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Smilax Anceps
''Smilax anceps'' is a vigorous scrambling vine or shrub, and is one of some 278 species in the genus ''Smilax'' in the family Smilacaceae. The species is widespread in Tropical Africa, Southern Africa, Réunion, Mauritius, Comoros, and Madagascar. The specific name 'anceps' is Latin for 'dangerous', a caution against the hooked prickles. ''Tarundia cinctipennis'' Stål, 1862, a hemipteran insect, is associated with this plant. It has tough, fibrous stems up to 5 m long, armed with numerous hooked prickles and pairs of coiled tendrils at the leaf petiole bases. Leaves are entire, alternate, ovate to elliptic to somewhat circular, 4–14 cm long, with a leathery texture. Petioles are 0.5-2.5 cm long, thickened, and channeled above. Inflorescences are many-flowered axillary, globose umbels, with peduncles some 3 cm long and 2 ovate bracts near the middle, and some 5 mm long. Flowers in the same inflorescence are unisexual, with perianth segments 3–5 mm lo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carl Meissner
Carl Daniel Friedrich Meissner (1 November 1800 – 2 May 1874) was a Swiss botanist. Biography Born in Bern, Switzerland on 1 November 1800, he was christened Meisner but later changed the spelling of his name to Meissner. For most of his 40-year career he was Professor of Botany at University of Basel. He made important contributions to the botanical literature, including the publication of the comprehensive work ''Plantarum Vascularum Genera'', and publications of monographs on the families Polygonaceae (especially the genus ''Polygonum''), Lauraceae, Proteaceae, Thymelaeaceae and Hernandiaceae. His contributions to the description of the Australian flora were prolific; he described hundreds of species of Australian Proteaceae, and many Australian species from other families, especially Fabaceae, Mimosaceae and Myrtaceae. His health deteriorated after 1866, and he was less active. He died in Basel on 2 May 1874. See also * Meissner's taxonomic arrangement of Banksia Carl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smilax
''Smilax'' is a genus of about 300–350 species, found in the tropics and subtropics worldwide. In China for example about 80 are found (39 of which are endemic), while there are 20 in North America north of Mexico. They are climbing flowering plants, many of which are woody and/or thorny, in the monocotyledon family Smilacaceae, native throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Common names include ''catbriers'', ''greenbriers'', ''prickly-ivys'' and ''smilaxes''. ''Sarsaparilla'' (also zarzaparrilla, sarsparilla) is a name used specifically for the Jamaican '' S. ornata'' as well as a catch-all term in particular for American species. Occasionally, the non-woody species such as the smooth herbaceous greenbrier (''S. herbacea'') are separated as genus ''Nemexia''; they are commonly known by the rather ambiguous name ''carrion flowers''. Greenbriers get their scientific name from the Greek myth of Crocus and the nymph Smilax. Though this myth has numerous ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smilacaceae
Smilacaceae, the greenbriers, is a family of flowering plants. While they were often assigned to a more broadly defined family Liliaceae, most recent botanists have accepted the two as distinct families, diverging around 55 million years ago during the Early Paleogene. One characteristic that distinguishes Smilacaceae from most of the other members of the Liliaceae-like Liliales is that it has true vessels in its conducting tissue. Another is that the veins of the leaves, between major veins, are reticulate (net-shaped), rather than parallel as in most monocots. Taxonomy The APG II system, of 2003 (unchanged from the APG system, of 1998), recognizes this family and places it in the order Liliales, in the clade monocots. Earlier it was a family of two genera, ''Heterosmilax'' and ''Smilax'', but DNA studies have shown that ''Heterosmilax'' has arisen from ''Smilax'' and the two genera are now merged. This results in Smilax being the only genus in Smilacaceae with about 210 know ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tropical Africa
Although tropical Africa is mostly familiar to the West for its rainforests, this biogeographic realm of Africa is far more diverse. While the tropics are thought of as regions with hot moist climates, which are caused by latitude and the tropical rain belt, the geology of areas, particularly mountain chains, and geographical relation to continental and regional scale winds impact the overall areas , also, making the tropics run from arid to humid in West Africa. The area is currently experiencing the negative effects of rapid human population growth.Zinkina J., Korotayev A.br>Explosive Population Growth in Tropical Africa: Crucial Omission in Development Forecasts (Emerging Risks and Way Out). ''World Futures'' 70/2 (2014): 120–139 Overview Tropical rainforests are moist forests of semi-deciduous plants distributed across nine West African countries. Institute for Sea Research conducted a temperature record dating back 700,000 years. Several conservation and development dem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Southern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of river systems; the Zambezi River being the most prominent. The Zambezi flows from the northwest corner of Zambia and western Angola to the Indian Ocean on the coast of Mozambique. Along the way, the Zambezi River flows over the mighty Victoria Falls on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Victoria Falls is one of the largest waterfalls in the world and a major tourist attraction for the region. Southern Africa includes both subtropical and temperate climates, with the Tropic of Capricorn running through the middle of the region, dividing it into its subtropical and temperate halves. Countries commonly included in Southern Africa include Angola, Botswana, the Comoros, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namib ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Réunion
Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island of Madagascar and southwest of the island of Mauritius. , it had a population of 868,846. Like the other four overseas departments, Réunion also holds the status of a region of France, and is an integral part of the French Republic. Réunion is an outermost region of the European Union and is part of the eurozone. Réunion and the fellow French overseas department of Mayotte are the only eurozone regions located in the Southern Hemisphere. As in the rest of France, the official language of Réunion is French. In addition, a majority of the region's population speaks Réunion Creole. Toponymy When France took possession of the island in the seventeenth century, it was named Bourbon, after the dynasty that then ruled France. To break ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mauritius
Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Agaléga and St. Brandon. The islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues, along with nearby Réunion (a French overseas department), are part of the Mascarene Islands. The main island of Mauritius, where most of the population is concentrated, hosts the capital and largest city, Port Louis. The country spans and has an exclusive economic zone covering . Arab sailors were the first to discover the uninhabited island, around 975, and they called it ''Dina Arobi''. The earliest discovery was in 1507 by Portuguese sailors, who otherwise took little interest in the islands. The Dutch took possession in 1598, establishing a succession of short-lived settlements over a period of about ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comoros
The Comoros,, ' officially the Union of the Comoros,; ar, الاتحاد القمري ' is an independent country made up of three islands in southeastern Africa, located at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city is Moroni. The religion of the majority of the population, and the official state religion, is Sunni Islam. As a member of the Arab League, it is the only country in the Arab world which is entirely in the Southern Hemisphere. Comoros proclaimed their independence on July 6, 1975. It is also a member state of the African Union, the ''Organisation internationale de la Francophonie'', the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and the Indian Ocean Commission. The country has three official languages: Chi Comori, French and Arabic. The sovereign state consists of three major islands and numerous smaller islands, all in the volcanic Comoro Islands with the notable exception of Mayotte. Mayotte voted against inde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa across the Mozambique Channel. At Madagascar is the world's List of island countries, second-largest island country, after Indonesia. The nation is home to around 30 million inhabitants and consists of the island of Geography of Madagascar, Madagascar (the List of islands by area, fourth-largest island in the world), along with numerous smaller peripheral islands. Following the prehistoric breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana, Madagascar split from the Indian subcontinent around 90 million years ago, allowing native plants and animals to evolve in relative isolation. Consequently, Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot; over 90% of wildlife of Madagascar, its wildlife is endemic. Human settlement of Madagascar occurred during or befo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Umbel
In botany, an umbel is an inflorescence that consists of a number of short flower stalks (called pedicels) that spread from a common point, somewhat like umbrella ribs. The word was coined in botanical usage in the 1590s, from Latin ''umbella'' "parasol, sunshade". The arrangement can vary from being flat-topped to almost spherical. Umbels can be simple or compound. The secondary umbels of compound umbels are known as umbellules or umbellets. A small umbel is called an umbellule. The arrangement of the inflorescence in umbels is referred to as umbellate, or occasionally subumbellate (almost umbellate). Umbels are a characteristic of plants such as carrot, parsley, dill, and fennel in the family Apiaceae; ivy, ''Aralia'' and ''Fatsia'' in the family Araliaceae; and onion (''Allium'') in the family Alliaceae. An umbel is a type of indeterminate inflorescence. A compressed cyme, which is a determinate inflorescence, is called umbelliform if it resembles an umbel. Gallery File ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carl Ludwig Von Willdenow
Carl Ludwig Willdenow (22 August 1765 – 10 July 1812) was a German botanist, pharmacist, and plant taxonomist. He is considered one of the founders of phytogeography, the study of the geographic distribution of plants. Willdenow was also a mentor of Alexander von Humboldt, one of the earliest and best known phytogeographers. He also influenced Christian Konrad Sprengel, who pioneered the study of plant pollination and floral biology. Biography Willdenow was born in Berlin and studied medicine and botany at the University of Halle. After studying pharmaceutics at Wieglieb College, Langensalza and in medicine at Halle, he returned to Berlin to work at his father's pharmacy located in the Unter den Linden. His early interest in botany was kindled by his uncle J. G. Gleditsch and he started a herbarium collection in his teenage years. In 1794 he became a member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. He was a director of the Botanical garden of Berlin from 1801 until his death. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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