Smartweed (Persicaria barbata)

Smartweed (Persicaria barbata) is a species of plant in the Polygonaceae, low shrub, erect or creeping stems, elongated leaves, flowers and fruit in panicles, growing in moist or stagnant places on the banks of rivers, swamps, forests and agricultural land.

P. barbata has a cylindrical stem, dark green or red in color, has petiole-like borders forming internodes that allow aerial roots to grow to form separate shoots.

The leaves sit opposite, elongated, slender base, pointed tip, white hair, green upper surface with dark V-shaped markings, a large vein in the middle with many small pinnate veins.

Small flowers in panicles, white, growing in rows on long stalks at the end of the stem, erect and blooming all season. Smartweed grows to form colonies in places close to water or stagnant.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Polygonaceae
Subfamily: Polygonoideae
Tribe: Persicarieae
Subtribe: Persicariinae
Genus: Persicaria
Species: Persicaria barbata

Purhepecha oak (Quercus purhepecha), new species of shrub oak endemic to the state of Michoacán, Mexico

NEWS - In Mexico, several Quercus shrubby species are taxonomically very problematic including 8 taxa with similar characteristics. Now researchers report the purhepecha oak ( Quercus purhepecha De Luna-Bonilla, S. Valencia & Coombes sp. nov.) as a new tomentose shrubby white oak species with a distribution only in the Cuitzeo basin in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (TMVB). Quercus Linnaeus (1753) subdivided into 2 subgenera and 8 sections of which section Quercus (white oaks) has the widest distribution in the Americas, Asia and Europe. This section is very diverse in Mexico and Central America with phylogenomic evidence indicating recent and accelerated speciation in these regions. The number of shrubby oak species in Mexico is still uncertain. De Luna-Bonilla of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and colleagues found at least 3 taxa in the TMVB, specifically Quercus frutex Trelease (1924), Quercus microphylla Née (1801) and Quercus repanda Bonpland (1809). In 2016,...

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...

Lesser banded hornet (Vespa affinis)

Tawon ndas or lesser banded hornet ( Vespa affinis ) are medium wasps with queens up to 30mm, males 26mm and average workers 22-25mm. The head is dark red, brown and black. Segmented stomachs are dark brown except the first and second segments are yellowish orange to brown. V. affinis has at least 10 subspecies with different color variations is V. a. alduini , V. a. alticincta , V. a. archiboldi , V. a. continentalis , V. a. hainensis , V. a. indosinensis , V. a. moluccana , V. a. nigriventris , V. a. picea and V. a. rufonigrans . Tawon ndas forages in grassy areas, farmland, forests and deserts. They eat carbohydrates such as tree sap, nectar and fruit, while proteins such as larvae, carrion, paper wasps (Polistinae) and bees (Apidae). These insects often carry meat from new dead animals and flies that perch on the carcass. Nests are built on trees and people's homes. Nests are generally elongated or pear in the tropics and oval with rounded tops in subtropical regions. ...

Dlium