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Growing Degree-day
Growing degree days (GDD), also called growing degree units (GDUs), are a heuristic tool in phenology. GDD are a measure of heat accumulation used by horticulturists, gardeners, and farmers to predict plant and animal development rates such as the date that a flower will bloom, an insect will emerge from dormancy, or a crop will reach maturity. GDD is credited to be first defined by Reaumur in 1735. Introduction In the absence of extreme conditions such as unseasonal drought or disease, plants grow in a cumulative stepwise manner which is strongly influenced by the ambient temperature. Growing degree days take aspects of local weather into account and allow gardeners to predict (or, in greenhouses, even to control) the plants' pace toward maturity. Unless stressed by other environmental factors like moisture, the development rate from emergence to maturity for many plants depends upon the daily air temperature. Because many developmental events of plants and insects depend on the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heuristic
A heuristic or heuristic technique (''problem solving'', '' mental shortcut'', ''rule of thumb'') is any approach to problem solving that employs a pragmatic method that is not fully optimized, perfected, or rationalized, but is nevertheless "good enough" as an approximation or attribute substitution. Where finding an optimal solution is impossible or impractical, heuristic methods can be used to speed up the process of finding a satisfactory solution. Heuristics can be mental shortcuts that ease the cognitive load of making a decision. Context Gigerenzer & Gaissmaier (2011) state that sub-sets of ''strategy'' include heuristics, regression analysis, and Bayesian inference. Heuristics are strategies based on rules to generate optimal decisions, like the anchoring effect and utility maximization problem. These strategies depend on using readily accessible, though loosely applicable, information to control problem solving in human beings, machines and abstract i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crabapple
''Malus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 32–57 species of small deciduous trees or shrubs in the family Rosaceae, including the domesticated orchard apple, crab apples (sometimes known in North America as crabapples) and wild apples. The genus is native to the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere. Description Apple trees are typically tall at maturity, with a dense, twiggy crown. The leaves are long, alternate, simple, with a serrated margin. The flowers are borne in corymbs, and have five petals, which may be white, pink, or red, and are perfect, with usually red stamens that produce copious pollen, and a half-inferior ovary; flowering occurs in the spring after 50–80 growing degree-days, varying greatly according to subspecies and cultivar. Many apples require cross-pollination between individuals by insects (typically bees, which freely visit the flowers for both nectar and pollen); these are called self-sterile, so self-pollination is impossible, making pollin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bean
A bean is the seed of some plants in the legume family (Fabaceae) used as a vegetable for human consumption or animal feed. The seeds are often preserved through drying (a ''pulse''), but fresh beans are also sold. Dried beans are traditionally soaked and boiled, and used in many traditional dishes throughout the world. They can be cooked in many different ways, however, including frying and baking. The unripe seedpods of some varieties are also eaten whole as green beans or '' edamame'' (immature soybean), but many fully ripened beans contain toxins like phytohemagglutinin and require cooking. Terminology The word "bean" and its Germanic cognates (e.g. German '' Bohne'') have existed in common use in West Germanic languages since before the 12th century, referring to broad beans, chickpeas, and other pod-borne seeds. This was long before the New World genus '' Phaseolus'' was known in Europe. With the Columbian exchange of domestic plants between Europe and the A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maize
Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native Americans planted it alongside beans and squashes in the Three Sisters polyculture. The leafy stalk of the plant gives rise to male inflorescences or tassels which produce pollen, and female inflorescences called ears. The ears yield grain, known as kernels or seeds. In modern commercial varieties, these are usually yellow or white; other varieties can be of many colors. Maize relies on humans for its propagation. Since the Columbian exchange, it has become a staple food in many parts of the world, with the total production of maize surpassing that of wheat and rice. Much maize is used for animal feed, whether as grain or as the whole plant, which can either be baled or made into the more palatable silage. Sugar-rich varieties called sw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buddleia Davidii
''Buddleja davidii'' (spelling variant ''Buddleia davidii''), also called summer lilac, butterfly-bush, or orange eye, is a species of flowering plant in the family Scrophulariaceae, native to Sichuan and Hubei provinces in central China, and also Japan. It is widely used as an ornamental plant, and many named varieties are in cultivation. The genus was named ''Buddleja'' after Reverend Adam Buddle, an English botanist. The species name ''davidii'' honors the French missionary and explorer in China, Father Armand David, who was the first European to report the shrub. It was found near Yichang by Dr Augustine Henry about 1887 and sent to St Petersburg. Another botanist-missionary in China, Jean-André Soulié, sent seed to the French nursery Vilmorin, and ''B. davidii'' entered commerce in the 1890s. ''B. davidii'' was accorded the RHS Award of Merit (AM) in 1898, and the Award of Garden Merit (AGM) in 1941.Hillier & Sons. (1990). ''Hillier's Manual of Trees & Shrubs, 5th e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sumac
Sumac or sumach ( , )—not to be confused with poison sumac—is any of the roughly 35 species of flowering plants in the genus ''Rhus'' (and related genera) of the cashew and mango tree family, Anacardiaceae. However, it is '' Rhus coriaria'' that is most commonly used for culinary purposes. Sumac is prized as a spice—especially in Kurdish, Arab, Lebanese, Turkish, Armenian, Iranian, and other Eastern cuisines —and used as a dye and holistic remedy. The plants grow in subtropical and temperate regions, on nearly every continent except Antarctica and South America. Description Sumacs are dioecious shrubs and small trees in the family Anacardiaceae that can reach a height of . The leaves are usually pinnately compound, though some species have trifoliate or simple leaves. The flowers are in dense panicles or spikes long, each flower very small, greenish, creamy white or red, with five petals. The fruits are reddish, thin-fleshed drupes covered in varying levels of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Purple Loosestrife
''Lythrum salicaria'' or purple loosestrifeFlora of NW Europe''Lythrum salicaria'' is a flowering plant belonging to the family Lythraceae. It should not be confused with other plants sharing the name loosestrife that are members of the family Primulaceae. Other names include spiked loosestrife and purple Lythrum. This herbaceous perennial plant, perennial is native to Europe and Asia, and possibly Australia. Etymology and other names The generic name ''Lythrum'' is derived from the Greek 'lythron', meaning blood, in reference to the flower colour in some species.Gledhill D. 1985. ''The Names of Plants''. Cambridge University Press However, Pliny the Elder, Pliny (A.D. 23–79) stated that ''Lythrum'' is named for Lysimachus, an army general and friend of Alexander the Great. ''Lysimachus'' is derived from the Greek ''lysis'', meaning "loosing" and ''mache'', meaning "strife". Mitich LW. 1999. ''Lythrum salicaria'' L. ''Weed Technology'' 13: 843 – 846. The specific epithet '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elderberry
''Sambucus'' is a genus of between 20 and 30 species of flowering plants in the family Adoxaceae. The various species are commonly referred to as elder, with the flowers as elderflower, and the fruit as elderberry. Description Elders are mostly fast-growing shrubs or small trees (rarely to ) tall, with a few species being herbaceous plants tall. The oppositely arranged leaves are pinnate with 5–9 leaflets (or, rarely, 3 or 11). Each leaf is long, and the leaflets have serrated margins. They bear large clusters of small white or cream-coloured flowers in late spring or early summer; these are followed by clusters of small berries that are green when immature, ripening black, blue-black, or red (rarely yellow or white). Taxonomy The genus name comes from the Ancient Greek word (), an ancient wind instrument, relating to the removal of pith from the twigs to make whistles. The taxonomy of the genus ''Sambucus'' L., originally described by Carl Linnaeus and hence its b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Privet
A privet is a flowering plant in the genus ''Ligustrum''. The genus contains about 50 species of erect, deciduous or evergreen shrubs or trees, with a native distribution from Europe to tropical and subtropical Asia, and with one species each native to Australia and north Africa. Some species have become widely naturalized or invasive where introduced. ''Privet'' was originally the name for the European semi-evergreen shrub '' Ligustrum vulgare'', and later also for the more reliably evergreen '' Ligustrum ovalifolium'' and its hybrid '' Ligustrum × ibolium'' used extensively for privacy hedging, though now the name is applied to all members of the genus. The generic name was applied by Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) to ''L. vulgare''. It is often suggested that the name ''privet'' is related to ''private'', but the Oxford English Dictionary states that there is no evidence to support this. Description Privet is a group of shrubs and small trees of southern and eastern Asia, fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catalpa
''Catalpa'' (, ), commonly also called catawba, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae, native to warm temperate and subtropical regions of North America, the Caribbean, and East Asia. Description Most ''Catalpa'' are deciduous trees; they typically grow to tall, with branches spreading to a diameter of about . They are fast growers and a 10-year-old sapling may stand about tall. They have characteristic large, heart-shaped leaves, which in some species are three-lobed. The appearance of the leaves sometimes causes confusion with species such as the unrelated tung tree ('' Vernicia fordii'') and ''Paulownia tomentosa''. ''Catalpa'' species bear broad panicles of showy flowers, generally in summer. The flower colour generally is white to yellow. In late summer or autumn the fruit appear; they are siliques about long, full of small flat seeds, each with two thin wings to aid in wind dispersal. The large leaves and dense foliage of ''Catalpa'' species provid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Locust
''Robinia pseudoacacia'', commonly known as black locust, is a medium-sized hardwood deciduous tree, belonging to the tribe Robinieae of the legume family Fabaceae. It is native to a few small areas of the United States, but it has been widely planted and naturalized elsewhere in temperate North America, Europe, Southern Africa and Asia and is considered an invasive species in some areas, such as the temperate east coast of Australia where the cultivar "Frisia" (Golden Robinia) was widely planted as a street tree before being classed as a weed. Another common name is false acacia, a literal translation of the specific name (''pseudo'' reek ''ψευδο-''meaning fake or false and ''acacia'' referring to the genus of plants with the same name). Description The roots of black locust contain nodules that allow it to fix nitrogen, as is common within the pea family. Trees reach a typical height of with a diameter of . It is a very upright tree with a straight trunk and narrow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plum
A plum is a fruit of some species in Prunus subg. Prunus, ''Prunus'' subg. ''Prunus''''.'' Dried plums are often called prunes, though in the United States they may be labeled as 'dried plums', especially during the 21st century. Plums are likely to have been one of the first fruits domesticated by humans, with origins in Eastern Europe, East European and Caucasus Mountains, Caucasian mountains and China. They were brought to Great Britain, Britain from Asia, and their cultivation has been documented in Andalusia, southern Spain. Plums are a diverse group of species, with trees reaching a height of when pruned. The fruit is a drupe, with a firm and juicy flesh. China is the largest producer of plums, followed by Romania and Serbia. Japanese or Chinese plums dominate the fresh fruit market, while European plums are also common in some regions. Plums can be eaten fresh, dried to make prunes, used in Fruit preserves, jams, or fermented into fruit wine, wine and distilled into ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
