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Santalum Paniculatum
''Santalum paniculatum'' is a parasitic rainforest tree endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. It is in the sandalwood family (Santalaceae), and is commonly called ili ahi, or Hawaiian sandalwood. The largest presently known, at Honomolino, South Kona District of the Big Island, is tall and has a diameter at breast height Diameter at breast height, or DBH, is a standard method of expressing the diameter of the trunk or bole of a standing tree. DBH is one of the most common dendrometric measurements. Tree trunks are measured at the height of an adult's breast, ... of (2.3 m girth) A century ago, ''S. paniculatum'' reached in height and a DBH of .Dr. Otto Degener and Dr. Isa Degener, FLORA HAWAIIENSIS, Published privately. (unpaginated) Plate 100 with caption. making it the largest known parasitic plant. References paniculatum Flora of Hawaii Parasitic plants Taxa named by William Jackson Hooker Taxa named by George Arnott Walker Arnott {{Santalales-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hook
A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved/bent back or has a deeply grooved indentation, which serves to grab, latch or in any way attach itself onto another object. The hook's design allows traction forces to be relayed through the curved/indented portion to and from the proximal end of the hook, which is either a straight shaft (known as the hook's ''shank'') or a ring (sometimes called the hook's "''eye''") for attachment to a thread (yarn), thread, rope or chain, providing a reversible attachment between two objects. In many cases, the distal end of the hook is sharply pointed to enable penetration into the target material, providing a firmer anchorage. Some hooks, particularly fish hooks, also have a ''barb'', a backwards-pointed projection near the pointed end that functions as a secondary "mini-hook" to catch and trap surrounding material, ensuring that the hook point cannot be easily pulled back out once e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parasitic
Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson characterised parasites' way of feeding as "predators that eat prey in units of less than one". Parasites include single-celled protozoans such as the agents of malaria, sleeping sickness, and amoebic dysentery; animals such as hookworms, lice, mosquitoes, and vampire bats; fungi such as honey fungus and the agents of ringworm; and plants such as mistletoe, dodder, and the broomrapes. There are six major parasitic strategies of exploitation of animal hosts, namely parasitic castration, directly transmitted parasitism (by contact), trophicallytransmitted parasitism (by being eaten), vector-transmitted parasitism, parasitoidism, and micropredation. One major axis of classification concerns invasiveness: an endopar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropical rainforests or temperate rainforests, but other types have been described. Estimates vary from 40% to 75% of all biotic community, biotic species being Indigenous (ecology), indigenous to the rainforests. There may be many millions of species of plants, insects and microorganisms still undiscovered in tropical rainforests. Tropical rainforests have been called the "jewels of the Earth" and the "medicine chest (idiom), world's largest pharmacy", because over one quarter of natural medicines have been discovered there. Rainforests as well as endemic rainforest species are rapidly disappearing due to #Deforestation, deforestation, the resulting habitat loss and air pollution, pollution of the atmosphere. Definition Rainforests are cha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endemic
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 bec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands () are an archipelago of eight major volcanic islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the Hawaii (island), island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll. Formerly called the Sandwich Islands by Europeans, the present name for the archipelago is derived from the name of its largest island, Hawaii. The archipelago sits on the Pacific Plate. The islands are exposed peaks of a great undersea mountain range known as the Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain, formed by volcano, volcanic activity over the Hawaiian hotspot. The islands are about from the nearest continent and are part of the Polynesia subregion of Oceania. The U.S. state of Hawaii occupies the archipelago almost in its entirety (including the mostly uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands), with the sole exception of Midway Atoll (a United States Minor Outlying Island). Hawaii is the only U.S. state that is sit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Santalaceae
The Santalaceae, sandalwoods, are a widely distributed family of flowering plants (including small trees, shrubs, perennial plants, perennial herbs, and epiphyte, epiphytic climbersHewson & George [et al.]''Santalaceae'' taxonomy, 1984, pp. 191-194.) which, like other members of Santalales, are partially parasitic on other plants. Its flowers are bisexual or, by abortion ("flower drop"), unisexual.Pilger, R''Santalaceae''(with 17 figures). R. Br. Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holl. (1810) 350, pp. 1-45. Modern treatments of the Santalaceae include the family Viscaceae (mistletoes), previously considered distinct. The APG II system of 2003 recognises the family and assigns it to the order Santalales in the clade core eudicots. However, the circumscription by APG is much wider than accepted by previous classifications, including the plants earlier treated in families Eremolepidaceae and Viscaceae. It includes about 1,000 species in 43 genera. Many have reported traditional and cultural uses, inc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Kona
Kona is a ''moku'' or district on the Big Island of Hawaii in the State of Hawaii, known for its Kona coffee and the Ironman World Championship Triathlon. In the administration of Hawaii County, the ''moku'' of Kona is divided into North Kona District (''Kona Akau'') and South Kona District (''Kona Hema''). "Kona" sometimes refers to its largest town, Kailua-Kona. Other towns in Kona include Kealakekua, Keauhou, Holualoa, Hōnaunau and Honalo. Description In the Hawaiian language, ''kona'' means leeward or dry side of the island, as opposed to ''ko‘olau'' which means windward or the wet side of the island. In the times of Ancient Hawaiʻi, ''Kona'' was the name of the leeward district on each major island. In Hawai‘i, the Pacific anticyclone provides moist prevailing northeasterly winds to the Hawaiian islands, resulting in rain when the winds contact the windward landmass of the islands – the winds subsequently lose their moisture and travel on to the leeward (or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diameter At Breast Height
Diameter at breast height, or DBH, is a standard method of expressing the diameter of the trunk or bole of a standing tree. DBH is one of the most common dendrometric measurements. Tree trunks are measured at the height of an adult's breast, which is defined differently in different countries and situations. In many countries, DBH is measured at approximately above ground. Global variation and scientific precision The height can make a substantial difference to the measured diameter. In the United States, DBH is typically measured at above ground. In some countries, such as Australia, New Zealand, Burma, India, Malaysia, and South Africa, breast height diameter has historically been measured at a height of , but because of much active research into allometrics that are being applied to trees and forests, the convention of is more appropriate. Ornamental trees are usually measured at 1.5 metres above ground. Some authors have argued that the term DBH should be abolish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Santalum
''Santalum'' is a genus of woody flowering plants in the Santalaceae family, the best known and most commercially valuable of which is the Indian sandalwood tree, '' S. album''. Members of the genus are trees or shrubs. Most are root parasites which photosynthesize their own food, but tap the roots of other species for water and inorganic nutrients. Several species, most notably ''S. album'', produce highly aromatic wood, used for scents and perfumes and for herbal medicine. It has about 25 known species which are native to Island Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Timor-Leste, and the Philippines), Melanesia (Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Fiji, and New Caledonia), Australia, Polynesia, the Bonin Islands of Japan, and the Juan Fernández Islands of Chile. Indian sandalwood (''S. album'') is native to the tropical dry deciduous forests the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia, the Philippines, and Arnhem Land of northern Australia. It is the only species of the genus found on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flora Of Hawaii
Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for fungi, it is ''funga''. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora as in the terms ''gut flora'' or ''skin flora'' for purposes of specificity. Etymology The word "flora" comes from the Latin name of Flora, the goddess of plants, flowers, and fertility in Roman mythology. The technical term "flora" is then derived from a metonymy of this goddess at the end of the sixteenth century. It was first used in poetry to denote the natural vegetation of an area, but soon also assumed the meaning of a work cataloguing such vegetation. Moreover, "Flora" was used to refer to the flowers of an artificial garden in the seventeenth century. The distinction between vegetation (the general appearance of a community) and flora (the taxonomic composition of a community) was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parasitic Plants
A parasitic plant is a plant that derives some or all of its nutritional requirements from another living plant. They make up about 1% of angiosperms and are found in almost every biome. All parasitic plants develop a specialized organ called the haustorium, which penetrates the host plant, connecting them to the host vasculature—either the xylem, phloem, or both. For example, plants like ''Striga'' or ''Rhinanthus'' connect only to the xylem, via xylem bridges (xylem-feeding). Alternately, plants like ''Cuscuta'' and some members of ''Orobanche'' connect to both the xylem and phloem of the host. This provides them with the ability to extract resources from the host. These resources can include water, nitrogen, carbon and/or sugars. Parasitic plants are classified depending on the location where the parasitic plant latches onto the host (root or stem), the amount of nutrients it requires, and their photosynthetic capability. Some parasitic plants can locate their host plants by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
