Baby jump up (Mecardonia procumbens)

Baby jump up or yellow-flowered water hyssop (Mecardonia procumbens) is a plant species in the Plantaginaceae, fibrous roots, stems rectangular, smooth, upright and branching from the base, growing on sandy soil, wet, streams and rice fields at elevations up to 1160 meters .

M. procumbens has leaves that sit opposite each other, are hairless and have short or indistinct stalks. The strands are elliptical to ovate, 10–25 mm long, 6–12 mm broad, apically blunt ends and serrated margins.

Flowers bisexual, zygomorphic, axillary and solitary. Pedicels thin, hairless, 4-6 mm long, longer than fruit (6-18 mm), bracts 2-4 mm long, linear, mostly intact and located at the base of the peduncle.

Free petals with a sharp base, hairless, 5 lobes, 6-10 mm long. Outer lobe 3 ovate, oblong, attenuated at apex, obtuse at base, 2 inner lobes shorter, much narrower and linear.

The corolla has 2 lips, yellow with a purple stripe on the upper lip, slightly longer than the calyx. The upper lip is limiting. Stamens 4 items and dynamo. Branched anther cells. Superior ovary, almost ovoid, filiform in shape, 1.3 mm long and curved at the apex.

Fruit capsule, narrow ellipsoid, stalked, glabrous, 5-6 mm long, ruptured locally and septically from apex, calyx accrescent, outer sepals being 9 mm long and 5 mm wide. Seeds numerous, round with yellow or greenish brown, oval with a blunt or truncated apex and 0.8 mm long.

This species grows in forests, savannas, scrublands, grasslands, inland and terrestrial wetlands. Plants are used as neuro-stimulants and brain stimulants, poultices and scabs, cuts, wounds and ringworm.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Lamiales
Family: Plantaginaceae
Tribe: Gratioleae
Genus: Mecardonia
Species: Mecardonia procumbens

Pohpohan (Pilea melastomoides)

Pohpohan clearweed ( Pilea melastomoides ) is a species of plant in the Urticaceae, herbaceous perennial, erect stems, up to 100 cm tall, succulent, square or cylindrical, enlarged in the middle of the internodes, bright green in color and forming colonies in the shade. P. melastomoides has stipules that are immediately deciduous or subpersistent, green or brownish and oblong. The stalk is 2-9 cm long. The leaf blade is ovate or ovate-elliptic or oblong-lanceolate. The surface is wavy, pale green on the underside, dark green on the top. The three main veins are central and linear. Rounded base, tapered ends and serrated edges. The inflorescences are paired, the male is a dense cyme paniculata. Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Rosales Family: Urticaceae Genus: Pilea Species: Pilea melastomoides

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 ...

Petai (Parkia speciosa)

Stink bean or bitter bean or pete or petai ( Parkia speciosa ) is a tropical tree species in Fabaceae, 5-25 m high and branched, reddish brown bark, always green, compound and pinnate leaves, young seeds are harvested as fresh or boiled food . P. speciosa has a hump-shaped flower that hangs with a long stalk, usually appearing near the tips of the branches. Flowers that are young and not yet blooming are green, mature flowers have stamens and pistils, old flowers turn yellow and are large in size. Dozens of long, flat pod-shaped fruits emerge from a flower hump hanging from a tree. Each pod has up to 10-20 seeds that are neatly arranged, green when young and wrapped in a rather thick membrane of light brown. The fruit dries and becomes harder as it ripens and releases the seeds. Petai grows well in wet and slightly wet climates, low land to mountains with an altitude of 1,500 m, open spaces and lots of sun throughout the day with fine-tinted soil and Ph 5.5-6.5. Trees start bea...

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