Water morning glory (Ipomoea aquatica)

Kangkong or water spinach or water morning glory (Ipomoea aquatica) is a plant species in Convolvulaceae that spreads in watery areas or soft soil, hollow stems to float, including cultivated plants for vegetables with leaves and stems as food.

I. aquatica has tubular stems, 2-3 meters long or more, hollow to float, green in color and roots in the fork. Leaves vary in shape from arrowhead to lanceolate, 5-15 cm long, 2-8 cm wide and green.

Trumpet-shaped flowers, 3-5 cm in diameter and completely white or light purple in the middle. Propagation using shoot cutting techniques that will take root along the internodes or plant seeds from flowers that produce seed pods.

Cultivated water spinach has three cultivar groups. The Lowland group grows wild in shallow swamps and abandoned rice fields. The Alba group grows on land, leaves narrower and is more adaptive to dry land. The Rubra group has red or purple leaves and flowers, the leaves are rather broad and adaptive to dry land.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Solanales
Family: Convolvulaceae
Tribe: Ipomoeeae
Genus: Ipomoea
Species: Ipomoea aquatica

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 ...

Javan mocca or Javan slender caesar (Amanita javanica)

OPINION - Javan mocca or Javan slender caesar ( Amanita javanica ) is a mysterious fungus species and has been enigmatic since it was first reported by Boedijn in 1951 and after that no explanation or reporting of specimens is believed to be the same as expected. Boedijn (1951) described A. javanica which grew on Java island as having the characteristics covered in the Amanita genus. Corner and Bas in 1962 tried to describe Javan mocca and all species in Amanita based on specimens in Singapore. Over time some reports say that they have found A. javanica specimens in other Southeast Asia including also China, Japan, India and Nepal. But there is no definitive knowledge and many doubt whether the specimen is the same as described by Boedijn (1951). I was fortunate to have seen this species one afternoon and soon I took out a camera for some shots. In fact, I've only met this mushroom species once. Javan mocca is an endangered species and I have never seen in my experience in...

Asian palmyra palm (Borassus flabellifer)

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