The Oyster Mushroom ( Jamur Tiram Putih )

(Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo Source : Private Photo & carasendiri.blogspot.com)

The oyster mushroom (Pleurotus Ostreatus) is one of the more commonly sought wild mushrooms, though it can also be cultivated on straw and other media. It often has the scent of anise due to the presence of benzaldehyde (which, however, smells more like almonds). The standard oyster mushroom can grow in many places, but some other related species, such as the branched oyster mushroom, grow only on trees.
The mushroom has a broad, fan or oyster-shaped cap spanning 5–25 cm; natural specimens range from white to gray or tan to dark-brown; the margin is inrolled when young, and is smooth and often somewhat lobed or wavy. The flesh is white, firm, and varies in thickness due to stipe arrangement. The gills of the mushroom are white to cream, and descend on the stalk if present. If so, the stipe is off-center with a lateral attachment to wood. The spore print of the mushroom is white to lilac-gray, and best viewed on dark background. The mushroom's stipe is often absent. When present, it is short and thick.

The oyster mushroom is widespread in many temperate and subtropical forests throughout the world. The oyster mushroom is one of the few known carnivorous mushrooms. Its mycelia can kill and digest nematodes, which is believed to be a way in which the mushroom obtains nitrogen. While this mushroom is often seen growing on dying hardwood trees, it only appears to be acting parasitically. As the tree dies of other causes, P. ostreatus grows on the rapidly increasing mass of dead and dying wood. They actually benefit the forest by decomposing the dead wood, returning vital elements and minerals to the ecosystem in a form usable to other plants and organisms.
 

Lily (lilium)

( Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo Source : Google Images )

The plants of the genus Lilium are the true lily plants, comprising a genus of about 100 species in the lily family, Liliaceae. They are important as showy and large flowered garden plants, and in literature.
Lilies are native to the northern temperate regions. Their range in the Old World extends across much of Europe, the north Mediterranean, across most of Asia to Japan, south to the Nilgiri mountains in India, and south to the Philippines. In the New World they extend from southern Canada through much of the United States. A few species formerly included within this genus have now been placed in other genera. These include Cardiocrinum and Nomocharis.
They are commonly adapted to either woodland habitats, often montane, or sometimes to grassland habitats. A few can survive in marshland and a single one is known to live as an epiphyte (L. arboricola). In general they prefer moderately acidic or lime-free soils.

Bamboo (poaceae bambusoideae)

( Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo Source : Google Images )

Bamboos are a group of woody perennial evergreen plants in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Some of its members are giants, forming by far the largest members of the grass family. There are 91 genera and about 1,000 species of bamboo. They are found in diverse climates, from cold mountains to hot tropical regions. They occur from Northeast Asia (at 50°N latitude in Sakhalin), south throughout East Asia west to the Himalaya, and south to northern Australia. They also occur in sub-Saharan Africa, and in the Americas from the southeast of the USA south to Chile, there reaching their furthest south anywhere, at 47°S latitude. Major areas with no native bamboos include Europe, north Africa, western Asia, northern North America, most of Australia, and Antarctica.

Tulip

( Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo Source : Google Images )

Tulip (Tulipa) is a genus of about 100 species of flowering plants in the family Liliaceae. They are native to southern Europe, north Africa, and Asia from Anatolia and Iran (where the flower is suggested on the nation's flag) east to northeast China and Japan. The centre of diversity of the genus is in the Pamir and Hindu Kush mountains and the steppes of Kazakhstan.

They are perennial bulbous plants growing to 10–70 centimetres (4–27 in) tall, with a small number of strap-shaped, waxy-textured, usually glaucous green leaves and large flowers with six tepals. The fruit is a dry capsule containing numerous flat disc-shaped seeds.


Cultivation
Tulips cannot be grown in the open in tropical climates, as they require a cold winter season to grow successfully. Manipulation of the tulip's growing temperature can, however, allow growers to "force" tulips to flower earlier than they normally would.

Some historical cultivars have had a striped, "feathered", "flamed", or variegated flower, as in the illustration below. While some modern varieties also display multicoloured patterns, this results from a natural change in the upper and lower layers of pigment in the tulip flower. Historical variegated varieties - such as those admired in the Dutch tulipomania gained their delicately feathered patterns from an infection with Tulip Breaking potyvirus. The mosaic virus is carried by green peach aphids, Myzus persicae, an insect common in European gardens of the seventeenth century, in which peach trees were often a prominent feature. While the virus produces fantastically beautiful flowers, it also causes the plant to sicken and die slowly. Today, it has been almost completely eradicated from growers' fields. The Black Tulip was the title of a historical romance by Alexandre Dumas (1850), in which the city of Haarlem has a reward outstanding for the first grower who can produce a truly black tulip. This fascination with growing a black tulip, a biologically impossible task, was historically accurate to the tulipomania in which the novel is set.

Tulips can be grown in either of two ways: through offsets or seed. Being genetic clones of the parent plant, offsets are the only way to enlarge the stock of a given tulip cultivar. By contrast, tulips do not come true from seed; the mixing of genes between parent tulips is very unpredictable. A tulip grown from seed will usually bear only a passing resemblance to the flower from which the seeds were taken. This makes for great potential in breeding new tulip flowers, and great variation in the wild. However, tulip growers must be patient: offsets often take at least a year to grow to sufficient size to flower, and a tulip grown from seed will not flower for anywhere between five and seven years after planting. "Broken" tulips (tulips affected by the mosaic virus) will occasionally revert to plain "breeder" colouring, but usually maintain their colourful, infected state when grown from offsets.

Introduction to Western Europe
It is unclear who first brought the flower to northwest Europe. The most widely accepted story is that of Oghier Ghislain de Busbecq, Ambassador from Ferdinand I to Suleyman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire in 1554. He remarks in a letter upon seeing "an abundance of flowers everywhere; Narcissus, hyacinths, and those which in Turkish Lale, much to our astonishment, because it was almost midwinter, a season unfriendly to flowers" (see Busbecq, qtd. in Blunt, 7). By 1559, an account was given by Conrad Gessner of seeing tulips flowering in the garden of Councilor Herwart in Augsburg, Bavaria. Due to the very nature of the tulip's growing cycle, if the bulbs are to be removed from the ground, it generally occurs in June, and they must be replanted again by September to endure the winter, Busbecq's account of the supposed first sighting of tulips by a European is likely spurious. While possible, it is doubtful that Busbecq could successfully have had the tulip bulbs removed, shipped, and replanted between his first sighting of them in March 1558 and Gessner's description in 1559. After introduction of the Tulip to Europe, it is believed to gain much popularity and shown as a sign of abundance and indulgence in the Ottoman Empire, The era which the Empire was wealthiest is called the Tulip Era, in Turkish Lale Devri.

Another oft-quoted account is that of Lopo Vaz de Sampayo, governor of the Portuguese possessions in India. Having been brought home in disgrace after usurping his position from the rightful governor, Sampayo supposedly took tulip bulbs with him from Sri Lanka. This tale too, however, does not hold up to scrutiny; tulips do not occur in Sri Lanka, and the island itself is far from the route Sampayo's ships should have taken.

Regardless of how the flower originally arrived in Europe, its popularity soared quickly. Charles de L'Ecluse (Clusius) is responsible for much of the spread of tulip bulbs in the final years of the sixteenth century. He was the author of the first major work on tulips, finally completed in 1592. Clusius had already begun to note and remark upon the diseased variations in colour that made the tulip so admired. His taste for tulips quickly spread to others. While occupying a chair in the medical faculty of the University of Leiden, Clusius planted both a teaching garden and his own private plot with tulip bulbs. In 1596 and 1598, however, Clusius suffered thefts from his garden, with over a hundred bulbs stolen in a single raid. Between 1634 and 1637, the early enthusiasm for the new flowers triggered a speculative frenzy now known as the tulip mania and tulip bulbs were then considered a form of currency. The Netherlands and tulips are still associated with one another. The term 'Dutch tulips' is often used for the cultivated forms.

Sakura

Sakura (Japanese kanji & Chinese character : 桜 or 櫻; hiragana : さくら; katakana : サクラ) is the Japanese name for ornamental cherry trees, Prunus serrulata, and their blossoms. Cherry fruit (known as sakuranbo) come from a different species of tree. Sakura, a well-known and ubiquitous symbol of Japan, are represented on all manner of consumer goods, including kimono, stationery, and dishware. Cherry blossoms are an enduring metaphor for the ephemeral nature of life, and as such are frequently depicted in art. There is at least one popular folk song, originally meant for the shakuhachi (bamboo flute), titled "Sakura", as well as a number of pop songs. "Sakura" is also a common Japanese female name. Sakura is indigenous to the Himalayas and east Asia. Some trees can be found in China and Korea but the largest number and variety of sakura, more than 305 species, can be seen in Japan. Many of them were artificially hybridized or grafted by the Japanese many centuries ago. "On the other hand, in China, cherry blossom is the symbol of feminine dominance, female beauty and sexuality. Additionally, the cherry blossom is the Chinese symbol of feminine principle and it also symbolizes love in the language of herbs. Interestingly, cherry blossom is the flower of the April in China, whereas in Japan, it is wisteria." Spring flowers of Japan Japan's most beloved variety is the Somei Yoshino. Its flowers are nearly pure white, tinged with the palest pink, especially near the stem. The flowers bloom, and usually fall (or "scatter", 散る [chiru], in Japanese) within a week, before the leaves come out. Therefore, the trees look nearly white from top to bottom. The variety takes its name from the village of Somei (now part of Toshima in Tokyo). It was developed in the mid- to late-19th century at the end of the Edo period and the beginning of the Meiji period. The Somei Yoshino is so widely associated with cherry blossoms that jidaigeki and other works of fiction often depict the variety in the Edo period or earlier; such depictions are anachronisms.

Other categories include yamazakura, yaezakura, and shidarezakura. The yaezakura have large flowers, thick with rich pink petals. The shidarezakura, or weeping cherry, has branches that fall like those of a weeping willow, bearing cascades of pink flowers. Annually, the Japanese Meteorological Agency and general public track the sakura zensen, or Cherry-Blossom Front. Nightly forecasts follow the weather segment of news programs. The blossoming begins in Okinawa in January, and typically reaches Kyoto and Tokyo at the end of March or the beginning of April. Then it proceeds north, arriving in Hokkaidō a few weeks later. Japanese pay close attention to these forecasts. They will go to parks, shrines and temples with family and friends and hold a "flower viewing party" known as hanami (花見). Hanami festivals celebrate the beauty of sakura, and for many, it is a chance to relax and enjoy the beautiful view. Hanami custom in Japan dates back to many centuries ago. It is witten in Nihon Shoki (日本書紀) that the Hanami festival were already held in the 3rd century.

Most Japanese schools and public buildings have sakura trees outside of them. Since the fiscal and school year both begin in April, in many parts of Honshū, the first day of work or school will coincide with the cherry blossom season. The sakura has always been a symbol of ephemeral beauty in Japan and closely associated with samurai or bushi. Life was considered brief and beautiful, much like a cherry blossom. This theme remains alive today, seen often in pop culture (specifically manga and anime). Music also works with the theme. For example, the band Kagrra, that often associates sakura to its songs and live shows ambience.

( Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo Source : Google Images )

Rafflesia Arnoldii : World's largest flower evolved from family of much tinier blooms

Molecular analysis shows giant rafflesia flower grew 79-fold over millions of years. The plant with the world's largest flower - typically a full meter across, with a bud the size of a basketball - evolved from a family of plants whose blossoms are nearly all tiny, botanists write this week in the journal Science. Their genetic analysis of rafflesia reveals that it is closely related to a family that includes poinsettias, castor oil plants, the tropical root crop cassava, and the trees that produce natural rubber. The team from Harvard University, Southern Illinois University, the Smithsonian Institution, and the University of Wisconsin was led by Harvard's Charles C. Davis. "For nearly 200 years rafflesia's lineage has confounded plant scientists," says Davis, an assistant professor of organismic and evolutionary biology in Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences. "As a parasite living inside the tissue of a tropical vine, the plant lacks leaves, shoots, or roots, making it difficult to compare to more conventional plants. Most efforts to place plants in the botanical tree of life in the past 25 years have tracked ancestry using molecular markers in genes governing photosynthesis. Rafflesia is a non-photosynthetic parasite, and those genes have apparently been abandoned, meaning that to determine its lineage we had to look at other parts of the plant's genome." Davis and his colleagues determined that over an estimated 46 million years, rafflesia's blooms, which now weigh up to 15 lbs., evolved at an accelerated pace. However, after increasing in size by a factor of roughly 79, the plant then reverted to a more sedate evolutionary pace. This evolutionary spurt is one of the most dramatic size changes ever reported among eukaryotes; if humans were to undergo comparable evolutionary growth, Davis says, an average man would end up some 146 meters tall, roughly the height of the Great Pyramid of Giza. Because rafflesia lacks the genes most commonly used to trace plant ancestry, the scientists delved deeper into the genome, looking at some 11,500 base pairs of DNA to determine that the giant flower's closest relatives are in the Euphorbiaceae family, many of which have blossoms just a few millimeters in diameter. "The power of nucleic acid comparisons is revealed as well as ever in this stunning deduction," says noted botanist Peter H. Raven, president of the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, about his fellow scientists’ discovery. "The massive increase in flower size is one of the most significant among living organisms, and could never have been deduced by conventional methods." Found growing on the jungle floor in parts of southeastern Asia, rafflesia is unusual in more than just its flower's size. A parasite, it derives its nutrients from a plant in the grapevine family and lacks leaves, stems, or roots. More dramatic is the plant's carcass-like appearance: Its blooms are a mottled blood red, reek of decaying flesh, and in some cases even emit heat, much like a recently killed animal. These traits help the flower attract the carrion flies that pollinate it. "While it's surprising to find this giant plant evolved from a family typified by much smaller blossoms, rafflesia is unusual enough that it's frankly been difficult to imagine it fitting neatly into any plant family," Davis says. "Many botanists had refused to even speculate on where this botanical outlier might fit into the tree of life." Rafflesia was first discovered in the Sumatran rain forest some 180 years ago by Sir Stamford Raffles, governor of the East India Company's establishments in Sumatra, and Joseph Arnold, a naturalist and physician. Shortly before Arnold died of malaria on the same expedition the flower was discovered, he described rafflesia as "the greatest prodigy of the vegetable world," adding, "To tell you the truth, had I been alone, and had there been no witnesses, I should think I would have been fearful of mentioning the dimensions of this flower, so much does it exceed every flower I have ever seen or heard of." Photo : Rafflesia Arnoldii, Batang Palupuh, Sumatra, Indonesia. (Original Sources : By Steve Bradt, FAS Communications, Copyright 2006 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College, Photo Source : id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkas:Rafflesia_Arnoldii_Batang_Palupuah_Indonesia.jpg

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Carnivorous Plants

Most carnivorous plants eat flying, foraging, or crawling insects. Those that live in or around water capture very small aquatic prey like mosquito larvae and tiny fish. On rare occasions, some tropical carnivorous plants have even been reported to capture frogs, or even rats and birds (although these creatures were probably sick or already near death)! But don’t worry, these plants pose no danger to humans, even if you fell asleep in a whole bed of them.

Carnivorous plants tend to grow in places where the soil is thin or lacking in nutrients like bogs and rocky areas, so these plants must get some of their nutrients by trapping and digesting animals, especially insects. More than 600 species and subspecies of carnivorous plants have been identified, although some are now extinct. The Venus's-flytrap is probably the most famous.

Catching a Meal

Just like other plants that need to attract other creatures to help with things like pollination, carnivorous plants use different strategies to attract their prey. Some are sweetly scented, others are brightly colored, still others have parts that are sticky or slippery or designed in a way that makes it hard for prey to escape.

Once they have attracted their dinner, carnivorous plants use five basic trapping strategies: Pitfall traps (like pitcher plants), in which the prey falls into a rolled leaf that contains a pool of digestive enzymes and/or bacteria at the bottom; Flypaper traps, that use a sticky glue substance to hold onto unsuspecting insects; Snap traps (like the Venus’s-flytrap), where the leaves actually snap shut to create a plant prison; Bladder traps, which use a bladder to suck in aquatic creatures; and Lobster-pot traps, which use inward-pointing hairs to force prey towards the digestive enzymes. The Venus’s-flytrap has long been an object of fascination (it even stars in a movie!). How does the plant move? Does it have muscles? Venus’s-flytraps aren’t the only type of carnivorous plant that moves, but they are the most commonly known. When something touches the trigger hairs on the edges of the leaves, the cells on the inside wall of the trap transfer water to the outside walls, so the inside essentially goes limp. This makes the leaf snap closed. Another way carnivorous plants move can be observed in sundew plants, which have a long flypaper trap. Once the prey gets stuck on the gluey tentacles, the tentacles embrace the creature by growing faster on the outside than the inside. And they can do this really fast. One species of sundew can bend 180º in only a minute or so!

The Digestion Question So once they catch their prey, how do these plants digest the meal? Most carnivorous plants make their own digestive enzymes. Still others depend on bacteria to produce these enzymes; the bacteria cause the captured prey to rot and the plant absorbs the nutrients. Still other plants rely on both their own enzymes and additional enzymes generated by bacteria. Yet another method is even more unappetizing. Some carnivorous plants use bugs and insects as helpers. For example, on carnivorous sundews, assassin bugs crawl around and eat the insects that have been captured. Then these bugs poop and the feces provide dinner for the plant! Yuck!

Plant Eats Hollywood Meat-eating plants have also captured the imagination of many writers and filmmakers. One of the more well-known carnivorous plant stories is Little Shop of Horrors, which was originally filmed in 1960, then made into a Broadway musical, with a second Hollywood release in 1986. This comedy/musical/horror film tells the story of a florist clerk who discovers an unusual plant with a unique appetite for human blood. 

(Original Source : Fact Monster/Information Please® Database, © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved, Photo Source : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_carnivorous_plants)