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Cape Dwarf Chameleon
The Cape dwarf chameleon (''Bradypodion pumilum'') is a chameleon native to the South African province of the Western Cape, where it is restricted to the region around Cape Town. As with most chameleons, its tongue is twice the length of its body and it can be shot out of its mouth using a special muscle in the jaw. This gives the chameleon the ability to catch insects some distance away. Description The Cape dwarf chameleon grows to over in length, including the tail, with males and females reaching similar adult sizes. They are ovoviviparous, but examination in controlled captivity has shown the very soft egg-like membrane around the young is discarded immediately on birth. The young resemble miniature versions of the adults, with muted colours, and typically reach no more than 2 cm in length at birth. Adults can vary quite significantly in colour variety, saturation and pattern, some appearing much more vibrant than others. Like most chameleons, the tail is prehensile, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johann Friedrich Gmelin
, fields = , workplaces = University of GöttingenUniversity of Tübingen , alma_mater = University of Tübingen , doctoral_advisor = Philipp Friedrich GmelinFerdinand Christoph Oetinger , academic_advisors = , doctoral_students = Georg Friedrich HildebrandtFriedrich StromeyerCarl Friedrich KielmeyerWilhelm August LampadiusVasily Severgin , notable_students = , known_for = Textbooks on chemistry, pharmaceutical science, mineralogy, and botany , author_abbrev_bot = J.F.Gmel. , author_abbrev_zoo = Gmelin , influences = Carl Linnaeus , influenced = , relatives = Leopold Gmelin (son) , awards = Johann Friedrich Gmelin (8 August 1748 – 1 November 1804) was a German naturalist, botanist, entomologist, herpetologist, and malacologist. Education Johann Friedrich Gmelin was born as the eldest son of Philipp Friedrich Gmelin in 1748 in Tübingen. He studied medicine under his father at University of Tübingen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fynbos
Fynbos (; meaning fine plants) is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. This area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean climate and rainy winters. The fynbos ecoregion is within the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome. In fields related to biogeography, fynbos is known for its exceptional degree of biodiversity and endemism, consisting of about 80% (8,500 fynbos) species of the Cape floral kingdom, where nearly 6,000 of them are endemic. This land continues to face severe human-caused threats, but due to the many economic uses of the fynbos, conservation efforts are being made to help restore it. Overview and history The word fynbos is often confusingly said to mean "fine bush" in Afrikaans, as "bos" means "bush". Typical fynbos foliage is ericoid rather than fine. The term, in its pre-Afrikaans, Dutch form, ''fynbosch'', was recorded by Nob ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Searsia Pendulina
''Searsia pendulina'', commonly known as the white karee (English) or witkaree (Afrikaans), is a hardy, very fast growing, semi-deciduous tree. It is native to Namibia and to the Free State (province), Free State and Cape Provinces of South Africa. It occurs naturally along the Orange River and some of its tributaries. Description ''Searsia pendulina'' is wind and drought resistant and has a pleasing, slightly drooping effect, somewhat similar to a Salix babylonica#Horticultural selections and related hybrids, weeping willow. It can reach a height of up to 10 metres but usually only reaches 6 to 8 metres height, with a spread of about 5 metres. The species is protected in the Northern Cape Province, Northern Cape. In summer it produces sprays of inconspicuous flowers that attract insects. Male and female flowers are on separate trees and the female trees bear bunches of small, round edible fruits in late summer, mostly eaten by birds. Uses It is widely used in South Africa as a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Psoralea Pinnata
''Psoralea pinnata'' is an erect evergreen shrub or small tree that grows to a height between and tall. Description This plant has fine deep green linear leaves that are deeply divided with a length of about . The linear leaf blades occur in crowded alternate spirals are to in width and taper from the base. This plant blooms with white, lilac or blue pea shaped sweet smelling flowers between October and December. in large clusters toward the end of the branches. Flowering is followed by the production of small pods, each of these contain a single dark brown seed. Distribution ''Psoralea pinnata'' is a native of South Africa; it is also an established alien species in other countries, particularly Southern Australia and New Zealand. Common names ''Psoralea pinnata'' has many common names. In South Africa the plant is commonly known as the fountain bush or fonteinbos, it also is called penwortel, bloukeur and is known as umhlonishwa by the Zulu. In Australia, where ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chrysanthemoides Monilifera
''Osteospermum moniliferum'' ''(Chrysanthemoides monilifera)'' is an evergreen flowering shrub or small tree of the Asteraceae (daisy) family that is native to South Africa, such as the Cape Flats Dune Strandveld habitat. Most subspecies have woolly, dull, serrate, oval leaves, but the subspecies ''rotundata'' has glossy round leaves. Subspecies are known as boneseed and bitou bush in Australasia, or bietou, tick berry, bosluisbessie, or weskusbietou in South Africa. (Archived by ) The plant has become a major environmental weed and invasive species in Australia and New Zealand. Taxonomy ''Chrysanthemoides monilifera'' is one of two members of the genus ''Chrysanthemoides'', the other being ''Chrysanthemoides incana''. ''Chrysanthemoides monilifera'' has six recognized subspecies: *''Chrysanthemoides monilifera'' subsp. ''canescens'' *''Chrysanthemoides monilifera'' subsp. ''monilifera'' *''Chrysanthemoides monilifera'' subsp. ''pisifera'' *''Chrysanthemoides monilifera'' subsp. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plumbago
''Plumbago'' is a genus of 10–20 species of flowering plants in the family Plumbaginaceae, native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the world. Common names include plumbago and leadwort (names which are also shared by the genus '' Ceratostigma''). Description The species include herbaceous plants and shrubs growing to tall. The leaves are spirally arranged, simple, entire, long, with a tapered base and often with a hairy margin. The flowers are white, blue, purple, red, or pink, with a tubular corolla with five petal-like lobes; they are produced in racemes. The flower calyx has glandular trichomes (hairs), which secrete a sticky mucilage that is capable of trapping and killing insects; it is unclear what the purpose of these trichomes is; protection from pollination by way of "crawlers" (ants and other insects that typically do not transfer pollen between individual plants), or possible protocarnivory. Mature plumbago leaves often have a whitish residue on the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tecoma Capensis
''Tecoma capensis'', the Cape honeysuckle, is a species of flowering plant in the family Bignoniaceae, native to southern Africa. Despite its common name, it is not closely related to the true honeysuckle. Description An erect, scrambling shrub, it grows to in height and a similar width. Normally evergreen, it may lose its leaves in colder climates. In certain habitats it may scramble, meaning that it shoots out long growth tips which lean on the stems and branches of other plants, as well as boulders, trellises, fences and walls; this can lead to the plant appearing untidy. The leaves are up to long. They are opposite, slightly serrated, green to dark-green, and pinnate with 5 to 9 oblong leaflets. The flowers are tubular, narrow, about long, and are produced at different times throughout the year. They are grouped in long terminal clusters. The flower colour ranges from orange to orange-red to apricot. Distribution The species occurs naturally in South Africa, Eswatini an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leonotis
''Leonotis'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae.Raymond M. Harley, Sandy Atkins, Andrey L. Budantsev, Philip D. Cantino, Barry J. Conn, Renée J. Grayer, Madeline M. Harley, Rogier P.J. de Kok, Tatyana V. Krestovskaja, Ramón Morales, Alan J. Paton, and P. Olof Ryding. 2004. "Labiatae" pages 167-275. In: Klaus Kubitzki (editor) and Joachim W. Kadereit (volume editor). ''The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants'' volume VII. Springer-Verlag: Berlin; Heidelberg, Germany. One species, ''Leonotis nepetifolia'', is native to tropical Africa and southern India. It is naturalized throughout most of the tropics. The other species are endemic to southern + eastern Africa.Mattias Iwarsson and Yvette Harvey. 2003. "Monograph of the genus ''Leonotis'' (Pers.) R.Br. (Lamiaceae)". ''Kew Bulletin'' 58(3):597-645. ''Leonotis'' was named by Robert Brown in 1810 in Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen.Robert Brown. 1810. ''Prodromus Florae Novae Holland ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Euryops Chrysanthemoides
''Euryops chrysanthemoides'' (with the common names African bush daisy or bull's-eye) is a small shrub native to Southern Africa that is also grown as a horticultural specimen in tropical to subtropical regions around the world. Description It is a compact, densely branched, leafy, evergreen shrub, 0.5 to 2m in height. The leaf surface is smooth and green. The species was moved to ''Euryops'' from the genus ''Gamolepis'' on the basis of chromosome counts. Distribution ''Euryops chrysanthemoides'' is indigenous to southern Africa, where it occurs in the Eastern Cape, along the coast and inland, to KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Eswatini. It is usually found on forest edges, in riverine bush and in ravines, as well as in coastal scrub, grassland and disturbed areas. It is a ruderal weed in New South Wales, although it is not invasive in all places where it is cultivated or has naturalized. References Flora of Southern Africa Euryops, chrysanthemoides Ruderal specie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Restionaceae
The Restionaceae, also called restiads and restios, are a family (biology), family of flowering plants native to the Southern Hemisphere; they vary from a few centimeters to 3 meters in height. Following the APG IV system, APG IV (2016): the family now includes the former families Anarthriaceae, Centrolepidaceae and Lyginiaceae, and as such includes 51 genera with 572 known species. Based on evidence from fossil pollens, the Restionaceae likely originated more than 65 million years ago during the Cretaceous, Late Cretaceous period, when the southern continents were still part of Gondwana.Bremer, K. (2002). "Gondwanan Evolution of the Grass Alliance of Families (Poales)." ''Evolution'', 56(7): 1374-1387 Description The family consists of tufted or rhizomatous, herbaceous plants belonging to a group of monocotyledons that includes several similar families, such as the Cyperaceae, sedges, Juncaceae, rushes, and Poaceae, grasses. They have green, photosynthetic stems and leaves that h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ectotherm
An ectotherm (from the Greek () "outside" and () "heat") is an organism in which internal physiological sources of heat are of relatively small or of quite negligible importance in controlling body temperature.Davenport, John. Animal Life at Low Temperature. Publisher: Springer 1991. Such organisms (for example frogs) rely on environmental heat sources, which permit them to operate at very economical metabolic rates. Some of these animals live in environments where temperatures are practically constant, as is typical of regions of the abyssal ocean and hence can be regarded as homeothermic ectotherms. In contrast, in places where temperature varies so widely as to limit the physiological activities of other kinds of ectotherms, many species habitually seek out external sources of heat or shelter from heat; for example, many reptiles regulate their body temperature by basking in the sun, or seeking shade when necessary in addition to a whole host of other behavioral thermo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sunlight
Sunlight is a portion of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun, in particular infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light. On Earth, sunlight is scattered and filtered through Earth's atmosphere, and is obvious as daylight when the Sun is above the horizon. When direct solar radiation is not blocked by clouds, it is experienced as sunshine, a combination of bright light and radiant heat. When blocked by clouds or reflected off other objects, sunlight is diffused. Sources estimate a global average of between 164 watts to 340 watts per square meter over a 24-hour day; this figure is estimated by NASA to be about a quarter of Earth's average total solar irradiance. The ultraviolet radiation in sunlight has both positive and negative health effects, as it is both a requisite for vitamin D3 synthesis and a mutagen. Sunlight takes about 8.3 minutes to reach Earth from the surface of the Sun. A photon starting at the center of the Sun and changing direction eve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
