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Fortingall Yew
The Fortingall Yew is an ancient European yew (''Taxus baccata'') in the churchyard of the village of Fortingall in Perthshire, Scotland. Considered one of the oldest trees in Britain, modern estimates place its age at an average of 5,000 years. Age Some estimates put the tree's age at between 2,000 and 3,000 years; it may also be a remnant of a post-Roman Christian site and around 1,500 years old.Bevan-Jones (2004) pp. 38–39 Others have suggested an age as great as 5,000 to 9,000 years. Forestry and Land Scotland consider it to be 5,000 years old. This makes it one of the oldest known non-clonal trees in Europe. (The root system of the Norway spruce Old Tjikko in Sweden, which is a clonal tree, is at least 9,500 years old.) The Fortingall Yew is possibly the oldest tree in Britain. The tree The tree's once massive trunk ( in girth when it was first recorded in writing, in 1769) with a former head of unknown original height, is split into several separate stems, giving th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taxus Baccata
''Taxus baccata'' is a species of evergreen tree in the family (botany), family Taxaceae, native to Western Europe, Central Europe and Southern Europe, as well as Northwest Africa, and parts of Southwest Asia.Rushforth, K. (1999). ''Trees of Britain and Europe''. Collins . It is the tree originally known as yew, though with other related trees becoming known, it may be referred to as common yew, European yew, or in North America English yew. It is a woodland tree in its native range, and is also grown as an ornamental tree, hedge or topiary. The plant is poisonous, with toxins that can be absorbed through inhalation, ingestion, and transpiration through the skin. Consuming any part of the tree, excluding the aril, can be deadly and the consumption of even a small amount of the foliage can result in death. Taxonomy and naming The word ''yew'' is from Old English ''īw, ēow'', ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ''*h₁eyHw-''. Possibly entered Proto-Germanic language, Germanic la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fortingall Yew Cutting, Kindrogan
Fortingall () (lit. "Escarpment Church"—i.e. "church at the foot of an escarpment or steep slope") is a small village in Glen Lyon, Perthshire, Scotland. Its nearest sizable neighbours are Aberfeldy and Kenmore. Local legend claims that it was the birthplace of Pontius Pilate, although he was born well before the Roman conquest and became famous in the biblical account of Jesus's death 30 years before the Romans first reached this part of Scotland. A number of other locations, including villages in Spain and Germany, make similar claims. It is also famous for the Fortingall Yew, the village's churchyard yew tree that could be over 5,000 years old, and thus one of the oldest living things in Europe. Parish church The parish church is on an early Christian site, dedicated to Coeddi, bishop of Iona (d. 712), probably founded about 700 AD from Iona itself as a daughter monastery. Though undocumented, crop-marks of surrounding ditched enclosures have been identified from t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pontius Pilate
Pontius Pilate (; ) was the Roman administration of Judaea (AD 6–135), fifth governor of the Judaea (Roman province), Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official who presided over Pilate's court, the trial of Jesus and ultimately ordered crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion. Pilate's importance in Christianity is underscored by his prominent place in both the Apostles' Creed, Apostles' and Nicene Creeds. Because the gospels portray Pilate as reluctant to execute Jesus, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church believes that Pilate became a Christian and venerates him as both a martyr and a saint, a belief which is historically shared by the Coptic Orthodox Church, Coptic Church, with a Calendar of saints, feast day on 19 or 25 June, respectively. Pontius Pilate is the best-attested figure to hold the position of Roman governor, though few sources about his rule have survived. Virtually nothing is known ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stress (biology)
Stress, whether physiological, biological or psychological, is an organism's response to a stressor, such as an environmental condition or change in life circumstances. When stressed by stimuli that alter an organism's environment, multiple systems respond across the body. In humans and most mammals, the autonomic nervous system and Hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis are the two major systems that respond to stress. Two well-known hormones that humans produce during stressful situations are adrenaline and cortisol. The Sympathoadrenal system, sympathoadrenal medullary axis (SAM) may activate the fight-or-flight response through the sympathetic nervous system, which dedicates energy to more relevant bodily systems to Acute stress reaction, acute adaptation to stress, while the parasympathetic nervous system returns the body to homeostasis. The second major physiological stress-response center, the HPA axis, regulates the release ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dioecy
Dioecy ( ; ; adj. dioecious, ) is a characteristic of certain species that have distinct unisexual individuals, each producing either male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproduction is biparental reproduction. Dioecy has costs, since only the female part of the population directly produces offspring. It is one method for excluding self-fertilization and promoting allogamy (outcrossing), and thus tends to reduce the expression of recessive deleterious mutations present in a population. Plants have several other methods of preventing self-fertilization including, for example, dichogamy, herkogamy, and self-incompatibility. In zoology In zoology, dioecy means that an animal is either male or female, in which case the synonym gonochory is more often used. Most animal species are gonochoric, almost all vertebrate species are gonochoric, and all bird and mammal species are gonochoric. Dioecy may also describe colonies ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) is a scientific centre for the study of plants, their diversity and conservation, as well as a popular tourist attraction. Founded in 1670 as a physic garden to grow medicinal plants, today it occupies four sites across Scotland—Edinburgh, Dawyck Botanic Garden, Dawyck, Logan Botanic Garden, Logan and Younger Botanic Garden Benmore, Benmore—each with its own specialist collection. The RBGE's living collection consists of more than 13,302 plant species (34,422 accessions),Rae D. et al. (2012) Catalogue of Plants 2012. Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. whilst the herbarium contains in excess of 3 million preserved specimens. The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. The Edinburgh site is the main garden and the headquarters of the public body, which is led by Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Regius Keeper Simon Milne. History The Edinburgh bot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plant Reproductive Morphology
Plant reproductive morphology is the study of the physical form and structure (the morphology) of those parts of plants directly or indirectly concerned with sexual reproduction. Among all living organisms, flowers, which are the reproductive structures of angiosperms, are the most varied physically and show a correspondingly great diversity in methods of reproduction. Plants that are not flowering plants ( green algae, mosses, liverworts, hornworts, ferns and gymnosperms such as conifers) also have complex interplays between morphological adaptation and environmental factors in their sexual reproduction. The breeding system, or how the sperm from one plant fertilizes the ovum of another, depends on the reproductive morphology, and is the single most important determinant of the genetic structure of nonclonal plant populations. Christian Konrad Sprengel (1793) studied the reproduction of flowering plants and for the first time it was understood that the pollination proce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Book Of The Dean Of Lismore
The ''Book of the Dean of Lismore'' () is a Scottish manuscript, compiled in eastern Perthshire in the first half of the 16th century. The chief compiler, after whom it is named, was James MacGregor (''Seumas MacGriogair''), vicar of Fortingall and titular Dean of Lismore Cathedral, although there are other probable scribes, including his brother Donnchadh''The Edinburgh Companion to the Gaelic Language'', Edinburgh University Press, 2010, p. 14 and William Drummond (Uileam Druimeanach), curate of Fortingall. It is unrelated to the similarly named '' Book of Lismore'', an Irish manuscript from the early 15th century. The manuscript is primarily written in the " secretary hand" of Scotland, rather than the ''corra-litir'' style of hand-writing employed for written Gaelic in Ireland and Scotland. The orthography is the same kind used to write Lowland Scots, and was a common way of writing Scottish Gaelic in the Late Middle Ages. Although the principal part of the manuscript ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beltane
Beltane () or ''Bealtaine'' () is the Gaels, Gaelic May Day festival, marking the beginning of summer. It is traditionally held on 1 May, or about midway between the March equinox, spring equinox and summer solstice. Historically, it was widely observed in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. In Ireland, the name for the festival in both Irish language, Irish and English is (). In Scottish Gaelic it is called (), and in Manx language, Manx Gaelic or . It is one of Quarter days, the four main Gaelic seasonal festivals—along with Samhain, Imbolc, and Lughnasadh—and is similar to the Welsh . Beltane is mentioned in the Early Irish literature, earliest Irish literature and is associated with important events in Irish mythology. Also known as ('first of summer'), it marked the beginning of summer and was when cattle were Transhumance, driven out to the summer pastures. Rituals were performed to protect cattle, people and crops, and to encourage growth. Special bonfires wer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Early Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages (historiography), Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Middle Ages of History of Europe, European history, following the decline of the Roman Empire, decline of the Western Roman Empire, and preceding the High Middle Ages ( 11th to 14th centuries). The alternative term ''Late antiquity#Terminology, late antiquity'', for the early part of the period, emphasizes elements of continuity with the Roman Empire, while ''Early Middle Ages'' is used to emphasize developments characteristic of the earlier medieval period. The period saw a continuation of trends evident since late classical antiquity, including population decline, especially in urban centres, a decline of trade, Medieval Warm Period, a small rise in average temperatures in the North Atlantic region and Migration Period, increased m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christianised Sites
The Christianization of sites that had been pagan occurred as a result of conversions in early Christian times, as well as an important part of the strategy of ("Christian reinterpretation") during the Christianization of pagan peoples. The landscape itself was Christianized, as prominent features were rededicated to Christian saints, sometimes quite directly, as when the island of Oglasa in the Tyrrhenian Sea was christened Montecristo. Early Christianity In the first centuries of Christianity churches were either house churches in whatever houses were offered for use by their owners, or were shrines on the burial-sites of martyrs or saints, which following the usual classical practice were invariably on the (then) edges of cities—the necropolis was always outside the ''polis''. In Rome the early basilica churches of St. Peter's Basilica, St. Peter's, Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, Saint Paul Outside the Walls and San Lorenzo fuori le Mura, all follow this patte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iron Age
The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progressing to protohistory (before written history). In this usage, it is preceded by the Stone Age (subdivided into the Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic) and Bronze Age. These concepts originated for describing Iron Age Europe and the ancient Near East. In the archaeology of the Americas, a five-period system is conventionally used instead; indigenous cultures there did not develop an iron economy in the pre-Columbian era, though some did work copper and bronze. Indigenous metalworking arrived in Australia with European contact. Although meteoric iron has been used for millennia in many regions, the beginning of the Iron Age is defined locally around the world by archaeological convention when the production of Smelting, smelted iron (espe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
