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Strelitzia Alba
''Strelitzia alba'' also known as white-flowered wild banana, or Cape wild banana is a plant of the Bird of Paradise family and is endemic to the Garden Route along the southernmost coastal regions of the district of Humansdorp Eastern and district of Knysna in Western Cape in South Africa. It grows in evergreen forest, gorges, and on slopes along the rivers. ''Strelitzia alba'' is referred to in the Red List of South African plants as not endangered (Least Concern). Phakamani Xaba of Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens visited the wild populations several times and came to a different view of the threat status. It has been observed that collectors have removed many of the side shoots required for vegetative propagation, in the populations there are no young plants or seedlings and the seeds are always harvested before they reach the soil. Description This frost-sensitive, clump-forming evergreen, perennial, herbaceous, plant can grow to 10m tall, with leaves measuring 2m by 0.6m. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carl Linnaeus The Younger
Carl Linnaeus the Younger, Carolus Linnaeus the Younger, Carl von Linné den yngre (Swedish; abbreviated Carl von Linné d. y.), or ''Linnaeus filius'' (Latin for ''Linnaeus the son''; abbreviated L.fil. (outdated) or L.f. (modern) as a botanical authority; 20 January 1741 – 1 November 1783) was a Swedish naturalist. His names distinguish him from his father, the pioneering taxonomist Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778). Biography Carl Linnaeus the Younger was enrolled at the University of Uppsala at the age of nine and was taught science by his father's students, including Pehr Löfling, Daniel Solander, and Johan Peter Falk. In 1763, aged just 22, he succeeded his father as the head of Practical Medicine at Uppsala. His promotion to professor — without taking exams or defending a thesis — caused resentment among his colleagues. His work was modest in comparison to that of his father. His best-known work is the '' Supplementum Plantarum systematis vegetabilium'' of 1781, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strelitzia Nicolai
''Strelitzia nicolai'', commonly known as the wild banana or giant white bird of paradise, is a species of banana-like plants with erect woody stems reaching a height of , and the clumps formed can spread as far as . The -long leaves are grey-green and arranged like a fan at the top of the stems, similar to '' Ravenala madagascariensis''. The inflorescence is composed of a dark blue bract, white sepals and a bluish-purple "tongue". The entire flower can be as much as high by long, and is typically held just above the point where the leaf fan emerges from the stem. Flowers are followed by triangular seed capsules. ''Strelitzia nicolai'' is among the few plants which have been verified to contain the pigment bilirubin, which is usually found in animals. Distribution ''Strelitzia nicolai'' is one of three larger ''Strelitzia'' species, the other two being tree-like '' S. caudata'' and '' S. alba''. ''S. nicolai'' is restricted to evergreen coastal forest and thicket of eastern S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Curtis's Botanical Magazine
''The Botanical Magazine; or Flower-Garden Displayed'', is an illustrated publication which began in 1787. The longest running botanical magazine, it is widely referred to by the subsequent name ''Curtis's Botanical Magazine''. Each of the issues contains a description, in formal yet accessible language, and is renowned for featuring the work of two centuries of botanical illustrators. Many plants received their first publication on the pages, and the description given was enhanced by the keenly detailed illustrations. History and profile The first issue, published on 1 February 1787, was begun by William Curtis, as both an illustrated gardening and botanical journal. Curtis was an apothecary and botanist who held a position at Kew Gardens, who had published the highly praised (but poorly sold) ''Flora Londinensis'' a few years before. The publication familiarized its readers with ornamental and exotic plants, which it presented in octavo format. Artists who had previously given ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walter Hood Fitch
Walter Hood Fitch (28 February 1817 – 1892) was a botanical illustrator, born in Glasgow, Scotland, who executed some 10,000 drawings for various publications. His work in colour lithograph, including 2700 illustrations for ''Curtis's Botanical Magazine'', produced up to 200 plates per year. Biography Fitch was involved in fabric printing from the age of 17 and took to botanical art after meeting William Jackson Hooker, Regius Professor of Botany, a competent botanical illustrator, and the editor of ''Curtis's Botanical Magazine''. Fitch's first lithograph of ''Mimulus roseus'' appeared in the Botanical Magazine in 1834, and he soon became its sole artist. In 1841 W.J. Hooker became director of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Fitch moved to London. After 1841 Fitch was the sole artist for all official and unofficial publications issued by Kew; his work was paid for by Hooker personally. It was not unusual for him to work on several different publications simultaneously; he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,100 staff. Its board of trustees is chaired by Dame Amelia Fawcett. The organisation manages botanic gardens at Kew in Richmond upon Thames in south-west London, and at Wakehurst, a National Trust property in Sussex which is home to the internationally important Millennium Seed Bank, whose scientists work with partner organisations in more than 95 countries. Kew, jointly with the Forestry Commission, founded Bedgebury National Pinetum in Kent in 1923, specialising in growing conifers. In 1994, the Castle Howard Arboretum Trust, which runs the Yorkshire Arboretum, was formed as a partnership between Kew and the Castle Howard Estate. In 2019, the organisation had 2,316,699 public visitors at Kew, and 312,813 at Wakehurst. Its site at Kew ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Francis Masson
Francis Masson (August 1741 – 23 December 1805) was a Scotland, Scottish botanist and gardener, and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Kew Gardens’ first Botanical expedition, plant hunter. Life Masson was born in Aberdeen. In the 1760s, he went to work at Kew Gardens as an under-gardener. Masson was the first plant collector to be sent abroad by the newly appointed director Sir Joseph Banks; he sailed with James Cook on HMS Resolution (1771), HMS ''Resolution'' to South Africa, landing in October 1772. Masson stayed until 1775, during which time he sent back to England over 500 species of plant. In 1776, Banks sent Masson abroad again, this time to Madeira, Canary Islands, the Azores and the Antilles. Whilst in Grenada, Masson was captured and imprisoned by the French, a traumatic experience which haunted him for the rest of his life. Although he was eventually released, his collections deteriorated during the delay in securing a passage home, and a hurricane in St. Lucia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Afrikaans
Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gradually began to develop distinguishing characteristics during the course of the 18th century. Now spoken in South Africa, Namibia and (to a lesser extent) Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, estimates circa 2010 of the total number of Afrikaans speakers range between 15 and 23 million. Most linguists consider Afrikaans to be a partly creole language. An estimated 90 to 95% of the vocabulary is of Dutch origin with adopted words from other languages including German and the Khoisan languages of Southern Africa. Differences with Dutch include a more analytic-type morphology and grammar, and some pronunciations. There is a large degree of mutual intelligibility between the two languages, especially in written form. About 13.5% of the South ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plettenberg Bay
Plettenberg Bay, nicknamed Plet or Plett, is the primary town of the Bitou Local Municipality in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. As of the census of 2001, there were 29,149 population. It was originally named Bahia Formosa ("beautiful bay") by early Portuguese explorers and lies on South Africa's Garden Route 210 km from Port Elizabeth and about 600 km from Cape Town. History Middle and Later Stone Age Nelson Bay Cave on Robberg and Matjies River Cave at nearby Keurboomstrand were inhabited for over 100,000 years by Middle Stone Age man and then later by ancestors of the Khoisan, who were possibly the same people who traded with the Portuguese survivors of the Sao Goncalves shipwreck. Their tools, ornaments and food debris can be viewed in these caves, which are still being excavated. Colonial period Long before Jan van Riebeeck landed at the Cape, Portuguese explorers charted the bay in the 15th and 16th centuries, the first being Bartolomeu Dias i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carl Peter Thunberg
Carl Peter Thunberg, also known as Karl Peter von Thunberg, Carl Pehr Thunberg, or Carl Per Thunberg (11 November 1743 – 8 August 1828), was a Swedish naturalist and an "apostle" of Carl Linnaeus. After studying under Linnaeus at Uppsala University, he spent seven years travelling in southern Africa and Asia, collecting and describing many plants and animals new to European science, and observing local cultures. He has been called "the father of South African botany", "pioneer of Occidental Medicine in Japan", and the "Japanese Linnaeus". Early life Thunberg was born and grew up in Jönköping, Sweden. At the age of 18, he entered Uppsala University where he was taught by Carl Linnaeus, regarded as the "father of modern taxonomy". Thunberg graduated in 1767 after 6 years of studying. To deepen his knowledge in botany, medicine and natural history, he was encouraged by Linnaeus in 1770 to travel to Paris and Amsterdam. In Amsterdam and Leiden Thunberg met the Dutch botanist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strelitzia Caudata
''Strelitzia caudata'', commonly known as the mountain strelitzia or wild banana, is a species of banana-like ''Strelitzia'' from Africa from the Chimanimani Mountains of Zimbabwe south to Mozambique, the Northern Provinces of South Africa and Eswatini (Swaziland). It was first described in 1946 by Robert Allen Dyer Robert Allen Dyer (21 September 1900 Pietermaritzburg – 26 October 1987 Johannesburg) was a South African botanist and taxonomist, working particularly on Amaryllidaceae and succulent plants, contributing to and editing of ''Bothalia'' and ''F ... in ''Flowering Plants of Africa'' , Volume 25, Plate 997. The specific epithet caudata means chopped, this refers to an appendage of a sepal, which occurs only in this species. It is one of three large banana-like ''Strelitzia'' species, all of which are native to southern Africa, the other two being '' S. alba'' and '' S. nicolai''. Description Growing up to 8 metres tall, it has a leafless woody stem and h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Homer Collar Skeels
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the most revered and influential authors in history. Homer's ''Iliad'' centers on a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles during the last year of the Trojan War. The ''Odyssey'' chronicles the ten-year journey of Odysseus, king of Ithaca, back to his home after the fall of Troy. The poems are in Homeric Greek, also known as Epic Greek, a literary language which shows a mixture of features of the Ionic and Aeolic dialects from different centuries; the predominant influence is Eastern Ionic. Most researchers believe that the poems were originally transmitted orally. Homer's epic poems shaped aspects of ancient Greek culture and education, fostering ideals of heroism, glory, and honor. To Plato, Homer was simply the one who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flowers
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs. Flowers may facilitate outcrossing (fusion of sperm and eggs from different individuals in a population) resulting from cross-pollination or allow selfing (fusion of sperm and egg from the same flower) when self-pollination occurs. There are two types of pollination: self-pollination and cross-pollination. Self-pollination occurs when the pollen from the anther is deposited on the stigma of the same flower, or another flower on the same plant. Cross-pollination is when pollen is transferred from the anther of one flower to the stigma of another flower on a different individual of the same species. Self-pollination happens in flowers where the stamen and carpel mature at the same time, and are positione ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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