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Drakaea Gracilis
''Drakaea gracilis'', commonly known as slender hammer orchid, is a species of orchid endemic to the south–west of Western Australia. It is pollinated by a single species of male thynnid wasp using sexual deception. The orchid's labellum is similar in shape and scent to a flightless female thynnid wasp. It was first collected in 1900 but other names were given to it, including ''Drakaea elastica'' and ''D. fitzgeraldii''. It was not until 2007 when studies of the drakaeas and their pollinators were carried out, that the present species was recognised as distinct. Description ''Drakaea gracilis'' is similar to others in the genus in that it has a single, ground hugging leaf and an underground tuber. In this case, the leaf is heart shaped, about in diameter, glabrous, dull blue-grey with darker lines radiating from the attachment to the stem. The stem is long and the stalk of the single flower is long. The flower is also similar to those of other hammer orchids in that th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Hopper
Stephen Donald Hopper (born 18 June 1951) is a Western Australian botanist. He graduated in Biology, specialising in conservation biology and vascular plants. Hopper has written eight books, and has over 200 publications to his name. He was Director of Kings Park in Perth for seven years, and CEO of the Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority for five. He is currently Foundation Professor of Plant Conservation Biology at The University of Western Australia. He was Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew from 2006 to 2012. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation when citing a botanical name. Honours On 1 January 2001, the Australian government awarded Hopper the Centenary Medal for his "service to the community". On 11 June 2012, Hopper was named a Companion of the Order of Australia for "eminent service as a global science leader in the field of plant conservation biology, particularly in the delivery of world class research programs contributing to the conservation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glabrousness
Glabrousness () is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes, or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of a plant or animal, or be due to loss because of a physical condition, such as alopecia universalis in humans, which causes hair to fall out or not regrow. In botany Glabrousness or otherwise, of leaves, stems, and fruit is a feature commonly mentioned in plant keys; in botany and mycology, a ''glabrous'' morphological feature is one that is smooth and may be glossy. It has no bristles or hair-like structures such as trichomes. In anything like the zoological sense, no plants or fungi have hair or wool, although some structures may resemble such materials. The term "glabrous" strictly applies only to features that lack trichomes at all times. When an organ bears trichomes at first, but loses them with age, the term used is ''glabrescent''. In the model plant ''Arabidopsis thaliana'', trichome formation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plants Described In 2007
Plants are the eukaryotes that form the kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with cyanobacteria to produce sugars from carbon dioxide and water, using the green pigment chlorophyll. Exceptions are parasitic plants that have lost the genes for chlorophyll and photosynthesis, and obtain their energy from other plants or fungi. Most plants are multicellular, except for some green algae. Historically, as in Aristotle's biology, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi. Definitions have narrowed since then; current definitions exclude fungi and some of the algae. By the definition used in this article, plants form the clade Viridiplantae (green plants), which consists of the green algae and the embryophytes or land plants (hornworts, liverworts, mosses, lycophytes, ferns, conifers and other gymnosperm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endemic Orchids Of Australia
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] |
Orchids Of Western Australia
Among the many wildflowers in Western Australia, there are around four hundred species of orchids. Early identifications One of the first botanists to study Western Australia was Archibald Menzies, aboard HMS Discovery (1789), HMS ''Discovery'', who explored King George Sound in 1791. Many of the samples (including orchids) were lost in the return to England, but those that did survive were documented in ''Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen'', published by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773), Robert Brown in 1810. The first three orchids from Western Australia to be named were ''Caladenia menziesii'' (now ''Leptoceras menziesii''), ''Caladenia flava'', and ''Diuris longifolia''. In 1802 Robert Brown himself collected 500 specimens of flora from Western Australia, including: *Diuris emarginata var. emarginata, ''Diuris emarginata'' var. ''emarginata'' *Diuris emarginata var. pauciflora, ''Diuris emarginata'' var. ''pauciflora'' *''Diuris setacea'' *''Epiblem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drakaea
''Drakaea'' is a genus of 10 species in the plant family Orchidaceae commonly known as hammer orchids. All ten species occur only in the south-west of Western Australia. Hammer orchids are characterised by an insectoid labellum that is attached to a narrow, hinged stem, which holds it aloft. The stem can hinge only backwards, where the broadly winged column carries the pollen and stigma. Each species of hammer orchid is pollinated by a specific species of thynnid wasp. Thynnid wasps are unusual in that the female is flightless and mating occurs when the male carries a female away to a source of food. The labellum of the orchid resembles a female thynnid wasp in shape, colour and scent. Insect pollination involving sexual attraction is common in orchids but the interaction between the male thynnid wasp and the hammer orchid is unique in that it involves the insect trying to fly away with a part of the flower. Description Hammer orchids have a single thumbnail-sized, flat, hea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Woodland
A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see differences between British, American and Australian English explained below). Some savannas may also be woodlands, such as ''savanna woodland'', where trees and shrubs form a light canopy. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of primary or secondary succession. Higher-density areas of trees with a largely closed canopy that provides extensive and nearly continuous shade are often referred to as forests. Extensive efforts by conservationist groups have been made to preserve woodlands from urbanization and agriculture. For example, the woodlands of Northwest Indiana ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Margaret River (Western Australia)
Margaret River is a large town in the South West of Western Australia, located in the valley of the eponymous Margaret River, south of Perth, the state capital. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River. Margaret River's coast to the west of the town is a renowned surfing location with worldwide fame for its surf breaks including, but not limited to, 'Main Break' and 'The Box'. Colloquially, the area is referred to as "Margs". The surrounding area is the Margaret River wine region and is known for its wine production and tourism, attracting an estimated 500,000 visitors annually. History The town is named after Margaret River, the river, which is presumed to be named after Margaret Whicher, cousin of John Bussell, John Garrett Bussell (founder of Busselton, Western Australia, Busselton) in 1831. The name is first shown on a map of the region published in 1839. Before British settlement the area was inhabited by the Noongar people. The first British sett ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stirling Range
The Stirling Range or Koikyennuruff is a range of mountains and hills in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, south-east of Perth. It is over wide from west to east, stretching from the highway between Mount Barker and Cranbrook eastward past Gnowangerup. The Stirling Range is protected by the Stirling Range National Park, which was gazetted in 1913, and has an area of . Environment Geology The mountains are formed of metamorphic rock derived from quartz sandstones and shales deposited during the Paleoproterozoic Era, between 2,016 and 1,215 million years ago (based on U-Th-Pb isotope geochronology of monazite crystals). The sediments were subsequently metamorphosed 1,215 million years ago, and later folded during reactivation of basement structures recording lateral displacements between Antarctica and Australia. Despite the relative youth of the mountains, the soils remain very poor, creating the species-rich heathland flora. Climate As the only verti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dandaragan, Western Australia
Dandaragan is a small town in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia. The Dandaragan plateau is the underlying geological feature of the area. History The first recorded land lease was to William Brockman in 1848; he had a land lease at Muchamulla Springs. The name of Dandaragan was first recorded in 1850 as the name of a nearby gulley and spring or watering hole known as Dandaraga spring. The word is Indigenous Australian in origin and is thought to mean ''good kangaroo country''. James Drummond settled in the area in 1850 and established a farm. A police station was built later and the townsite was gazetted in 1958. Select Harvests unsuccessfully attempted to grow a large almond The almond (''Prunus amygdalus'', Synonym (taxonomy)#Botany, syn. ''Prunus dulcis'') is a species of tree from the genus ''Prunus''. Along with the peach, it is classified in the subgenus ''Amygdalus'', distinguished from the other subgenera ... orchard near Dandaragan between 2010 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drakaea Livida
''Drakaea livida'', commonly known as warty hammer orchid, is a species of orchid endemic to the south–west of Western Australia. It is pollinated by a single species of male thynnid wasp using sexual deception. The orchid's labellum is similar in shape and scent to a flightless female thynnid wasp. Although the species was formally described in 1842, the description was often later overlooked and other hammer orchids were given the name ''Drakea livida''. It is now known to be, along with '' Drakaea glyptodon'', one of the most widespread of the genus. Description ''Drakaea livida'' is similar to others in the genus in that it has a single, ground hugging leaf and an underground tuber. In this case, the leaf is heart shaped, about in diameter. The leaf is a somewhat glossy olive green with darker lines radiating from the attachment to the stem. The stem is long, sometimes longer and the stalk of the single flower is long. The flower is also similar to those of other ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Botanical Nomenclature
Botanical nomenclature is the formal, scientific naming of plants. It is related to, but distinct from taxonomy (biology), taxonomy. Plant taxonomy is concerned with grouping and classifying plants; Botany, botanical nomenclature then provides names for the results of this process. The starting point for modern botanical nomenclature is Carl Linnaeus, Linnaeus' ''Species Plantarum'' of 1753. Botanical nomenclature is governed by the ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (''ICNafp''), which replaces the ''International Code of Botanical Nomenclature'' (''ICBN''). Fossil plants are also covered by the code of nomenclature. Within the limits set by that code there is another set of rules, the ''International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants, International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP)'' which applies to plant cultivars that have been deliberately altered or selected by humans (see cultigen). Botanical nomenclature is indep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
