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Medlar
''Mespilus germanica'', known as the medlar or common medlar, is a large shrub or small tree in the rose family Rosaceae. The fruit of this tree, also called medlar, has been cultivated since Roman times, is usually available in winter and eaten when bletted. It may be eaten raw and in a range of cooked dishes. When the genus ''Mespilus'' is included in the genus '' Crataegus'', the correct name for this species is ''Crataegus germanica'' (Kuntze). In the southwest of England it historically had a number of vulgar nicknames, such as open-arse and monkey's bottom, due to the appearance of its large calyx. Description Under ideal circumstances, the deciduous plant grows up to tall. Generally, it is shorter and more shrub-like than tree-like. With a lifespan of 30–60 years, the tree is rather short-lived. Its bark is grayish brown with deep vertical cracks forming rectangular plates that tend to lift off. The wild form of ''M. germanica'' is mostly a thorny, more shrub-like ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mespilus
''Mespilus'', commonly called medlar, is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Rosaceae containing the single species ''Mespilus germanica'' of southwest Asia. It is also found in some countries in the Balkans, especially in Albanian regions. A second proposed species, ''Mespilus canescens'', discovered in North America in 1990, proved to be a hybrid between ''M. germanica'' and one or more species of hawthorn, and is properly known as ×'' Crataemespilus canescens''. Plant ''Mespilus'' forms deciduous large shrubs to small trees growing up to tall. The fruit is a matte brown pome. History ''Mespilus germanica'' is apparently native only to southwest Asia and southeastern Europe, i.e. near the Black Sea coast and western Mediterranean, and Asia Minor, as well as the Caucasus and northern Iran, but it has an ancient history of cultivation and wild plants exist in a much wider area; it was grown by the ancient Greeks and Romans, beginning in the second century B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Loquat
The loquat (''Eriobotrya japonica'') is a large evergreen shrub or tree, grown commercially for its orange fruit and for its leaves, which are used to make herbal tea. It is also cultivated as an ornamental plant. The loquat is in the family Rosaceae, and is native to the cooler hill regions of south-central China. In Japan the loquat is known as biwa (枇杷, びわ) and has been grown for over 1,000 years. The loquat has been introduced to regions with subtropical to mild temperate climates throughout the world. ''Eriobotrya japonica'' was formerly thought to be closely related to the genus ''Mespilus'', and is still sometimes mistakenly known as the Japanese medlar. It is also known as Japanese plum and Chinese plum, as well as pipa in China, naspli in Malta, Lukaat in India, Lucat in Sri Lanka, níspero in Spain, nêspera in Portugal, shések in Israel, akidéné in Lebanon, Ebirangweti in Kisii and nespolo in Italy (where the name is shared with ''Mespilus germanica''). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bletting
Bletting is a process of softening that certain fleshy fruits undergo, beyond ripening. There are some fruits that are either sweeter after some bletting, such as sea buckthorn, or for which most varieties can be eaten raw only after bletting, such as medlars, persimmons, quince, service tree fruit, and wild service tree fruit (popularly known as ''chequers''). The rowan or mountain ash fruit must be bletted and cooked to be edible, to break down the toxic parasorbic acid (hexenollactone) into sorbic acid. History The English verb '' to blet'' was coined by John Lindley, in his ''Introduction to Botany'' (1835). He derived it from the French ''poire blette'' meaning 'overripe pear'. "After the period of ripeness", he wrote, "most fleshy fruits undergo a new kind of alteration; their flesh either rots or blets." In Shakespeare's ''Measure for Measure'', he alluded to bletting when he wrote (IV. iii. 167) "They would have married me to the rotten Medler." Thomas Dekker also dra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shrub
A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple stems and shorter height, less than tall. Small shrubs, less than 2 m (6.6 ft) tall are sometimes termed as subshrubs. Many botanical groups have species that are shrubs, and others that are trees and herbaceous plants instead. Some definitions state that a shrub is less than and a tree is over 6 m. Others use as the cut-off point for classification. Many species of tree may not reach this mature height because of hostile less than ideal growing conditions, and resemble a shrub-sized plant. However, such species have the potential to grow taller under the ideal growing conditions for that plant. In terms of longevity, most shrubs fit in a class between perennials and trees; some may only last about five y ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crataegus
''Crataegus'' (), commonly called hawthorn, quickthorn, thornapple, Voss, E. G. 1985. ''Michigan Flora: A guide to the identification and occurrence of the native and naturalized seed-plants of the state. Part II: Dicots (Saururaceae–Cornaceae)''. Cranbrook Institute of Science and University of Michigan Herbarium, Ann Arbor, Michigan. May-tree,Graves, Robert. ''The White Goddess: A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth'', 1948, amended and enlarged 1966, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. whitethorn, Mayflower, or hawberry, is a genus of several hundred species of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere in Europe, Asia, North Africa, and North America. The name "hawthorn" was originally applied to the species native to northern Europe, especially the common hawthorn ''C. monogyna'', and the unmodified name is often so used in Britain and Ireland. The name is now also applied to the entire genus and to the related Asian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Variety (botany)
In botanical nomenclature, variety (abbreviated var.; in la, varietas) is a taxonomic rank below that of species and subspecies, but above that of form. As such, it gets a three-part infraspecific name. It is sometimes recommended that the subspecies rank should be used to recognize geographic distinctiveness, whereas the variety rank is appropriate if the taxon is seen throughout the geographic range of the species. Example The pincushion cactus, ''Escobaria vivipara'' (Nutt.) Buxb., is a wide-ranging variable species occurring from Canada to Mexico, and found throughout New Mexico below about . Nine varieties have been described. Where the varieties of the pincushion cactus meet, they intergrade. The variety ''Escobaria vivipara'' var. ''arizonica'' is from Arizona, while ''Escobaria vivipara'' var. ''neo-mexicana'' is from New Mexico. See also '' Capsicum annuum var. glabriusculum'' Definitions The term is defined in different ways by different authors. However, the I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vegetatively
Vegetative reproduction (also known as vegetative propagation, vegetative multiplication or cloning) is any form of asexual reproduction occurring in plants in which a new plant grows from a fragment or cutting of the parent plant or specialized reproductive structures, which are sometimes called vegetative propagules. Many plants naturally reproduce this way, but it can also be induced artificially. Horticulturists have developed asexual propagation techniques that use vegetative propagules to replicate plants. Success rates and difficulty of propagation vary greatly. Monocotyledons typically lack a vascular cambium, making them more challenging to propagate. Background Plant propagation is the process of plant reproduction of a species or cultivar, and it can be sexual or asexual. It can happen through the use of vegetative parts of the plants, such as leaves, stems, and roots to produce new plants or through growth from specialized vegetative plant parts. While ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chromosomes
A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are the histones. These proteins, aided by chaperone proteins, bind to and condense the DNA molecule to maintain its integrity. These chromosomes display a complex three-dimensional structure, which plays a significant role in transcriptional regulation. Chromosomes are normally visible under a light microscope only during the metaphase of cell division (where all chromosomes are aligned in the center of the cell in their condensed form). Before this happens, each chromosome is duplicated (S phase), and both copies are joined by a centromere, resulting either in an X-shaped structure (pictured above), if the centromere is located equatorially, or a two-arm structure, if the centromere is located distally. The joined copies are now called sis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mespilus Canescens
''Mespilus canescens'', commonly known as Stern's medlar, is a large shrub or small tree, recently discovered in Prairie County, Arkansas, United States, and formally named in 1990. It is a critically endangered endemic species, with only 25 plants known, all in one small (9 ha) wood, now protected as the Konecny Grove Natural Area. It has been shown by genetic analysis to be closely related to the common medlar ''Mespilus germanica'', which was previously the only known species in the genus. Subsequent molecular analyses suggest that Stern's medlar is likely a hybrid between cultivated ''M. germanica'' and one or two native North American species of ''Crataegus''.Lo, E.Y.Y., Stefanovic, S., Dickinson, T.A., 2007. Molecular reappraisal of relationships between ''Crataegus'' and ''Mespilus'' (Rosaceae, Pyreae) – two genera or one? ''Systematic Botany'' 32: 596–616. Description Thorns are sparse, long.Phipps, J.B. 1990. ''Mespilus canescens'', a new rosaceous endemic from Ark ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming organisms. He is known as the "father of modern taxonomy". Many of his writings were in Latin; his name is rendered in Latin as and, after his 1761 ennoblement, as . Linnaeus was born in Råshult, the countryside of Småland, in southern Sweden. He received most of his higher education at Uppsala University and began giving lectures in botany there in 1730. He lived abroad between 1735 and 1738, where he studied and also published the first edition of his ' in the Netherlands. He then returned to Sweden where he became professor of medicine and botany at Uppsala. In the 1740s, he was sent on several journeys through Sweden to find and classify plants and animals. In the 1750s and 1760s, he continued to collect an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amelanchier
''Amelanchier'' ( ), also known as shadbush, shadwood or shadblow, serviceberry or sarvisberry (or just sarvis), juneberry, saskatoon, sugarplum, wild-plum or chuckley pear,A Digital Flora of Newfoundland and Labrador Vascular Plants/ref> is a genus of about 20 species of deciduous-leaved shrubs and small trees in the rose family (Rosaceae). ''Amelanchier'' is native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, growing primarily in early successional habitats. It is most diverse taxonomically in North America, especially in the northeastern United States and adjacent southeastern Canada, and at least one species is native to every U.S. state except Hawaii and to every Canadian province and territory. Two species also occur in Asia, and one in Europe. The taxonomic classification of shadbushes has long perplexed botanists, horticulturalists, and others, as suggested by the range in number of species recognized in the genus, from 6 to 33, in two recent publications. A major so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peraphyllum
''Peraphyllum'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the rose family, containing the single species ''Peraphyllum ramosissimum'', commonly known as the squaw apple or wild crab apple. Translated from the Greek, the genus ''Peraphyllum'' means "very leafy" and the species name ''ramosissimum'' means "many branches". ''Peraphyllum'' is most closely related to '' Amelanchier'', ''Malacomeles'', ''Crataegus'', and ''Mespilus''. Distribution ''Peraphyllum ramosissimum'' grows in California, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico usually in pine and juniper woodlands. In California it can be found in the High Cascades, High Sierra Nevada, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert sky islands. Description ''Peraphyllum ramosissimum'' is a shrub which may reach in height and bears small pomes about wide. The leaves are simple; they can grow very close together on short shoots but are well separated on longer shoots. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
