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The Pinnacles (Western Australia)
The Pinnacles are limestone formations within Nambung National Park, near the town of Cervantes, Western Australia. Features The area contains thousands of weathered limestone pillars. Some of the tallest pinnacles reach heights of up to above the yellow sand base. The different types of formations include ones which are much taller than they are wide and resemble columnssuggesting the name of Pinnacleswhile others are only or so in height and width resembling short tombstones. A cross-bedding structure can be observed in many pinnacles where the angle of deposited sand changed suddenly due to changes in prevailing winds during formation of the limestone beds. Pinnacles with tops similar to mushrooms are created when the calcrete capping is harder than the limestone layer below it. The relatively softer lower layers weather and erode at a faster rate than the top layer leaving behind more material at the top of the pinnacle. Formation The raw material for the limestone ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pinnacles Pano 2005-08-26
A pinnacle is an architecture, architectural element originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small Turret (architecture), turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire. It was mainly used in Gothic architecture. The pinnacle had two purposes: # Ornamental – adding to the loftiness and verticity of the structure. They sometimes ended with statues, such as in Milan Cathedral. # Structural – the pinnacles were very heavy and often rectified with lead, in order to enable the flying buttresses to contain the stress of the structure vault (architecture), vaults and roof. This was done by adding compressive stress (a result of the pinnacle weight) to the thrust vector and thus shifting it downwards rather than sideways. History The accounts of Jesus, Jesus' Temptations of Christ, temptations in Gospel of Matthew, Matthew's and Gospel of Luke, Luke's gospels both suggest that the S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tree
In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only plants that are usable as lumber, or only plants above a specified height. But wider definitions include taller palms, tree ferns, bananas, and bamboos. Trees are not a monophyletic taxonomic group but consist of a wide variety of plant species that have independently evolved a trunk and branches as a way to tower above other plants to compete for sunlight. The majority of tree species are angiosperms or hardwoods; of the rest, many are gymnosperms or softwoods. Trees tend to be long-lived, some trees reaching several thousand years old. Trees evolved around 400 million years ago, and it is estimated that there are around three trillion mature trees in the world currently. A tree typically has many secondary branches supported cle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pimelea Suaveolens
''Pimelea suaveolens'', commonly known as scented banjine, is a slender shrub with large, rather hairy yellow inflorescences. It occurs in forest areas of the south-west of Western Australia from New Norcia to Albany. Description ''Pimelea suaveolens'' is an erect, spindly, often multi-stemmed shrub which grows to a height of . The stems and leaves are glabrous and the leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, sword-shaped and long. The inflorescences are across and consist of many pale to deep yellow flowers surrounded by hairy, petal-like bracts and hang from the branches. Flowering occurs from June to October. Taxonomy ''Pimelea suaveolens'' was first formally described in 1845 by Carl Meissner and the description was published in Lehmann's ''Plantae Preissianae'' from a specimen collected by James Drummond at Greenmount in 1839. The Latin specific epithet ''suaveolens'' means "sweet-smelling". In 1988, Barbara Rye named two subspecies of ''P. suaveolens'' in the journ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acacia Truncata
''Acacia truncata'', commonly known as the angle leaved wattle or west coast wattle, is a coastal shrub in the family Fabaceae, with a native distribution along the southwest coast of Western Australia. A specimen of this wattle was part of an early European botanical collection, perhaps the first from Australia. Description The shrub is a dense and dome shaped plant high. It has ribbed and glabrous branchlets. Flowerheads are globe-shaped and composed of 7-16 pale yellow flowers, on stalks between long. Following flowering it will form blackish curved to linear seed pods that are about in length and wide with thick yellowish margins. The shiny brown seeds are longitudinally arranged in the pod. They have an oblong to elliptic shape and are long. Like many other ''Acacia'' species, ''A. truncata'' has phyllodes rather than true leaves. The triangular phyllodes range from long and wide. Taxonomy The species was initially described as ''Adiantum truncatum'' by Nicolaas Lau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acacia Lasiocarpa
''Acacia lasiocarpa'', commonly known as Panjang or Pajang or glow wattle, is a shrub of the genus ''Acacia'' and the subgenus ''Pulchellae'' that is endemic to Western Australia. Description The shrub typically grows to a height of and across. The branchlets are covered in spines. The pinnae occur in pairs and have a length of with two to eight pairs of pinnules that are long and wide. The foliage is lime green in colour. It blooms from May to October and produces yellow flowers. The rudimentary inflorescences have globular flowerheads containing 16 to 50 golden flowers. Following flowering flat or undulate brown seed pods form that are in length and wide. The sometimes mottled seeds inside have an oblong to elliptic or circular shape and are in length. Taxonomy The species was first formally described by the botanist George Bentham in 1837 as part of the Bentham, Stephan Endlicher, Eduard Fenzl and Heinrich Wilhelm Schott work ''Enumeratio plantarum quas in Novae Holla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Morelia Spilota
''Morelia spilota'', commonly known as the carpet python, is a large snake of the family Pythonidae found in Australia, New Guinea (Indonesia and Papua New Guinea), Bismarck Archipelago, and the northern Solomon Islands. Many subspecies are recognised; ITIS lists six, the Reptile Database six, and the IUCN eight. Description ''M. spilota'' is a large species of python in the genus, reaching between in length and weighing up to . ''M. s. mcdowelli ''is the largest subspecies, regularly attaining lengths of . '' M. s. variegata'' is the smallest subspecies, typically in length. The average adult length is roughly . However, one 3-year-old captive male ''M. s. mcdowelli'', measured in Ireland, was found to exceed . Males are typically smaller than females; in some regions, females are up to four times heavier. The head is triangular with a conspicuous row of thermoreceptive labial pits. The colouring of ''M. spilota'' is highly variable, ranging from olive to black with white or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sand Goanna
The sand goanna (''Varanus gouldii)'', also known commonly as Gould's monitor, the racehorse goanna, and the sand monitor, is a species of large Australian monitor lizard in the family Varanidae. Taxonomy John Edward Gray described the species in 1838 as ''Hydrosaurus gouldii'', noting the source of the type specimen as " New Holland" and distinguishing the new varanid by "two yellow streaks on the sides of the neck" and small flat scales at the orbits. An earlier description, ''Tupinambis endrachtensis'' Péron, F. 1807, was determined as likely to refer to this animal, but the epithet ''gouldii'' was conserved and a new specimen designated as the type. This neotype was obtained in 1997 at the near coastal Western Australian suburb of Karrakatta, and placed with the British Museum of Natural History. The decision of a nomenclatural commission (ICZN) was to issue an opinion suppressing the earlier name ''Tupinambis endrachtensis'' and the name ''Hydrosaurus ocellarius'' Blyt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tiliqua Rugosa
''Tiliqua rugosa'', most commonly known as the shingleback skink, stumptail skink or bobtail lizard, is a short-tailed, slow-moving species of blue-tongued skink (genus ''Tiliqua'') endemic to Australia. It is commonly known as the shingleback (lizard), potato lizard or sleepy lizard. Three of its four recognised subspecies are found in Western Australia, where the ''bobtail'' name is most frequently used. The fourth subspecies, ''T. rugosa asper,'' is the only one native to eastern Australia, where it goes by the common name of the eastern shingleback. Apart from bobtail and shingleback, a variety of other common names are used in different states, including two-headed skink, stumpy lizard, stumpy-tailed skink, or , pinecone lizard. The Noongar Aboriginal people refer to ''rugosa'' as ''yoorn'' in their language. ''T. rugosa'' has a short, wide, stumpy tail that resembles its head and may serve the purpose of confusing predators. The tail also contains fat reserves, which ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baudin's Black Cockatoo
Baudin's black cockatoo (''Zanda baudinii''), also known as Baudin's cockatoo or the long-billed black cockatoo, is a species of genus '' Zanda'' found in southwest Australia. The epithet commemorates the French explorer Nicolas Baudin. It has a short crest on the top of its head, and the plumage is mostly greyish black. It has prominent white cheek patches and a white tail band. The body feathers are edged with white giving a scalloped appearance. Adult males have a dark grey beak and pink eye-rings. Adult females have a bone coloured beak, grey eye-rings and ear patches that are paler than those of the males. Taxonomy and naming Baudin's black cockatoo was depicted in 1832 by the English artist Edward Lear in his '' Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae, or Parrots'' from a specimen owned by the naturalist Benjamin Leadbeater. Lear used the common name "Baudin's cockatoo" and coined the binomial name ''Calyptorhynchus baudinii''. The common name and specific epithet comme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Grey Kangaroo
The western grey kangaroo (''Macropus fuliginosus''), also referred to as a western grey giant kangaroo, black-faced kangaroo, mallee kangaroo, sooty kangaroo and (when referring to the Kangaroo Island subspecies) Kangaroo Island grey kangaroo, is a large and very common kangaroo found across almost the entire southern part of Australia, from just south of Shark Bay through coastal Western Australia and South Australia, into western Victoria (Australia), Victoria, and in the entire Murray–Darling basin in New South Wales and Queensland. Taxonomy Long known to the Aboriginal Australians, for Europeans, the western grey kangaroo was the centre of a great deal of sometimes comical taxonomic confusion for almost 200 years. It was first noted by European maritime exploration of Australia, European explorers when Matthew Flinders landed on Kangaroo Island in 1802. Flinders shot several for food, but assumed that they were eastern grey kangaroos. In 1803, Baudin expedition to Australia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Ocean; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini; and it encloses Lesotho. Covering an area of , the country has Demographics of South Africa, a population of over 64 million people. Pretoria is the administrative capital, while Cape Town, as the seat of Parliament of South Africa, Parliament, is the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein is regarded as the judicial capital. The largest, most populous city is Johannesburg, followed by Cape Town and Durban. Cradle of Humankind, Archaeological findings suggest that various hominid species existed in South Africa about 2.5 million years ago, and modern humans inhabited the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Transpiration
Transpiration is the process of water movement through a plant and its evaporation from aerial parts, such as leaves, stems and flowers. It is a passive process that requires no energy expense by the plant. Transpiration also cools plants, changes osmotic pressure of cells, and enables mass flow of mineral nutrients. When water uptake by the roots is less than the water lost to the atmosphere by evaporation, plants close small pores called stomata to decrease water loss, which slows down nutrient uptake and decreases CO2 absorption from the atmosphere limiting metabolic processes, photosynthesis, and growth. Water and nutrient uptake Water is necessary for plants, but only a small amount of water taken up by the roots is used for growth and metabolism. The remaining 97–99.5% is lost by transpiration and guttation. Water with any dissolved mineral nutrients is absorbed into the roots by osmosis, which travels through the xylem by way of water molecule adhesion and coh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
