Asian spiderflower (Cleome viscosa)

Asian spiderflower (Cleome viscosa) is a species of plant in the Cleomaceae, an annual herbaceous plant, up to 1 meter high, thick and hairy stems, cylindrical in shape, widely grown in warm and humid habitats.

C. viscosa has leaves with long petioles 1.5-4.5 cm and glandular hairs. The leaf blade is three-fingered, ovate to oblanceolate-elliptic, 2-6 cm long, 0.5-3.5 cm wide, green and hairy.

Yellow flowers with four crowns. The capsule is dehiscing only partially from apex to base, 30-100 mm long, 2-4 mm wide and glandular haired. Seeds are light brown, 1.2-1.8 × 1-1.2 mm and finely serrated transversely.

Crushed leaves are used to prevent beetle attacks. The leaves are used externally for wounds and ulcers. The juice of the leaves is used as a medicine to remove pus from the ear. The seeds are anthelmintic and carminative.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Brassicales
Family: Cleomaceae
Genus: Cleome
Species: Cleome viscosa

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 ...

Black potato (Coleus rotundifolius)

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