliath orchid was first formally described in 1891 by Robert Allen Rolfe who gave it the name "Stauropsis warocqueana" and published the description in "Lindenia: iconography of orchids". In 1972, Leslie Andrew Garay changed the name to "Sarcanthopsis warocqueana". The specific epithet ("warocqueana") honours "M. G. Warocqué", in whose garden it flowered, producing the type specimen.
Distribution and habitat.
"Sarcanthopsis warocqueana" grows from rocks on the coast, just above the water line to the branches of trees in rainforest at above sea level. It is found in eastern New Guinea and nearby islands. A single juvenile plant has been observed on Moa Island, Queensland.


Gagea hiensis

Gagea hiensis is an Asian species of plants in the lily family. It is native to Korea, Mongolia, China (Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shanxi), and Russia (Amur Oblast, Khabarovsk, Primorye, Kuril Islands, Zabaykalsky Krai).
"Gagea hiensis " is a bulb-forming perennial up to 20 cm tall. Flowers are yellow to yellow-green.


Sebastiania schottiana

Sebastiania schottiana is a species of flowering plant in the family Euphorbiaceae. It was originally described as "Gymnanthes schottiana" in 1863. It is native from Brazil to northeastern Argentina.


Malabar Farm State Park

Malabar Farm State Park is a state park in Richland County, Ohio, United States, located near Lucas and the Mohican State Park.
History.
Nestled in the hills of Pleasant Valley, Malabar Farm was built in 1939 by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Louis Bromfield and was his home until his death in 1956. On May 21, 1945, Bromfield hosted Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall's wedding and honeymoon at Malabar Farm.
Bromfield grew up in Pleasant Valley. When he returned there as an adult, he wanted to buy an old farm—the Herring farm. Eventually, he bought the farm from Clement Herring in 1939. He also bought adjacent farms in 1940 and 1941. In all, he owned 595 acres of land. The Bromfield family moved to Pleasant Valley in 1939 and lived in the “Fleming house” until their “Big House” was built. Bromfield chose architect Louis Lamoreux of Mansfield to help him design and construct a Greek revival style home. The original Herring house was used as the center of the construction. The Big House was expanded from this focus point and made to look like sections had been added on over the years. Bromfield was constantly ordering changes to rooms and walls. Thus, the project was dragged out for 18 months.
The 32-room Western Reserve-style homestead, where Bromfield wrote many of his books, attracted film stars, artists, politicians, writers, and conservationists annually. As many as 20,000 people visited the farm every year. Sunday tours alone attracted 100 to 200 people. The farm spread over 1000 acres of land. At one point, 200 acres were set aside for apple trees, but they ended up costing Bromfield money. So he got out of apple production. He also stopped his egg production, as well as his sheep and hog breeding. He chose to focus on beef and dairy. Additionally, Bromfield developed a technique known as conservation farming. This was based on grass farming, which produced large quantities of forage and pasture. Malabar Farm became a national model for sustainable agriculture.
In addition to this, Bromfield experimented with composting using manure from livestock on the farm. Square fields were changed to follow the lie of the land so as to discourage erosion. 140 acres were put aside for timber. In 1958, Bromfield's children gave the farm to a conservation foundation—Friends of the Land in lieu of debts Bromfield had incurred. In August 1972, the deed of Malabar Farm was accepted by the state of Ohio after the Louis Bromfield Malabar Farm Foundation—which had been operating the farm—faced foreclosure. In 1976, the farm became a state park. On April 4, 1993 a fire destroyed the main barn.
In September 1994, 150 volunteers from the Timber Framers Guild of North America raised a new barn in resemblance of the original.
Hostelling International USA had operated a 19-bed youth hostel for years in a farmhouse that was acquired when Malabar Farm was given to the State of Ohio. This was closed in late 2017 by Hostelling International due to diminished public interest and use after running continuously since 1979. To date the building is unused.
Points of interest within the Park.
Malabar Farm Inn.
Malabar Farm Inn is a historic stagecoach inn built in 1820. The two-story brick building was restored as a restaurant, offering home-cooked dining. The Malabar Inn Restaurant closed in late 2018.
Just to the east of the restaurant lies Malabar Spring. In 1946, Louis Bromfield designed a roadside market stand that could use the spring to keep market items cool. Sporadically, visitors could purchase fresh, local produce at the market stand. Under various management philosophies at ODNR, sporadically, visitors could purchase fresh, local produce which is cooled by flowing spring water. The garden market ceased operation upon closure of the Malabar Inn Restaurant in 2018.
Pugh Cabin.
This authentic, rustic log-cabin style home was built in the 1940s by Bromfield's neighbor, Jim Pugh. The cabin was used to film a few of the opening scenes in the 1994 film "The Shawshank Redemption".
The Ceely Rose House.
The miller's house, mentioned in the "Pleasant Valley" collection of ghost stories, was the 19th Century home of a young, mentally challenged girl named Ceely Rose. In 1896, Ceely Rose murdered her three-person family by poisoning their food with arsenic. Annually in October, the "Ceely Rose Play" is performed in the park's timber frame barn, as part of a ghost story trilogy. The other two plays are "Phoebe Wise" and "Louie". In 2014, an episode of "Ghost Hunters" was filmed at the Ceely Rose House. The episode, entitled Family Plot, aired on the SyFy channel. The "Ghost Hunter"s crew investigates claims of paranormal activities stemming from the 1896 triple murder. On this same episode, they also spend time inside Louis Bromfield's "Big House" at Malabar Farm, again trying to document reported paranormal activity.
Malabar Farm Events.
Maple Sugaring Festival.
A festival dedicated to early Ohio's winter tradition of making maple syrup. This festival takes place the first two weekends in March. During the sugaring off days, at the farm, learn about the process of harvesting sap from trees, boiling the liquid down to syrup, making candies, sugar, and other sweet treats. There are many activities and demonstrations available with free admission.
Heritage Days.
One of the state's largest outdoor craft shows. The festival includes various living history reenactments, including of the civil war era and buck-skinners.
Wagon Tours.
Tours run seasonally.


Cassidulus infidus

Cassidulus infidus is a species of sea urchins of the Family Cassidulidae. Their armour is covered with spines. Cassidulus infidus was first scientifically described in 1948 by Ole Theodor Jensen Mortensen.


Chaenactis cusickii

Chaenactis cusickii is a North American species of flowering plants in the aster family known by the common name Morning brides or Cusick's pincushion. It has been found only in southeastern Oregon and southwestern Idaho.
Description.
"Chaenactis cusickii" is a small perennial rarely more than 15 cm (6 inches) tall. Each branch produces 1-5 (occasionally more) flower heads each containing white or pale pink disc florets but no ray florets.
The species is named for American botanist William Conklin Cusick (1842-1922).


Geoglomeris subterranea

Geoglomeris subterranea is a species of myriapod belonging to the family Glomeridae.
It is native to Western Europe.


Butia stolonifera

Butia stolonifera was an oddly growing palm assigned to the genus "Butia" found only once in Uruguay in the 19th century, but which now is considered to be uncertain as a valid species.
"Butia stolonifera" was collected in 1869 by professor José Arechavaleta, purportedly from the Pan de Azúcar hill. Two plants were grown from his collection, one at Montevideo and one at the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden. By the turn of the century the palm in Rio de Janeiro had become a large mature specimen, and João Barbosa Rodrigues named it as a new species in 1901, calling it "Cocos stolonifera". He formally described it in 1903, providing an illustration (shown right).
According to the descriptions by Barbosa Rodrigues, this plant was acaulescent and caespitose, having a number of underground trunks splitting from the crown of roots. If truly a "Butia", the plant was unique in that the trunks grew from rhizomes or stolons snaking underground up to a length of two metres; thus the plant colonised a large patch of ground. Barbosa Rodrigues did not describe nor illustrate the flowers of the plant.
In 1916 the great Italian palm expert Odoardo Beccari raised the subgenus "Butia" to genus, housing a number of former "Cocos" species, which he distinguished primarily using details of the inflorescence, as well as a number of details of the leaves and the number of locules in the fruit (2–3). On the basis of Barbosa Rodrigues' illustration and descriptions in literature of details of the leaves, such as the spines on the petiole and a bifurcated point at the end of the pinnae (leaflets), Beccari moved "Cocos stolonifera" to "Butia" without even having seen the plant or studied Barbosa Rodrigues' herbarium specimen, although he expressed his doubts regarding the placement, having been unable to study the flowers. Both living trees in Montevideo and Rio de Janeiro have long since died and Barbosa Rodrigues' specimens were unfortunately destroyed with much of the rest of his collection.
In 1939, in his "Flora von Uruguay", Wilhelm Gustav Franz Herter included the taxon and provided an illustration of the leaf and inflorescence, attributing the authorship to himself as "B. stolonifera" .
Workers on South American Cocoseae taxonomy after Beccari (i.e. Henderson "et al." [1995], Govaerts [1996], and Govaerts & Dransfield [2005]) continued to accept his taxonomy and the validity of the species, but S. F. Glassman in 1970 considered the taxon a "nomen dubium", and Kelen Pureza Soares "et al." in 2014 published their doubts about the validity of the taxon, both research papers arguing its taxonomic placement as a "Butia" is in doubt. Having spines along the margin of the petiole is no longer considered a defining characteristic of the genus "Butia".
The original description and illustration of this palm most resembled "Syagrus campylospatha", but differs primarily in the spines on the margin of the petiole, and the pinnae (leaflets) ending in a bifurcated point, unlike the almost spine-like apex of the pinnae of "S. campylospatha".
Errata.
A number of sources have this species of palm as occurring in southern Brazil; this would appear to be an error if Glassman and Soares are correct in stating that the plant was only collected once in Uruguay.


Southwestern Energy

Southwestern Energy is a natural gas exploration and production company organized in Delaware and headquartered in Spring, Texas. The company is ranked 776th on the Fortune 500.
The company's primary exploration and production activities are in the Appalachian Basin in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The company also controls 2,518,519 net undeveloped acres in New Brunswick, Canada, which are subject to an indefinite moratorium on hydraulic fracturing and cannot be developed at this time.
As of December 31, 2020, the company had 11.990 trillion cubic feet of natural gas equivalent of estimated proved reserves, of which 68% was natural gas, 29% was natural gas liquids, and 3% was petroleum, and all of which was in the Appalachian Basin.
History.
The company traces its roots to Arkansas Western Gas Company, which was established in July 1929 as a subsidiary of Southern Union Gas Company of Dallas.
In 1985, the company acquired Mustang Fuel for $200 million in stock.
In 2013, the company acquired assets in the Marcellus Shale from Chesapeake Energy for $93 million.
In December 2014, the company acquired 413,000 net acres in the Upper Devonian, Marcellus and Utica shales in West Virginia and Southwest Pennsylvania from Chesapeake Energy for $5.375 billion.
In December 2018, the company sold its assets in the Fayetteville Shale for net proceeds of $1.65 billion.
Controversies.
Public opposition to hydraulic fracturing in New Brunswick, Canada.
In 2003, shale gas was discovered in New Brunswick, Canada. In March 2010, Southwestern successfully bid for exclusive licenses from the Department of Natural Resources of New Brunswick to conduct an exploration program. In 2010, Corridor Resources, in partnership with Apache Corporation, which operated in McCully Field, announced that "it found more natural gas in place in southern New Brunswick than is available in all of western Canada's proven reserves." In July 2011, the company assured residents that it was only exploring, not drilling using hydraulic fracturing. Seismic equipment owned by Southwestern was vandalized in an isolated work camp in Cumberland Bay. In August 2011, protests against hydraulic fracturing were held in Fredericton, Sussex, Hampton, Norton and Rexton, New Brunswick. Local residents were "concerned that the seismic testing could lead to hydro-fracking in their communities" and that the fracking would "harm their air and water quality." According to Ralph Carr, the mayor of Sussex, New Brunswick, by December 2011, Southwestern and Apache, had "announced their intentions to aggressively search for gas in the deep shale deposits that lay beneath us." Carr argued that controversy about shale gas development in New Brunswick was partially fueled by media attention, when Windsor Energy conducted seismic testing within the town boundaries before Sussex town council had given official permission. Carr argued against an outright ban on shale gas production but admitted that, "[m]issteps and mistakes by some companies involved with shale gas production have caused environmental damage and tarnished the image of the industry as a whole." In early August 2011, 40 people from Penniac, Taymouth, Stanley, Rogersville and several First Nations blocked a road north of Stanley, stopping the company's trucks used in seismic testing. There was a blockade on New Brunswick Route 134 in Mi’kmaq territory in New Brunswick. On October 3, 2013, the Court of Queen's Bench in New Brunswick granted Southwestern an injunction to end the protests of the Elsipogtog First Nation. However, the protesters were undeterred, and on October 17, they blocked the highway and set several police cars on fire. The situation "exploded in violence, sending dozens of people to jail and reducing five police cars to smouldering ruins". The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said "more than 40 protesters were arrested for various offences including firearms offences, uttering threats, intimidation, mischief and for refusing to abide by a court injunction". In 2015, the provincial government in New Brunswick imposed a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing and in May 2016, the government announced that the moratorium would continue indefinitely.


Myrosmodes nervosa

Myrosmodes nervosa is a species of orchid in the genus "Myrosmodes".


Vickers Petroleum

Vickers Petroleum Company was an oil company founded by John A. (Jack) Vickers, Sr. In 1918, Vickers established a refinery in Potwin, Kansas to process the output of recently discovered oil fields in Butler County.
In 1954 the Vickers Petroleum Company ventures into the service station business. The first service station built was located in the City of Haysville, Kansas featuring a hybolic part loud roof design. This Vickers Petroleum Service Station is the only one remaining and was listed as a Kansas Historical structure on August 3, 2019.
Wichita Vickers basketball.
By the 1950s, Vickers had 300 employees, controlled a chain of 300 service stations in an area from Iowa to Colorado, and fielded the Wichita Vickers, an Amateur Athletic Union basketball team playing in the National Industrial Basketball League. The team was successful, winning a share of the 1957-58 league championship. Dick Boushka, a member of the United States basketball team in the 1956 Summer Olympics, was a standout player. Vickers discontinued its team sponsorship in 1960 due to competition with the NBA for players, but Boushka remained with the company and became president of Vickers Petroleum in 1963.
Purchase and breakup.
In September 1968, Swift and Company announced its intention to buy Vickers and the related Bell Oil Company. By March 1, 1969, the acquisition had been completed, and Jack Vickers, Jr., was made a director of Swift. In 1973, Swift changed its name to Esmark and created a new subholding company, Vickers Energy Corporation. Vickers Energy was broken up and sold in 1980. Total Petroleum (North America), Ltd., 50% owned by French company CFP, purchased the refining and marketing assets of Vickers Petroleum, including a refinery in Ardmore, Oklahoma, pipelines, and 350 service stations. Mobil Oil purchased oil and gas producing unit TransOcean Oil. Doric Petroleum, a natural gas processor, was sold to Petro-Lewis Corp. Total continued to use the Vickers name in marketing until 1993. After the sale of the company, members of the Vickers family, including sons Jack, Jr., Robert, and Thomas, remained notable civic and business leaders in both Colorado and Kansas.


Black Moshannon State Park

Black Moshannon State Park is a Pennsylvania state park in Rush Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania, United States. It surrounds Black Moshannon Lake, formed by a dam on Black Moshannon Creek, which has given its name to the lake and park. The park is just west of the Allegheny Front, east of Philipsburg on Pennsylvania Route 504, and is largely surrounded by Moshannon State Forest. A bog in the park provides a habitat for diverse wildlife not common in other areas of the state, such as carnivorous plants, orchids, and species normally found farther north. As home to the "largest reconstituted bog in Pennsylvania", it was chosen by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources for its "25 Must-see Pennsylvania State Parks" list.
Humans have long used the Black Moshannon area for recreational, industrial, and subsistence purposes. The Seneca tribe used it as hunting and fishing grounds. European settlers cleared some land for farming, then clear-cut the vast stands of old-growth white pine and eastern hemlock. Black Moshannon State Park rose from the ashes of a depleted forest which had been largely destroyed by wildfire in the years following the lumber era. The forests were rehabilitated by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression in the 1930s. Many of the buildings built by the Civilian Conservation Corps stand in the park today and are protected on the list of National Register of Historic Places in three historic districts.
Black Moshannon State Park is open year-round for recreation and has an extensive network of trails which allow hiking, biking, and viewing the bog habitat at the Black Moshannon State Natural Area. The park is in a Pennsylvania Important Bird Area, where bird watchers have recorded 175 species. It is also home to many rare and unusual plants and animals due to its location atop the Allegheny Plateau; the lake is at an elevation of about . Much of the park is open for hunting and the lake and creek are open for fishing, boating, and swimming. In winter it is a popular destination for cross-country skiing, and was home to a small downhill skiing area from 1965 to 1982. Picnics and camping are also popular, and the "Friends of Black Moshannon State Park" group promotes the park and all the recreational activities associated with it.
History.
Native Americans.
Humans have lived in what is now Pennsylvania since at least 10,000 BC. The first settlers were Paleo-Indian nomadic hunters known from their stone tools. The hunter-gatherers of the Archaic period, which lasted locally from 7000 to 1000BC, used a greater variety of more sophisticated stone artefacts. The Woodland period marked the gradual transition to semi-permanent villages and horticulture, between 1000 BC and 1500 AD. Archeological evidence found in the state from this time includes a range of pottery types and styles, burial mounds, pipes, bows and arrow, and ornaments.
Black Moshannon Creek is in the West Branch Susquehanna River drainage basin, whose earliest recorded Native American inhabitants were the Iroquoian-speaking Susquehannocks. They were a matriarchial society that lived in large long houses in stockaded villages. Decimated by disease brought by European settlers and warfare with the Five Nations of the Iroquois, by 1675 they had died out, moved away, or been assimilated into other tribes.
After this, the lands of the West Branch Susquehanna River valley were under the nominal control of the Iroquois. The Iroquois lived in long houses, primarily in what is now New York, and had a strong confederacy which gave them power beyond their numbers. To fill the void left by the demise of the Susquehannocks, the Iroquois encouraged displaced tribes from the east to settle in the West Branch watershed, including the Lenape (or Delaware).
The Seneca, members of the Iroquois Confederacy, became inhabitants in the area of Black Moshannon Lake, which was a series of beaver ponds at the time. They and other tribes, including the Lenape, hunted, fished, and traded in the region. The Great Shamokin Path, the major native east–west path connecting the Susquehanna and Allegheny River basins, crossed Black Moshannon Creek at a ford a few miles downstream from the park; however, no trails of the indigenous peoples are recorded as having passed through the park itself. The park's Indian Trail for hiking and cross-country skiing recalls such native paths as it runs through an open forest of oak and pine trees, with occasional clearings and a grove of hawthorns.
The French and Indian War (1754–1763) led to the migration of many Native Americans westward to the Ohio River basin. On November 5, 1768, the British acquired the "New Purchase" from the Iroquois in the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, including what is now Black Moshannon State Park. After the American Revolutionary War, Native Americans almost entirely left Pennsylvania.
While there are no known archeological sites within Black Moshannon State Park, the name "Moshannon" is derived from a Lenape (Delaware) term for Moshannon and Black Moshannon Creeks: "Mos'hanna'unk," which means "elk river place". The name "Black Moshannon" refers to the dark color of the water, a result of plant tannins from the local vegetation and bog.
Lumber era.
Prior to the arrival of William Penn and his Quaker colonists in 1682, an estimated 90percent of what is now Pennsylvania was covered with old-growth forest: over of white pine, eastern hemlock, and a mix of hardwoods. The forests near the three original counties, Philadelphia, Bucks, and Chester, were the first to be harvested, as the early settlers used the readily available timber to build homes, barns, and ships, and cleared the land for agriculture. The demand for lumber slowly increased and by the time of the American Revolution the lumber industry had reached the interior and mountainous regions of Pennsylvania.
Lumber became one of the leading industries in Pennsylvania. Trees were used for fuel, tannin for the many tanneries that were spread throughout the state, and wood for construction, furniture, and barrel making. Large areas of forest were harvested by colliers to fire iron furnaces. Rifle stocks and shingles were made from Pennsylvania timber, as were a wide variety of household utensils, and the first Conestoga wagons. The Philadelphia–Erie Pike (present day Pennsylvania Route 504) opened the Black Moshannon area to settlers by 1821. The first settlers opened the Antes Tavern along the Pike, trapped fur-bearing animals, and cleared land for farming.
By the mid-19th century, the demand for lumber reached the area, where eastern white pine and eastern hemlock covered the surrounding mountainsides. Lumbermen harvested the trees and sent the logs down Black Moshannon and Moshannon Creeks to the West Branch Susquehanna River, then to the Susquehanna Boom and sawmills at Williamsport. Lumber was also transported by sled and wagon over the ridges and through the valleys to Philipsburg, Julian, and Unionville.
The Beaver Mill Lumber Company became one of the largest single lumber operations in all of Pennsylvania, and four lumber boomtowns, Beaver Mills, Star Mill, Underwood Mills, and Antes, altered the landscape in the Black Moshannon area. A dam was built at the site of an old beaver dam, and the mill ponds for the lumber mills flooded the old beaver ponds. The communities featured general stores, blacksmith shops, liveries, taverns, schools, and even a ten-pin bowling alley. The area helped to meet the nation's need for timber in mining operations, construction, and railroads.
A number of trails in the park today recall this time. The Hay Road Trail was used by farmers who collected hay at the wetlands, and connects the cabin area with the lake. The Seneca Trail for cross-country skiing and hiking passes through a second growth forest of oak and cherry trees that shade the stumps of the old growth pines harvested during the lumber era. The Shingle Mill Trail is a path that begins at the main parking area near the dam on Black Moshannon Lake and follows the banks of Black Moshannon Creek to the Allegheny Front Trail and back. The remains of Star Mill, a sawmill built in 1879 that operated until the end of the lumber era, are on the Star Mill Trail. This loop trail for hiking and cross-country skiing is nearly flat, with a view of Black Moshannon Lake.
This boom era was not to last; before long the lumber was gone, leaving a barren landscape devastated by erosion and wildfires. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania bought thousands of acres of deforested and burned land, then began the project of reforestation. By the 1930s, the land that became Black Moshannon State Park was already a place for picnics and camping, on the aptly named "Tent Hill", and people swam and fished in the old mill pond. The Tent Hill Trail still runs from the campsites to the Black Moshannon Lake beach.
Civilian Conservation Corps.
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a work relief program for young men from unemployed families, established in 1933. As part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal legislation, it was designed to combat unemployment during the Great Depression. The CCC operated in every U.S. state. The original facilities at Black Moshannon State Park were constructed by the CCC from 1933 to 1937, one of many projects it undertook throughout central Pennsylvania.
Beaver Meadow CCC Camp S-71 was built in May 1933 near the abandoned village of Beaver Mills, and was one of the first to expand recreational facilities in Pennsylvania. More than 200 young men moved in and began the work of conserving soil, water, and timber in the area. They cut roads through the growing forest to aid in fighting the wildfires that sprang up, and planted many acres of red pines as part of the reforestation effort.
Most of the CCC-built park facilities are still in use today, including log cabins, picnic pavilions, a food concession stand, and miles of trails. Early on, the CCC constructed a dam at Black Moshannon Lake, on the site of the former mill pond dam. CCC Camp S-71 closed in January 1937 and Black Moshannon State Park officially opened that same year.
Historic districts.
In 1987, three separate historic districts incorporating the existing CCC structures in Black Moshannon State Park were placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The structures in all three districts were built between 1933 and 1937 and are designated as part of either the Beach and Day Use, Family Cabin, or Maintenance Historic Districts.
Eighteen structures in the Beach and Day Use Historic District are protected as contributing properties, including seven "standard" pavilions, a larger picnic shelter, and three water pump shelters. These last were built of native stone and covered with pebbles, and have since been converted to small picnic pavilions. The concession building, beach bathhouse, and museum are also protected. Four open pit latrines with wane edge siding and hipped roofs were also contributing structures to the Beach and Day Use district.
The Family Cabin Historic District consists of 16 contributing properties: 13 log cabins, one lodge, and two latrines. Cabins 1–12, half with one room and half with two, are in a line along a road, similar to 1930s motor courts. The cabin layout at Black Moshannon State Park is unique compared to CCC-built cabins at other Pennsylvania state parks. The cabins at the other parks reflect the "rustic" style of cabin layout promoted by the National Park Service. The Lodge, also known as Cabin13, is a large rectangular clapboard-sided building with a stone fireplace, while Cabin14 is L-shaped with an open porch. Two pit latrines built by the CCC were also contributing structures.
The Maintenance Historic District includes four CCC-built structures. The storage building is a wood-frame structure with a gable roof, similar to military storage buildings built in the 1930s and 1940s. A three-bay garage of standard military design is included in this historic district, as was the gas pump house with an extended eave to protect the gas pumps. The Park Ranger's residence is a -story gable-roofed house, with modern vinyl siding.
Modern era.
Since its establishment in 1937, Black Moshannon State Park has undergone many changes. In 1941, Governor Arthur James announced plans to expand the park to by annexing surrounding state forest land. "Black Moshannon Airport" was built on land taken from the state park and Moshannon State Forest just prior to the Second World War, was operational by 1942, and renamed "Mid-State Airport" in 1962. As of 2020, it is officially known as "Mid-State Regional Airport" and covers . While the airport was designated a Keystone Opportunity Zone to encourage business growth, there are limitations in state law that prohibit any further development on park or forest lands.
The park was the site of a ski resort from the 1960s until 1982. The state legislature authorized "construction of ski facilities" at the park in 1961, which were operational by 1965. Although managed by the state, a commercial operator was sought as early as 1969, and in 1980 it was leased to a private contractor, before being closed in 1982. The ski area was primitive by modern standards: skiers were lifted to the top of the slope by one of two tow ropes or Poma lifts, and the slopes had about of vertical drop. As of 2020, the ski lodge, renamed Cabin 20, can be rented out by park visitors, while the Ski Slope Trail is a hiking trail that passes near the former ski slope. It begins at the beach parking lot, climbs Rattlesnake Mountain, and crosses Pennsylvania Route 504 near a historical marker for the Philadelphia–Erie Turnpike.
On November 11, 1954, the park was officially named "Black Moshannon State Park" by the Pennsylvania Geographic Board. The CCC-built dam forming Black Moshannon Lake was replaced in the 1950s, and the current Kephart Dam was built in 1974. The park experienced major developments between 1971 and 1980. Time has brought changes to the park's CCC-built structures: the original picnic pavilion 6 collapsed under snow in 1994, the museum became the Environmental Learning Center, most of the latrines are gone, and six modern cabins and two deluxe cottages have been built in the Cabin Historic District. As of 2020, other post-war facilities include the park office, boat launches, showerhouses, electric vehicle charging stations, and modern restroom and shower facilities. There is a wastewater treatment plant near the dam for effluent from the park and some private homes. In 2019, the state paid $299,000 to the Philipsburg Rod and Gun Club, which had leased near the Organized Group Tenting area in the park for over 60 years. The state terminated the lease over environmental contamination from lead shot.
By the 1980s, the park started to receive official recognition for its unique resources. The three Historic Districts were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987 in recognition of their CCC-built structures. That same year the state celebrated Black Moshannon State Park's "50th Anniversary". In 1994, the DCNR established the "Black Moshannon Bog Natural Area" as part of a program to recognize areas of "unique scenic, geologic or ecological value". In 1997 the park's Important Bird Area (IBA) was one of the first 73 IBAs established in Pennsylvania. By 2001 yearly attendance at Black Moshannon State Park was over 350,000. As of 2020, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) Bureau of Parks, which administers all 121 Pennsylvania state parks, had chosen Black Moshannon as one of its "25 Must-see Pennsylvania State Parks", citing it as home to the "largest reconstituted bog in Pennsylvania".
Geology and climate.
The rocks underlying the Black Moshannon Creek drainage basin are primarily shale, sandstone, and coal. Three major rock formations are present in Black Moshannon State Park, all from the Carboniferous period. These sedimentary rocks formed in or near shallow seas roughly 300to 350million years ago. The Mississippian Burgoon Formation is composed of buff-colored sandstone and conglomerate. The late Mississippian Mauch Chunk Formation is formed with grayish-red shale, siltstone, sandstone, and conglomerate. The third is the early Pennsylvanian Pottsville Formation, which is a gray conglomerate that may contain sandstone, siltstone, and shale, as well as anthracite coal.
The park is at an elevation of atop the Allegheny Plateau, just west of the Allegheny Front, a steep escarpment which rises in , and marks the transition between the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians to the east and the Allegheny Plateau to the west. The Allegheny Plateau and Appalachian mountains were all formed in the Alleghenian orogeny some 300million years ago, when Gondwana (specifically what became Africa) and what became North America collided, forming Pangaea.
The lake within the park is at an elevation of about , and the park itself sits in a natural basin. The basin and the underlying sandstone trap water and thus form the lake and surrounding bogs. The higher elevation leads to a cooler climate, and the basin helps trap denser, cooler air, leading to longer winters and milder summers.
The cooler climate also means the park is home to animals and plants typically found much further north. The Allegheny Plateau has a continental climate, with occasional severe low temperatures in winter and average daily temperature ranges of 20°F (11°C) in winter and 26°F (14°C) in summer. In 1972, long-term average monthly temperatures ranged from a high of in July to a low of in January. The mean annual precipitation for the Black Moshannon Creek watershed is 40 to 42inches (1016 to 1067mm). The soil in the park is mostly derived from sandstone and as such does not have much capacity to neutralize acid rain. The highest recorded temperature at the park was in 1988, and the record low was in 1994.
Ecology.
Within Black Moshannon State Park there is a State Park Natural Area protecting the bogs. The park itself is part of a much larger Important Bird Area, which includes most of the surrounding state forest, airport, and private properties.
Bog Natural Area.
The bogs at the park contain large amounts of sphagnum moss; this decomposes very slowly, causing layers of dead moss to build up at the bottom of the bog, creating peat. In 1994, of bog at the state park were protected as the "Black Moshannon Bog Natural Area"; this was originally conceived as part of the "State Parks 2000" strategic plan of the DCNR, and fourteen years later the total area of bog protected as a Natural Area had increased to .
Most bogs exist in glaciated areas, but Black Moshannon State Park is on the Allegheny Plateau. This area was not covered by glaciers during the last ice age. The bogs formed here because of the beds of sandstone that lie flat, a short distance below the surface of the earth. The sandstone formations in the park do not absorb water very well, so any depression in them will collect water, as has happened here. The bogs extend the shores of the lake. Migratory shorebirds that visit here include greater and lesser yellowlegs, least sandpiper, solitary sandpiper, and the spotted sandpiper, which has been confirmed as using the IBA as a breeding grounds.
The water in the bog is low in nutrients and high in acidity, which makes it difficult for most plants to live there. Only specialized plants can thrive in the park bogs: there are three species of carnivorous plants and seventeen varieties of orchid. Wild cranberries and blueberries grow in the bog along with sedges, leatherleaf shrubs, Arctic cotton grass, and viburnums. The bogs are all protected by the state of Pennsylvania.
Wildlife.
White-tailed deer, wild turkey, ruffed grouse, opossum, raccoon, hawks, chipmunks, porcupine, woodpeckers, and flying, red, and eastern gray squirrels are all fairly common in the park. Black bears also inhabit Black Moshannon State Park. Many of these animals were decimated due to the effects of deforestation, pollution and unregulated hunting and trapping during the late 19th century. Hunting controls established by the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps and Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources in re-establishing the second growth forest have led to the strong comeback of game species at Black Moshannon State Park and throughout the forests of Pennsylvania.
The lake is home to American beavers, as well as great blue heron, swans, snow geese, common loons, and many other types of waterfowl, with Canada goose, ring-necked duck, mallard, and wood duck the most commonly seen. The bogs, marshes, and swamps contain frogs and salamanders, and provide a habitat for carnivorous plants like the pitcher plant and sundew. Black Moshannon State Park is home to many common species of songbirds, including ovenbirds.
The conifer and mixed-forests of the park and its surroundings provide habitats for northern saw-whet owl, blue-headed vireo, hermit thrush, dark-eyed junco, and magnolia, pine, yellow-rumped, Blackburnian, and black-throated green warblers. The deciduous forests provide habitats for songbirds, such as scarlet tanager and red-eyed vireo.
An outbreak of the non-native gypsy moth in the mid-1980s nearly devastated the woods in a small valley. Selective timber cuts harvested the trees that were affected by species of moth. Today the Sleepy Hollow Trail for hiking, biking, and cross-country skiing loops through the new growth in the area, which provides an ideal habitat for populations of white-tailed deer and wild turkey.
Important Bird Area.
Pennsylvania's "Black Moshannon State Park & State Forest" Important Bird Area (IBA) encompasses . The land includes parts of the state park and surrounding Moshannon State Forest, as well as Pennsylvania State Game Lands No. 33, Mid-State Regional Airport (which borders both the park and the forest), and some other nearby parcels of private land. The Pennsylvania Audubon Society has designated of Black Moshannon State Park as an IBA, which is an area designated as a globally important habitat for the conservation of bird populations.
Ornithologists and bird watchers have recorded a total of 175 species at the IBA. Several factors contribute to the high total of bird species observed: there is a large area of forest in the IBA, as well as great habitat diversity. The location of the IBA along the Allegheny Front also contributes to the diverse bird populations.
Black Moshannon Lake and the bogs of the Natural Area are especially important to the IBA. They serve as a stopover for migratory waterfowl and shorebirds. Waterfowl observed at the park include pied-billed and Slavonian grebes, common loon, American black duck, ruddy duck, blue-winged and green-winged teal, tundra swan, long-tailed duck, hooded and red-breasted merganser, greater and lesser scaup, northern pintail, bufflehead, American wigeon, and northern shoveler.
Pennsylvania IBA #33 is on the Allegheny Front, which is along a prime migratory path for a variety of birds of prey. The golden eagle, bald eagle, osprey, and northern harrier pass through the area during their annual migration periods. It is possible that the bald eagle may nest within the IBA, but this has not been confirmed. Raptors which do nest in the forests of the IBA include the northern goshawk, red-shouldered, broad-winged, red-tailed, sharp-shinned, and Cooper's hawks.
The cool, damp habitat provided by the bogs at Black Moshannon State Park provides a home for some birds that are at the southern limit of their habitat in central Pennsylvania. The Canada warbler and northern waterthrush nest in the bogs, as do the alder flycatcher, common yellowthroat, swamp sparrow, red-winged blackbird, and gray catbird. The olive-sided flycatcher, which is designated as locally extinct in Pennsylvania, has been seen during the breeding season at Black Moshannon State Natural Area. Bird watchers have observed nesting barred owls in the IBA, as well as Virginia rail and sora.
Recreation.
Cabins, camping, swimming, and picnics.
Twenty-one cabins can be used by visitors at Black Moshannon State Park. Thirteen are rustic cabins, built by the CCC, with electric lights, a kitchen stove and a wood-burning stove, refrigerator, and bunk beds. Six are modern cabins, including the former ski lodge, with electric heat, a bedroom, living room, kitchen, and bath. There are also two deluxe camping cottages with electric heat and similar amenities as the rustic cabins. All cabin renters need to bring their own household items such as linens and cookware. Pets are prohibited in all cabins in the park.
There are seventy-two campsites at Black Moshannon State Park. Each campsite has access to washhouses with flush toilets, showers, and laundry tubs. The campsites also have fire rings and picnic tables. There is also an organized group tenting area, which can accommodate up to 60 persons. Some sites allow pets; there are also twelve full hook-up sites available. These have electric service, water and sewer hook-ups as well. Nine sites are tent-only.
The sandy beach on Black Moshannon Lake is open from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend, and the beach bathhouse was built by the CCC. Beginning in 2008, lifeguards will not be posted at the beach.
There are eight picnic pavilions built by the CCC in the park, which can be reserved for a fee. In addition to the pavilions, Black Moshannon State Park has 250 picnic tables in four large picnic areas. The use of these picnic tables and unreserved pavilions is first come, first served, and they are free of charge.
Some modern activities are prohibited in Black Moshannon State Park. The operation of drones and similar radio controlled devices is prohibited. All-terrain vehicle usage is also prohibited and closely monitored by DCNR. Further, removing any natural items is illegal as is firewood cutting without a permit.
Boating, fishing, and hunting.
Boating is a popular use of the waters of Black Moshannon Lake, which covers . Canoes, sailboats, and electric motor boats are all permitted on Black Moshannon Lake, provided they are properly registered with the state. Edward Gertler, author of a series of canoeing books, calls Black Moshannon Creek "about the best whitewater run in the West Branch Susquehanna Watershed" in "Keystone Canoeing", and the first stretch of Class 2+ whitewater for canoeing and kayaking begins in the park, just downstream of the dam.
Cold water fishing is available in Black Moshannon Creek and several of its tributaries, where anglers will find rainbow and brown trout which have been stocked there for sport fishing by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. Black Moshannon Lake's waters are warmer than those of the creek, and so hold many different species of fish, including largemouth bass, yellow perch, chain pickerel, bullhead catfish, northern pike, bluegill, and crappie.
Hunting is permitted in most of Black Moshannon State Park. It helps to prevent an overpopulation of animals and the resulting overbrowsing of the understory. The most common game species are ruffed grouse, eastern gray squirrel, wild turkey, and white-tailed deer. However, the hunting of groundhogs is prohibited.
Trails.
There are of trails at Black Moshannon State Park; all are open to hiking, most are open to cross-country skiing during the winter months, and select trails are open to snowmobiles and mountain bikes. The park is especially popular among cross-country skiing enthusiasts due to its high elevation. Skiers will find trails that are largely free of rocks, with a layer of grass beneath the snow. Sleepy Hollow, Seneca, Indian, and Hay Road Trails are most frequently used. Eight of the park's fourteen trails are described above, the remaining six follow.
Friends of Black Moshannon State Park.
The Friends of Black Moshannon State Park is a volunteer organization that promotes the recreational use of the park through a summer festival. The group also works with the park staff to maintain the park lands, serve as campground hosts, survey the eastern bluebird population, and organize conservation projects.
The Summer Festival usually takes place over the fourth weekend of July. Events at the festival recall the lumbering history of the park. Log rolling, axe throwing, and cross-cut sawing events are held, as are horseshoe and seed spitting contests. Black Moshannon Lake is open to canoe races and fishing. A Saturday night bonfire party is held at the beach, with music and refreshments.
Nearby state parks.
The following state parks are within of Black Moshannon State Park:


Niagara Parks School of Horticulture

Niagara Parks School of Horticulture is both an educational institution and a public botanical garden that is maintained by dedicated staff and students with a united objective to educate, cultivate, and preserve ornamental plants. The school bills itself as an alternative to post-secondary training for horticulture by providing students with a 36 consecutive month program combining practical and academic studies. The School of Horticulture is part of the Niagara Parks Commission located in Niagara Falls, Ontario.
History.
The school was founded in 1936 as the Niagara Parks Commission Training School for Apprentice Gardeners and renamed with the current name in 1959.
Admissions and Programs.
Admissions to the school requires applicants with prior horticulture experience plus Ontario Secondary School Diploma (or equivalent). The schools will accept a maximum of twelve students per year. Two academic semesters run on a ten week rotation, starting Labor day. When students aren't in academic classes they can be found outside, maintaining the grounds of the Botanical Garden.
Graduate receives a diploma in Ornamental Horticulture upon completion of required courses and practical application over 3 years.
Campus.
Training for students are conducted at the Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens, Butterfly Conservatory and the Niagara Parks Greenhouses. First and second year students have the opportunity to live in the residence, located on the botanical gardens grounds.
The School of Horticulture students are responsible for maintaining the Niagara Botanical Gardens on a year-round basis. Regular garden maintenance continues into the fall semester of the academic season and winter tree pruning and greenhouse work are completed through the winter semester of the academic season.


Mycosphaerella musae

Mycosphaerella musae is a fungal plant pathogen.


Penicillium vinaceum

Penicillium vinaceum is an anamorph species of fungus in the genus "Penicillium" which produces penicillivinacine, vinaxanthone and citrmycetin.


Paugnut State Forest

Paugnut State Forest is a Connecticut state forest located on four parcels in the towns of Torrington and Winchester. The forest's Arts and Crafts–style administration building was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1937 and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The remains of the foundation of the condensed milk factory established by Gail Borden on Burr Pond in 1857 may also be seen. Trails crossing the forest include the John Muir Trail which connects Burr Pond State Park and Sunnybrook State Park.


Roscoea praecox

Roscoea praecox is a perennial herbaceous plant occurring in the Yunnan province of China. Most members of the ginger family (Zingiberaceae), to which it belongs, are tropical, but "R. praecox", like other species of "Roscoea", grows in much colder mountainous regions. It is sometimes grown as an ornamental plant in gardens.
Description.
"Roscoea praecox" is a perennial herbaceous plant. Like all members of the genus "Roscoea", it dies back each year to a short vertical rhizome, to which are attached the tuberous roots. When growth begins again, "pseudostems" are produced: structures which resemble stems but are actually formed from the tightly wrapped bases (sheaths) of its leaves. In the case of "R. praecox", the flowers appear before the leaves are fully grown. Plants are usually 7–30 cm tall. The first four or five leaves consist only of a sheath, which has brownish veins. The remaining leaves, which are not developed at flowering time, have a blade, with a very small ligule at the junction of the sheath and blade.
In its native habitats, "R. praecox" flowers between April and June. The stem (peduncle) of the flower spike may either be hidden by the leaf sheaths or protrude. One to three flowers open together and may be of various colours: purple, violet or white. The bracts which subtend the flowers are 4–6.5 cm long.
Each flower has the typical structure for "Roscoea" (see the diagrams in that article). There is a tube-shaped outer calyx, 3–4.5 cm long with a two-toothed apex. Next the three petals (the corolla) form a tube only just slightly protruding from the calyx, terminating in three more or less equally sized lobes, each around 3 cm long: an upright central lobe and two side lobes. Inside the petals are structures formed from four sterile stamens (staminodes): two lateral staminodes form what appear to be small upright petals, which are rhombic in shape with a narrower base, 1.7–2.5 cm long; two central staminodes are partially fused at the base to form a lip or labellum, 2.5–4 cm long by 1.5–2 cm wide. The labellum bends backwards and is split into two lobes for more than half its length. It has white markings at its narrowed base.
The single functional stamen has a cream anther with spurs about 7 mm long, formed from the connective tissue between the two capsules of the anther.
Taxonomy.
"Roscoea praecox" was first described scientifically by Karl Moritz Schumann, a German botanist, in 1904. The specific epithet "praecox" means "early". "R. praecox" flowers before the leaves have fully developed.
Evolution and phylogeny.
The family Zingiberaceae is mainly tropical in distribution. The unusual mountainous distribution of "Roscoea" may have evolved relatively recently and be a response to the uplift taking place in the region in the last 50 million years or so due to the collision of the Indian and Asian tectonic plates.
Species of "Roscoea" divide into two clear groups, a Himalayan clade and a "Chinese" clade (which includes some species from outside China). The two clades correspond to a geographical separation, their main distributions being divided by the Brahmaputra River as it flows south at the end of the Himalayan mountain chain. It has been suggested that the genus may have originated in this area and then spread westwards along the Himalayas and eastwards into the mountains of China and its southern neighbours. "R. praecox" falls into the Chinese clade as would be expected from its distribution. It is closely related to "R. cautleyoides", "R. humeana" and "R. wardii".
Distribution and habitat.
"Roscoea praecox" occurs in both shrubby and grassy habitats in mountains between 2,200 and 2,300 metres in the Yunnan province of China.
Cultivation.
Some "Roscoea" species and cultivars are grown in rock gardens. They generally require a relatively sunny position with moisture-retaining but well-drained soil. As they do not appear above ground until late spring or even early summer, they escape frost damage in regions where subzero temperatures occur. "R. praecox" has been grown at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, where it flowered between May and July. It does not appear to be as widely cultivated as some other species (e.g. it was not included in the Pacific Bulb Society's information on the genus ), but was part of a Royal Horticultural Society trial of "Roscoea" in 2007–2011.
For propagation, see "Roscoea": Cultivation.


Prasophyllum hectori

Prasophyllum hectori, commonly known as the swamp leek orchid, is a species of orchid endemic to New Zealand. It has a single tubular, dark green leaf and up to eighty scented, yellow-green flowers with red or brown marking. It is similar to "P. colensoi", the only other species of "Prasophyllum" found in New Zealand, but is distinguished from it by its larger size, larger number of flowers and swampy habitat.
Description.
"Prasophyllum hectori" is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber and a single dark green to yellowish-green, tube-shaped, rush-like leaf which is usually taller than the flowering stem. The flowering stem emerges from the leaf about one-third of the leaf's length from its base. Between ten and eighty scented, well-spaced flowers are arranged along a flowering spike about long. The flowers are yellow to greenish, long with a mostly white labellum. As with others in the genus, the flowers are inverted so that the labellum is above the column rather than below it. The dorsal sepal is broadly egg-shaped, dished, long and the lateral sepals are narrow oblong, slightly longer than the dorsal sepal and free from each other. The petals are slightly shorter and thinner than the lateral sepals. The labellum is egg-shaped and turns sharply upwards about half way from its base. The edges of the labellum are white and wavy and there is a light green callus in the centre of the labellum. Flowering occurs from December to February.
Taxonomy and naming.
The swamp leek orchid was first formally described in 1887 by John Buchanan who gave it the name "Gastrodia hectori" and published the description in "Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute". In 2005, Brian Molloy, David Jones and Mark Clements changed the name to "Prasophyllum hectori". The specific epithet ("hectori") honours the naturalist James Hector.
Distribution and habitat.
"Prasophyllum hectori" is found on the North and Chatham Island islands where it grows in wetlands, usually in or new slow-flowing streams, often with sedges.
Conservation.
The swamp leek orchid is classified as "at risk" and "declining" by the "New Zealand Department of Conservation".


Oligonychus ununguis

Oligonychus ununguis, the spruce spider mite, is a globally widespread pest of spruce. Though not particularly important in the forest, it has been bothersome on planted spruce in the Prairie Provinces, and is considered one of the most important pests of spruce plantations in Ontario. As well, ornamental specimens of spruce and most other conifers throughout the range often suffer damage. The pest is barely visible without the aid of a magnifier and is rarely noticed until discoloured foliage is found on an affected tree. To check for the presence of mites, sharply jar suspected foliage over a piece of white paper, and watch for movement of tiny objects. If a red stain appears when the objects are smeared against the paper, the probability is high that spider mites are present.
Spruce spider mites suck sap from needles and shoots, causing the foliage to become mottled. The fine silk webbing that they spin as they move about the needles catches dust and further impairs the appearance of the host tree. Mites tend to become particularly numerous and destructive during hot dry seasons. Heavy infestations can lead to the death of seedlings and transplants. They are readily dispersed by wind and by the distribution of infected nursery stock.
The pest overwinters in the egg stage, mostly on the twigs. In the Prairie Provinces, the eggs hatch in May. The young, which to the layperson resemble the adult mite, develop into first generation adults by early June. By mid-June, the female, only about 0.5 mm long, lays 40 to 50 eggs on the foliage. These eggs give rise to a second generation of adult mites in late June, and 3 to 6 generations follow throughout summer and early fall. The overwintering eggs are laid from September to the onset of severe frost.


Eleocharis plana

Eleocharis plana, the flat spike-sedge, is a flat perennial sedge (in the family Cyperaceae) with creeping rhizomes, which grows up to 80 cm high in moist situations. It is widespread in inland New South Wales, and is also found in Queensland and in South Australia.
The spikelets are narrow and from 10 to 20 mm long (sometimes 40 mm). There are three stamens. The anthers are 1.5–3.1 mm long and the style is trifid.
The nut is obovoid, and from 1.2 to 1.8 mm long and about 1 mm in diameter. It is shining and a bright yellow to brown, with the base of the style base being about half as long and wide as the nut.
It flowers from spring to summer.
"Eleocharis plana" was first described by Stanley Thatcher Blake in 1938.


Leishmania donovani

Leishmania donovani is a species of intracellular parasites belonging to the genus "Leishmania", a group of haemoflagellate kinetoplastids that cause the disease leishmaniasis. It is a human blood parasite responsible for visceral leishmaniasis or "kala-azar", the most severe form of leishmaniasis. It infects the mononuclear phagocyte system including spleen, liver and bone marrow. Infection is transmitted by species of sandfly belonging to the genus "Phlebotomus" in Old World and "Lutzomyia" in New World. The species complex it represents is prevalent throughout tropical and temperate regions including Africa (mostly in Sudan), China, India, Nepal, southern Europe, Russia and South America. The species complex is responsible for thousands of deaths every year and has spread to 88 countries, with 350 million people at constant risk of infection and 0.5 million new cases in a year.
"L. donovani" was independently discovered by two British medical officers William Boog Leishman in Netley, England, and Charles Donovan in Madras, India, in 1903. However, the correct taxonomy was provided by Ronald Ross. The parasite requires two different hosts for a complete life cycle, humans as the definitive host and sandflies as the intermediate host. In some parts of the world other mammals, especially canines, act as reservoir hosts. In human cell they exist as small, spherical and unflagellated amastigote form; while they are elongated with flagellum as promastigote form in sandflies. Unlike other parasitic protists they are unable to directly penetrate the host cell, and are dependent upon phagocytosis. The whole genome sequence of "L. donovani" obtained from southeastern Nepal was published in 2011.
"L. donovani" "sensu stricto" is in a species complex with the closely related "L. infantum", which causes the same disease. The former is commonly found in East Africa and the Indian subcontinent, while the latter is found in Europe, North Africa, and Latin America. The split is done in 2007, and references to "L. donovani" often still refer to the entire complex ("sensu lato").
Discovery.
One of the earliest known epidemics of "L. donovani" infection ("kala-azar" as it was called in Hindi) was known in India just after the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The first medical record was however only in 1870 by British medical officers from Assam. In 1900, an English soldier stationed at Dum Dum, West Bengal, died at the Army Medical School in Netley, England. The autopsy was performed by William Boog Leishman. He processed the tissue sample of the enlarged spleen using a staining technique (now known as Leishman's stain) which he had just developed, and discovered the protozoan parasites using microscopy. But he mistakenly considered the parasites to be degenerate trypanosomes, already known protozoan parasites in Africa and South America. In 1903, Leishman published his discovery of "trypanosomes in India" in the "British Medical Journal", which appeared on 11 May. Another British medical officer Charles Donovan, who was serving in the Indian Medical Service, had found the parasites in April of that year at the Government General Hospital in Madras. After reading Leishman paper, Donovan confirmed on 17 June that the parasites (by then known as "Leishman bodies") were definitely the causative agents of "kala-azar". He wrote a commentary of his discovery in relation to that of Leishman in the same journal, that appeared on 11 July 1903. Soon a controversy arose as to whom such a monumental discovery should be credited. Donovan sent some of his slides to Ronald Ross, who was at the time in Liverpool, and to Alphonse Laveran at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. Laveran and his colleague Félix Mesnil identified the protozoan (and yet wrongly) to be members of Piroplasmida, and gave the scientific name "Piroplasma donovanii". It was Ross who resolved the conflict of priority in the discovery and correctly identified the species as member of the novel genus "Leishmania". He gave the popular name "Leishman-Donovan bodies", and subsequently the valid binomial "Leishmania donovani", thereby equally crediting the two rivals.
Structure.
"Leishmania donovani" is a unicellular eukaryote having a well-defined nucleus and other cell organelles including a kinetoplast and a flagellum. This species has n=36 chromosomes. Depending on its host it exists in two structural variants, as follows:
Infection and life cycle.
"Leishmania donovani" is a digenetic parasite passing its life cycle in two different hosts.
Definitive host.
In humans the metacyclic promastigotes are injected by sandfly through the skin during its blood meal. When sandfly bites using its proboscis it ejects the parasites that are stored inside the hollow tube. Some promastigotes may enter the blood stream directly where some are destroyed by macrophagic cytolysis. But many are also taken up through phagocytosis by mononuclear phagocytes in liver, spleen and bone marrow. Inside the cells they undergo spontaneous transformation into oval-shaped amastigotes. Granulocytes selectively kill the promastigotes by oxidative mechanism, while amastigotes are resistant. Then the surviving amastigotes undergo cell division using simple binary fission. Multiplication continues until the host cell can no longer hold and ruptures. In a fully congested cell there can be as many as 50 to 200 amastigotes, which are released into tissue cavities. Each individual amastigote is then capable of invading fresh cells. As a result, the entire tissue is progressively infected and destroyed. A number of free amastigotes then enters the blood stream where many are phagocytosed by macrophages. These free and phagocytosed amastigotes in peripheral blood are then sucked up by blood-feeding sandfly.
Intermediate host.
"L. donovani" undergo further development only in the digestive tract of the female sandfly. Hence only females are responsible for transmitting the infection. Once the amastigotes are ingested, they enter the midgut of the sandfly. Then they undergo structural modification into flagellated promastigotes, becoming larger and considerably elongated. They get attached to the gut epithelial lining where they multiply rapidly by binary fission. (They are also capable of sexual reproduction by genetic hybridisation in the sandfly gut.) They then migrate back towards the anterior part of the digestive system such as pharynx and buccal cavity. This process is known as anterior station development, which is unique in "Leishmania". A heavy infection of pharynx can be observed within 6 to 9 days after initial blood meal. The promastigotes become infective only by this time, and the event is called the metacyclic stage. The metacyclic promastigotes then enter the hollow proboscis where they accumulate and completely block the food passage. Immediately upon biting a human, the parasites are released, which invariably results in infection. The stages of development in sandfly can be described as follows:
Reservoir host.
Dogs are known to be susceptible to "L. donovani" infection. Especially in the New World, infection is a zoonotic disease, involving different canine species, including domestic dog and the two fox species, "Lycalopex vetulus" and "Cerdocyon thous". In the Mediterranean region domestic dogs and the three fox species "Vulpes vulpes", "V. corsac" and "V. zerda" are common reservoir hosts. In Africa and Brazil, some marsupials and rodents are also reported to harbour "L. donovani."
Epidemiology.
It is estimated that visceral leishmaniasis (VL) affects more than 100 million people worldwide, with 500,000 new cases and more than 50,000 deaths each year. Although "L. donovani" is only the second-most prevalent "Leishmania" causing VL, it is the most dangerous form and directly fatal to humans. Over 90% of reported cases are from India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sudan and Brazil. In India it is prevalent in the eastern region including Bihar, West Bengal, eastern Uttar Pradesh, Assam and foothills of Sikkim. It is responsible for tens of thousands of mortality among Africans in eastern and southern parts of Sudan. During the epidemic of 1984–1994 death toll was as high as 70% in the Sudanese population. Moreover, due to emergence of drug resistance the prevalence is not subsiding, and in fact has spread to central Europe. For example, during the late 1990s hundreds of cases were reported in Switzerland.
Pathogenicity.
"L. donovani" is the causative agent of visceral leishmaniasis, traditionally known as "kala-azar" ("black fever", particularly in India), because of its characteristic symptoms. The disease is highly lethal if not treated properly. The incubation period generally ranges from 3 to 6 months, and in some cases may be over a year. In Indian leishmaniasis, incubation can be as short as 10 days. The target cells are those of mononuclear phagocyte system. The two main tissues of infection are spleen and liver. Clinical symptoms include pyrexia (recurring high fever which may be continuous or remittent), enlargement of spleen and liver, and heavy skin pigmentation which darkens the physical appearance (the reason for naming "black fever"). To a lesser extent mucosa of the small intestine and lymph nodes are also invaded by the parasite. Morphological symptoms are noticeable particularly on facial and abdominal regions. Skin becomes coarse and hard. In African infections, warty eruptions are common. In a fully developed stage, the patient shows emaciation and anaemia. Where medical facilities are poor, mortality can be as high as 75–95% within 2 years of epidemics. The disease is often accompanied by complications with dysentery, tuberculosis, septicaemia and even HIV infection.
Cellular invasion and immunological response.
Amastigotes of "L. donovani" enter macrophages via a Rac1- and Arf6-dependent process, and are found in phagocytic vacuoles that interact with endosomes and lysosomes and acquire lysosomal features. During phagocytosis by macrophages, the promastigotes inhibit the formation of the phagolysosome, a cellular product by which invading pathogens are removed. The promastigote can do this using its glycolipid lipophosphoglycan (LPG) on its cell membrane. LPG causes disorganisation of F-actin and disruption of phagosomal lipid microdomains. They are capable of evading the microbicidal actions of macrophages, which can kill ordinary pathogens using reactive nitrogen and oxygen intermediates. They effectively subvert the production of reactive oxygen species. In this way the amastigotes are able to survive and replicate inside these primary immune systems. The parasites manipulate the cell signalling pathway of the macrophages, such as down-regulating of Jak/stat signalling, NO and TNF-α production, and also by blocking the NF-κB-dependent pathway. There are two major mechanisms of immune evasion such as induction of immune suppressive IL-10 responses and the generation of poor and functionally impaired CD8(+) T-cell responses.
Treatment.
The conventional treatment method is an intravenous injection with antimony compounds, such as pentostam. Unfortunately, these chemotherapeutics are so poisonous that about 15% of the patients die from the treatments. To compound the situation, drug resistance has evolved in the parasites against the traditional antimonials. According to rough estimates, about 40% of patients in India are already resistant to this therapy.
Another antimicrobial drug amphotericin B is also commonly used. Liposomal amphotericin B (L-AmB) has been a drug of choice in India, but is practically useless in Africa because of low effectiveness in the African strain of the parasite. Further, amphotericin B has severe adverse effects. Its acute effects includes nausea, vomiting, rigors, fever, hypertension or hypotension, and hypoxia, and its chronic effect is nephrotoxicity.
In 1999, an anticancer drug miltefosine was demonstrated to be highly effective (95% cure rate) among Indian patients. This was the first time an oral drug is effective for visceral leishmaniasis. Clinical trials showed that the new drug is relatively harmless. The most adverse effects were only vomiting and diarrhoea in 20–28% patients, which were rather mild. The drug has been officially approved in India. The recommended dosage is 100 mg per day over a period of four weeks.
Evolution.
"L. donovani" is now considered to be a species complex as indicated by different pathological symptoms occurring in different geographical areas where the species of the vector sandfly are also different. However, none of the parasites are morphologically distinguishable, except by molecular analysis, making them cryptic species. Molecular data show that genotype is strongly correlated with geographical origin. DNA sequencing of different geographical strains indicates that the protozoan complex can be classified into two valid taxa, "L. donovani" and "L. infantum". The genus "Leishmania" most likely originated in South America, from where it migrated to Asia. "L. donovani" and "L. infantum" diverged ~1 Mya, with further divergence of infraspecific genetic groups between 0.4 and 0.8 Mya.


Eucalyptus campanulata

Eucalyptus campanulata, commonly known as the New England blackbutt, gum-topped peppermint or New England ash, is a tree that is endemic to eastern Australia. It has rough, finely fibrous greyish bark on the trunk and larger branches, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves, flower buds arranged in groups of between eleven and fifteen, white flowers and cup-shaped to conical fruit.
Description.
"Eucalyptus campanulata" is a tree that grows to a height of , sometimes and has rough, finely fibrous, greyish brown bark on the trunk and main branches, smooth whitish bark on the thinner branches. The leaves on young plants are lance-shaped to egg-shaped or curved, long, wide and bluish or greyish green. The adult leaves are lance-shaped to curved, long and wide on a petiole long. The leaves are the same bluish green on both surfaces. The flower buds are arranged in groups of between eleven and fifteen on a peduncle long, the individual buds on a pedicel long. Mature buds are club-shaped, long and wide with an operculum as wide as, but shorter than the floral cup. Flowering occurs from October to December and the flowers are white. The fruit is a bell-shaped or conical capsule, long and wide on a pedicel long.
This species is distinguished from "E. andrewsii" by the shape of the fruit, being bell-shaped rather than cup-shaped.
Taxonomy and naming.
"Eucalyptus campanulata" was first formally described in 1912 by Richard Baker and Henry Smith who published the description in "Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales". The specific epithet ("campanulata") is a Latin word meaning "bell-shaped", referring to the fruit.
Distribution and habitat.
New England blackbutt is widespread and common on fertile soils in wetter areas between south-east Queensland and the southern end of Barrington Tops in New South Wales, especially on the eastern side of the Northern Tablelands.


Magnolia amazonica

Magnolia amazonica is a flowering evergreen tree of the family Magnoliaceae native to the lower western Amazon River Basin, including Peru and Brazil.
Description.
"Magnolia amazonica" grows up to high, in terra firma tropical lowland forests. Leaves are elliptic, 11 - 28.5 cm long and 4.2 - 10.5 cm broad. The creamy white fragrant flowers reportedly open at night, petals can be 6 – 7 cm long.


Symbolophorus evermanni

Symbolophorus evermanni is a species of Myctophiformes in the family Myctophidae.


Hope Islands National Park

Hope Islands National Park is a national park in Queensland (Australia) 1,521 km north-west of Brisbane. The park consists of four islands: East Hope and West Hope, Snapper Island and Struck Island.
Access is via private vessel or by permitted commercial operators.
The Hope islands were named by Lt James Cook on 13 June 1770, after his ship "HMS Endeavour" narrowly escaped sinking after running aground on the eastern part of Endeavour Reef at 11pm on 11 June.
Cook writes of taking a risk and sailing from the reef on the morning of 13 June in favourable conditions but the three operational bilge pumps could not keep up with the flow of water. Cook wrote "we were always in hopes of being able to reach these Islands". Cook speaks of he and the crew thinking the situation so dire that the best scenario would be to ground the boat on the reef surrounding the islands if the mainland could not be reached. They aimed to build a vessel from the wreck to make it back to the East Indies. However, some crew members were able to "fother" the leak using a sail so that the water could be cleared easily using one bilge pump. Endeavour was able to be sailed safely to what is now Cooktown so that repairs could be undertaken.


Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge

Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge is located in Cameron and Evangeline Parishes in southwestern Louisiana, was established in 1937 by Executive Order No. 7780 as "a refuge and breeding ground for migratory birds and other wildlife." The refuge is nearly in size, including leased from the Cameron Parish School Board. The Evangeline Parish unit is called Duralde Prairie and is currently being developed. It is located north of the city of Eunice.
Southwest Louisiana National Wildlife Refuge Complex.
The refuge, along with Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge, East Cove National Wildlife Refuge, Sabine National Wildlife Refuge, and the Shell Keys National Wildlife Refuge was included in the forming of Southwest Louisiana National Wildlife Refuge Complex in 2004.
History.
The refuge was formed with purchased from The Lacassane Company. The land had previously been part of two plantations, the "Illinois Plantation" and the "Lowery Plantation", and purchased for $51,774.00. The mineral rights were reserved but included in the consideration and were subjugated to a mineral servitude by covenant. Easement was established as well as a timeline. A 2003 Third Circuit court decision led to a 2006 decision, Waterfowl Limited Liability Company v. United States, in the United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, resulted in a reversal and the case remanded.
In 1976 the United States Congress designated of the southern portion as the Lacassine Wilderness.
Wildlife and habitat.
The vegetation types occurring on the refuge are primarily water-tolerant grasses, sedges, and shrubs. Vegetation in the undeveloped marshes is dominated by bulltongue and maidencane. The habitat is divided into of natural, freshwater marsh and open water, of managed, freshwater marsh (Lacassine Pool), of rice, wheat, soybean, and natural moist soil fields, of flooded gum and cypress trees, and of restored tallgrass prairie.
Most wildlife species found on the refuge are those indigenous to the marshes of coastal Louisiana. Nesting colonies of wading birds such as ibis, roseate spoonbills, and egrets, alligators, and furbearers such as mink, otter, and raccoon and nutria are found on the refuge. Threatened and endangered species that have used the refuge include bald eagles, peregrine falcons, and Louisiana black bear.
Several hundred thousand ducks and geese use the refuge as wintering habitat while wood ducks, fulvous and black-bellied whistling ducks, and mottled ducks nest on the refuge during the breeding season. The refuge offers fishing, hunting, boating, wildlife observation, and hiking.
Lacassine NWR, known for attracting thousands of pintails each winter (a peak of 300,000), has also seen the effects of the decreasing populations. The refuge hosted numbers well over 100,000 until the mid-1980s then saw the peaks reduced by half in the 1990s. Drought years in the mid-2000s caused a decline from 30,000 down to around 18,000. The birds are concentrated in the northwest and northeast sections of the Pool.
Management.
Lacassine NWR is managed intensively for waterfowl and other Louisiana coastal wetland species. The refuge has a wetland management program in which water levels are manipulated for managing naturally occurring marsh and moist soil plants and a Copeland management program where crops are planted to provide food for wintering waterfowl that migrate down the Mississippi and Central Flyways.
Habitat is made more attractive to waterfowl and shorebirds by mechanical methods and flooding with costs reimbursed to the landowner or farmer. The refuge also has an active coastal prairie restoration program and a prescribed burning program. Native prairies and marshes are periodically burned on a 3-5 year rotational basis to invigorate native grasses and forbs and to set back cool season plant growth or to reduce the fuel load and organic accumulations in the marshes.
Lacassine has a Wilderness Management program to help in managing the wilderness area found on the refuge and an oil and gas program to help minimize disturbance from mineral owner's activities. An alligator trapping program is used to manage the refuge's American alligator population. The refuge also has an active volunteer/intern program.
Recreation.
Hunting and fishing are two of the most popular refuge activities. Bird watching is also very popular, with a bird list available at the refuge or online. A nature drive, foot trails, and observation towers are available year-round. An active volunteer program provides additional opportunities and students are able to earn college credits through an internship at the refuge.


Taraxacum japonicum

Taraxacum japonicum is a species of dandelion that grows in Japan.


Felicia bellidioides

"Felicia bellidioides" is a perennial plant of up to about high, that is assigned to the daisy family. Most of the narrowly inverted egg-shaped leaves are silky hairy and in a basal rosette with no or few very narrow bracts on the stalk in the subspecies "bellidioides". In the subspecies "foliosa", the narrower leaves are not silky hairy but variously bristly and glandular, with more and larger bracts on the inflorescence stalk. The flowerheads sit individually on top of a long peduncle and consist of an involucre with only two worls of bracts, about twenty purplish blue ray florets, surrounding many yellow disc florets. It occurs in the Western Cape province of South Africa.
Description.
"Felicia bellidioides" subsp. "bellidioides" is a perennial, upwardly growing plant of up to high, sometimes with runners. Its leaves are set alternate along the stems (with the exception of the lowest pair that is opposite), mostly crowded in a basal rosette. The leaves are inverted egg-shaped to narrowly inverted egg-shaped, sometimes with an indistinct stalk, either broader and shorter, long and wide, and then usually white silky hairy, or 2½–3 cm (1.0–1.2 in) long and wide and distinctly hairy, or longer, long and 1½–5 mm (0.06–0.2 in) wide and usually short bristly and glandular hairs. In all forms the leaf margins rarely carry a few teeth.
Flowers and seeds.
The flower heads are individually set on top of an up to long stalk, that mostly carries no bracts but rarely very narrow bracts. The involucre is up to in diameter and consists of a double row of long bracts. The outer bracts are lance-shaped, about 1½ mm (0.06 in) wide, and carry long hairs or glandular bristles. The inner bracts are narrowly inverted egg-shaped and about 2 mm (0.08 in) wide, with a few hairs and a papery margin. Each flower head carries about twenty ray florets, with a purplish blue ligula of about long and 3 mm (0.12 in) wide. These encircle numerous disc florets, with a yellow corolla of up to 3 mm long. Encircling the base of the corolla are many white, toothed, deciduous, pappus bristles of 2–3 mm (0.08–0.12 in) long. The eventually black, dry, one-seeded, indehiscent fruits called cypsellae are inverted egg-shaped, about 2½ mm (0.1 in) long and wide, set with fine scales and with up to long hair, and are edged with an mostly brighter coloured ridge around the outline.
Subspecies.
"Felicia bellidioides" subsp. "foliata" differs from the typical subspecies by having bracts higher up the peduncles, clearly stalked, longer and narrower leaves of 1–6 cm long and –4 mm wide, without the silky hairs.
Taxonomy.
Rudolf Schlechter was the first to describe this species in 1897, based on a specimen collected on the Matroosberg at an altitude of about in 1895 by Rudolf Marloth. Jürke Grau in his 1973 "Revision of the genus Felicia (Asteraceae)" distinguished a form with bracts higher up the peduncle, stalked, longer and narrower leaves without the silky hair characteristic of the typical form. He named it "Felicia bellidioides" subsp. "foliata", the type of which has been collected by Barker on the Voetpadsberg between Worcester and Laingsburg in 1951. The species is considered to be part of the section Neodetris. The species name "bellidioides" has been compounded from the Latin "bellis" referring to the genus "Bellis", and the Greek suffix "-oides", which means "in the form of".
Distribution, habitat and ecology.
"Felicia bellidioides" subsp. "bellidioides" is known from the Hottentots Holland Mountains in the southwest to Matroosberg in the northeast. Isolated subpopulations of this subspecies also occurs in the Riviersonderend Mountains near Genadendal, the Groot Winterhoek Mountains near Gouda, the Anysberg, and the Klein Swartberg near Ladysmith. Subsp. foliosa borders the distribution a to the north and east, from the Cederberg, the Kouebokkeveld Mountains, Keeromsberg, the Witteberg near Laingsburg, Eendracht near Montagu, and the Swartberg Pass. The species is restricted to altitudes of , where it often grows in cracks in the rocks.
Conservation.
Both subspecies of "Felicia bellidioides" have a stable population and their continued survival is considered to be of least concern.


Yorkshire Electric Power Company

The Yorkshire Electric Power Company was founded in 1901 to provide a supply of electricity to commercial and industrial users throughout the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. It built and operated power stations and constructed overhead electric power lines across an area of 1,800 square miles (4662 km2). The company’s power stations were at Thornhill, Barugh, Ferrybridge and Mexborough. The company promoted and stimulated demand for electric power and it was financially profitable for its shareholders. The Yorkshire Electric Power Company was dissolved in 1948 when the British electricity supply industry was nationalised. Its power stations were vested in the British Electricity Authority and its electricity distribution and sales functions were taken over by the Yorkshire Electricity Board.
History.
In the late 1890s a group of large and influential manufacturing firms in West Yorkshire wished to promote an electric power company to provide a cheap and abundant supply of electricity. Sixty-three shareholders formed the Yorkshire Electric Power Syndicate Limited. In association with the promoters of the "South Yorkshire Electric Power Bill" they sought to obtain a Local Act of Parliament to give them the necessary legal powers. In 1901 Parliament passed the "Yorkshire Electric Power Act 1901" (1 Edw. 7 c. cxvi). The Yorkshire Electric Power Company was incorporated on 26 July 1901 under the provisions of the Act. Its function was to construct electricity generating stations and power lines to provide a supply of electricity throughout (initially) an area of 1,800 square miles (4662 km2) in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Its initial capital was £2,000,000 comprising 200,000 shares of £10.
As a power company it could only provide electricity for lighting where a supply for power was also provided. To allow it to supply electricity for any purpose, including lighting alone, the company established a subsidiary organisation: Electrical Distribution of Yorkshire Limited in 1905.
Further legal powers were obtained in 1910, 1914, 1918, 1922 and 1927.
Management.
The inaugural Board of Directors included several industrialists associated with the iron and steel, electrical, and transport industries in Yorkshire. The Board comprised:
The Company Secretary was James Milnes and the Company’s registered office was at 4 South Parade Leeds.
Power stations.
The 1901 Act proscribed four power stations to be built by the company, these were at Mirfield, Methley, Wath and Bingley. Three of the sites were adjacent to coal mines which would provided fuel for the stations. All four stations would have access to a plentiful supply of water for condensing steam and providing cooling. The centre of the company’s area of supply was at Mirfield where the first power station was to be built. The power stations built by the Yorkshire Electric Power Company would outlast the company itself and continue to be used after nationalisation in 1948.
Under the terms of the "Electricity (Supply) Act 1926" (16 & 17 Geo. 5 c. 51) the Central Electricity Board (CEB) was established in 1926. The CEB identified high efficiency ‘selected’ power stations that would supply electricity most effectively; Thornhill and Barugh were designated as selected stations.
Thornhill power station.
Instead of Mirfield a site at Thornhill 2 miles (3 km) to the east was chosen. Thornhill power station was commissioned as a 4.5 MW station in 1902. It was extended in 1915, 1925 and 1932–37 when it had a capacity of 75 MW. The station was further extended by the British Electricity Authority in 1950–54 and operated until 1982. The site is now (2020) occupied by a gas turbine power plant.
Ferrybridge power station.
Ferrybridge power station, later known as Ferrybridge A, was constructed in 1926–27. It was closed in 1976. Following nationalisation Ferrybridge B (1957–92) and Ferrybridge C (1966–2016) were subsequently constructed. The site is now (2020) occupied by Ferrybridge Multifuel power station.
Mexborough power station..
The Company had planned to build Mexborough power station from 1939 but this was delayed by the war and construction started in 1943. It was commissioned in 1945 and had a capacity of 120 MW. It closed in 1981.
Barugh power station.
Barugh power station near Barnsley (53°34'24"N 1°31'09"W) was commissioned in 1913. It was fuelled by gas from the coke ovens of Old Silkstone colliery. This was used to raise steam at a rate of 150,000 lb/h (18.9 kg/s) which was used to drive two 2.0 MW and two 5.0 MW steam turbines coupled to generators giving a total output of 14 MW AC.
Condensing water was circulated through cooling ponds adjacent to the station. Operating data for the station just prior to nationalisation is given in the table.
The steam set was shutdown in 1958.
Following nationalisation Diesel engines were installed by the British Electricity Authority in December 1954. There were two 2.0 MW Mirlees, Bickerton and Day engines, the alternators operated at 11 kV. Operating data for the station is shown in the table.
Barugh power station was decommissioned in 1963.
The electricity substation at Barugh is still (2020) operational and has connections for 132 kV and 66 kV lines.
Electricity distribution.
In 1927 Yorkshire Electric Power Company awarded a contract to Transmission Lines and Cables Construction Company of Keighley to build the Ferrybridge-Beal-Snaith 33 kV overhead line. The masts and towers were a combination of 'H' girder steel masts, lattice steel masts, lattice steel angle masts and lattice steel angle towers. They were designed and supplied by W. T. Henley (Henley Overhead Transmission).
The Central Electricity Board (CEB) constructed the national grid (1927–33) to connect power stations within a region, there is a 132 kV substation at Thornhill, and one at Barugh.
The construction of the national grid in the mid-east England area was completed in 1932. The system comprised 16 power stations (including new stations at Kirkstall and Ferrybridge) interconnected by 322 miles (518 km) of 132 kV transmission lines. A secondary system was established in South Lincolnshire and Rutland to provide electricity to rural areas, this used 202 miles (325 km) of 33 kV lines.
In 1932 the Yorkshire Electric Power Company registered the North Lincolnshire and Howdenshire Electricity Company as a subsidiary to supply electricity in an area adjacent to its existing supply area.
In 1933 the company was responsible for 2,100 miles (3380 km) of mains, 775 substations and 214 pole transformers.
Operations.
Although the company’s remit was to supply electricity over a wide area of West Yorkshire, its presence was not welcome by some municipalities. Some were unenthusiastic about providing a supply to the power company and councillors objected to using ratepayer’s money to supply electricity outside their municipal boundaries. Others objected to power companies supplying outside a local authority area which might prevent future expansion beyond current municipal boundaries. In Yorkshire, Leeds and other large municipalities opposed initiatives by the Yorkshire Electric Power Company to supply districts outside their boundaries.
The company actively promoted the use of electricity by domestic, commercial and industrial consumers.
The Electricity Commissioners were established in 1919 to define electricity districts and promote the establishment of Joint Electricity Authorities (JEA). The Yorkshire Electric Power Company saw the establishment of a Yorkshire JEA as an attempt to usurp the function of bulk supply for which it had been established. Several Yorkshire municipalities also opposed the JEA proposal and it was not developed any further.
In 1923 Thornhill and Barugh power stations were both operational and supplying the company’s electricity requirements. The quantities of electric power sold and the associated income is shown on the table.
Power companies became the management and financial centres for the development of the commercial sector. By 1932 the Yorkshire Electric Power Company held 51 distribution franchises over a much wider area than originally established. This included parts of Derbyshire and Lincolnshire. By 1935 its supply area was 2,481 square miles (6426 km2). There were 1,411 miles (2271 km)  of mains providing electricity supplies to local authorities, electrical undertakers, textile mills, collieries, steel works, docks and other power users.
In 1945 the company’s four power stations sold a combined quantity of 860 GWh, this increased to 1,095 GWh (1946) and 1,176 GWh (1947).
Operational data for the four power stations of the Yorkshire Electric Power Company in 1946 are given in the table.
The four power stations continued to operate following nationalisation, when they were owned and operated by the British Electricity Authority.
Financial.
The profits of the company from 1912 to 1947 are shown in the table.
Nationalisation.
The British electricity supply industry was nationalised in 1948, as part of the post-war Labour government’s plans to bring the UK’s industrial infrastructure within state control. Nationalisation was enacted under the provisions of the "Electricity Act 1947" (10 & 11 Geo. 6 c. 54). The Yorkshire Electric Power Company was abolished on 31 March 1948. Ownership of Thornhill, Barugh, Ferrybridge and Mexborough power stations was vested in the British Electricity Authority, and subsequently the Central Electricity Authority (1954–57) and the Central Electricity Generating Board (from 1958). At the same time the electricity distribution and sales responsibilities of the Yorkshire Electric Power Company were transferred to the Yorkshire Electricity Board (YEB).


Brickellia botterii

Brickellia botterii is a Mexican species of flowering plants in the daisy family. It is native to the state of Veracruz on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.
The species is named for Italian ornithologist Matteo Botteri (1808 – 1877).


Polycarpon polycarpoides

Polycarpon polycarpoides is a species of flowering plant in the manyseed genus "Polycarpon", family Caryophyllaceae, native to the western Mediterranean; Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Spain, the Balearic Islands, France, Italy, and Sicily. It is a member of the "Polycarpon tetraphyllum" species aggregate.
Subtaxa.
The following subspecies are accepted: