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Lobaria Macaronesica
''Lobaria macaronesica'' is a species of foliose lichen in the family Peltigeraceae. Found in Macaronesia, it was formally described as a new species in 2010 by Carolina Cornejo and Christoph Scheidegger. The type specimen was collected on Madeira (Portugal), south of the Ribeira da Janela, at an elevation of . Description The lichen has a foliose (leafy) thallus that is bright green (when wet) to olive brown (when dry), measuring up to in diameter and comprising oblong lobes. The thallus surface is marked with ridges and pits, with rounded axils and truncated tips. Isidia occur singly or in small groups, and are cylindrical to sausage-shaped, up to 3 mm long. Apothecia occur infrequently in this species; when present, they are usually situated along the lobe edges or along upper surface ridges, and are reddish-brown with an entire margin. The ascospores are hyaline with three septa, measuring about 20 by 8 μm. The expected results of standard lichen spot tests a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Foliose Lichen
Foliose lichen is one of the morphological classes of lichens, which are complex organisms that arise from the symbiotic relationship between fungi and a photosynthetic partner, typically algae. This partnership allows lichen to live in diverse climates that can range from cold, dry mountains to wet, warm valleys. Lichens develop quite slowly with recorded growth rates of 0.01–27mm/year depending on the species. Their lifespan averages between 30 and 60 years. Lichens have a main body part called the thallus, which is composed of hyphae, and houses the cortex and medulla. The cortex contains the photosynthetic cells while the medulla allows for gas exchange and makes up the bulk of the lichen's thallus. There are three main types of lichens: crustose, foliose, and fruticose. Foliose lichen are characterised by flattened leafy thalli, and an upper and lower cortex. Many have numerous layers, which are stratified, and aid in identifying different types. Foliose lichens attach to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Secondary Metabolite
Secondary metabolites, also called specialised metabolites, toxins, secondary products, or natural products, are organic compounds produced by any lifeform, e.g. bacteria, fungi, animals, or plants, which are not directly involved in the normal growth, development, or reproduction of the organism. Instead, they generally mediate ecological interactions, which may produce a selective advantage for the organism by increasing its survivability or fecundity. Specific secondary metabolites are often restricted to a narrow set of species within a phylogenetic group. Secondary metabolites often play an important role in plant defense against herbivory and other interspecies defenses. Humans use secondary metabolites as medicines, flavourings, pigments, and recreational drugs. The term secondary metabolite was first coined by Albrecht Kossel, a 1910 Nobel Prize laureate for medicine and physiology in 1910. 30 years later a Polish botanist Friedrich Czapek described secondary metabolit ... [...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] |
Vaccinium Cylindricum
''Vaccinium'' is a common and widespread genus of shrubs or dwarf shrubs in the heath family (Ericaceae). The fruits of many species are eaten by humans and some are of commercial importance, including the cranberry, blueberry, bilberry (whortleberry), lingonberry (cowberry), and huckleberry. Like many other ericaceous plants, they are generally restricted to acidic soils. Description The plant structure varies between species: some trail along the ground, some are dwarf shrubs, and some are larger shrubs perhaps tall. Some tropical species are epiphytic. Stems are usually woody. Flowers are epigynous with fused petals, and have long styles that protrude from their bell-shaped corollas. Stamens have anthers with extended tube-like structures called "awns" through which pollen falls when mature. Inflorescences can be axillary or terminal. The fruit develops from an inferior ovary, and is a four- or five-parted berry; it is usually brightly coloured, often being red or bluis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pittosporum Coriaceum
''Pittosporum coriaceum'' is a species of plant in the Pittosporaceae family. It is endemic to Macaronesia, and due to extinction in the Canary Islands, it is now restricted to the Portuguese Madeira Islands. ''Pittosporum coriaceum'' is a Critically endangered species due to habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby .... References coriaceum Flora of Madeira Critically endangered plants Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Madeira-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Persea Indica
''Persea indica'' is a large, evergreen tree in the laurel family (Lauraceae), native to humid uplands on Madeira and the Canary Islands in the North Atlantic. It belongs to the genus ''Persea'', a group of evergreen trees including the avocado. It is threatened by habitat loss. It has been introduced to a number of islands in the nearby Azores. Overview The family Lauraceae was part of Gondwanaland flora. There they spread over most of the continent. The genus ''Persea'' died out in increasingly xerophytic Africa, starting with the freezing of Antarctica about 20 million years ago and the formation of the Benguela current. The genus is Local extinction, extinct in Africa, save for ''P. indica'', which survives in the fog shrouded mountains of the Canary Islands, which with Madagascar, constitute Africa's Laurel forest plant refugia. Fossil evidence indicates that the genus originated in West Africa during the Paleocene, and spread to Asia, to South America, and to Europe and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laurus Azorica
''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 taxonomic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laurel Forest
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". ''Hyd ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epiphyte
An epiphyte is an organism that grows on the surface of a plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phorophytes. Epiphytes take part in nutrient cycles and add to both the diversity and biomass of the ecosystem in which they occur, like any other organism. They are an important source of food for many species. Typically, the older parts of a plant will have more epiphytes growing on them. Epiphytes differ from parasites in that they grow on other plants for physical support and do not necessarily affect the host negatively. An organism that grows on another organism that is not a plant may be called an epibiont. Epiphytes are usually found in the temperate zone (e.g., many mosses, liverworts, lichens, and algae) or in the tropics (e.g., many ferns, cacti, orchids, and bromeliads). Epiphyte species make good houseplants due to their minimal wat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lobaria Immixta
''Lobaria'' is a genus of foliose lichens, formerly classified in the family Lobariaceae, but now placed in the Peltigeraceae. They are commonly known as "lung wort" or "lungmoss" as their physical shape somewhat resembles a lung, and their ecological niche is similar to that of moss. ''Lobaria'' are unusual in that they have a three-part symbiosis, containing a fungus, and an alga (as other lichens do), but also a cyanobacterium that fixes nitrogen. Taxonomy ''Lobaria'' was originally described as a section of the eponymous genus ''Lichen'' by German naturalist Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber in 1786. It was proposed as a genus by Georg Franz Hoffmann in 1796. The establishment of ''Lobaria'' remained uncertain until Edvard Vainio also described it. He divided the genus into two sections based on different morphologies of the mature spore: ''Lobaria'' and ''Ricasolia''. In 2013, the concept of family Lobariaceae was revised with the help of molecular phylogenetics, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lobaria Pulmonaria
''Lobaria pulmonaria'' is a large epiphytic lichen consisting of an ascomycete fungus and a green algal partner living together in a symbiotic relationship with a cyanobacterium—a symbiosis involving members of three kingdoms of organisms. Commonly known by various names like tree lungwort, lung lichen, lung moss, lungwort lichen, oak lungs or oak lungwort, it is sensitive to air pollution and is also harmed by habitat loss and changes in forestry practices. Its population has declined across Europe and ''L. pulmonaria'' is considered endangered in many lowland areas. The species has a history of use in herbal medicines, and recent research has corroborated some medicinal properties of lichen extracts. Description It is a foliose lichen and its leaf-like thallus is green, leathery and lobed with a pattern of ridges and depressions on the upper surface. Bright green under moist conditions, it becomes brownish and papery when dry. This species often has a fine layers of ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polymerase Chain Reaction
The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a method widely used to rapidly make millions to billions of copies (complete or partial) of a specific DNA sample, allowing scientists to take a very small sample of DNA and amplify it (or a part of it) to a large enough amount to study in detail. PCR was invented in 1983 by the American biochemist Kary Mullis at Cetus Corporation; Mullis and biochemist Michael Smith (chemist), Michael Smith, who had developed other essential ways of manipulating DNA, were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1993. PCR is fundamental to many of the procedures used in genetic testing and research, including analysis of Ancient DNA, ancient samples of DNA and identification of infectious agents. Using PCR, copies of very small amounts of DNA sequences are exponentially amplified in a series of cycles of temperature changes. PCR is now a common and often indispensable technique used in medical laboratory research for a broad variety of applications ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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