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Azores Laurel
''Laurus azorica'', the Azores laurel or Macaronesian laurel, is a small, evergreen tree in the laurel family ( Lauraceae), found only on the Azores island group in the North Atlantic. Description The Azores laurel is a small dioecious tree, growing up to in height. Each flower is fragrant, creamy white, about 1 cm diameter, and they are borne in pairs beside a leaf. The leaves are large, shiny dark green, broadly ovoid, 7–14 cm long and 4–8 cm broad, with an entire margin. The fruit is a black drupe about 1–2 cm long. Distribution and habitat ''Laurus azorica'' is native to the Azores, where it is found in all of the islands. It is a major component of the laurisilva and high altitude juniper forests, occasionally with ''Myrica faya'' and ''Picconia azorica'' populations in mid-altitude. It is also found in lava flows, margins of cultivated land, coastal scrubland, mountain scrubland and forested peat bogs. Taxonomy As the result of a recent taxono ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in 2009 by the International Union of Geological Sciences, the cutoff of the Pleistocene and the preceding Pliocene was regarded as being 1.806 million years Before Present (BP). Publications from earlier years may use either definition of the period. The end of the Pleistocene corresponds with the end of the last glacial period and also with the end of the Paleolithic age used in archaeology. The name is a combination of Ancient Greek grc, label=none, πλεῖστος, pleīstos, most and grc, label=none, καινός, kainós (latinized as ), 'new'. At the end of the preceding Pliocene, the previously isolated North and South American continents were joined by the Isthmus of Panama, causing Great American Interchang ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holocene
The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene together form the Quaternary period. The Holocene has been identified with the current warm period, known as MIS 1. It is considered by some to be an interglacial period within the Pleistocene Epoch, called the Flandrian interglacial.Oxford University Press – Why Geography Matters: More Than Ever (book) – "Holocene Humanity" section https://books.google.com/books?id=7P0_sWIcBNsC The Holocene corresponds with the rapid proliferation, growth and impacts of the human species worldwide, including all of its written history, technological revolutions, development of major civilizations, and overall significant transition towards urban living in the present. The human impact on modern-era Earth and its ecosystems may be considered of global si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lauraceae
Lauraceae, or the laurels, is a plant family that includes the true laurel and its closest relatives. This family comprises about 2850 known species in about 45 genera worldwide (Christenhusz & Byng 2016 ). They are dicotyledons, and occur mainly in warm temperate and tropical regions, especially Southeast Asia and South America. Many are aromatic evergreen trees or shrubs, but some, such as ''Sassafras'', are deciduous, or include both deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs, especially in tropical and temperate climates. The genus ''Cassytha'' is unique in the Lauraceae in that its members are parasitic vines. Most laurels are highly-poisonous. Overview The family has a worldwide distribution in tropical and warm climates. The Lauraceae are important components of tropical forests ranging from low-lying to montane. In several forested regions, Lauraceae are among the top five families in terms of the number of species present. The Lauraceae give their name to habitats know ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Azores
) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores within the European Union , subdivision_type=Sovereign state , subdivision_name=Portugal , established_title=Settlement , established_date=1432 , established_title3=Autonomous status , established_date3=30 April 1976 , official_languages=Portuguese , demonym= ( en, Azorean) , capital_type= Capitals , capital = Ponta Delgada (executive) Angra do Heroísmo (judicial) Horta (legislative) , largest_city = Ponta Delgada , government_type=Autonomous Region , leader_title1=Representative of the Republic , leader_name1=Pedro Manuel dos Reis Alves Catarino , leader_title2= President of the Legislative Assembly , leader_name2= Luís Garcia , leader_title3= President of the Regional Government , leader_name3=José Manuel Bolieiro , le ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dioecious
Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproduction is biparental reproduction. Dioecy has costs, since only about half the population directly produces offspring. It is one method for excluding self-fertilization and promoting allogamy (outcrossing), and thus tends to reduce the expression of recessive deleterious mutations present in a population. Plants have several other methods of preventing self-fertilization including, for example, dichogamy, herkogamy, and self-incompatibility. Dioecy is a dimorphic sexual system, alongside gynodioecy and androdioecy. In zoology In zoology, dioecious species may be opposed to hermaphroditic species, meaning that an individual is either male or female, in which case the synonym gonochory is more often used. Most animal species are dioecious (gon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leaf Shape
The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular or irregular, may be smooth or bearing hair, bristles or spines. For more terms describing other aspects of leaves besides their overall morphology see the leaf article. The terms listed here all are supported by technical and professional usage, but they cannot be represented as mandatory or undebatable; readers must use their judgement. Authors often use terms arbitrarily, or coin them to taste, possibly in ignorance of established terms, and it is not always clear whether because of ignorance, or personal preference, or because usages change with time or context, or because of variation between specimens, even specimens from the same plant. For example, whether to call leaves on the same tree "acuminate", "lanceolate", or "linear" could ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fruit
In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propagated using the movements of humans and animals in a symbiotic relationship that is the means for seed dispersal for the one group and nutrition for the other; in fact, humans and many animals have become dependent on fruits as a source of food. Consequently, fruits account for a substantial fraction of the world's agricultural output, and some (such as the apple and the pomegranate) have acquired extensive cultural and symbolic meanings. In common language usage, "fruit" normally means the seed-associated fleshy structures (or produce) of plants that typically are sweet or sour and edible in the raw state, such as apples, bananas, grapes, lemons, oranges, and strawberries. In botanical usage, the term "fruit" also i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drupe
In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kernel'') inside. These fruits usually develop from a single carpel, and mostly from flowers with superior ovaries (polypyrenous drupes are exceptions). The definitive characteristic of a drupe is that the hard, lignified stone is derived from the ovary wall of the flower. In an aggregate fruit, which is composed of small, individual drupes (such as a raspberry), each individual is termed a drupelet, and may together form an aggregate fruit. Such fruits are often termed ''berries'', although botanists use a different definition of ''berry''. Other fleshy fruits may have a stony enclosure that comes from the seed coat surrounding the seed, but such fruits are not drupes. Flowering plants that produce drupes include coffee, jujube, mango, oli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laurisilva
Laurel forest, also called laurisilva or laurissilva, is a type of subtropical forest found in areas with high humidity and relatively stable, mild temperatures. The forest is characterized by broadleaf tree species with evergreen, glossy and elongated leaves, known as "laurophyll" or "lauroid". Plants from the laurel family ( Lauraceae) may or may not be present, depending on the location. Ecology Laurel and laurophyll forests have a patchy distribution in warm temperate regions, often occupying topographic refugia where the moisture from the ocean condenses so that it falls as rain or fog and soils have high moisture levels.Abstract at NASA – MODIS: Izquierdo, T; de las Heras, P; Marquez, A (2011). Vegetation indices changes in the cloud forest of La Gomera Island (Canary Islands) and their hydrological implications". ''H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Juniperus Brevifolia
''Juniperus brevifolia'', the Azores juniper, is a species of juniper, endemic to the Azores (on Corvo, Faial, Flores, Pico, Santa Maria, São Jorge, São Miguel, and Terceira), where it occurs at altitudes of , rarely up to . It is closely related to ''Juniperus oxycedrus'' (prickly juniper) of the Mediterranean region and ''Juniperus cedrus'' (Canary Islands juniper) of the neighboring Macaronesian islands. It is threatened by habitat loss.Adams, R. P. (2004). ''Junipers of the World''. Trafford. Farjon, A. (2005). ''Monograph of Cupressaceae and Sciadopitys''. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Thomas, P. 2013''Juniperus brevifolia''.The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2015.2. Downloaded on 01 September 2015. It is a shrub or small tree growing to a height of and a trunk diameter up to . The leaves are evergreen, needle-like, in whorls of three, glaucous green, long and 1–3 mm broad, with a double white stomatal band (split by a green midrib) on the inner su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Myrica Faya
''Myrica faya'' (firetree, faya or haya; syn. ''Morella faya'' (Ait.) Wilbur) is a species of ''Myrica'', native to Macaronesia (the Azores, Madeira, and the Canary Islands), and possibly also western coastal mainland Portugal. Description It is an evergreen shrub or small tree tall, rarely up to tall. The leaves are usually a dark, glossy green, long and broad, with an entire margin and a bluntly pointed apex. It easily grows in any type of soil. It is subdioecious, with the male and female flowers produced largely on separate plants, but often with a few flowers of the other sex present (Binggeli 1997). The male flowers have four stamens and are normally produced in clumps close to the branch. The female flowers, usually occurring in similar groups grow slightly farther from the branch tips. The fruit is an edible drupe diameter, it is a reddish purple ripening dark purple to black. It is used as an astringent remedy for catarrh (Pérez 1999, Rushforth 1999). Distributi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Picconia Azorica
''Picconia azorica'', locally known as pau-branco, is a species of ''Picconia'' common to the majority of islands of the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores, where it is endemic. It can grow to a medium-sized tree, though it is usually found in the form of a shrub. It is threatened by habitat loss. Description The evergreen woody plant species is present in all the islands of the Azores, except Graciosa, usually in coastal and medium altitude forests from sea-level up to about high. Leaves are lanceolate or ovate, opposite and with entire margins. It flowers from March to July, producing small white flowers in axillary clusters.Martins et al. (2011), p.39 The fleshy fruits are dark blue drupes about long, similar to olive trees (both plants are in the Oleaceae family).Azores Flora''Picconia azorica'' Status The species is very popular in traditional/artesnal carpentry, for furniture construction and religious sanctuary. Since its colonization, the resources of the different i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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