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Lecythis Ampla
''Lecythis ampla'' is a species of woody plant in the family Lecythidaceae, which also includes the Brazil nut (''Bertholletia excelsa''). Common names include ''coco, olla de mono, jicaro'' and ''salero''. It is found in Central and South America. It has been considered an endangered species in Costa Rica (IUCN, 1988). Description ''Lecythis ampla'' is a large tree growing to in height with no branches on its lower part. It is deciduous with most of the leaves dropping before it blooms and new leaves appearing in flushes with the flowers. The bark is greyish brown and vertically furrowed. The glossy leaves are alternate and elliptical with wavy edges. The flowers appear between May and July and are pollinated by bees. They have six petals that are either pink or pale mauve, but fade to white as the flower ages. The fruit is a woody capsule up to that hangs from the branch. It resembles a little pot and when it is ripe, after about ten months, the lid comes off and the nuts f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Woody Plant
A woody plant is a plant that produces wood as its structural tissue and thus has a hard stem. In cold climates, woody plants further survive winter or dry season above ground, as opposite to herbaceous plants that die back to the ground until spring. Characteristics Woody plants are usually either trees, shrubs, or lianas. These are usually perennial plants whose stems and larger roots are reinforced with wood produced from secondary xylem. The main stem, larger branches, and roots of these plants are usually covered by a layer of bark. Wood is a structural tissue that allows woody plants to grow from above ground stems year after year, thus making some woody plants the largest and tallest terrestrial plants. Woody plants, like herbaceous perennials, typically have a dormant period of the year when growth does not take place, in colder climates due to freezing temperatures and lack of daylight during the winter months, in subtropical and tropical climates due to the dry sea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paca
A paca is a member of the genus ''Cuniculus'' of ground-dwelling, herbivorous rodents in South and Central America. It is the only genus in the family Cuniculidae. Pacas are large rodents with dots and stripes on their sides, short ears, and barely visible tails. Pacas are eaten by people in Belize, where they are known as "gibnut" and, having been served to Queen Elizabeth II, "the royal rat". In the Amazon basin they are known as "majás". The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama has studied the possibilities of developing the paca as a viable high-priced food supply for the tropics. Evolutionary background Pacas originated in South America and are one of the few mammal species that successfully emigrated to North America after the Great American Interchange . They were formerly grouped with the agoutis in the family Dasyproctidae, subfamily Agoutinae, but were given full family status because they differ in the number of toes, the shape of the skull, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lecythis
''Lecythis'' is a genus of woody plant in the Lecythidaceae The Lecythidaceae comprise a family of about 20 genera and 250–300 species of woody plants native to tropical South America, Africa (including Madagascar), Asia and Australia. The most important member of the family in world trade is the B ... family first described as a genus in 1758. It is native to Central America and South America. Species Uses Several species produce edible seeds and referred to by a variety of common names including paradise nut, monkey pot, cream nut, and sapucaia nut. ''Lecythis zabucajo'' is perhaps the most important edible species, but the seeds of ''L. ollaria'' and ''L. pisonis'' are also used. References External linksA website with an exhaustive list of links about Lecythidaceae*Kubitzki (ed.) 2004. ''The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants. Volume VI. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Celastrales, Oxalidales, Rosales, Cornales, Ericales.'' Springer. Google Books: https: ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Folk Medicine
Traditional medicine (also known as indigenous medicine or folk medicine) comprises medical aspects of traditional knowledge that developed over generations within the folk beliefs of various societies, including indigenous peoples, before the era of modern medicine. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines traditional medicine as "the sum total of the knowledge, skills, and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different cultures, whether explicable or not, used in the maintenance of health as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical and mental illness". Traditional medicine is often contrasted with scientific medicine. In some Asian and African countries, up to 80% of the population relies on traditional medicine for their primary health care needs. When adopted outside its traditional culture, traditional medicine is often considered a form of alternative medicine. Practices known as traditional medicines ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tanning (leather)
Tanning is the process of treating Skinning, skins and Hide (skin), hides of animals to produce leather. A tannery is the place where the skins are processed. Tanning hide into leather involves a process which permanently alters the protein structure of skin, making it more durable and less susceptible to decomposition and coloring. Before tanning, the skins are dehaired, degreased, desalted and soaked in water over a period of six hours to two days. Historically this process was considered a noxious or "odoriferous trade" and relegated to the outskirts of town. Historically, tanning used tannin, an acidic chemical compound from which the tanning process draws its name, derived from the bark of certain trees. An alternative method, developed in the 1800s, is chrome tanning, where chromium salts are used instead of natural tannins. History The English word for tanning is from medieval Latin , derivative of (oak bark), from French (tanbark), from old-Cornish (red oak). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biodiversity
Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') level. Biodiversity is not distributed evenly on Earth; it is usually greater in the tropics as a result of the warm climate and high primary productivity in the region near the equator. Tropical forest ecosystems cover less than 10% of earth's surface and contain about 90% of the world's species. Marine biodiversity is usually higher along coasts in the Western Pacific, where sea surface temperature is highest, and in the mid-latitudinal band in all oceans. There are latitudinal gradients in species diversity. Biodiversity generally tends to cluster in hotspots, and has been increasing through time, but will be likely to slow in the future as a primary result of deforestation. It encompasses the evolutionary, ecological, and cultural ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peccary
A peccary (also javelina or skunk pig) is a medium-sized, pig-like hoofed mammal of the family Tayassuidae (New World pigs). They are found throughout Central and South America, Trinidad in the Caribbean, and in the southwestern area of North America. They usually measure between in length, and a full-grown adult usually weighs about . They represent the closest relatives of the family Suidae, which contains pigs and relatives. Together Tayassuidae and Suidae are grouped in the Suina within the Artiodactyla (even toed ungulates). Peccaries are social creatures that live in herds. They eat roots, grubs, and a variety of foods. They can identify each other by their strong odors. A group of peccaries that travel and live together is called a "squadron". A squadron of peccaries averages between six and nine members. Peccaries first appeared in North America during the Miocene, and migrated into South America during the Pliocene-Pleistocene as part of the Great American Interchange ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parrot
Parrots, also known as psittacines (), are birds of the roughly 398 species in 92 genera comprising the order Psittaciformes (), found mostly in tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three superfamilies: the Psittacoidea ("true" parrots), the Cacatuoidea (cockatoos), and the Strigopoidea (New Zealand parrots). One-third of all parrot species are threatened by extinction, with higher aggregate extinction risk ( IUCN Red List Index) than any other comparable bird group. Parrots have a generally pantropical distribution with several species inhabiting temperate regions in the Southern Hemisphere, as well. The greatest diversity of parrots is in South America and Australasia. Characteristic features of parrots include a strong, curved bill, an upright stance, strong legs, and clawed zygodactyl feet. Many parrots are vividly coloured, and some are multi-coloured. Most parrots exhibit little or no sexual dimorphism in the visual spectrum. They form the most ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rodent
Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are native to all major land masses except for New Zealand, Antarctica, and several oceanic islands, though they have subsequently been introduced to most of these land masses by human activity. Rodents are extremely diverse in their ecology and lifestyles and can be found in almost every terrestrial habitat, including human-made environments. Species can be arboreal, fossorial (burrowing), saltatorial/richochetal (leaping on their hind legs), or semiaquatic. However, all rodents share several morphological features, including having only a single upper and lower pair of ever-growing incisors. Well-known rodents include mice, rats, squirrels, prairie dogs, porcupines, beavers, guinea pigs, and hamsters. Rabbits, hares, and pikas, whose i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deer
Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer (caribou), white-tailed deer, the roe deer, and the moose. Male deer of all species (except the water deer), as well as female reindeer, grow and shed new antlers each year. In this they differ from permanently horned antelope, which are part of a different family (Bovidae) within the same order of even-toed ungulates (Artiodactyla). The musk deer (Moschidae) of Asia and chevrotains (Tragulidae) of tropical African and Asian forests are separate families that are also in the ruminant clade Ruminantia; they are not especially closely related to Cervidae. Deer appear in art from Paleolithic cave paintings onwards, and they have played a role in mythology, religion, and literature throughout history, as well as in heraldry, such as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agouti
The agouti (, ) or common agouti is any of several rodent species of the genus ''Dasyprocta''. They are native to Middle America, northern and central South America, and the southern Lesser Antilles. Some species have also been introduced elsewhere in the West Indies. They are related to guinea pigs and look quite similar, but they are larger and have longer legs. The species vary considerably in colour, being brown, reddish, dull orange, greyish, or blackish, but typically with lighter underparts. Their bodies are covered with coarse hair, which is raised when alarmed. They weigh and are in length, with short, hairless tails. The related pacas were placed by some authorities in a genus called ''Agouti'', though ''Cuniculus'' has priority and is the correct term. In West Africa (especially Ivory Coast), the name "agouti" designates the greater cane rat which, while an agricultural pest, is often sought as a bushmeat delicacy. The Spanish term is ''agutí.'' In Mexico, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carapa
''Carapa'' is a genus of flowering plants in the mahogany family, Meliaceae. These are trees up to 30 meters tall occurring in tropical South America, Central America,Hogan, C. M. 2008Isthmian-Atlantic moist forests.Encyclopedia of Earth, World Wildlife Fund, National Council of Science and the Environment. and Africa. Common names include andiroba and crabwood. Diversity The list of species within this genus is still under discussion. Generally recognized species are: *''Carapa guianensis'' (andiroba, crabwood): Amazon Region, Central America, Caribbean *''Carapa megistocarpa'' (tangare): Ecuador *''Carapa procera'' (African crabwood, kowi, okoto): West Africa, the Congos Other proposed species: *''Carapa akuri'' *''Carapa alticola'' *''Carapa longipetala'' *''Carapa nicaraguensis'' *''Carapa vasquezii'' Uses The timber is important, and oil is produced from the seeds. The name andiroba is from Nheengatu ''nhandi rob'', meaning "bitter oil". ''Carapa guianensis'' produces oil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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