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GWR Metropolitan Class
The Great Western Railway Metropolitan Class broad gauge steam locomotives with condensing apparatus were used for working trains on the Metropolitan Railway. The equipment was later removed, though the class continued to work suburban trains on GWR lines in London. The class was introduced into service between June 1862 and October 1864, and withdrawn between June 1871 and December 1877. Twenty-two locomotives were built to the tank locomotive arrangement from 1862 to 1864., ''Metropolitan'', 2-4-0T The locomotives were built by three workshops, each with a different naming system. The first two batches were delivered concurrently by the Vulcan Foundry (named after insects), and Kitson & Co. (named after foreign monarchs). These were followed by a batch from the railway's own workshops at Swindon, that were named after flowers. Around 1865, seven of the class were rebuilt as tender locomotives: ''Hornet'', ''Mogul'', ''Azalia'', ''Lily'', ''Myrtle'', ''Violet'', ''Laurel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Praed Street
Praed Street () is a street in Paddington, west London, in the City of Westminster, most notable for being the location of London Paddington station. It runs south-westerly, straight from Edgware Road to Craven Road, Spring Street and Eastbourne Terrace. History Praed Street was originally laid out in the early 19th century, being built up in 1828. It was named after William Praed, chairman of the company which built the canal basin which lies just to the north. In 1893 plans were put forward by the Edgware Road and Victoria Railway company to build an underground railway along the Edgware Road which included the construction of a Tube station at Praed Street. The scheme was rejected by Parliament and the line was never built. Overview On the north west side of the street are Paddington Station and the Great Western Hotel, the Royal Mail Western depot, and St Mary's Hospital. The south east side is predominantly retail but includes the frontage for Paddington Underground ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Camellia
''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are more than 220 described species, with some controversy over the exact number, and also around 3,000 hybrids. The genus was named by Linnaeus after the Jesuit botanist Georg Joseph Kamel, who worked in the Philippines and described a species of camellia (although Linnaeus did not refer to Kamel's account when discussing the genus). Of economic importance in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Indian subcontinent, leaves of '' C. sinensis'' are processed to create the popular beverage tea. The ornamental '' C. japonica'', '' C. sasanqua'' and their hybrids are the source of hundreds of garden cultivars. '' C. oleifera'' produces tea seed oil, used in cooking and cosmetics. Descriptions Camellias are evergreen shrubs or small trees up to tall. Their leaves are alternately arranged ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Myrtus
''Myrtus'' (commonly called myrtle) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae. It was first described by Swedish botanist Linnaeus in 1753. Over 600 names have been proposed in the genus, but nearly all have either been moved to other genera or been regarded as synonyms. The genus ''Myrtus'' has three species recognised today: *'' Myrtus communis'' – Common myrtle; native to the Mediterranean region in southern Europe *''Myrtus nivellei'' – Saharan myrtle; native to North Africa *'' Myrtus phyllireaefolia'' Description Common myrtle '' Myrtus communis'', the "common myrtle", is native across the Mediterranean region, Macaronesia, western Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. It is also cultivated. The plant is an evergreen shrub or small tree, growing to tall. The leaf is entire, 3–5 cm long, with a fragrant essential oil. The star-like flower has five petals and sepals, and numerous stamens. Petals usually are white. The flower is pollinated ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mosquito
Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning " gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "little fly". Mosquitoes have a slender segmented body, one pair of wings, one pair of halteres, three pairs of long hair-like legs, and elongated mouthparts. The mosquito life cycle consists of egg, larva, pupa, and adult stages. Eggs are laid on the water surface; they hatch into motile larvae that feed on aquatic algae and organic material. These larvae are important food sources for many freshwater animals, such as dragonfly nymphs, many fish, and some birds such as ducks. The adult females of most species have tube-like mouthparts (called a proboscis) that can pierce the skin of a host and feed on blood, which contains protein and iron needed to produce eggs. Thousands of mosquito species feed on the blood of various hosts � ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the dynasty and the empire itself became indisputably Indian. The interests and futures of all concerned were in India, not in ancestral homelands in the Middle East or Central Asia. Furthermore, the Mughal empire emerged from the Indian historical experience. It was the end product of a millennium of Muslim conquest, colonization, and state-building in the Indian subcontinent." For some two hundred years, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus river basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to the highlands of present-day Assam and Bangladesh in the east, and the uplands of the Deccan Plateau in South India. Quote: "The realm so defined and governed was a vast territory of some , rang ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Locust
Locusts (derived from the Vulgar Latin ''locusta'', meaning grasshopper) are various species of short-horned grasshoppers in the family Acrididae that have a swarming phase. These insects are usually solitary, but under certain circumstances they become more abundant and change their behaviour and habits, becoming gregarious. No taxonomic distinction is made between locust and grasshopper species; the basis for the definition is whether a species forms swarms under intermittently suitable conditions; this has evolved independently in multiple lineages, comprising at least 18 genera in 5 different acridid subfamilies. Normally, these grasshoppers are innocuous, their numbers are low, and they do not pose a major economic threat to agriculture. However, under suitable conditions of drought followed by rapid vegetation growth, serotonin in their brains triggers dramatic changes: they start to breed abundantly, becoming gregarious and nomadic (loosely described as migratory) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lilium
''Lilium'' () is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large prominent flowers. They are the true lilies. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in much of the world. Most species are native to the northern hemisphere and their range is temperate climates and extends into the subtropics. Many other plants have "lily" in their common names, but do not belong to the same genus and are therefore not true lilies. Description Lilies are tall perennials ranging in height from . They form naked or tunicless scaly underground bulbs which are their organs of perennation. In some North American species the base of the bulb develops into rhizomes, on which numerous small bulbs are found. Some species develop stolons. Most bulbs are buried deep in the ground, but a few species form bulbs near the soil surface. Many species form stem-roots. With these, the bulb grows naturally at some depth in the soil, and each ye ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SS Great Eastern
SS ''Great Eastern'' was an iron sail-powered, paddle wheel and screw-propelled steamship designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and built by John Scott Russell & Co. at Millwall Iron Works on the River Thames, London. She was the largest ship ever built at the time of her 1858 launch, and had the capacity to carry 4,000 passengers from England to Australia without refuelling. Her length of was surpassed only in 1899 by the 17,274-gross-ton , her gross tonnage of 18,915 was only surpassed in 1901 by the 20,904-gross-ton and her 4,000-passenger capacity was surpassed in 1913 by the 4,234-passenger . The ship having five funnels (which were later reduced to four) was unusual for the time. The vessel also had the largest set of paddle wheels. Brunel knew her affectionately as the "Great Babe". He died in 1859 shortly after her maiden voyage, during which she was damaged by an explosion. After repairs, she plied for several years as a passenger liner between Britain and North Am ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bay Laurel
''Laurus nobilis'' is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub with green, glabrous (smooth) leaves. It is in the flowering plant family Lauraceae. It is native to the Mediterranean region and is used as bay leaf for seasoning in cooking. Its common names include bay tree (esp. United Kingdom), bay laurel, sweet bay, true laurel, Grecian laurel, or simply laurel. ''Laurus nobilis'' figures prominently in classical Greco-Roman culture. Worldwide, many other kinds of plants in diverse families are also called "bay" or "laurel", generally due to similarity of foliage or aroma to ''Laurus nobilis''. Description The laurel is an evergreen shrub or small tree, variable in size and sometimes reaching tall. The genus ''Laurus'' includes four accepted species, whose diagnostic key characters often overlap. The bay laurel is dioecious ( unisexual), with male and female flowers on separate plants. Each flower is pale yellow-green, about diameter, and they are borne in p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Khan (title)
Khan ''khan/qan''; tr, han; Azerbaijani: ''xan''; Ottoman: ''han''; Old Turkic: ''kan''; Chinese: 汗 ''hán''; Goguryeo: 皆 ''key''; Buyeo: 加 ''ka''; Silla: 干 ''kan''; Gaya: 旱 ''kan''; Baekje: 瑕 ''ke''; Manchu: ; Persian: خان; Punjabi: ਖ਼ਾਨ; Hindustani: ख़ान or ख़ां (Devanagari), or ( Nastaleeq); Balochi: خان; Bulgarian: хан, ''khan''; Chuvash: хун, ''hun''; Arabic: خان; bn, খান or ) () is a historic Turko-Mongol title originating among nomadic tribes in the Central and Eastern Eurasian Steppe to refer to a chief or ruler. It first appears among the Rouran and then the Göktürks as a variant of khagan (sovereign, emperor) and implied a subordinate ruler. In the Seljuk Empire, it was the highest noble title, ranking above malik (king) and emir (prince). In the Mongol Empire it signified the ruler of a horde (''ulus''), while the ruler of all the Mongols was the khagan or great khan. The title subsequentl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kaiser
''Kaiser'' is the German word for "emperor" (female Kaiserin). In general, the German title in principle applies to rulers anywhere in the world above the rank of king (''König''). In English, the (untranslated) word ''Kaiser'' is mainly applied to the emperors of the unified German Empire (1871–1918) and the emperors of the Austrian Empire (1804–1918). During the First World War, anti-German sentiment was at its zenith; the term ''Kaiser''—especially as applied to Wilhelm II, German Emperor—thus gained considerable negative connotations in English-speaking countries. Especially in Central Europe, between northern Italy and southern Poland, between western Austria and western Ukraine and in Bavaria, Emperor Franz Joseph I is still associated with "Der Kaiser (the emperor)" today. As a result of his long reign from 1848 to 1916 and the associated Golden Age before the First World War, this title often has still a very high historical respect in this geographical area ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hornet
Hornets (insects in the genus ''Vespa'') are the largest of the eusocial wasps, and are similar in appearance to their close relatives yellowjackets. Some species can reach up to in length. They are distinguished from other vespine wasps by the relatively large top margin of the head. Worldwide, 22 species of ''Vespa'' are recognized.A.H. Smith-Pardo, J.M. Carpenter, L. Kimsey (2020) The diversity of hornets in the genus ''Vespa'' (Hymenoptera: Vespidae; Vespinae), their importance and interceptions in the United States. Insect Systematics and Diversity 4(3) https://doi.org/10.1093/isd/ixaa006 Most species only occur in the tropics of Asia, though the European hornet (''V. crabro''), is widely distributed throughout Europe, Russia, North America, and north-eastern Asia. Wasps native to North America in the genus ''Dolichovespula'' are commonly referred to as hornets (e.g., baldfaced hornets), but are actually yellowjackets. Like other social wasps, hornets build communal ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
