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Pillwort
''Pilularia globulifera'', or pillwort, is an unusual species of fern in the family Marsileaceae. It is native to western Europe, where it grows at the edges of lakes, ponds, ditches and marshes, on wet clay or clay-sand soil, sometimes in water up to deep. Description Pillwort has slender, cylindrical, rush-like fronds up to tall that are shaped like croziers as they unfurl. It has a pea-shaped, 4-chambered sporocarp about in diameter, each chamber formed from a modified leaf and containing several sori bearing both megasporangia and microsporangia. The species is thus heterosporous. Habitat Pillwort grows on silt and mud at the margins of lakes, ponds and other watercourses that are submerged for at least part of the year. Some of the plants growing in association with this species in the UK include water celery (''Apium inundatum''), marsh pennywort (''Hydrocotyle vulgaris'') and lesser spearwort (''Ranunculus flammula''). In its habitat in shallow water on pond mar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming organisms. He is known as the "father of modern Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy". Many of his writings were in Latin; his name is rendered in Latin as and, after his 1761 ennoblement, as . Linnaeus was born in Råshult, the countryside of Småland, in southern Sweden. He received most of his higher education at Uppsala University and began giving lectures in botany there in 1730. He lived abroad between 1735 and 1738, where he studied and also published the first edition of his ' in the Netherlands. He then returned to Sweden where he became professor of medicine and botany at Uppsala. In the 1740s, he was sent on several journeys through Sweden to find and classify plants and animals. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fern
A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes except the lycopods, and differ from mosses and other bryophytes by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissues that conduct water and nutrients and in having life cycles in which the branched sporophyte is the dominant phase. Ferns have complex leaves called megaphylls, that are more complex than the microphylls of clubmosses. Most ferns are leptosporangiate ferns. They produce coiled fiddleheads that uncoil and expand into fronds. The group includes about 10,560 known extant species. Ferns are defined here in the broad sense, being all of the Polypodiopsida, comprising both the leptosporangiate ( Polypodiidae) and eusporangiate ferns, the latter group including horsetails, whisk ferns, marattioid ferns, and ophioglossoid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sporocarp (ferns)
A sporocarp is a specialised type of structure in the aquatic ferns of the order Salviniales whose primary function is the production and release of spores. Sporocarps are found only in the Salviniales, a group that is aquatic and heterosporous, but the structures are very different in the two families of the order. In the Salviniaceae family, the sporocarp is nothing more than a modified sorus, a single cluster of spore-producing tissues enclosed by a thin sphere of tissue and attached to the leaves. In the Marsileaceae (water-clover) family, the sporocarp is a more elaborate structure formed from an entire leaf whose development and form is greatly modified. These are hairy, short-stalked, bean-shaped structures (usually 3 to 8 mm in diameter) with a hardened outer covering. This outer covering is tough and resistant to drying out, allowing the spores inside to survive unfavorable conditions such as winter frost or summer desiccation. Despite this toughness, the sporocarps ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sorus
A sorus (pl. sori) is a cluster of sporangia (structures producing and containing spores) in ferns and fungi. A coenosorus (plural coenosori) is a compound sorus composed of multiple, fused sori. Etymology This New Latin word is from Ancient Greek σωρός (''sōrós'' 'stack, pile, heap'). Structure In lichens and other fungi, the sorus is surrounded by an external layer. In some red algae, it may take the form of depression into the thallus. In ferns, the sori form a yellowish or brownish mass on the edge or underside of a fertile frond. In some species, they are protected during development by a scale or film of tissue called the indusium, which forms an umbrella-like cover. Lifecycle significance Sori occur on the sporophyte generation, the sporangia within producing haploid meiospores. As the sporangia mature, the indusium shrivels so that spore release is unimpeded. The sporangia then burst and release the spores. As an aid to identification The shape, arrangement ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Megasporangia
A sporangium (; from Late Latin, ) is an enclosure in which spores are formed. It can be composed of a single cell or can be multicellular. Virtually all plants, fungi, and many other lineages form sporangia at some point in their life cycle. Sporangia can produce spores by mitosis, but in nearly all land plants and many fungi, sporangia are the site of meiosis and produce genetically distinct haploid spores. Fungi In some phyla of fungi, the sporangium plays a role in asexual reproduction, and may play an indirect role in sexual reproduction. The sporangium forms on the sporangiophore and contains haploid nuclei and cytoplasm. Spores are formed in the sporangiophore by encasing each haploid nucleus and cytoplasm in a tough outer membrane. During asexual reproduction, these spores are dispersed via wind and germinate into haploid hyphae. Although sexual reproduction in fungi varies between phyla, for some fungi the sporangium plays an indirect role in sexual rep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microsporangia
Microsporangia are sporangia that produce microspores that give rise to male gametophytes when they germinate. Microsporangia occur in all vascular plants that have heterosporic life cycles, such as seed plants, spike mosses and the aquatic fern genus ''Azolla''. In gymnosperms and angiosperm anthers, the microsporangia produce microsporocytes, the microspore mother cells, which then produce four microspores through the process of meiosis. Microsporocytes are produced in the microsporangia of gymnosperm cones and the anthers of angiosperms. They are diploid microspore mother-cells, which then produce four haploid microspores through the process of meiosis. These become pollen grains, within which the microspores divide twice by mitosis to produce a very simple gametophyte. Heterosporous plants that produced microspores in microsporangia and megaspores in separate megasporangia evolved independently in several plant groups during the Devonian period. Fossils of these plants sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heterosporous
Heterospory is the production of spores of two different sizes and sexes by the sporophytes of land plants. The smaller of these, the microspore, is male and the larger megaspore is female. Heterospory evolved during the Devonian period from isospory independently in several plant groups: the clubmosses, the ferns including the arborescent horsetails, and progymnosperms. This occurred as part of the process of evolution of the timing of sex differentiation.Sussex, I.M. (1966) The origin and development of heterospory in vascular plants. Chapter 9 in ''Trends in Plant morphogenesis'', ed. by E.G. Cutter, Longmans. Origin of heterospory Heterospory evolved due to natural selection that favoured an increase in propagule size compared with the smaller spores of homosporous plants. Heterosporous plants, similar to anisosporic plants, produce two different sized spores in separate sporangia that develop into separate male and female gametophytes. It is proposed that the emergen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apium Inundatum
''Apium'' (including celery and the marshworts) is a genus of about 20 species of flowering plants in the family Apiaceae, with a subcosmopolitan distribution in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America and Australia. They are medium to tall biennials or perennials growing up to 1 m high in the wet soil of marshes and salt marshes, and have pinnate to bipinnate leaves and small white flowers in compound umbels. Some species are edible, notably ''Apium graveolens'', which includes the commercially important vegetables celery, celeriac and Chinese celery. '' Apium bermejoi'' from the island of Menorca is one of the rarest plants in Europe, with fewer than 100 individuals left.IUCN Red List: . The genus is the type genus of the family Apiaceae and the order Apiales. Species include: *'' Apium annuum'' P.S.Short *'' Apium australe'' *'' Apium bermejoi'' *''Apium fernandezianum'' - johow *''Apium filiforme'' *''Apium graveolens'' L. - celery, wild celery *'' Apium inundatum'' - lesser ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hydrocotyle Vulgaris
''Hydrocotyle vulgaris'', the marsh pennywort, common pennywort, water naval, money plant, lucky plant or copper coin, is a small creeping aquatic perennial plant native to North Africa, Europe, the Caucasus and parts of the Levant. Description The plant has an umbrella-like leaf and lives commonly in wet places such as wetlands, marshes and swamps, sometimes even in deeper water. It grows as a perennial herbaceous plant and only reaches stature heights of 5 to 20 centimeters. With a slight smell of carrot, it is edible. This marsh plant forms numerous, up to 1 meter long, creeping offshoots. The serrated, rounded, shield-shaped leaves can have a diameter of up to 4 centimeters, but are often smaller. The approach of the long, hairy petioles is located in the middle of the leaf underside. The leaves are fresh green, shiny waxy and shows a clear, radially extending vein. The tiny, inconspicuous, hermaphrodite flowers are in low-flowered doldigen inflorescences or whorls, with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ranunculus Flammula
''Ranunculus flammula'', the lesser spearwort, greater creeping spearwort or banewort, is a species of perennial herbaceous plants in the genus ''Ranunculus'' (buttercup), growing in damp places throughout the Boreal Kingdom. It flowers June/July. ''Ranunculus flammula'' is poisonous. It is very closely related to '' R. reptans'', which is distinguished by prostrate and more slender stems, narrower leaves and smaller flowers and is sometimes included within ''R. flammula'' sensu lato as a variety (''R. flammula'' var. ''reptans'' (L.) E. Meyer). In addition to other forms of pollination, this plant is adapted to rain-pollination. Gallery Image:RanunculusFlammula4.jpg Image:ranunculus_flammula.jpeg Image:RanunculusFlammula.jpg File:Ranunculus flammula Prague 2012 2.jpg Illustrations Image:Ranunculus flammula - Sturm.png, ''Ranunculus flammula''Illustration in:Jakob Sturm: ''"Deutschlands Flora in Abbildungen"'',Stuttgart (1796) Image:Ranunculus flammula Sturm46.jpg, ''Ranu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
IUCN Red List
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. It uses a set of precise criteria to evaluate the extinction risk of thousands of species and subspecies. These criteria are relevant to all species and all regions of the world. With its strong scientific base, the IUCN Red List is recognized as the most authoritative guide to the status of biological diversity. A series of Regional Red Lists are produced by countries or organizations, which assess the risk of extinction to species within a political management unit. The aim of the IUCN Red List is to convey the urgency of conservation issues to the public and policy makers, as well as help the international community to reduce species extinction. According to IUCN the formally stated goals of the Red List are to provi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wildlife And Countryside Act 1981
The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom implemented to comply with European Council Directive 79/409/EEC on the conservation of wild birds. In short, the act gives protection to native species (especially those at threat), controls the release of non-native species, enhances the protection of Sites of Special Scientific Interest and builds upon the rights of way rules in the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. The Act is split into 4 parts covering 74 sections; it also includes 17 schedules. The legislation has strength; few amendments have been made to it, and it has acted as a foundation for later legislation to build upon. The compulsory 5 year review of schedules 5 and 8 make it dynamic in terms of the species which it protects. History Wild Birds Protection Act 1902 The Wild Birds Protection Act 1902 ( 2 Edw 7 c. 6) was an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, given the royal assent on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
