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Breynia Assimilis
''Breynia assimilis'' is an extremely rare species of flowering plant in the family Phyllanthaceae. It is a shrub or tree endemic to the wet evergreen lowland forests of southwestern Sri Lanka. It is only known from the Sinharaja Biosphere Reserve there, evidence of its existence was last catalogued before 1991 (in a survey held between 1991 and 1996 by the National Conservation Review of Sri Lanka), and it has not been found since then. It may since have become extinct. The species was first collected for scientific examination and classification from Allagalla, in the Central Province of Sri Lanka, at an elevation of , by botanist George Henry Kendrick Thwaites, who named it ''Sauropus assimilis''. This high elevation, when compared with where it has been found more recently, would seem to indicate that the historic range of ''B. assimilis'' is much broader than it stands today. Thwaites described and published this species for the first time in 1861. The specific epi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Henry Kendrick Thwaites
George Henry Kendrick Thwaites (9 July 1812, Bristol – 11 September 1882, Kandy) was an English botanist and entomologist. Career Thwaites was initially an accountant and studied botany during his spare time. He was interested particularly in the lower plants such as the algae and the cryptogams. He became a recognised botanist when he showed that the diatoms are not animals, but algae. In 1846 he was lecturer on botany at the Bristol school of pharmacy and afterwards at the medical school. In March 1849, on the death of George Gardner, Thwaites was appointed superintendent of the botanical gardens at Peradeniya, Ceylon. A position he held for thirty years, until he resigned in 1879. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society on 1 June 1865 following the publication of his ''Enumeratio Plantarum Zeylaniæ'', – (five fasciculi 1859–64). His notes form the most valuable portion of Frederic Moore's ''Lepidoptera of Ceylon'' (3 vols 1880–1889). He established the Cinc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Extinction
Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and recover. As a species' potential Range (biology), range may be very large, determining this moment is difficult, and is usually done retrospectively. This difficulty leads to phenomena such as Lazarus taxon, Lazarus taxa, where a species presumed extinct abruptly "reappears" (typically in the Fossil, fossil record) after a period of apparent absence. Over five billion species are estimated to have died out. It is estimated that there are currently around 8.7 million species of eukaryotes globally, possibly many times more if microorganisms are included. Notable extinct animal species include Dinosaur, non-avian dinosaurs, Machairodontinae, saber-toothed cats, and mammoths. Through evolution, species arise through the process of specia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endemic Flora Of Sri Lanka
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, the Cape sugarbird is found exclusively in southwestern South Africa and is therefore said to be ''endemic'' to that particular part of the world. An endemic species can also be referred to as an ''endemism'' or, in scientific literature, as an ''endemite''. Similarly, many species found in the Western ghats of India are examples of endemism. Endemism is an important concept in conservation biology for measuring biodiversity in a particular place and evaluating the risk of extinction for species. Endemism is also of interest in evolutionary biology, because it provides clues about how changes in the environment cause species to undergo range shifts (potentially expanding their range into a larger area or becomin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Breynia
''Breynia'' is a genus in the flowering plant family Phyllanthaceae, first described in 1776. It is native to Southeast Asia, China, Réunion, the Indian Subcontinent, Papuasia and Australia. The name ''Breynia'' is a conserved name, it is recognized despite the existence of an earlier use of the same name to refer to a different plant. ''Breynia'' L. 1753 is in the Capparaceae, but it is a rejected name. We here discuss ''Breynia'' J.R.Forst. & G.Forst. 1776. In a 2006 revision of the Phyllanthaceae, it was recommended that ''Breynia'' be subsumed in ''Phyllanthus''; however, new combinations in ''Phyllanthus'' for former ''Breynia'' species remain to be published. ''Breynia'' are of special note in the fields of pollination biology and coevolution because they have a specialized mutualism with moths in the genus ''Epicephala'' (leafflower moths), in which the moths actively pollinate the flowers—thereby ensuring that the tree may produce viable seeds—but also lay eggs in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Breynia Androgyna
''Phyllanthus androgynus'', also known as katuk, star gooseberry, or sweet leaf, is a species of plant in the family Phyllanthaceae, native to tropical and subtropical Asia and grown in some areas as a leaf vegetable. Description It is a shrub with multiple upright stems, reaching up to tall and bearing dark green oval leaves about long. Distribution and habitat It is native to India, Bangladesh, southern China (including Hainan) and Southeast Asia. It inhabits tropical and subtropical humid lowland forests, where it grows on brushy slopes and sunny forest margins from 100 to elevation. Freshly picked leaves (especially mature leaves) contain high levels of provitamin A carotenoids, and also contain high levels of vitamins B and C, protein and minerals. One study has suggested that excessive consumption of uncooked and juiced katuk leaves can cause lung damage due to its high concentrations of the alkaloid papaverine. Cultural usage It is one of the most popular leafy v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area around Rome, Italy. Through the expansion of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language in the Italian Peninsula and subsequently throughout the Roman Empire. It has greatly influenced many languages, Latin influence in English, including English, having contributed List of Latin words with English derivatives, many words to the English lexicon, particularly after the Christianity in Anglo-Saxon England, Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons and the Norman Conquest. Latin Root (linguistics), roots appear frequently in the technical vocabulary used by fields such as theology, List of Latin and Greek words commonly used in systematic names, the sciences, List of medical roots, suffixes and prefixes, medicine, and List of Latin legal terms ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Specific Epithet (botany)
A botanical name is a formal scientific name conforming to the ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN) and, if it concerns a plant cultigen, the additional cultivar or Group epithets must conform to the ''International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants'' (ICNCP). The code of nomenclature covers "all organisms traditionally treated as algae, fungi, or plants, whether fossil or non-fossil, including blue-green algae (Cyanobacteria), chytrids, oomycetes, slime moulds and photosynthetic protists with their taxonomically related non-photosynthetic groups (but excluding Microsporidia)." The purpose of a formal name is to have a single name that is accepted and used worldwide for a particular plant or plant group. For example, the botanical name ''Bellis perennis'' denotes a plant species which is native to most of the countries of Europe and the Middle East, where it has accumulated various names in many languages. Later, the plant was introdu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Central Province, Sri Lanka
The Central Province ( ''Madhyama Paḷāta'', ''Maddiya Mākāṇam'') is one of the nine provinces of Sri Lanka. The province has an area of 5,674 km2 and a population of 2,421,148, making it the 2nd most populated province. The city of Kandy has been its capital since 1469. The Central Province is located primarily in the central mountainous terrain of Sri Lanka. It is bordered by the North Central Province to the north, the Uva Province to the east, the North Western Province to the west and the Sabaragamuwa Province to the south and west. The province is famous for its production of Ceylon tea, the cultivation of which was initiated by the British in the 1860s after a devastating disease killed all coffee plantations in the province. The province attracts many tourists, with hill station towns such as Gampola, Hatton and Nuwara Eliya. The province is home to four UNESCO World Heritage Sites. History Though three successive European powers invaded and establishe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sinharaja Biosphere Reserve
Sinharaja Forest Reserve is a forest reserve and a biodiversity hotspot in Sri Lanka. It is of international significance and has been designated a Biosphere Reserve and World Heritage Site by UNESCO. According to International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Sinharaja is the country's last viable area of primary tropical rainforest. Over 60% of the trees are endemic, many of them considered rare. 50% of Sri Lankan's endemics species of animals (especially butterfly, amphibians, birds, snakes and fish species). It is home to 95% endemic birds. The hilly virgin rainforest, part of the Sri Lanka lowland rain forests ecoregion, was saved from the worst of commercial logging by its inaccessibility, and was designated a World Biosphere Reserve in 1978 and a World Heritage Site in 1988. Because of the dense vegetation, wildlife is not as easily seen as at dry-zone national parks such as Yala. The most common larger mammal is the endemic purple-faced langur. Birds tend to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Otto Kuntze
Carl Ernst Otto Kuntze (23 June 1843 – 27 January 1907) was a German botanist. Biography Otto Kuntze was born in Leipzig. An apothecary in his early career, he published an essay entitled ''Pocket Fauna of Leipzig''. Between 1863 and 1866, he worked as tradesman in Berlin and traveled through central Europe and Italy. From 1868 to 1873, he had his own factory for essential oils and attained a comfortable standard of living. Between 1874 and 1876, he traveled around the world: the Caribbean, United States, Japan, China, Southeast Asia, Arabian peninsula and Egypt. The journal of these travels was published as "Around the World" (1881). From 1876 to 1878, he studied Natural Science in Berlin and Leipzig and gained his doctorate in Freiburg with a monography of the genus ''Cinchona''. He edited the botanical collection from his world voyage encompassing 7,700 specimens in Berlin and Kew Gardens. The publication came as a shock to botany, since Kuntze had entirely revised taxono ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
