Gomphrena weed (Gomphrena serrata)

Gomphrena weed or Gomphrena celosioides (Gomphrena serrata) is a species of plant in the Amaranthaceae, an annual or short-lived herb with a deep taproot, often matting in dense colonies and a cosmopolitan pioneer plant in disturbed areas.

G. serrata has erect stems or fallen, cylindrical, green and white hair. The leaves are elliptical in shape, short hairy stalks, pubescent, 3-4 cm long, green, a main vein in the middle and several small pinnate veins.

Flowers on terminal spikes, dense and growing in woolen containers. The perianth segments are thin, 4-6 mm long, shiny and whitish to pink in color. The flower has 2 stigmas and 5 stamens which are inserted opposite the sepals and join into a staminal tube with 5 teeth.

Single seed fruit. Seeds are 1.5 mm long, brown and shiny. The plant is used in traditional medicine for its nutritional qualities and for the treatment of various disorders such as digestive and respiratory problems, skin infections, some infectious diseases, and as an abortion.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Amaranthaceae
Subfamily: Gomphrenoideae
Genus: Gomphrena
Species: Gomphrena serrata

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 ...

Broad sword fern (Nephrolepis biserrata)

Broad sword fern ( Nephrolepis biserrata ) is a species of fern in the Nephrolepidaceae, epiphytic and terrestrial, with grayish-brown stems, brown hairs, and 10–130 cm long. The leaf blades are green, 7 cm long, 1.5 cm wide, and hairy brown on the underside. The sori are attached to the underside of the leaf blade, with about 60 sori along the edge and are brown in color. Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Class: Polypodiopsida Subclass: Polypodiidae Order: Polypodiales Suborder: Polypodiineae Family: Nephrolepidaceae Genus: Nephrolepis Schott in Gen. Fil. (Vindob.): t. 3 (1834) Species: Nephrolepis biserrata (Sw.) Schott in Gen. Fil. (Vindob.): t. 3 (1834) Homotypic Synonyms Aspidium biserratum Sw. in J. Bot. (Schrader) 1800(2): 32 (1801) Hypopeltis biserrata (Sw.) Bory in C.P.Bélanger, Voy. Indes Or., Bot. 2(1): 65 (1833) Lepidoneuron biserratum (Sw.) Fée in Mém. Foug., 5. Gen. Filic.: 301 (1852) Nephrodium biserratum (Sw.) C.Presl in Reliq. Haenk. 1: 31 (1825) Nephrolepis bise...

Red cotton tree (Bombax ceiba)

Randu alas or kapok alas or red silk-cotton or red cotton tree ( Bombax ceiba ) is a species in Malvaceae like other trees commonly known as cotton trees. This tropical tree has perpendicular stems and deciduous leaves in winter. Red flowers with 5 petals appear in the spring before the leaves grow new. B. ceiba produces capsules containing white fibers such as cotton. Old trees up to 60 meters in the wet tropics, but wood is too soft to use. Young stems and branches are equipped with cone spines, but eroded with age. The palate leaves have 6 leaflets radiating from the center point or the tip of the petiole, 7-10 cm wide, 13-15 cm long. Flexible leaf stalks up to 20 cm long. Solitary or clustered cup-shaped flowers, axilla or sub-terminal, follicular near the tip of the branch, on average 7-11 cm wide, 14 cm long, petel up to 12 cm long. Short staminal tube, more than 60 in 5 bundles. The stigma is bright red, 9 cm long, the ovary is pink to 1.5-2 cm long with skin covered in ...

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