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Wyethia Ovata
''Agnorhiza ovata'' ( syn. ''Wyethia ovata'') is a species of flowering plant known by the common name southern mule's ears. It is native to the mountains and foothills of southern California and Baja California, occurring the Coast Ranges and Sierra Nevada foothills in Tulare, Kern, Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Diego counties in California, with additional populations in the Peninsular Ranges south of the international border. Description ''Agnorhiza ovata'' grows in many types of habitat, including pine forests, woodlands, and grassland. It is a perennial herb growing from a thick taproot and caudex unit. The hairy, glandular, sticky-textured stem grows a few centimeters tall to nearly half a meter in maximum height. The leaves have oval blades up to 20 centimeters long which are generally hairy or silky and glandular. The inflorescence is made up of one or more flower heads which may be tucked amongst the uppermost leaves. The head has lance-shaped leafli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Torrey
John Torrey (August 15, 1796 – March 10, 1873) was an American botany, botanist, chemist, and physician. Throughout much of his career, he was a teacher of chemistry, often at multiple universities, while he also pursued botanical work, focusing on the flora of North America. His most renowned works include studies of the New York flora, the Mexican Boundary, the Pacific railroad surveys, and the uncompleted ''Flora of North America''. Biography Torrey was born in New York City in 1796, the second child of Capt. William and Margaret (née Nichols) Torrey.Robbins, C. C. (1968). John Torrey (1796–1873), His Life & Times. ''Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club''. Vol. 95, No. Nov. 6–Dec. 1968, 515–645. Torrey Botanical Club, New York. He showed a fondness for mechanics, and at one time planned to become a machinist. When he was 15 or 16, his father received an appointment to the state prison at Greenwich Village, New York, where he was tutored by Amos Eaton, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caudex
A caudex (: caudices) of a plant is a stem, but the term is also used to mean a rootstock and particularly a basal stem structure from which new growth arises.pages 456 and 695 In the strict sense of the term, meaning a stem, "caudex" is most often used with plants that have a different stem morphology from the typical angiosperm dicotyledon stem: examples of this include palms, ferns, and cycads. The largest of all caudices is that of the ombu (''Phytolacca dioecea'') of the Pampas of South America which can be fifty feet (fifteen meters) thick. The related term caudiciform, literally meaning stem-like, is sometimes used to mean pachycaul, thick-stemmed. Caudices should not be confused with lignotubers which can also be very large. Etymology The term is from the Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Natural History Of The California Chaparral And Woodlands
Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the laws, elements and phenomena of the physical world, including life. Although humans are part of nature, human activity or humans as a whole are often described as at times at odds, or outright separate and even superior to nature. During the advent of modern scientific method in the last several centuries, nature became the passive reality, organized and moved by divine laws. With the Industrial Revolution, nature increasingly became seen as the part of reality deprived from intentional intervention: it was hence considered as sacred by some traditions ( Rousseau, American transcendentalism) or a mere decorum for divine providence or human history (Hegel, Marx). However, a vitalist vision of nature, closer to the pre-Socratic one, got reborn at the same time, especially after Charles Darwin. Within the various uses of the word ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flora Of The Sierra Nevada (United States)
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) wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flora Of California
California native plants are plants that existed in California prior to the arrival of European colonialism, European explorers and colonists in the late 18th century. California includes parts of at least three Phytochorion, phytochoria. The largest is the California Floristic Province, a geographical area that covers most of California, portions of neighboring Oregon, Nevada, and Baja California, and is regarded as a "world hotspot" of biodiversity. Introduction In 1993, ''The Jepson Manual'' estimated that California was home to 4,693 native species and 1,169 native subspecies or varieties, including 1,416 endemic species. A 2001 study by the California Native Plant Society estimated 6,300 native plants. These estimates continue to change over time. Of California's total plant population, 2,153 species, subspecies, and varieties are endemism, endemic and native to California alone, according to the 1993 Jepson Manual study. This botanical diversity stems not only from the si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heliantheae
The Heliantheae (sometimes called the sunflower tribe) are the third-largest Tribe (biology), tribe in the sunflower family (Asteraceae). With some 190 genera and nearly 2500 recognized species, only the tribes Senecioneae and Astereae are larger. The name is derived from the genus ''Helianthus'', which is Ancient Greek, Greek for sun flower. Most genera and species are found in North America (particularly in Mexico) and South America. A few genera are pantropical. Most Heliantheae are herbs or shrubs, but some grow to the size of small trees. Leaves are usually trichome, hairy and arranged in opposite pairs. The anthers are usually blackened. The above statements about the size and distribution of the tribe apply to a broad definition of Heliantheae, which was followed throughout the 20th century. Some recent authors break the tribe up into a dozen or so smaller tribes. Uses Commercially important plants in the Heliantheae include sunflower and Jerusalem artichoke. Many gar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pappus (flower Structure)
In Asteraceae, the pappus is the modified calyx, the part of an individual floret, that surrounds the base of the corolla tube in flower. It functions as a dispersal mechanism for the achenes that contain the seeds. In Asteraceae, the pappus may be composed of bristles (sometimes feathery), awns, scales, or may be absent, and in some species, is too small to see without magnification. In genera such as ''Taraxacum'' or '' Eupatorium'', feathery bristles of the pappus function as a "parachute" which enables the seed to be carried by the wind. In genera such as '' Bidens'' the pappus has hooks that function in mechanical dispersal. The name derives from the Ancient Greek word ''pappos'', Latin ''pappus'', meaning "old man", so used for a plant (assumed to be an '' Erigeron'' species) having bristles and also for the woolly, hairy seed of certain plants. The pappus of the dandelion plays a vital role in the wind-aided dispersal of its seeds. By creating a separated vortex ri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Achene
An achene (; ), also sometimes called akene and occasionally achenium or achenocarp, is a type of simple fruit, simple dry fruits, dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. Achenes are monocarpellate (formed from one carpel) and Dehiscence (botany), indehiscent (they do not open at maturity). Achenes contain a single seed that nearly fills the pericarp, but does not adhere to it. In many species, what is called the "seed" is an achene, a fruit containing the seed. The seed-like appearance is owed to the hardening of the fruit wall (pericarp), which encloses the solitary seed so closely as to seem like a seed coat. Examples The fruits of buttercup, buckwheat, caraway, quinoa, amaranth, and cannabis are typical achenes. The achenes of the strawberry are sometimes mistaken for seeds. The strawberry is an accessory fruit with an aggregate of achenes on its outer surface, and what is eaten is accessory tissue. A rose produces an aggregate of achene fruits that are encom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Disc Floret
Asteraceae () is a large family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchidaceae, and which is the larger family is unclear as the quantity of extant species in each family is unknown. The Asteraceae were first described in the year 1740 and given the original name Compositae. The family is commonly known as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family. Most species of Asteraceae are herbaceous plants, and may be annual, biennial, or perennial, but there are also shrubs, vines, and trees. The family has a widespread distribution, from subpolar to tropical regions, in a wide variety of habitats. Most occur in hot desert and cold or hot semi-desert climates, and they are found on every continent but Antarctica. Their common primary characteristic is compound flower heads, technically known as capitula, consisting of sometimes hundreds ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bract
In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves in size, color, shape or texture. They also look different from the parts of the flower, such as the petals or sepals. A plant having bracts is referred to as bracteate or bracteolate, while one that lacks them is referred to as ebracteate or ebracteolate. Variants Some bracts are brightly coloured which aid in the attraction of pollinators, either together with the perianth or instead of it. Examples of this type of bract include those of '' Euphorbia pulcherrima'' (poinsettia) and '' Bougainvillea'': both of these have large colourful bracts surrounding much smaller, less colourful flowers. In grasses, each floret (flower) is enclosed in a pair of papery bracts, called the lemma (lower bract) and palea (upper bract), while each spikelet (group of florets) has a further pair o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
