Billygoat weed (Ageratum conyzoides)

Bandotan or billygoat weed (Ageratum conyzoides) is a plant species in Asteraceae, terna smells hard, erect or lying down, up to 120 cm high, roots on the part that touches the ground, hairy stems and often have many branches with one or many compound flowers at the ends.

A. conyzoides has stemmed leaves and is located alternately or face to face especially located at the bottom. The leaves are round eggs with the base of the heart or rounded or tapered and the tip is obtuse or tapered, 2-10 cm long, 0.5-5 cm wide, serrated edge, both surfaces with long hair with glands on the underside.

Flowers with the same sex gather in the upper cusps and three or more cusps gather in the terminal panicles. The panicle stems are 6-8 mm long, consisting of 60-70 individuals at the end of the hairy stems with 2-3 oval-shaped leaf pads. Crowns with narrow tubes, white or purple.

Billygoat weed produces achenium fruit in the shape of a square, 2 mm long, scaly hair and white. Flowering and fruiting throughout the year to produce up to 40,000 seeds per individual and rated as a very disturbing weed on the plantation.

Bandotan is widespread throughout the tropics, very expansive, often growing in dry fields, house yards, road sides, embankments, waterfronts, shrub areas and living up to an altitude of 3000 m.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Subfamily: Asteroideae
Tribe: Eupatorieae
Subtribe: Ageratinae
Genus: Ageratum
Species: Ageratum conyzoides

Black potato (Coleus rotundifolius)

Black potato ( Coleus rotundifolius ) is a species of plant in Lamiaceae, herbaceous, fibrous roots and tubers, erect and slightly creeping stems, quadrangular, thick, and slightly odorous. Single leaves, thick, membranous, opposite and alternate. Leaves are oval, dark green and shiny on the upper side, bright green on the lower side. Up to 5 cm long, up to 4 cm wide, slightly hairy and pinnate leaf veins. Leaf stalks up to 4 cm long. Small, purple flowers. Star-shaped petals, lip-shaped crown, dark to light purple with a slightly curved tube shape. Flowering from February-August. Small tubers, brown and white flesh and tuber length 2-4 cm. Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Lamiales Family: Lamiaceae Subfamily: Nepetoideae Tribe: Ocimeae Subtribe: Plectranthinae Genus: Coleus Species: Coleus rotundifolius

Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) manufacture bubble-nets as tools to increase prey intake

NEWS - Humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) create bubble net tools while foraging, consisting of internal tangential rings, and actively control the number of rings, their size, depth and horizontal spacing between the surrounding bubbles. These structural elements of the net increase prey intake sevenfold. Researchers have known that humpback whales create “bubble nets” for hunting, but the new report shows that the animals also manipulate them in a variety of ways to maximize catches. The behavior places humpbacks among the rare animals that make and use their own tools. “Many animals use tools to help them find food, but very few actually make or modify these tools themselves,” said Lars Bejder, director of the Marine Mammal Research Program (MMRP), University of Hawaii at Manoa. “Humpback whales in southeast Alaska create elaborate bubble nets to catch krill. They skillfully blow bubbles in patterns that form a web with internal rings. They actively control details such ...

Matchbox bean (Entada phaseoloides)

Matchbox Bean ( Entada phaseoloides ) is a species in the Fabaceae family, a large woody liana with stems up to 18 cm in diameter, dark brown, rough bark, laterally flattened, and spirally twisted. The leaves are bipinnate, up to 25 cm long, with 1-2 pairs of minor leaflets, each divided into 1-2 pairs of pinnules. The pinnules are somewhat leathery, asymmetrical or oblique, up to 10 cm long and 5 cm wide. The inflorescence is a spike-shaped, about 25-30 cm long, bearing numerous sessile flowers. The individual flowers are very small, about 1.2 mm in diameter. The five petals, green with reddish bases, are 3-4 mm long, and the stamens are about 7 mm long. The fruit is a very large, flattened, woody pod or capsule, about 1-1.2 m long and 12 cm wide. It is usually slightly curved and linear, with about 12 segments, each containing a single seed. The seeds are lens-shaped, shiny brown, smooth, 5-6 cm wide and 1-1.5 cm thick. Filipinos used gugo before commercial shampoos were available ...

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