Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 May 13
From today's featured articleBanksia aculeata, the prickly banksia, is a plant of the family Proteaceae native to the Stirling Range in the southwest of Western Australia. A bushy shrub up to 2 m (7 ft) tall, it has fissured grey bark on its trunk and branches, and dense foliage and leaves with very prickly serrated margins. Its unusual pinkish, pendent (hanging) flower spikes, known as inflorescences, are generally hidden in the foliage and appear during the early summer. Unlike many other banksia species, it does not have a woody base, or lignotuber. Although it was collected in the 1840s by the naturalist James Drummond, it was not formally described until 1981, in Alex George's monograph of the genus. A rare plant, B. aculeata is found in gravelly soils in elevated areas. Native to a habitat burnt by periodic bushfires, it is killed by fire and regenerates from seed afterwards. In contrast to other Western Australian banksias, it appears to have some resistance to Phytophthora cinnamomi, a soil-borne water mould. (Full article...)
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Cornelis Schut (b. 1597) · Antonia Ferrín Moreiras (b. 1914) · H. Trendley Dean (d. 1962) |
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Taraxacum officinale is a flowering herbaceous perennial plant of the family Asteraceae (Compositae). Commonly known as the dandelion, it can be found growing in temperate regions of the world, in lawns, on roadsides, on disturbed banks and shores of waterways, and other areas with moist soils. Although widely considered a weed, especially in lawns and along roadsides, it is sometimes used as a medical herb and in food preparation. The species is well known for its yellow flower heads that turn into round balls of silver tufted fruits that disperse in the wind. Photograph: Petar Milošević
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