China knotweed (Persicaria chinensis)

China knotweed (Persicaria chinensis) is a species of plant in the Polygonaceae, a shrub with stems growing on the ground or climbing, oval-shaped leaves, flowers appear at the end of the stem, round fruit and often grows in the shade.

P. chinensis has cylindrical stems, 2-3 m long, branched, green or red or brown with linear lines, creeping along the ground or climbing on a support.

Leaves are oval or elongated, 4-8 cm long, 3-5 cm wide, base flat, tip pointed, margin flat, a main vein in the middle with several small pinnate veins, upper side dark green or reddish and often has colored markings silver and brown that make up the arrow.

Flowers appear at the end of the stem, 5-7 cm long with small white or pink flowers. The fruit is a berry, round in shape and covered in petals which enlarges and becomes fleshy when ripe. Seeds are small and black.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Polygonaceae
Subfamily: Polygonoideae
Tribe: Persicarieae
Subtribe: Persicariinae
Genus: Persicaria
Species: Persicaria chinensis
Varieties: Persicaria chinensis var. chinensis, Persicaria chinensis var. hispida

Javan broadhead planarian (Bipalium javanum)

Cacing palu or Javan broadhead planarian ( Bipalium javanum ) is a species of animal in Geoplanidae, hermaphrodite, living on the ground, predators, often called only hammerhead or broadhead or shovel worms because of wide heads and simple copulatory organs. B. javanum has a slim stature, up to 20 cm long, up to 0.5 cm wide, head wide up to 1 cm or less, small neck, widening in the middle and the back end is rounded, all black and shiny. Javan broadhead planarians walk above ground level by raising their heads and actively looking left, right and looking up using strong neck muscles. Move swiftly, track meander, climb to get through all obstacles or make a new path if the obstacle is too high. Cacing palu track and prey on earthworms and mollusks. They use muscles and sticky secretions to attach themselves to prey to lock in. The head and ends of the body are wrapped around and continue to close the body to stop prey reactions. They produce tetrodotoxins which are very strong...

Swietenia mahagoni and Swietenia macrophylla, the differences

SPECIES HEAD TO HEAD - To date, mahogany ( Swietenia Jacq.) is recorded as having four species: West Indian mahogany or small-leaved mahogany ( Swietenia mahagoni (L.) Jacq.), big-leaf mahogany ( Swietenia macrophylla King), Honduran mahogany ( Swietenia humilis Zucc.) and Swietenia × aubrevilleana Stehlé & Cusin. The debate over the number of taxa in the genus is still not resolved. Some researchers believe that there are only two species: S. mahagoni and S. macrophylla . I agree with that opinion and the two species can only be differentiated by the size of the leaves. All species in this genus have similar morphology except for leaf size. The following is the key to identifying these two species. S. mahagoni has a stalk length of around 37 cm with 5-6 pairs of strands. The strands are about 10 cm long and about 3.5 cm wide. S. macrophylla has a stalk length of up to 45 cm with 4-5 pairs of strands. The strands are up to 31 cm long and up to 8 cm wide. By Aryo Bando...

Thomas Sutikna lives with Homo floresiensis

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