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Boojum Tree
''Fouquieria columnaris'', the Boojum tree or ''cirio'' () is a tree in the Fouquieriaceae, ocotillo family, whose other members include the ocotillos. Some taxonomists place it in the separate genus ''Idria''. It is nearly endemic (ecology), endemic to the Baja California Peninsula (both the northern and southern states), with only a small population in the Sierra Bacha of Sonora, Mexico. The plant's English name, Boojum, was given by Godfrey Sykes of the Desert Laboratory in Tucson, Arizona, and is taken from Lewis Carroll's poem "The Hunting of the Snark". Description This plant is a columniform, upwardly tapering tree. The central axis of the plant is homologous to the single stem of other species. It has a cortical water-storage network, a feature unique to the family. The ''Fouquieria columnaris'' trunk is up to 24 inches (61 centimeters) thick, off-white in color, with few or no major branches and with numerous thin, twiggy branches sticking out at right angles, all covere ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Euphorbia Ampliphylla
''Euphorbia ampliphylla'' (also called ''Euphorbia winklerii'' and ''Euphorbia obovalifolia'') is a succulent rainforest tree of the montane rainforests throughout East Africa and belonging to the Spurge Family (Euphorbiaceae). The branches are each about in diameter and are succulent and three-winged and pachycaulous. Like most euphorbs, it has milky white sap. The toxicity of many euphorbs is well known, but no specific information is available concerning ''E. ampliphylla''. It is used locally for medical purposes. It is particularly noted for two things: It is the tallest of all known succulent plants, definitely up to and indicated on a carefully scaled diagram as reaching . It is also the world's only known succulent rainforest tree. As most other succulent members of the genus ''Euphorbia'', its trade is regulated under Appendix II of CITES CITES (shorter acronym for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monotypic Taxon
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of Genus, genera, the term "unispecific" or "monospecific" is sometimes preferred. In botanical nomenclature, a monotypic genus is a genus in the special case where a genus and a single species are simultaneously described. Theoretical implications Monotypic taxa present several important theoretical challenges in biological classification. One key issue is known as "Gregg's Paradox": if a single species is the only member of multiple hierarchical levels (for example, being the only species in its genus, which is the only genus in its family), then each level needs a distinct definition to maintain logical structure. Otherwise, the different taxonomic ranks become effectively identical, which creates problems for organizing biological diversity in a hierarchical o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1906 San Francisco Earthquake
At 05:12 AM Pacific Time Zone, Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated Moment magnitude scale, moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). High-intensity shaking was felt from Eureka, California, Eureka on the North Coast (California), North Coast to the Salinas Valley, an agricultural region to the south of the San Francisco Bay Area. Devastating fires soon broke out in San Francisco and lasted for several days. More than 3,000 people died and over 80% of the city was destroyed. The event is remembered as the List of disasters in the United States by death toll, deadliest earthquake in the history of the United States. The death toll remains the greatest loss of life from a natural disaster in California's history and high on the list of worst American disasters. Tectonic setting The San Andreas Fault is a continental tran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of 2024, San Francisco is the List of California cities by population, fourth-most populous city in the U.S. state of California and the List of United States cities by population, 17th-most populous in the United States. San Francisco has a land area of at the upper end of the San Francisco Peninsula and is the County statistics of the United States, fifth-most densely populated U.S. county. Among U.S. cities proper with over 250,000 residents, San Francisco is ranked first by per capita income and sixth by aggregate income as of 2023. San Francisco anchors the Metropolitan statistical area#United States, 13th-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S., with almost 4.6 million residents in 2023. The larger San Francisco Bay Area ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ploidy
Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromosomes in a cell, and hence the number of possible alleles for autosomal and pseudoautosomal genes. Here ''sets of chromosomes'' refers to the number of maternal and paternal chromosome copies, respectively, in each homologous chromosome pair—the form in which chromosomes naturally exist. Somatic cells, tissues, and individual organisms can be described according to the number of sets of chromosomes present (the "ploidy level"): monoploid (1 set), diploid (2 sets), triploid (3 sets), tetraploid (4 sets), pentaploid (5 sets), hexaploid (6 sets), heptaploid or septaploid (7 sets), etc. The generic term polyploid is often used to describe cells with three or more sets of chromosomes. Virtually all sexually reproducing organisms are made up of somatic cells that are diploid or greater, but ploidy level may vary widely between different organisms, between different tissues within the same organism, and at different stages in an o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fouquieria Purpusii
''Fouquieria'' is a genus of 11 species of desert flowering plants, the sole genus in the family Fouquieriaceae. The genus is native to North America and includes the ocotillo ('' F. splendens'') and the Boojum tree or cirio ('' F. columnaris''). They have semi succulent stems with thinner spikes projecting from them, with leaves on the bases spikes. They are unrelated to cacti and do not look much like them; their stems are proportionately thinner than cactus stems and their leaves are larger. Taxonomy Taxonomic history ''Fouquieria'' species do not have a particularly close resemblance to any other sort of plants; genetic evidence has shown they belong in the Ericales. Before this, they had been variously placed in the Violales or their own order, Fouquieriales. The Seri people identify three species of ''Fouquieria'' in their area of Mexico: ''jomjéeziz'' or ''xomjéeziz'' ('' F. splendens''), ''jomjéeziz caacöl'' ('' F. diguetii'', Baja California tree ocotillo), and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fouquieria
''Fouquieria'' is a genus of 11 species of desert Flowering plant, flowering plants, the sole genus in the Family (biology), family Fouquieriaceae. The genus is native to North America and includes the ocotillo (''Fouquieria splendens, F. splendens'') and the Boojum tree or cirio (''Fouquieria columnaris, F. columnaris''). They have semi succulent stems with thinner spikes projecting from them, with leaf, leaves on the bases spikes. They are unrelated to cactus, cacti and do not look much like them; their stems are proportionately thinner than cactus stems and their leaves are larger. Taxonomy Taxonomic history ''Fouquieria'' species do not have a particularly close resemblance to any other sort of plants; genetic evidence has shown they belong in the Ericales. Before this, they had been variously placed in the Violales or their own order, Fouquieriales. The Seri people identify three species of ''Fouquieria'' in their area of Mexico: ''jomjéeziz'' or ''xomjéeziz'' (''Fou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fouquieria Columnaris 0zz
''Fouquieria'' is a genus of 11 species of desert flowering plants, the sole genus in the family Fouquieriaceae. The genus is native to North America and includes the ocotillo ('' F. splendens'') and the Boojum tree or cirio ('' F. columnaris''). They have semi succulent stems with thinner spikes projecting from them, with leaves on the bases spikes. They are unrelated to cacti and do not look much like them; their stems are proportionately thinner than cactus stems and their leaves are larger. Taxonomy Taxonomic history ''Fouquieria'' species do not have a particularly close resemblance to any other sort of plants; genetic evidence has shown they belong in the Ericales. Before this, they had been variously placed in the Violales or their own order, Fouquieriales. The Seri people identify three species of ''Fouquieria'' in their area of Mexico: ''jomjéeziz'' or ''xomjéeziz'' ('' F. splendens''), ''jomjéeziz caacöl'' ('' F. diguetii'', Baja California tree ocotillo), and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nectar
Nectar is a viscous, sugar-rich liquid produced by Plant, plants in glands called nectaries, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollination, pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal Mutualism (biology), mutualists, which in turn provide plant defense against herbivory#Indirect defenses, herbivore protection. Common nectar-consuming pollinators include mosquitoes, hoverfly, hoverflies, wasps, bees, butterfly, butterflies and moths, hummingbirds, honeyeaters and Bat#Fruit and nectar, bats. Nectar is an economically important substance as it is the sugar source for honey. It is also useful in agriculture and horticulture because the adult stages of some predatory insects feed on nectar. For example, a number of predacious or Parasitoid wasp, parasitoid wasps (e.g., the social wasp species ''Apoica flavissima'') rely on nectar as a primary food source. In turn, these wasps then hunt agricultural pest insects as food ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stigma (botany)
The stigma (: stigmas or stigmata) is the receptive tip of a Gynoecium#Carpels, carpel, or of several fused carpels, in the gynoecium of a flower. Description The stigma, together with the Style (botany), style and ovary (botany), ovary (typically called the stigma-style-ovary system) comprises the pistil, which is part of the gynoecium or female reproductive organ of a plant. The stigma itself forms the distal portion of the style, or stylodia, and is composed of , the cells of which are receptive to pollen. These may be restricted to the apex of the style or, especially in wind pollinated species, cover a wide surface. The stigma receives pollen and it is on the stigma that the pollen grain germination, germinates. Often sticky, the stigma is adapted in various ways to catch and trap pollen with various hairs, flaps, or sculpturings. The pollen may be captured from the air (wind-borne pollen, anemophily), from visiting insects or other animals (Pollination syndrome#Biotic, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
