American black nightshade (Solanum americanum)

Ranti cakra or American black nightshade (Solanum americanum) is a species of plant in the Solanaceae, annual or short-lived shrub, erect, growing to 1-1.5 meters in height, stems cylindrical, branched, green or black in color and may or may not be scaly.

S. americanum has leaves alternate on the branches and has a long stalk up to 4 cm. Strands vary widely in size, up to 10 cm long, up to 7 cm wide, blunt base, pointed tip, flat margins, dark green.

Flowers have a diameter of about 1 cm, white or sometimes light purple and yellow stamens.

The fruit is a berry and has a long stalk, green and glossy black, 5-10 mm in diameter and contains many small seeds.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Solanales
Family: Solanaceae
Subfamily: Solanoideae
Tribe: Solaneae
Genus: Solanum
Complex: Solanum nigrum
Species: Solanum americanum

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. ...

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