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Umbrella Pines
The Italian stone pine, botanical name ''Pinus pinea'', also known as the Mediterranean stone pine is a tree from the pine family (''Pinaceae''). The tree is native to the Mediterranean region, occurring in Southern Europe and the Levant. The species was introduced into North Africa millennia ago, and is also naturalized in the Canary Islands, South Africa and New South Wales. Stone pines have been used and cultivated for their edible pine nuts since prehistoric times. They are widespread in horticultural cultivation as ornamental trees, planted in gardens and parks around the world. This plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. ''Pinus pinea'' is a diagnostic species of the vegetation class ''Pinetea halepensis''. Description The stone pine is a coniferous evergreen tree that can exceed in height, but is more typical. In youth, it is a bushy globe, in mid-age an umbrella canopy on a thick trunk, and, in maturity, a broad and flat crown ov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Japanese Umbrella-pine
''Sciadopitys verticillata'', the or Japanese umbrella-pine, is a unique conifer Endemism, endemic to Japan, Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands. It is the sole living member of the family Sciadopityaceae and genus ''Sciadopitys'', a living fossil with no close relatives. The oldest fossils of ''Sciadopitys'' are from the Late Cretaceous of Japan, and the genus was widespread in Laurasia during most of the Cenozoic, especially in Europe until the Pliocene. A European relative of this species may have been the primary source of Baltic amber, according to some studies. Taxonomy Molecular evidence indicates that Sciadopityaceae is the sister group to a clade comprising Taxaceae and Cupressaceae, and has an extremely ancient divergence, having diverged from the rest of the conifers during the early mid-Permian. There is inconsistent evidence regarding the plant family which produced Baltic amber. Both macrofossil and microfossil evidence suggest a ''Pinus'' relative, whereas chemical ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Umbrella Pine
''Sciadopitys verticillata'', the or Japanese umbrella-pine, is a unique conifer endemic to Japan, Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands. It is the sole living member of the family Sciadopityaceae and genus ''Sciadopitys'', a living fossil with no close relatives. The oldest fossils of ''Sciadopitys'' are from the Late Cretaceous of Japan, and the genus was widespread in Laurasia during most of the Cenozoic, especially in Europe until the Pliocene. A European relative of this species may have been the primary source of Baltic amber, according to some studies. Taxonomy Molecular evidence indicates that Sciadopityaceae is the sister group to a clade comprising Taxaceae and Cupressaceae, and has an extremely ancient divergence, having diverged from the rest of the conifers during the early mid-Permian. There is inconsistent evidence regarding the plant family which produced Baltic amber. Both macrofossil and microfossil evidence suggest a ''Pinus'' relative, whereas chemical and infr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Iberian Conifer Forests
The Iberian conifer forests is a Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregion in southwestern Europe. It includes the mountain forests of southern and central Spain. The ecoregion has montane Mediterranean climate. Rainfall averages 1,100 mm annually, and can exceed 1,500 mm in some high-elevation areas. Below-freezing temperatures and snow are common in the winter months. Geography The ecoregion covers higher elevations in several disconnected ranges in southern and central Spain. The southern ranges are mostly in Andalucia region and part of the Baetic System (''Sistema Bético'') of mountains. The Sierra Nevada is in southern Andalucia, north of the Mediterranean Sea. Mulhacén in the Sierra Nevada reaches 3478 metres elevation, and is the highest mountain in Europe outside the Alps and the Caucasus.Linares, Juan & García-Cervigón, Ana & Dugo-Díaz, M.L. & Garcilaso, D. & Lechuga Ordóñez, Víctor & Blanes, M.C. & Viñegla, Benjamín. (2014). "Sierra Nevada Range, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Pinus Pinea Doñana 1
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as current, with additional synonyms, and ''Plants of the World Online'' 126 species-rank taxa (113 species and 13 nothospecies), making it the largest genus among the conifers. The highest species diversity of pines is found in Mexico. Pines are widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere; they occupy large areas of boreal forest, but are found in many habitats, including the Mediterranean Basin, and dry tropical forests in southeast Asia and Central America. Wood from pine trees is one of the most extensively used types of timber, and some pines are widely used as Christmas trees. Description Pine trees are evergreen, coniferous resinous trees (or, rarely, shrubs) growing tall, with the majority of species reaching tall. The smallest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Ecoregion
An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecological and geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural communities and species. The biodiversity of flora, fauna and ecosystems that characterise an ecoregion tends to be distinct from that of other ecoregions. In theory, biodiversity or conservation ecoregions are relatively large areas of land or water where the probability of encountering different species and communities at any given point remains relatively constant, within an acceptable range of variation (largely undefined at this point). Ecoregions are also known as "ecozones" ("ecological zones"), although that term may also refer to biogeographic realms. Three caveats are appropriate for all bio-geographic mapping approaches. Firstly, no single bio-geographic fram ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Biome
A biome () is a distinct geographical region with specific climate, vegetation, and animal life. It consists of a biological community that has formed in response to its physical environment and regional climate. In 1935, Tansley added the climatic and soil aspects to the idea, calling it ''ecosystem''. The International Biological Program (1964–74) projects popularized the concept of biome. However, in some contexts, the term ''biome'' is used in a different manner. In German literature, particularly in the Walter terminology, the term is used similarly as '' biotope'' (a concrete geographical unit), while the biome definition used in this article is used as an international, non-regional, terminology—irrespectively of the continent in which an area is present, it takes the same biome name—and corresponds to his "zonobiome", "orobiome" and "pedobiome" (biomes determined by climate zone, altitude or soil). In the Brazilian literature, the term ''biome'' is sometimes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands, And Scrub
Mediterranean forests, woodlands and scrub is a biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. The biome is generally characterized by dry summers and rainy winters, although in some areas rainfall may be uniform. Summers are typically hot in low-lying inland locations but can be cool near colder seas. Winters are typically mild to cool in low-lying locations but can be cold in inland and higher locations. All these ecoregions are highly distinctive, collectively harboring 10% of the Earth's plant species. Distribution The Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome mostly occurs in, but not limited to, the Mediterranean climate zones, in the mid-latitudes: * the Mediterranean Basin * the Chilean Matorral * the California chaparral and woodlands * the Fynbos of South Africa * the Mallee Woodlands and Shrublands of Australia The biome is not limited to the Mediterranean climate zone. It can also be present in other climate zones (which typically border the Mediterr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
African Humid Period
The African humid period (AHP; also known by other names) was a climate period in Africa during the late Pleistocene and Holocene geologic epochs, when northern Africa was wetter than today. The covering of much of the Sahara desert by grasses, trees and lakes was caused by changes in the Earth's axial tilt, changes in vegetation and dust in the Sahara which strengthened the African monsoon, and increased greenhouse gases. During the preceding Last Glacial Maximum, the Sahara contained extensive dune fields and was mostly uninhabited. It was much larger than today, and its lakes and rivers such as Lake Victoria and the White Nile were either dry or at low levels. The humid period began about 14,600–14,500 years ago at the end of Heinrich event 1, simultaneously to the Bølling–Allerød warming. Rivers and lakes such as Lake Chad formed or expanded, glaciers grew on Mount Kilimanjaro and the Sahara retreated. Two major dry fluctuations occurred; during the Younger Dryas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Maghreb
The Maghreb (; ), also known as the Arab Maghreb () and Northwest Africa, is the western part of the Arab world. The region comprises western and central North Africa, including Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. The Maghreb also includes the territorial dispute, disputed territory of Western Sahara. As of 2018, the region had a population of over 100 million people. The Maghreb is usually defined as encompassing much of the northern part of Africa, including a large portion of the Sahara Desert, but excluding Egypt and the Sudan, which are considered to be located in the Mashriq — the eastern part of the Arab world. The traditional definition of the Maghreb — which restricted its scope to the Atlas Mountains and the coastal plains of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya — was expanded in modern times to include Mauritania and the disputed territory of Western Sahara. During the era of al-Andalus on the Iberian Peninsula (711–1492), the Maghreb's inhabita ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Iberian Magpie
The Iberian magpie (''Cyanopica cooki'') is a bird in the crow family. It is long and similar in overall shape to the Eurasian magpie (''Pica pica'') but is slenderer with proportionately smaller legs and bill. It belongs to the genus '' Cyanopica''. Taxonomy The Iberian magpie was formally described in 1850 by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte based on a specimen that had been collected by Samuel Edward Cook in Spain. Bonaparte coined the binomial name ''Cyanopica cooki'', to replace the preoccupied ''Pica cyanea''. The specific epithet was chosen to honour the collector. The type locality was restricted to Madrid by Harry Forbes Witherby in 1923. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised. This taxon was formerly treated as conspecific with the azure-winged magpie (''C. cyana''), but this population is 5,400 miles (9,000 km) away from those in eastern Asia. Genetic analysis has suggested that Iberian and azure-winged magpies are distinct spec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Pinus Pinea - Cone - Flickr - S
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as current, with additional synonyms, and ''Plants of the World Online'' 126 species-rank taxa (113 species and 13 nothospecies), making it the largest genus among the conifers. The highest species diversity of pines is found in Mexico. Pines are widely species distribution, distributed in the Northern Hemisphere; they occupy large areas of boreal forest, but are found in many habitats, including the Mediterranean Basin, and dry tropical forests in southeast Asia and Central America. Wood from pine trees is one of the most extensively used types of timber, and some pines are widely used as Christmas trees. Description Pine trees are evergreen, coniferous resinous trees (or, rarely, shrubs) growing tall, with the majority of species reachin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
