Elegant zinnia (Zinnia elegans)

Elegant zinnia (Zinnia elegans) is a plant species in the Asteraceae, annual shrub, 76 cm high, solitary and showy flowers at the tip of the stem, easy to grow and prefers loam soils with full sun in forests, agricultural land, rice fields, irrigation canals, roadside and abandoned lands.

Z. elegans has an erect stem, few branches, tubular, green with white hairs, is not woody and breaks easily. The leaves are attached along the stem, opposite, in the shape of an elongated triangle, rounded base, pointed tip, green and sometimes have brown streaks.

Purple flower buds surrounding a black and yellow disc. The lanceolate leaves are opposite the flower head. Flowering occurs during the summer months. Elegant zinnia has hundreds of cultivars in many colors, sizes and flower shapes.

Flower colors range from white and cream to pink, red, purple, green, yellow, apricot, orange, salmon and bronze. Some have striped, speckled or two colored petals. This species grows well in dry, warm and winter-free areas.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Subfamily: Asteroideae
Tribe: Heliantheae
Subtribe: Zinniinae
Genus: Zinnia
Species: Zinnia elegans

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 ...

Broad sword fern (Nephrolepis biserrata)

Broad sword fern ( Nephrolepis biserrata ) is a species of fern in the Nephrolepidaceae, epiphytic and terrestrial, with grayish-brown stems, brown hairs, and 10–130 cm long. The leaf blades are green, 7 cm long, 1.5 cm wide, and hairy brown on the underside. The sori are attached to the underside of the leaf blade, with about 60 sori along the edge and are brown in color. Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Class: Polypodiopsida Subclass: Polypodiidae Order: Polypodiales Suborder: Polypodiineae Family: Nephrolepidaceae Genus: Nephrolepis Schott in Gen. Fil. (Vindob.): t. 3 (1834) Species: Nephrolepis biserrata (Sw.) Schott in Gen. Fil. (Vindob.): t. 3 (1834) Homotypic Synonyms Aspidium biserratum Sw. in J. Bot. (Schrader) 1800(2): 32 (1801) Hypopeltis biserrata (Sw.) Bory in C.P.Bélanger, Voy. Indes Or., Bot. 2(1): 65 (1833) Lepidoneuron biserratum (Sw.) Fée in Mém. Foug., 5. Gen. Filic.: 301 (1852) Nephrodium biserratum (Sw.) C.Presl in Reliq. Haenk. 1: 31 (1825) Nephrolepis bise...

Red cotton tree (Bombax ceiba)

Randu alas or kapok alas or red silk-cotton or red cotton tree ( Bombax ceiba ) is a species in Malvaceae like other trees commonly known as cotton trees. This tropical tree has perpendicular stems and deciduous leaves in winter. Red flowers with 5 petals appear in the spring before the leaves grow new. B. ceiba produces capsules containing white fibers such as cotton. Old trees up to 60 meters in the wet tropics, but wood is too soft to use. Young stems and branches are equipped with cone spines, but eroded with age. The palate leaves have 6 leaflets radiating from the center point or the tip of the petiole, 7-10 cm wide, 13-15 cm long. Flexible leaf stalks up to 20 cm long. Solitary or clustered cup-shaped flowers, axilla or sub-terminal, follicular near the tip of the branch, on average 7-11 cm wide, 14 cm long, petel up to 12 cm long. Short staminal tube, more than 60 in 5 bundles. The stigma is bright red, 9 cm long, the ovary is pink to 1.5-2 cm long with skin covered in ...

Dlium