Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas)

Ubi jalar or sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) is a plant species in Convolvulaceae, perennial vines, leaves alternate, varying in shape from heart or curved to finger, medium sized simppetal flowers and trumpet-shaped.

I. batatas has a stem that crawls on the ground, is cylindrical, 0.5-4 meters long, some cultivars form shoots up to 16 meters long and form adventitious roots in knots. Leaves grow along the stem. The petiole is 5 to 20 inches long.

Leaf shapes vary widely, 5-13 cm in length, from liver or kidney to egg, round or triangular to spearhead, intact, toothed or often three to seven times curved, cut or divided with rounded to sharp ends, green to purple in color.

Hermaphrodite flower, 5 folds, short, zymous stalk that emerges from the axillary and stands upright. The sepals are small elongated, tapering to a point and 7-15 mm long, usually fine hair. The crown is trumpet-shaped, 4-7 cm long, folded with a shorter end.

Edible roots of tubers are elongated and tapered with smooth yellow or orange or red or brown or purple or cream skin. White or yellow cultivars have a less sweet and moist taste than red or pink or orange.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Solanales
Family: Convolvulaceae
Tribe: Ipomoeeae
Genus: Ipomoea
Species: Ipomoea batatas
Varieties: Ipomoea batatas var. apiculata, Ipomoea batatas var. batatas

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 ...

Javanese grasshopper (Valanga nigricornis)

Wooden grasshopper or Javanese grasshopper ( Valanga nigricornis ) is an animal species of Acrididae, grasshoppers that have at least 18 subspecies, insects with very wide diversity in color and size, sexual dimorphism in which females are larger in size and paler in color. V. nigricornis in males has a length of 45-55 millimeters and females 15-75 mm. The head is square and green or yellow or brown or black in color. A pair of antennas has a black color. The eyes are large and gray or white or brownish. The hind legs are very large and have a green or yellow or brown or black color, plain or brindle. The limbs have two rows of large and long spines with black tips facing backward. The wings have a length exceeding the belly, a rough surface and are brown or green or yellow or black in color with pulse lines forming spaces filled with black color. The hind wings are rose red which will be visible when flying. Nymphs are pale green or yellow or brown or blackish in color. Javanese gr...

Sojiwan Temple

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