Kunci pepet (Kaempferia rotunda)

Kunci pepet or temu rapet (Kaempferia rotunda) is a plant species in Zingiberaceae, a shrub that grows upright, the vegetative phase is leaf growth and the generative phase is flower growth, the leaves have symmetrical patterns, are often planted for beautiful leaves and traditional medicinal materials.

K. rotunda has 2-5 leaves, oblong lanceolate shape, 7-36 cm long and 4-11 cm wide. Top surface bare, green and whitish in symmetrical patterns. The lower surface is hairy and purplish in color. Frond length is 7-24 cm.

Inflorescences emerge from another bud on the rhizome with 4-6 buds. The petals are white or greenish and 3-7 cm long. The crown is tubular at the base with a line, white, curved outward and 5 cm wide. Labellum inverted heart-shaped, 4-7 cm long, 2-4 cm wide, purple-lilac with yellowish.

The rhizome is short, branched, smells good and has a bitter taste. The roots are fragrant and egg-shaped. The rhizome produces coarse, watery roots that appear to grow in clusters. The flower grows indicating that the rhizome is ready to be harvested.

Kunci pepet grows wild in wet and dry forests, teak forests, bamboo forests and meadows and elevations up to 1300 m. Young tubers can be eaten as a salad, powder and appetite enhancer. Rhizome is used as a medicine for stomach pain and dysentery.

Plants are also used for the manufacture of fragrances, cosmetics and insect repellents. The rhizome and tubers are distilled to produce essential oils containing cineol. Beautiful leaves are also often used for ornamental plants in pots.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Zingiberales
Family: Zingiberaceae
Genus: Kaempferia
Species: Kaempferia rotunda

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 ...

Bright white flat-backed millipede (Trichopeltis jiyue) like moon emerging from behind dark rain clouds

NEWS - Bright white flat-backed millipede ( Trichopeltis jiyue sp. nov.) from Ailaoshan National Nature Reserve in Yunnan Province, is the second recorded epigean species of Trichopeltis Pocock 1894 in China. Jiyue (Chinese spelling) refers to the bright white appearance of the animal, like the moon emerging from behind dark rain clouds. Polydesmida is one of the most diverse orders of Diplopoda (millipedes) with about 5000 species in 30 families and is widely distributed worldwide. All Polydesmida are blind, eyeless and metaterga usually show small to prominent lateral paranota or paraterga. Cryptodesmidae Karsch 1880 is a family Polydesmida with about 40 genera and 130 species distributed in the Neotropics (Mexico to Argentina), Afrotropics (continental sub-Saharan Africa) and Asia-Australasia (Central Asia and the Himalayas to Japan and Papua New Guinea). In tropical or subtropical Asia and Australasia, 12 genera and 36 species have been documented in Cryptodesmidae. Trichopeltis P...

Dlium