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4521 results in Botanical reference

Page 19 of 227

  • Preface to First Edition

  • M. S. Swaminathan, S. L. Kochhar, University of Delhi
  • Book:
    Major Flowering Trees of Tropical Gardens
    Published online:
    08 May 2019
    Print publication:
    23 May 2019, pp xv-xvi

  • Summary

    From very early times human beings have co-existed with nature, and forests have played a crucial role in their survival, providing the basics of life including food to eat (such as roots, succulent herbage, seeds, fruits, nuts and mushrooms at the forest floor), shelter (from wind, rain, snow and burning sunshine), wood (fuel for warmth, tools and weapons), some clothing and a host of other auxiliaries of life. In addition, they have helped to maintain a balance between carbon emissions and absorption because of their role in carbon sequestration. Even today, humanity's well being and ultimate survival are inextricably linked up with the natural resources, especially the trees for varying reasons, such as economic, ecological, and aesthetic, i.e. by providing a setting for recreation, sports, and beautifying the landscape, be these city roads, parks, gardens, public places and even the compounds of our homes. We have, at present, in use over 4,500 products that are derived wholly or in part from trees.

    More than a thousand different kinds of trees occur naturally in India and many linguistic scholars and nature lovers have been struck by the beauty, richness and almost mystic allure of the tree life. We find charming description of most of our beautiful native trees in Kalidasa's Ritu Samhara, Valmiki's Ramayana, and sage Vyasa's Mahabharata. They have also been featured in our religions and ancient paintings and sculptures. In India, as perhaps in many other countries of the world, trees have been venerated since ancient times. Most Hindu temples have specific trees designated as ‘temple trees’. Some other trees have been introduced at times from near and far-off lands and have become an integral part or component of our landscape, e.g. the famous Flamboyant or Flame tree (Delonix regia) and Traveller's Palm (Ravenala madagascariensis), both from Madagascar (earlier known as Malagasy); the Frangpani (Plumeria spp.), the rain tree (Samanea saman), Cannonball tree (Couroupita guianensis), and the Jacarandas with delicate fern-like foliage and mauve flower (Jacaranda mimosaefolia), all from the New World tropics; the orange flowered African Tulip or Squirt tree (Spathodea campanulata) and Sausage tree (Kigelia pinnata)-both from tropical Africa; the Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia spp) from South Africa; the dazzling Golden Shower tree (Cassia fistula) from southeast Asia; and the Bottle Brush (Callistemon spp.) from Australia.

Major Flowering Trees of Tropical Gardens
  • M. S. Swaminathan, S. L. Kochhar
  • Published online:
    08 May 2019
    Print publication:
    23 May 2019
  • This comprehensive text on flowering trees of tropical gardens discusses some new species of trees, including Adansonia digitata, Monodora myristica, Flacourtia montana, Balanites aegyptiaca, Bursera serrata, Commiphora wightii and Semecarpus anacardium. The text covers more than 200 of the most striking and widespread trees alongside closely related genera and species (both native and exotic) commonly encountered in the tropical climate. It includes more than 700 high resolution coloured photographs, depicting different facets including growth habit, morphological details of stem, leaves, flowers and fruits. The different tree species are organized according to Bentham and Hooker's system of classification of seed plants. The book discusses many aspects of trees including common and botanical names together with synonyms, taxonomic families, etymology (how trees have derived their names), phenology, their native place, geographical distribution, mythological notes, religious significance and economic importance. The text is useful for graduate students and academic researchers in the field of life sciences.

  • 54 - Plumbaginaceae

  • from Division 5 - Magnoliophyta
  • Peter Sell, University of Cambridge, Gina Murrell, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    Flora of Great Britain and Ireland
    Print publication:
    12 April 2018, pp 536-558

  • Summary

    Perennial or rarely annual herbs or small shrubs. Leaves spirally arranged in a basal rosette, simple, narrowed at base, entire, without stipules. Inflorescence of branched cymes or hemispherical heads; flowers bisexual, hypogynous and actinomorphic. Bracts scarious. Calyx connate below, 5-lobed above, scarious at least above, persistent. Corolla connate at base, with 5 lobes above, pink to blue. Stamens 5, borne at base of corolla. Ovary superior, 1-celled, with 1 basal, anatropous ovule. Styles 5; stigmas linear. Fruit a 1-seeded capsule, dry, with a thin papery wall; seed with a straight embryo in mealy endosperm.

    Contains about 19 genera and 780 species, cosmopolitan. Chiefly plants of seashores and salt-steppes, but there are some arctic and alpine species.

  • Flowers in dense hemispherical heads with a tubular sheath of fused scarious bracts beneath; styles hairy below 1. Armeria

  • Flowers in branching cymes, with the ultimate unit of 1–5 flowers with 3 scale-like bracts; styles glabrous throughout 2. Limonium

    • Armeria Willd. nom. conserv.

    Statice L.; Polyanthemum Medik.

    Caespitose perennial herbs or cushion-forming dwarf shrubs, with a branched, woody stock. Leaves simple, in basal rosettes. Inflorescence a capitulum, with an involucre of imbricate bracts and a tubular, scarious sheath at the base enclosing the top of the scape; flowers usually bracteolate, in usually bracteate, cymose spikelets. Calyx infundibuliform, inserted obliquely, with a basal spur; tube 5- or 10-ribbed; limb scarious; lobes usually awned. Corolla infundibuliform; petals cuneate at the extreme base, persistent. Stamens 5, inserted at the base of the corolla. Styles 5, connate at the base; stigmas plumose. Fruit a 1-seeded capsule, with circumscissile or irregular dehiscence.

    Contains about 80 species and many infraspecific taxa of maritime, arctic and alpine habitats in temperate Europe, Asia, North Africa, North America and southern South America.

    Most species in temperate Europe show dimorphism of pollen and stigma and are said to be self-incompatible.

  • 58 - Tiliaceae

  • from Division 5 - Magnoliophyta
  • Peter Sell, University of Cambridge, Gina Murrell, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    Flora of Great Britain and Ireland
    Print publication:
    12 April 2018, pp 572-576

  • Summary

    Deciduous trees. Leaves alternate, simple, mostly broadly ovate, cordate-based and serrate, petiolate, with stipules falling early. Inflorescence a cyme, with 2–25 fragrant flowers whose peduncle is fused to a persistent papery bract which is dispersed with the fruits; flowers actinomorphic, bisexual, hypogynous. Sepals 5, free. Petals 5, free, usually creamish-yellow. Stamens numerous, more or less coherent in 5 bundles. Style 1; stigma capitate, more or less lobed. Ovary 5-celled; each cell with 2 ovules. Fruit a nut, with 1–3 seeds.

    Contains about 35 genera and about 300 species, widely distributed from temperate to tropical regions.

    Tilia

    Deciduous trees with a strong tendency to sprout from the base. Leaves alternate, often ovate-cordate and asymmetrical, with a slender petiole; stipules present, falling shortly after the leaves expand. Inflorescence with peduncle fused to the upper surface of an elliptical or oblanceolate bract; flowers in a dichasial cyme, strongly scented, entomophilous. Sepals 5, boat-shaped, with hair-covered nectaries on their upper surfaces. Petals 5, strap-shaped, cream to bright yellow. Stamens numerous, in 5 bundles; petal-like staminodes may be present. Ovary spherical, with 5 cells, each containing 2 ovules. Style 1, slender; stigma small, 5-lobed. Fruit a nut, usually indehiscent and containing 1–3 seeds. The fruits are shed with the bract attached and acting as a wing.

    Contains about 30 species in the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. When taxa come together in cultivation they tend to hybridise.

  • 60 - Sarraceniaceae

  • from Division 5 - Magnoliophyta
  • Peter Sell, University of Cambridge, Gina Murrell, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    Flora of Great Britain and Ireland
    Print publication:
    12 April 2018, pp 588-589

  • Summary

    Perennial herbs. Basal leaves forming tubular pitchers with a small lamina at the top. Inflorescence a single terminal flower; flowers bisexual, actinomorphic, nodding. Sepals 5, more or less petaloid, with 3 small bracteoles resembling an epicalyx. Petals 5, showy. Stamens numerous. Style 1, short; stigma greatly expanded, peltate. Ovary 5-celled, with many ovules in each cell. Fruit a capsule.

    Contains 3 genera and about 17 species in Atlantic North America, California and the Pakaraima Mountains in the Guiana Highlands.

    Sarracenia L.

    As family.

    Ten species in Atlantic North America, some widely cultivated and not infrequently naturalised. Hybrids are of frequent occurrence.

    McDaniel, S. (1971). The genus Sarracenia (Sarraceniaceae). Bull. Tall Timbers Research Station 9 : 1–36.

  • Pitchers decumbent, sometimes curved and unequally tapering; petals usually dark red 1. purpurea

  • Pitchers erect, straight and gradually tapering; petals yellow or red 2. flava

    • 1. S. purpurea L. Purple Pitcherplant

    Perennial insectivorous herb. Leaves modified into flasklike structures called pitchers which are 5–50 cm, green, shading to dark reddish-purple, or veined with reddish-purple, decumbent, sometimes curved and unequally tapering, with a wing up to about 6.5 cm wide, glabrous or hairy; mouth with a reddish-purple hood, kidney-shaped, up to 5 cm, arching over the mouth. Flowering stem up to 75 cm, dark red. Sepals 5, up to 4.0 × 3.5 cm, dark purplish- red. Petals 5, up to 7.0 × 2.5 cm, pink to dark red, rarely yellow; apical part oblong or elliptical. Stamens numerous. Style 1; disc about 5 cm wide, green or yellowish- green, 5-lobed and umbrella-shaped. Capsules with numerous seeds. Flowers 6. 2n = 26.

    Introduced. Planted in wet peat bogs and well naturalised. Central Ireland, where it was established in Co. Laois by 1892; reintroduced in Roscommon in 1906 and later from there to other localities; also in a few localities in England and Scotland. Native of north-east North America; naturalised also in central Europe.

  • 36 - Platanaceae

  • from Division 5 - Magnoliophyta
  • Peter Sell, University of Cambridge, Gina Murrell, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    Flora of Great Britain and Ireland
    Print publication:
    12 April 2018, pp 262-263

  • Summary

    Deciduous, monoecious trees. Leaves alternate, simple, palmately lobed, petiolate, with stipules when young. Flowers hypogynous, actinomorphic, in dense spherical unisexual clusters, two to several clusters on a pendulous peduncle, forming a usually unisexual inflorescence. Perianth small, fused or not, of 1–2 whorls of usually 3–4 segments. Male flowers with 3–4 stamens. Female flowers usually with 3–4 staminodes and 5–8 free carpels, each with 1(–2) ovules. Styles 1; stigma linear. Fruit an achene with long hairs at base.

    Contains one genus with about 10 species in south-east Europe, south-west Asia and North America.

    Platanus L.

    Like family.

    Contains about 10 species in south-east Europe, southwest Asia and North America.

Page 19 of 227