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Cirsium Funkiae
''Cirsium funkiae'', the funky thistle or Funk's thistle, is a species of thistle found in the United States. It was first described by American botanist Jennifer Ackerfield in 2022. The funky thistle's common name refers to the plant's "funky" appearance, with a nodding woolly flower head, and additionally honors Ackerfield's mentor Vicki Funk, who was also described as funky. The funky thistle can be differentiated from the similar looking mountain thistle ''Cirsium scopulorum'' by the coloration of the style branches and corolla, and the nodding flowerhead that the funky thistle exhibits. Taxonomy ''Cirsium funkiae'' was discerned as a separate species by Jennifer Ackerfield, head curator at the Denver Botanic Gardens. Ackerfield was cautious not to use the term "discovered", cautious that it was possible that local Native Americans in Colorado, Indigenous peoples were already aware of the species' distinct identity prior to her description. Ackerfield had begun studying the th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. Other ways of defining species include their karyotype, DNA sequence, morphology, behaviour or ecological niche. In addition, paleontologists use the concept of the chronospecies since fossil reproduction cannot be examined. The most recent rigorous estimate for the total number of species of eukaryotes is between 8 and 8.7 million. However, only about 14% of these had been described by 2011. All species (except viruses) are given a two-part name, a "binomial". The first part of a binomial is the genus to which the species belongs. The second part is called the specific name or the specific epithet (in botanical nomenclature, also sometimes i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
