Brazilian vervain (Verbena brasiliensis)

Brazilian vervain (Verbena brasiliensis) is a species of plant in the Verbenaceae, an annual shrub with erect stems, up to 1 meter high, triangular or semi-circular with sharp angles, green, white hairs, lower branches in opposite arrangement, branches The top grows in an irregular formation.

V. brasiliensis has elongated leaves, pointed tips, deep serrated margins or flat, dark green, a major vein in the middle and whitish in color, several minor veins laterally, rough and stiff surface.

Inflorescences in panicles at the ends of long stalks. The petals are 3 mm long, 5 lobed and tubular. The corolla is formed from fused petals and spreads open at the tip, only slightly longer than the petals. Flowers have reproductive organs of both sexes. Superior and bicarpellar ovaries.

The fruit is a schizocarp or dried fruit that splits when ripe. Wrapped in petals. Nutlets are triangular in cross section and each has a length of 2 mm. Four common nuts are produced by each fruit with two nuts for each carpel.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Lamiales
Family: Verbenaceae
Tribe: Verbeneae
Genus: Verbena
Species: Verbena brasiliensis

Dry Valleys on Antarctic continent is the driest place in the world

The Sahara Desert is the largest desert in the world, rainfall is very low, only stretches of sand and rocks without rivers and plants further strengthen the view of drought. However, it turns out that the place is not the driest place in the world. Dry Valleys in Antarctica, although the continent is covered in ice, but has one part that is completely dry. Although the average rainfall in most of the Sahara Desert is less than 20 millimeters per year, there are still drier places. Dry Valleys in Antarctica is much drier where the average rainfall is 0 millimeters per year and gets the title of the driest place in the world. The valleys have so low humidity that there is almost no ice. This is the largest ice free place on the Antarctic continent. The area is surrounded by mountains that block ice from flowing into the valley. Drought is also caused by strong katabalic gusts from mountain peaks where cold air blows down the hill due to gravity. The wind has speeds of up to 322 k...

Tekijem (Cyperus cyperoides)

Tekijem ( Cyperus cyperoides ) is a plant species in Cyperaceae, annual grasses that grow in seasonal wetlands, open or shaded fields, swamps, ponds, rice fields, roadsides, open forests, secondary forests and shrubs at altitudes up to 1,800 m in the tropics. C. cyperoides has an upright, triangular shape, 20-75 cm tall from a very short rhizome and has no stolon. The lanceolate-shaped leaves are narrow and long, the tips are pointed, slippery, shiny, green and grow at the bottom and at the top of the stem. The terminal flower appears on the tip of the stem, cylindrical spiklet shaped and green. Each stem has two to seven flowers, each of which has a short or long stem that grows at the end of the stem together with the leaves. Tekijem grows solitary or in small groups at a distance. Propagating using vegetative and generative methods using seeds. At least three sub-species are Cyperus cyperoides cyperoides , Cyperus cyperoides flavus and Cyperus cyperoides pseudoflavus . Th...

Soft scale insect, repens scale (Pulvinaria rhododendri), on Rhododendron spp. in Northern Europe

NEWS - Repens scale ( Pulvinaria rhododendri Kahrer & Hodgson, Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Coccidae) was discovered in Rhododendron spp. (Ericaceae) in Denmark and Norway which appears taxonomically close to P. camelicola Signoret and P. floccifera Westwood with an uncertain geographic origin, but is likely to have been introduced to northern Europe via imported live plants. P. rhododendri is distinguished from P. floccifera , P. camelicola and all other Pulvinaria species by a combination of characters-a medial band of large conical spinous setae extending from the anal plate anterior to the head and simple pores with strongly sclerotic margins present in a narrow medial band between the large conical spinous setae. The new species also differs from P. floccifera by the presence of a type III tubular canal submarginally between the lateral stigmatic clefts (vs. absent). The species is named after the genus of the host plant from which it is most commonly collected, Rhododendron ...

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