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"The rare 80-foot-diameter Round Barn – one of only two dozen built in the state – was constructed in East Passumpsic, Vermont in 1901. Round barns, designed for economy of labor, were first built by Massachusetts Shakers in 1826 and re-introduced by a national farm magazine in 1896.
The Round Barn was moved to the Museum in 1985-86. The 9,000-pound upper segment of the silo was flown across the state by helicopter, while the remainder was dismantled and moved on flatbed trucks." Go to shelburnemuseum.org for more information. www.shelburnemuseum.org/buildings_and_grounds/detail.php?...
70' diameter stone geoglyph spiral at the mouth of Horseshoe Canyon on the east side of the Chiricahua Mountains in southeastern Arizona.
boring the minor diameter of the nuts to 1.1585 "
when boring it is good to have the shortest thickest boring bar you can have. but a word of caution. watch out for where the chips go. this setup kicked a big grove in one piece because a chip went straight back over the boring bar wedging against the wall opposite the cutter which caused it to dig deeper which made a thicket chip which pushed the cutter deeper ... bad news on a machine that won't stall. in this case the weakest point was the aluminum work piece next stop would have been the cutting tool then the boring bar holder. very sobering
so the moral is: yes, use the fattest boring bar you can find but clear the chip often especially after you are several inches into the cut.
The London Eye is a giant Ferris wheel situated on the banks of the River Thames in London, England. The entire structure is 135 m tall and the wheel has a diameter of 120 m.
The wheel rotates at 26 cm (10 in) per second (about 0.9 km/h or 0.6 mph) so that one revolution takes about 30 minutes. It does not usually stop to take on passengers; the rotation rate is slow enough to allow passengers to walk on and off the moving capsules at ground level. However, stopped to allow disabled or elderly passengers time to embark and disembark safely.
Michelangelo
Tondo Pitti, 1504 - 1505
Marble - Diameter 80 cm
Much like the Tondo Taddei, the Tondo Pitti was a piece intended ‘for the home’ and not for the grand civic audience, like the David or the Pieta in St. Peter’s. Many consider this piece to be unfinished but the validity of this argument is more widely disputed than with the Tondo Taddei. It is suggested that Michelangelo left the work seemingly unfinished simply because he liked it that way and,
“The unworked details give them a suggestive power which might have been lost in a more polished version.”
Michelangelo’s composition places the Madonna seated on a stone, its forward edge projected toward the viewer, while the figure of the Madonna seems to in a crouching position. In her lap is a book, that she was reading, until the Christ child interrupted her, as he places his elbow, supporting his head onto her book. The child St. John peers over the Virgin’s shoulder, none of the subject making eye contact with one another.
“Michelangelo has employed a simple device to unique effect. He has given the upper edge of the marble disk, a concavity to set off the relief. The circular rim cannot contain the proud, tragic head of the Madonna, which breaks through and rises above it…Michelangelo conveys a feeling that the Madonna’s sublime inner life cannot be confined by everyday limitations, but heedlessly and unconsciously bursts them.”
To address the centrality of the Madonna in the Tondo Pitti, Georg Brandes says:
“Not only is she the main figure; but Michelangelo has concentrated in her all his sense of nobility. Wound about her brow is a broad royal band ornamented with the angel’s head with wings spread wide. As usual, she also wears a kerchief. To underline her dominance, Michelangelo has employed a simple device to unique effect.”
The composition of the marble tondo carved in high relief, is described by Robert Coughlan:
“In the Pitti Madonna Michelangelo set focus of his composition in the center of the circle: all the contours gently curve away from it.”
George Bull also comments on the composition, saying:
“The Virgin’s head, covered in a helmet-like head cloth (as in the other roundels), projects above the edge of the circle, and the figure of the child Baptist emerges faintly from the rough, unfinished background. The Christ Child leans as if sulkily on an open book on the lap of the Virgin, who dominates the scene, seated on a block, with a look of sudden, sad revelation.”
Bull goes onto describe the cultural and spiritual landscape of Florence during the time he completed this work.
“Michelangelo’s work reflects both the Christian iconography and also the inherited artistic traditions of his time…but Michelangelo found himself, in Florence in those early years of the cinquecento, amazingly free to pursue his own ideas in the work he was given. The free hand he was allowed in interpreting the wishes of his patrons was further empowered by the less inhibited, more reflective searching religious mood in Florence after the humiliation and death of Savonorola…”
According to Georg Brandes:
“The Tondo Pitti marks the main line of Michelangelo’s actual development. He had been set the modest task of doing a Madonna for the home of a citizen. He invested it with a scene of lofty power, though the relief is no bigger than the Battle of the Centaurs.”
The Tondo Pitti, originally done for the private home of Bartolommeo Pitti, is now in the Museo Nazionale in Florence.
Size bell diameter approx 50cm.
Superdomain: Neomura
Domain: Eukaryota
(unranked): Unikonta
(unranked): Obazoa
(unranked): Opisthokonta
(unranked) Holozoa
(unranked) Filozoa
Kingdom: Animalia
Subkingdom: Eumetazoa
Superphylum: Radiata
Phylum: Cnidaria
Subphylum: Medusozoa
Class: Scyphozoa
Subclass: Discomedusae
Order: Rhizostomae
Suborder: Daktyliophorae
Superfamily: Rhizostomatoidea
Family: Rhizostomatidae
Genus: Rhizostoma
Species: R. pulmo
Flower diameter 3 cm, bulbs 6-8 cm, leaves 30-35 cm, inflorescence - more than 20 cm, now only the end of flowering, before was more branched (panicle?). Any idea I find some similaritys to Enc. patens = odorotassima , pachyantha
With a diameter of 100 meters, the Radio Telescope Effelsberg is one of the largest fully steerable radio telescopes on earth. Since operations started in 1972, the technology has been continually improved (i.e. new surface for the antenna-dish, better reception of high-quality data, extremely low noise electronics) making it one of the most advanced modern telescopes worldwide.
The telescope is employed to observe pulsars, cold gas- and dust clusters, the sites of star formation, jets of matter emitted by black holes and the nuclei (centres) of distant far-off galaxies.
Effelsberg is an important part of the worldwide network of radio telescopes. The combination of different telescopes in interferometric mode makes possible to obtain the sharpest images of the universe.
Text (C) Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy
The telescope may receive radio signals from a distance of up to 12bn light years. Together with a radio telescope in the US (Green Bank, Virginia), it is the largest radio telescope in the world.
The photos show the telescope at different angles because it was turning quite a bit during our visit.
21' diameter ...
Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park
www.savetheredwoods.org/park/prairie-creek-redwoods-state...
www.redwoodhikes.com/PrairieCreek/PrairieCreek.html
Newton B Drury Scenic Parkway
www.visitredwoodcoast.com/content/newton-b-drury-scenic-p...
Travel Mug
Height, in
8
Diameter, in
2.36 – 3.14
Wondering what your valentine really wants? This mug is perfect for Valentine’s Day, they show the recipient you care. Let them know they’re special and deserve something unique, not just a traditional gift. Just like your husband or wife, boyfriend or girlfriend, these gifts are one-of-a-kind.
Irreplaceable item for a busy everyday life, this stainless steel mug will keep drinks at the right temperature for hours on the go. High quality sublimation printing makes it an appreciated gift to every true coffee or tea lover.
.: Stainless steel
.: 15 oz (0.44 l)
.: Rounded corners
.: Black plastic lid
The post Put It Right Here Dirty Valentine’s Gift Stainless Steel Travel Mug appeared first on Westorey.com.
The 220-km-diameter Renoir basin has a well-preserved peak ring, within which are situated the two flooded craters near the center of this image. Both craters formed after Renoir but before the basin interior was resurfaced by smooth plains. Subsequent tectonic activity was then responsible for the sinuous lobate scarp that cross-cuts the center crater. Together, impact cratering, volcanism, and tectonism have helped shape the Renoir basin, substantially modifying its original form.
This image was acquired as a high-resolution targeted observation. Targeted observations are images of a small area on Mercury's surface at resolutions much higher than the 200-meter/pixel morphology base map.
Healthcare Innovation & Investment
Entrepreneurs and investors in the business and technology sides of healthcare share stories of innovating, investing, changing, disrupting, enhancing, advancing, and problem solving in healthcare settings.
Event
1/31/2019 at UConn TIP
featuring:
2019 UConn TIP Growth Award presented to Diameter Health.
Eric Rosow, CEO, Diameter Health
Paul Thompson, Vice-President, Americas Healthcare Group, DXC Technology
Mary DiMatteo, Director, Corporate Development, Cigna
Aneesh Kumar, Founder and CEO, Sheen Health
Key topics:
Trends in the industry: Payment Innovations, Interoperability, Data Sharing, People Centered/Population Health, Consumerist Movement, Innovation/Risk Socialization, M&A/New Entrants
Implications and opportunities
Funding sources – health plans and hospital systems
Accessing partners
View presentation recording here: bit.ly/UConnHCvideo
----
TIP events are a service provided by the UConn TIP a unit of the Office of the Vice President for Research with support from the TIP Enhancement Fund bit.ly/TIPfund
Sponsored by:
Lead Sponsors:
Fiondella, Milone & LaSaracina, LLP www.fmlcpas.com
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UBS Financial Services
& Fasi Wealth Management www.ubs.com/team/fasiwm
Wiggin and Dana LLP www.wiggin.com
Platinum Sponsors:
Marcum LLP www.marcumllp.com
Gold Sponsors:
American Laboratory Trading www.americanlaboratorytrading.com
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Lisa Lazarus Yoga bit.ly/LisaLazarusYoga
Silver Sponsors:
Aon www.aon.com/
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Guilford Savings Bank www.gsb-yourbank.com/business
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11 inch diameter water lens producing both a primary and secondary rainbow . To do this, it was necessary to cut two holes in the mask placed over the window . the hole on the left slides back and forth to adjust the distance between rays for the best effect . The two holes were necessary because the rays of light that produce the primary bow enter the drop on the opposite side of the rays that create the secondary .
Note that the colours in the primary (right lower bow) are reversed from the colors in the secondary . Also note that the primary is brighter and narrower than the secondary . There was another bow displayed off camera to the left from the 'secondary' ray source .
The dimmer bows to the right of the primary and barely visible to the left of the secondary are an artifact of the water lens, which is a sphere with 1/4 inch thick glass sides -see spout for thickness . the second reflection is probably from the outer surface of the lens . waterdrops would have virtually no thickness to their edges .
Some of the internal rays are visible within the lens (see additional images in comments below) .
Spawn mass is laid on weed, stone or rock as a gelatinous cylinder about 25mm long, containing about 1000 ova. Uniquely among British prosobranch gastropods, it is wound in a tight spiral of two to four turns and up to 3mm diameter. The spiral can be wound clockwise or anti-clockwise. A single female may lay 10 000 ova in seven masses over a two week period.
Full SPECIES DESCRIPTION: flic.kr/p/RCFpWq
Sets of OTHER SPECIES:
Description:
Function:Shower Faucets
Feature:Wall Mount
Suitable Place:Bathroom
Style:Contemporary
Finish:Chrome
Material:Brass, Zinc Alloy
Valve Type: Ceramic Valve
Faucet Total Height:1350mm (53.1")
Showerhead Dimension:Diameter 160mm (6.30")
Shipping Weight (kg):6.5
Wholesale Faucets at Wholesale Prices at www.FaucetSuperDeal.com
Sweco Fab, Inc. recently designed and manufactured a 30,000 lb. Seawall Outfall Flow Regulating Device for a sea water outlet in Qatar. This 320 long flow conditioner is designed to allow water to flow thru evenly. There are nineteen 16 FRP pipes inside an 84 diameter carbon steel pipe. The pipe bundle is secured within the 84 diameter shell pipe using spring washers, which keep the bundle tight and allows for differential expansion between the steel and FRP.
Lens diameter [mm]: 40
Magnification [x]: 8
Angular field of view [deg]: 6.3
Linear field of view [m/m]: 110/1000
Exit pupil [mm]: 5
Eye relief [mm]: 20
Min. focusing dist. [m]: 3.5
Brightness: 25
PrismsBaK-4/Porro
Dimensions [mm]: 178x136x76
Weight [g]: 850
Waterproof: Yes
Nitrogen filling: Yes
Tripod exit: Yes
Focusing: central
www.reidbrothers.co.uk/product-details/cable-rollers/br2-...
Email: uksales@reidbrothers.co.uk
Tele: 0141 425 1060
BR2 - Heavy Duty Bend Corner Cable Roller- Specifications.
Size: 15cm Long x 29cm Wide x 29cm High.
Steel Roller Diameter: 2x 76mm Diameter (Horizontal.)
Weight: 6Kg
Finish: Painted Finish.
The BR2 heavy duty bend corner cable roller is similar to the BR1 with the difference of having 2x 76mm steel rollers, one vertical and one horizontal.
The BR2, like all bend roller models, has universal link pin positions to create various sizes of bend rollers using a skid plate (BR4.)
The BR2 heavy duty bend cable roller has oil impregnated maintenance free brushes fitted.
The BR2 (2x 76mm diameter rollers) is a heavy duty bend roller designed to allow cables and pipes to be pulled around corners. The BR2 bend roller can be used singularly or in conjunction with our range of other bend rollers or skid plates to create a full bend. Also like our full range of bend corner cable rollers the BR2 has link positions to attach the skid plate to. The BR2 corner cable bend roller is extremely transportable weighing only 6Kg.
Our tour guide explains the fermentation process next to a big empty fermentation vat. It's 12 feet deep by 12 feed in diameter.
Screen cage, vintage style. Ideal for use with incandescent or LED bulbs filaments. It is a metal cage black. Dimensions (diameter x height): 100 x 175 mm. Higher for the passage of cable and bulb, 42 mm diameter hole.
Dahlia (UK /deɪliə/ or US /dɑːliə/) is a genus of bushy, tuberous, herbaceous perennial plants native to Mexico. A member of the Asteraceae (or Compositae), dicotyledonous plants, related species include the sunflower, daisy, chrysanthemum, and zinnia. There are 42 species of dahlia, with hybrids commonly grown as garden plants. Flower forms are variable, with one head per stem; these can be as small as 5.1 cm diameter or up to 30 cm ("dinner plate"). This great variety results from dahlias being octoploids—that is, they have eight sets of homologous chromosomes, whereas most plants have only two. In addition, dahlias also contain many transposons - genetic pieces that move from place to place upon an allele - which contributes to their manifesting such great diversity.
The stems are leafy, ranging in height from as low as 30 cm to more than 1.8–2.4 m. The majority of species do not produce scented flowers or cultivars. Like most plants that do not attract pollinating insects through scent, they are brightly colored, displaying most hues, with the exception of blue.
The dahlia was declared the national flower of Mexico in 1963. The tubers were grown as a food crop by the Aztecs, but this use largely died out after the Spanish Conquest. Attempts to introduce the tubers as a food crop in Europe were unsuccessful.
DESCRIPTION
Perennial plants, with mostly tuberous roots. While some have herbaceous stems, others have stems which lignify in the absence of secondary tissue and resprout following winter dormancy, allowing further seasons of growth. as a member of the Asteraceae the flower head is actually a composite (hence the older name Compositae) with both central disc florets and surrounding ray florets. Each floret is a flower in its own right, but is often incorrectly described as a petal, particularly by horticulturalists. The modern mame Asteraceae refers to the appearance of a star with surrounding rays.
TAXONOMY
HISTORY
EARLY HISTORY
Spaniards reported finding the plants growing in Mexico in 1525, but the earliest known description is by Francisco Hernández, physician to Philip II, who was ordered to visit Mexico in 1570 to study the "natural products of that country". They were used as a source of food by the indigenous peoples, and were both gathered in the wild and cultivated. The Aztecs used them to treat epilepsy, and employed the long hollow stem of the (Dahlia imperalis) for water pipes. The indigenous peoples variously identified the plants as "Chichipatl" (Toltecs) and "Acocotle" or "Cocoxochitl" (Aztecs). From Hernandez' perception of Aztec, to Spanish, through various other translations, the word is "water cane", "water pipe", "water pipe flower", "hollow stem flower" and "cane flower". All these refer to the hollowness of the plants' stem.Hernandez described two varieties of dahlias (the pinwheel-like Dahlia pinnata and the huge Dahlia imperialis) as well as other medicinal plants of New Spain. Francisco Dominguez, a Hidalgo gentleman who accompanied Hernandez on part of his seven-year study, made a series of drawings to supplement the four volume report. Three of his drawings showed plants with flowers: two resembled the modern bedding dahlia, and one resembled the species Dahlia merki; all displayed a high degree of doubleness. In 1578 the manuscript, entitled Nova Plantarum, Animalium et Mineralium Mexicanorum Historia, was sent back to the Escorial in Madrid; they were not translated into Latin by Francisco Ximenes until 1615. In 1640, Francisco Cesi, President of the Academia Linei of Rome, bought the Ximenes translation, and after annotating it, published it in 1649-1651 in two volumes as Rerum Medicarum Novae Hispaniae Thesaurus Seu Nova Plantarium, Animalium et Mineraliuím Mexicanorum Historia. The original manuscripts were destroyed in a fire in the mid-1600s.
EUROPEAN INTRODUCTION
In 1787, the French botanist Nicolas-Joseph Thiéry de Menonville, sent to Mexico to steal the cochineal insect valued for its scarlet dye, reported the strangely beautiful flowers he had seen growing in a garden in Oaxaca. In 1789, Vicente Cervantes, Director of the Botanical Garden at Mexico City, sent "plant parts" to Abbe Antonio José Cavanilles, Director of the Royal Gardens of Madrid. Cavanilles flowered one plant that same year, then the second one a year later. In 1791 he called the new growths "Dahlia" for Anders Dahl. The first plant was called Dahlia pinnata after its pinnate foliage; the second, Dahlia rosea for its rose-purple color. In 1796 Cavanilles flowered a third plant from the parts sent by Cervantes, which he named Dahlia coccinea for its scarlet color.In 1798, Cavanilles sent D. Pinnata seeds to Parma, Italy. That year, the Marchioness of Bute, wife of The Earl of Bute, the English Ambassador to Spain, obtained a few seeds from Cavanilles and sent them to Kew Gardens, where they flowered but were lost after two to three years. In the following years Madrid sent seeds to Berlin and Dresden in Germany, and to Turin and Thiene in Italy. In 1802, Cavanilles sent tubers of "these three" (D. pinnata, D. rosea, D. coccinea) to Swiss botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle at University of Montpelier in France, Andre Thouin at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris and Scottish botanist William Aiton at Kew Gardens. That same year, John Fraser, English nurseryman and later botanical collector to the Czar of Russia, brought D. coccinea seeds from Paris to the Apothecaries Gardens in England, where they flowered in his greenhouse a year later, providing Botanical Magazine with an illustration.In 1804, a new species, Dahlia sambucifolia, was successfully grown at Holland House, Kensington. Whilst in Madrid in 1804, Lady Holland was given either dahlia seeds or tubers by Cavanilles. She sent them back to England, to Lord Holland's librarian Mr Buonaiuti at Holland House, who successfully raised the plants. A year later, Buonaiuti produced two double flowers. The plants raised in 1804 did not survive; new stock was brought from France in 1815. In 1824, Lord Holland sent his wife a note containing the following verse:
"The dahlia you brought to our isle
Your praises for ever shall speak;
Mid gardens as sweet as your smile,
And in colour as bright as your cheek."
In 1805, German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt sent more seeds from Mexico to Aiton in England, Thouin in Paris, and Christoph Friedrich Otto, director of the Berlin Botanical Garden. More significantly, he sent seeds to botanist Carl Ludwig Willdenow in Germany. Willdenow now reclassified the rapidly growing number of species, changing the genus from Dahlia to Georgina; after naturalist Johann Gottlieb Georgi. He combined the Cavanilles species D. pinnata and D. rosea under the name of Georgina variabilis; D. coccinea was still held to be a separate species, which he renamed Georgina coccinea.
CLASSIFICATION
Since 1789 when Cavanilles first flowered the dahlia in Europe, there has been an ongoing effort by many growers, botanists and taxonomists, to determine the development of the dahlia to modern times. At least 85 species have been reported: approximately 25 of these were first reported from the wild, the remainder appeared in gardens in Europe. They were considered hybrids, the results of crossing between previously reported species, or developed from the seeds sent by Humboldt from Mexico in 1805, or perhaps from some other undocumented seeds that had found their way to Europe. Several of these were soon discovered to be identical with earlier reported species, but the greatest number are new varieties. Morphological variation is highly pronounced in the dahlia. William John Cooper Lawrence, who hybridized hundreds of families of dahlias in the 1920s, stated: "I have not yet seen any two plants in the families I have raised which were not to be distinguished one from the other. Constant reclassification of the 85 reported species has resulted in a considerably smaller number of distinct species, as there is a great deal of disagreement today between systematists over classification.
In 1829, all species growing in Europe were reclassified under an all-encompassing name of D. variabilis, Desf., though this is not an accepted name. Through the interspecies cross of the Humboldt seeds and the Cavanilles species, 22 new species were reported by that year, all of which had been classified in different ways by several different taxonomists, creating considerable confusion as to which species was which.
In 1830 William Smith suggested that all dahlia species could be divided into two groups for color, red-tinged and purple-tinged. In investigating this idea Lawrence determined that with the exception of D. variabilis, all dahlia species may be assigned to one of two groups for flower-colour: Group I (ivory-magenta) or Group II (yellow-orange-scarlet).
CIRCUMSCRIPTION
The genus Dahlia is situated in the Asteroideae subfamily of the Asteraceae, in the Coreopsideae tribe. Within that tribe it is the second largest genus, after Coreopsis, and appears as a well defined clade within the Coreopsideae.
SUBDIVISION
INFRAGENERIC SUBDIVISION
Sherff (1955), in the first modern taxonomy described three sections for the 18 species he recognised, Pseudodendron, Epiphytum and Dahlia. By 1969 Sørensen recognised 29 species and four sections by splitting off Entemophyllon from section Dahlia. By contrast Giannasi (1975) using a phytochemical analysis based on flavonoids, reduced the genus to just two sections, Entemophyllon and Dahlia, the latter having three subsections, Pseudodendron, Dahlia, and Merckii. Sørensen then issued a further revision in 1980, incorporating subsection Merckii in his original section Dahlia. When he described two new species in the 1980s (Dahlia tubulata and D. congestifolia), he placed them within his existing sections. A further species, Dahlia sorensenii was added by Hansen and Hjerting in (1996). At the same time they demonstrated that Dahlia pinnata should more properly be designated D. x pinnata. D. x pinnata was shown to actually be a variant of D. sorensenii that had acquired hybrid qualities before it was introduced to Europe in the sixteenth century and formally named by Cavanilles. The original wild D. pinnata is presumed extinct. Further species continue to be described, Saar (2003) describing 35 species. However separation of the sections on morphological, cytologal and biocemical criteria has not been entirely satisfactory.
To date these sectional divisions have not been fully supported phylogenetically, which demonstrate only section Entemophyllon as a distinct sectional clade. The other major grouping is the Core Dahlia Clade (CDC), which includes most of section Dahlia. The remainder of the species occupy what has been described as the Variable Root Clade (VRC) which includes the small section Pseudodendron but also the monotypic section Epiphytum and a number of species from within section Dahlia. Outside of these three clades lie D. tubulata and D. merckii as a polytomy.
Horticulturally the sections retain some usage, section Pseudodendron being referred to as 'Tree Dahlias', Epiphytum as the 'Vine Dahlia'. The remaining two herbaceous sections being distinguished by their pinnules, opposing (Dahlia) or alternating (Entemophyllon).
SECTIONS
Sections (including chromosome numbers), with geographical distribution;
- Epiphytum Sherff (2n = 32)
10 m tall climber with aerial roots 5 cm thick and up to more than 20 m long; pinnules opposite
1 species, D. macdougallii Sherff
Mexico: Oaxaca
- Entemophyllon P. D. Sorensen (2n = 34)
6 species
Mexico: Hidalgo, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, Querétaro, Durango, San Luis Potosí
- Pseudodendron P. D. Sorensen (2n = 32)
3 species + D. excelsa of uncertain identity
Mexico: Chiapas, Guerrero, Jalisco, Michoacan, Oaxaca, and
Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala & Colombia
- Dahlia (2n = 32, 36 or 64)
24 species
Mexico: Distrito Federal, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Morelos, Nuevo León, Puebla, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Oaxaca, Puebla, Chiapas, México, Huehuetenango, Chihuahua, Durango, Michoacan & Guatemala
Only Pseudodendron (D. imperialis) and Dahlia (D. australis, D. coccinea) occur outside Mexico.
SPECIES
There are currently 42 accepted species in the Dahlia genus, but new species continue to be described.
ETYMOLOGY
The naming of the plant itself has long been a subject of some confusion. Many sources state that the name "Dahlia" was bestowed by the pioneering Swedish botanist and taxonomist Carl Linnaeus to honor his late student, Anders Dahl, author of Observationes Botanicae. However, Linnaeus died in 1778, more than eleven years before the plant was introduced into Europe in 1789, so while it is generally agreed that the plant was named in 1791 in honor of Dahl, who had died two years before, Linnaeus could not have been the one who did so. It was probably Abbe Antonio Jose Cavanilles, Director of the Royal Gardens of Madrid, who should be credited with the attempt to scientifically define the genus, since he not only received the first specimens from Mexico in 1789, but named the first three species that flowered from the cuttings.
Regardless of who bestowed it, the name was not so easily established. In 1805, German botanist Carl Ludwig Willdenow, asserting that the genus Dahlia Thunb. (published a year after Cavanilles's genus and now considered a synonym of Trichocladus) was more widely accepted, changed the plants' genus from Dahlia to Georgina; after the German-born naturalist Johann Gottlieb Georgi, a professor at the Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg, Russia. He also reclassified and renamed the first three species grown, and identified, by Cavanilles. It was not until 1810, in a published article, that he officially adopted the Cavanilles' original designation of Dahlia. However, the name Georgina still persisted in Germany for the next few decades.
"Dahl" is a homophone of the Swedish word "dal", or "valley"; although it is not a true translation, the plant is sometimes referred to as the "valley flower".
DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT
Predominantly Mexico, but some species are found ranging as far south as northern South America. D. australis occurs at least as far south as southwestern Guatemala, while D. coccinea and D. imperialis also occur in parts of Central America and northern South America. Dahlia is a genus of the uplands and mountains, being found at elevations between 1,500 and 3,700 meters, in what has been described as a "pine-oak woodland" vegetative zone. Most species have limited ranges scattered throughout many mountain ranges in Mexico.
ECOLOGY
The commonest pollinators are bees and small beetles.
PESTS AND DISEASES
Slugs and snails are serious pests in some parts of the world, particularly in spring when new growth is emerging through the soil. Earwigs can also disfigure the blooms. The other main pests likely to be encountered are aphids (usually on young stems and immature flower buds), red spider mite (causing foliage mottling and discolouration, worse in hot and dry conditions) and capsid bugs (resulting in contortion and holes at growing tips). Diseases affecting dahlias include powdery mildew, grey mould (Botrytis cinerea), verticillium wilt, dahlia smut (Entyloma calendulae f. dahliae), phytophthora and some plant viruses. Dahlias are a source of food for the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Angle Shades, Common Swift, Ghost Moth and Large Yellow Underwing.
CULTIVATION
Dahlias grow naturally in climates which do not experience frost (the tubers are hardy to USDA Zone 8), consequently they are not adapted to withstand sub-zero temperatures. However, their tuberous nature enables them to survive periods of dormancy, and this characteristic means that gardeners in temperate climates with frosts can grow dahlias successfully, provided the tubers are lifted from the ground and stored in cool yet frost-free conditions during the winter. Planting the tubers quite deep (10 – 15 cm) also provides some protection. When in active growth, modern dahlia hybrids perform most successfully in well-watered yet free-draining soils, in situations receiving plenty of sunlight. Taller cultivars usually require some form of staking as they grow, and all garden dahlias need deadheading regularly, once flowering commences.
HORTICURAL CLASSIFICATION
HISTORY
The inappropriate term D. variabilis is often used to describe the cultivars of Dahlia since the correct parentage remains obscure, but probably involves Dahlia coccinea. In 1846 the Caledonia Horticultural Society of Edinburgh offered a prize of 2,000 pounds to the first person succeeding in producing a blue dahlia. This has to date not been accomplished. While dahlias produce anthocyanin, an element necessary for the production of the blue, to achieve a true blue color in a plant, the anthocyanin delphinidin needs six hydroxyl groups. To date dahlias have only developed five, so the closest that breeders have come to achieving a "blue" specimen are variations of mauve, purples and lilac hues.
By the beginning of the twentieth century a number of different types were recognised. These terms were based on shape or colour, and the National Dahlia Society included cactus, pompon, single, show and fancy in its 1904 guide. Many national societies developed their own classification systems until 1962 when the International Horticultural Congress agreed to develop an internationally recognised system at it Brussels meeting that year, and subsequently in Maryland in 1966. This culminated in the 1969 publication of The International Register of Dahlia Names by the Royal Horticultural Society which became the central registering authority.
This system depended primarily on the visibility of the central disc, whether it was open centred or whether only ray florets were apparent centrally (double bloom). The double bloom cultivars were then subdivided according to the way in which they were folded along their longitudinal axis, flat, involute (curled inwards) or revolute (curling backwards). If the end of the ray floret was split, they were considered fimbriated. Based on these characteristics, nine groups were defined plua a tenth miscellaneous group for any cultivars not fitting the above characteristics. Fimbriated dahlias were added in 2004, and two further groups (Single and Double orchid) in 2007. The last group to be added, Peony, first appeared in 2012.
In many cases the bloom diametre was then used to further label certain groups from miniature through to giant. This practice was abandoned in 2012.
MODERN SYSTEM (RHS)
There are now more than 57,000 registered cultivars, which are officially registered through the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). The official register is The International Register of Dahlia Names 1969 (1995 reprint) which is updated by annual supplements. The original 1969 registry published about 14,000 cultivars adding a further 1700 by 1986 and in 2003 there were 18,000. Since then about a hundred new cultivars are added annually.
FLOWER TYPE
The official RHS classification lists fourteen groups, grouped by flower type, together with the abbreviations used by the RHS;
Group 1 – Single-flowered dahlias (Sin) — Flower has a central disc with a single outer ring of florets (which may overlap) encircling it, and which may be rounded or pointed.
Group 2 – Anemone-flowered dahlias (Anem) — The centre of the flower consists of dense elongated tubular florets, longer than the disc florets of Single dahlias, while the outer parts have one or more rings of flatter ray florets. Disc absent.
Group 3 – Collerette dahlias (Col) — Large flat florets forming a single outer ring around a central disc and which may overlap a smaller circle of florets closer to the centre, which have the appearance of a collar.
Group 4 – Waterlily dahlias (WL) — Double blooms, broad sparse curved, slightly curved or flat florets and very shallow in depth compared with other dahlias. Depth less than half the diameter of the bloom. Group 5 – Decorative dahlias (D) — Double blooms, ray florets broad, flat, involute no more than seventy five per cent of the longitudinal axis, slightly twisted and usually bluntly pointed. No visible central disc.
Group 6 – Ball dahlias (Ba)— Double blooms that are ball shaped or slightly flattened. Ray florets blunt or rounded at the tips, margins arranged spirally, involute for at least seventy five percent of the length of the florets. Larger than Pompons.
Group 7 – Pompon dahlias (Pom) — Double spherical miniature flowers made up entirely from florets that are curved inwards (involute) for their entire length (longitudinal axis), resembling a pompon.
Group 8 – Cactus dahlias (C) — Double blooms, ray florets pointed, with majority revolute (rolled) over more than fifty percent of their longitudinal axis, and straight or incurved. Narrower than Semi cactus.
Group 9 – Semi cactus dahlias (S–c)— Double blooms, very pointed ray florets, revolute for greater than twenty five percent and less than fifty percent of their longitudinal axis. Broad at the base and straight or incurved, almost spiky in appearance.
Group 10 – Miscellaneous dahlias (Misc) — not described in any other group.
Group 11 – Fimbriated dahlias (Fim) — ray florets evenly split or notched into two or more divisions, uniformly throughout the bloom, creating a fimbriated (fringed) effect. The petals may be flat, involute, revolute, straight, incurving or twisted.
Group 12 – Single Orchid (Star) dahlias (SinO) — single outer ring of florets surround a central disc. The ray florets are either involute or revolute.
Group 13 – Double Orchid dahlias (DblO) — Double blooms with triangular centres. The ray florets are narrowly lanceolate and are either involute or revolute. The central disc is absent.
Group 14 – Peony-flowered dahlias (P) — Large flowers with three or four rows of rays that are flattened and expanded and arranged irregularly. The rays surround a golden disc similar to that of Single dahlias.
FLOWER SIZE
Earlier versions of the registry subdivided some groups by flower size. Groups 4, 5, 8 and 9 were divided into five subgroups (A to E) from Giant to Miniature, and Group 6 into two subgroups, Small and Miniature. Dahlias were then described by Group and Subgroup, e.g. 5(d) ‘Ace Summer Sunset’. Some Dahlia Societies have continued this practice, but this is neither official nor standardised. As of 2013 The RHS uses two size descriptors
Dwarf Bedder (Dw.B.) — not usually exceeding 600 mm in height, e.g. 'Preston Park' (Sin/DwB)
Lilliput dahlias (Lil) — not usually exceeding 300 mm in height, with single, semi-double or double florets up to 26 mm in diameter. ("baby" or "top-mix" dahlias), e.g. 'Harvest Tiny Tot' (Misc/Lil)
Sizes can range from tiny micro dahlias with flowers less than 50mm to giants that are over 250mm in diameter. The groupings listed here are from the New Zealand Society.
Giant flowered cultivars have blooms with a diameter of over 250mm.
Large flowered cultivars have blooms with a diameter between 200mm-250mm.
Medium flowered cultivars have blooms with a diameter between 155mm-200mm.
Small flowered cultivars have blooms with a diameter between 115mm-155mm.
Miniature flowered cultivars have blooms with a diameter between 50mm-115mm.
Pompom flowered cultivars have blooms with a diameter less than 50mm.
In addition to the official classification and the terminology used by various dahlia societies, individual horticulturalists use a wide range of other descriptions, such as 'Incurved' and abbreviations in their catalogues, such as CO for Collarette.
BRANDING
Some plant growers include their brand name in the cultivar name. Thus Fides (part of the Dümmen Orange Group) in the Netherlands developed a series of cultivars which they named the Dahlinova Series, for example Dahlinova 'Carolina Burgundy'. These are Group 10 Miscellaneous in the RHS classification scheme.
DOUBLE DAHLIAS
In 1805, several new species were reported with red, purple, lilac, and pale yellow coloring, and the first true double flower was produced in Belgium. One of the more popular concepts of dahlia history, and the basis for many different interpretations and confusion, is that all the original discoveries were single flowered types, which, through hybridization and selective breeding, produced double forms. Many of the species of dahlias then, and now, have single flowered blooms. coccinea, the third dahlia to bloom in Europe, was a single. But two of the three drawings of dahlias by Dominguez, made in Mexico between 1570–77, showed definite characteristics of doubling. In the early days of the dahlia in Europe, the word "double" simply designated flowers with more than one row of petals. The greatest effort was now directed to developing improved types of double dahlias.
During the years 1805 to 1810 several people claimed to have produced a double dahlia. In 1805 Henry C. Andrews made a drawing of such a plant in the collection of Lady Holland, grown from seedlings sent that year from Madrid. Like other doubles of the time it did not resemble the doubles of today. The first modern double, or full double, appeared in Belgium; M. Donckelaar, Director of the Botanic Garden at Louvain, selected plants for that characteristic, and within a few years secured three fully double forms. By 1826 double varieties were being grown almost exclusively, and there was very little interest in the single forms. Up to this time all the so-called double dahlias had been purple, or tinged with purple, and it was doubted if a variety untinged with that color was obtainable.
In 1843, scented single forms of dahlias were first reported in Neu Verbass, Austria. D. crocea, a fragrant variety grown from one of the Humboldt seeds, was probably interbred with the single D. coccinea. A new scented species would not be introduced until the next century when the D. coronata was brought from Mexico to Germany in 1907.
The exact date the dahlia was introduced in the United States is uncertain. One of the first Dahlias in the USA may be the D. coccinea speciosissima grown by Mr William Leathe, of Cambridgeport, near Boston, around 1929. According to Edward Sayers "it attracted much admiration, and at that time was considered a very elegant flower, it was however soon eclipsed by that splendid scarlet, the Countess of Liverpool". However 9 cultivars were already listed in the catalog from Thornburn, 1825. And even earlier reference can be found in a catalogue from the Linnaean Botanical Garden, New York, 1820, that includes one scarlet, one purple, and two double orange Dahlias for sale.
Sayers stated that "No person has done more for the introduction and advancement of the culture of the Dahlia than George C. Thorburn, of New York, who yearly flowers many thousand plants at his place at Hallet's Cove, near Harlaem. The show there in the flowering season is a rich treat for the lovers of floriculture : for almost every variety can be seen growing in two large blocks or masses which lead from the road to the dwelling-house, and form a complete field of the Dahlia as a foreground to the house. Mr T. Hogg, Mr William Read, and many other well known florists, have also contributed much in the vicinity of New York, to the introduction of the Dahlia. Indeed so general has become the taste that almost every garden has its show of the Dahlia in the season." In Boston too there were many collections, a collection from the Messrs Hovey of Cambridgeport was also mentioned.
In 1835 Thomas Bridgeman, published a list of 160 double dahlias in his Florist's Guide. 60 of the choicest were supplied by Mr. G. C. Thornburn of Astoria, N.Y. who got most of them from contacts in the UK. Not a few of them had taken prices "at the English and American exhibitions".
"STARS OF DEVIL"
In 1872 J.T. van der Berg of Utrecht in the Netherlands, received a shipment of seeds and plants from a friend in Mexico. The entire shipment was badly rotted and appeared to be ruined, but van der Berg examined it carefully and found a small piece of root that seemed alive. He planted and carefully tended it; it grew into a plant that he identified as a dahlia. He made cuttings from the plant during the winter of 1872-1873. This was an entirely different type of flower, with a rich, red color and a high degree of doubling. In 1874 van der Berg catalogued it for sale, calling it Dahlia juarezii to honor Mexican President Benito Pablo Juarez, who had died the year before, and described it as "...equal to the beautiful color of the red poppy. Its form is very outstanding and different in every respect of all known dahlia flowers.".
This plant has perhaps had a greater influence on the popularity of the modern dahlia than any other. Called "Les Etoiles de Diable" (Stars of the Devil) in France and "Cactus dahlia" elsewhere, the edges of its petals rolled backwards, rather than forward, and this new form revolutionized the dahlia world. It was thought to be a distinct mutation since no other plant that resembled it could be found in the wild. Today it is assumed that D. juarezii had, at one time, existed in Mexico and subsequently disappeared. Nurserymen in Europe crossbred this plant with dahlias discovered earlier; the results became the progenitors of all modern dahlia hybrids today.
AWARD OF GARDEN MERIT (RHS)
As of 2015, 124 dahlia cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:
"Bednall beauty"
"Bishop of Llandaff"
"Clair de lune"
"David Howard"
"Ellen Huston"
"Fascination"
"Gallery art deco"
"Gallery Art Nouveau"
"Glorie van Heemstede"
"Honka"
"Moonfire"
"Twyning's After Eight"
USES
FLORICULTURE
The asterid eudicots contain two economically important geophyte genera, Dahlia and Liatris. Horticulturally the garden dahlia is usually treated as the cultigen D. variabilis Hort., which while being responsible for thousands of cultivars has an obscure taxonomic status.
OTHER
Today the dahlia is still considered one of the native ingredients in Oaxacan cuisine; several cultivars are still grown especially for their large, sweet potato-like tubers. Dacopa, an intense mocha-tasting extract from the roasted tubers, is used to flavor beverages throughout Central America.
In Europe and America, prior to the discovery of insulin in 1923, diabetics - as well as consumptives - were often given a substance called Atlantic starch or diabetic sugar, derived from inulin, a naturally occurring form of fruit sugar, extracted from dahlia tubers. Inulin is still used in clinical tests for kidney functionality.
WIKIPEDIA
With a diameter of 100 meters, the Radio Telescope Effelsberg is one of the largest fully steerable radio telescopes on earth. Since operations started in 1972, the technology has been continually improved (i.e. new surface for the antenna-dish, better reception of high-quality data, extremely low noise electronics) making it one of the most advanced modern telescopes worldwide.
The telescope is employed to observe pulsars, cold gas- and dust clusters, the sites of star formation, jets of matter emitted by black holes and the nuclei (centres) of distant far-off galaxies.
Effelsberg is an important part of the worldwide network of radio telescopes. The combination of different telescopes in interferometric mode makes possible to obtain the sharpest images of the universe.
Text (C) Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy
The telescope may receive radio signals from a distance of up to 12bn light years. Together with a radio telescope in the US (Green Bank, Virginia), it is the largest radio telescope in the world.
The photos show the telescope at different angles because it was turning quite a bit during our visit.
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This entire yellow flower including all of its buds is only 3/16" at its widest diameter!
So these buds would be, what, maybe 1/32" across their widest diameter? I measured them at 1/8" long!
.
Folks, a weeds in my yard explanation: If you wonder if my yard is full of weeds...yes, it is. It is full of, obviously, many different types of weeds.
When we moved into our home we paid for premium grade Saint Augustine grass (which many people consider to be a weed itself!) which was diseased from the grower and in spite of water bills which topped $1,000 (no, the contractor paid that) it all died.
They replaced it with weed-infested crap. (We can't sue them...they went out of business.) In the front yard I declared war on the weeds and I spent 2 years putting down every kind of weed killer known to man, fertilizing, seeding new grass, etc., etc. 1 year...ONE...we had a front lawn that looked like nice grass with hardly any weeds. That lasted until the following spring, when the weeds all said, "Thank you so much for all of the chemicals! YUM!" And rebounded with a vengeance. Now I've adopted the old Texas lawn care motto I used to abide by: "If it's green, mow it." I've lost the battle.
The back yard has always been a lost cause, and I've pretty much let it go for the sake of the wildlife that enjoys munching on the variety of crap back there...wild gopher tortoises clamber under my fence and spend a long time grazing...bunnies find all sorts of crap to eat...so all I do is mow the back yard and it has become a haven for critters.
So yes, I am the Weed King...in more ways than one.
But I sure do get some pretty micro flower shots from them!!! :)
.
The photographs in my set, "Weed Flower Micros," may appear to be close-ups of regular-sized flowers – they are not!
These are micro (macro) photos of tiny little flowers which bloom on ordinary weeds.
How tiny? The largest weed flower in the set is only, when measured across its widest part from petal tip to petal tip, 3/4" in diameter!
Some of these miniscule flowers are so small that the entire blossom you are looking at is 1/4" in diameter…again that’s measuring from petal tip to petal tip across the widest part of the bloom!
The smallest part of a weed flower that I have managed to successfully shoot and achieve good detail in is a photo I made of a bud that measured LESS than 1/16" in diameter across its widest part! For a reference to its size I have also included a photo of that bud next to the head of an ordinary paper match, which dwarfs the bud.
I am delighting in discovering the beauty, complexity, and variety in something so small that it’s easily ignored or downright difficult to see with the naked eye.
And it’s an even greater delight to realize that this incredible beauty has been growing wild in my lawn, year after year, right under my un-seeing eyes as I’ve repeatedly mown them down with my lawn mower, never realizing the unseen beauty that I was trampling under my feet.
I hope you enjoy viewing these as much as I do. I have a lot of fun making them for us to look at!
.
See more of these incredible, tiny jewels in my set, "Weed Flower Micros:"
The diameter of the silky arm structure is ~ 1/4 in. The seedpod is ~1/8 in. long. Tentative ID from: www.wqed.org/birdblog/2013/09/07/parachutes/
A large diameter aluminum tube was squished to make the outer housing for the emitter. Then six short lengths of small diameter aluminum tubing were glued inside the housing before a slot was drilled out of the lower half of the saucer rim for mounting the new weapon with CA glue.
A good view of the parts of this one-inch ratcheting micrometer as it measures the outside diameter of this item. Easily visible are the frame, anvil, spindle, sleeve, thimble and ratchet.
I photographed this to use in teaching Boeing 787 Dreamliner classes.
With a diameter of 100 meters, the Radio Telescope Effelsberg is one of the largest fully steerable radio telescopes on earth. Since operations started in 1972, the technology has been continually improved (i.e. new surface for the antenna-dish, better reception of high-quality data, extremely low noise electronics) making it one of the most advanced modern telescopes worldwide.
The telescope is employed to observe pulsars, cold gas- and dust clusters, the sites of star formation, jets of matter emitted by black holes and the nuclei (centres) of distant far-off galaxies.
Effelsberg is an important part of the worldwide network of radio telescopes. The combination of different telescopes in interferometric mode makes possible to obtain the sharpest images of the universe.
Text (C) Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy
The telescope may receive radio signals from a distance of up to 12bn light years. Together with a redio telescope in the US (Green Bank, Virginia), it is the largest radio telescope in the world.
The photos show the telescope at different angles because it was turning quite a bit during our visit.
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Dahlia (UK /deɪliə/ or US /dɑːliə/) is a genus of bushy, tuberous, herbaceous perennial plants native to Mexico. A member of the Asteraceae (or Compositae), dicotyledonous plants, related species include the sunflower, daisy, chrysanthemum, and zinnia. There are 42 species of dahlia, with hybrids commonly grown as garden plants. Flower forms are variable, with one head per stem; these can be as small as 5.1 cm diameter or up to 30 cm ("dinner plate"). This great variety results from dahlias being octoploids—that is, they have eight sets of homologous chromosomes, whereas most plants have only two. In addition, dahlias also contain many transposons - genetic pieces that move from place to place upon an allele - which contributes to their manifesting such great diversity.
The stems are leafy, ranging in height from as low as 30 cm to more than 1.8–2.4 m. The majority of species do not produce scented flowers or cultivars. Like most plants that do not attract pollinating insects through scent, they are brightly colored, displaying most hues, with the exception of blue.
The dahlia was declared the national flower of Mexico in 1963. The tubers were grown as a food crop by the Aztecs, but this use largely died out after the Spanish Conquest. Attempts to introduce the tubers as a food crop in Europe were unsuccessful.
DESCRIPTION
Perennial plants, with mostly tuberous roots. While some have herbaceous stems, others have stems which lignify in the absence of secondary tissue and resprout following winter dormancy, allowing further seasons of growth. as a member of the Asteraceae the flower head is actually a composite (hence the older name Compositae) with both central disc florets and surrounding ray florets. Each floret is a flower in its own right, but is often incorrectly described as a petal, particularly by horticulturalists. The modern mame Asteraceae refers to the appearance of a star with surrounding rays.
TAXONOMY
HISTORY
EARLY HISTORY
Spaniards reported finding the plants growing in Mexico in 1525, but the earliest known description is by Francisco Hernández, physician to Philip II, who was ordered to visit Mexico in 1570 to study the "natural products of that country". They were used as a source of food by the indigenous peoples, and were both gathered in the wild and cultivated. The Aztecs used them to treat epilepsy, and employed the long hollow stem of the (Dahlia imperalis) for water pipes. The indigenous peoples variously identified the plants as "Chichipatl" (Toltecs) and "Acocotle" or "Cocoxochitl" (Aztecs). From Hernandez' perception of Aztec, to Spanish, through various other translations, the word is "water cane", "water pipe", "water pipe flower", "hollow stem flower" and "cane flower". All these refer to the hollowness of the plants' stem.Hernandez described two varieties of dahlias (the pinwheel-like Dahlia pinnata and the huge Dahlia imperialis) as well as other medicinal plants of New Spain. Francisco Dominguez, a Hidalgo gentleman who accompanied Hernandez on part of his seven-year study, made a series of drawings to supplement the four volume report. Three of his drawings showed plants with flowers: two resembled the modern bedding dahlia, and one resembled the species Dahlia merki; all displayed a high degree of doubleness. In 1578 the manuscript, entitled Nova Plantarum, Animalium et Mineralium Mexicanorum Historia, was sent back to the Escorial in Madrid; they were not translated into Latin by Francisco Ximenes until 1615. In 1640, Francisco Cesi, President of the Academia Linei of Rome, bought the Ximenes translation, and after annotating it, published it in 1649-1651 in two volumes as Rerum Medicarum Novae Hispaniae Thesaurus Seu Nova Plantarium, Animalium et Mineraliuím Mexicanorum Historia. The original manuscripts were destroyed in a fire in the mid-1600s.
EUROPEAN INTRODUCTION
In 1787, the French botanist Nicolas-Joseph Thiéry de Menonville, sent to Mexico to steal the cochineal insect valued for its scarlet dye, reported the strangely beautiful flowers he had seen growing in a garden in Oaxaca. In 1789, Vicente Cervantes, Director of the Botanical Garden at Mexico City, sent "plant parts" to Abbe Antonio José Cavanilles, Director of the Royal Gardens of Madrid. Cavanilles flowered one plant that same year, then the second one a year later. In 1791 he called the new growths "Dahlia" for Anders Dahl. The first plant was called Dahlia pinnata after its pinnate foliage; the second, Dahlia rosea for its rose-purple color. In 1796 Cavanilles flowered a third plant from the parts sent by Cervantes, which he named Dahlia coccinea for its scarlet color.In 1798, Cavanilles sent D. Pinnata seeds to Parma, Italy. That year, the Marchioness of Bute, wife of The Earl of Bute, the English Ambassador to Spain, obtained a few seeds from Cavanilles and sent them to Kew Gardens, where they flowered but were lost after two to three years. In the following years Madrid sent seeds to Berlin and Dresden in Germany, and to Turin and Thiene in Italy. In 1802, Cavanilles sent tubers of "these three" (D. pinnata, D. rosea, D. coccinea) to Swiss botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle at University of Montpelier in France, Andre Thouin at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris and Scottish botanist William Aiton at Kew Gardens. That same year, John Fraser, English nurseryman and later botanical collector to the Czar of Russia, brought D. coccinea seeds from Paris to the Apothecaries Gardens in England, where they flowered in his greenhouse a year later, providing Botanical Magazine with an illustration.In 1804, a new species, Dahlia sambucifolia, was successfully grown at Holland House, Kensington. Whilst in Madrid in 1804, Lady Holland was given either dahlia seeds or tubers by Cavanilles. She sent them back to England, to Lord Holland's librarian Mr Buonaiuti at Holland House, who successfully raised the plants. A year later, Buonaiuti produced two double flowers. The plants raised in 1804 did not survive; new stock was brought from France in 1815. In 1824, Lord Holland sent his wife a note containing the following verse:
"The dahlia you brought to our isle
Your praises for ever shall speak;
Mid gardens as sweet as your smile,
And in colour as bright as your cheek."
In 1805, German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt sent more seeds from Mexico to Aiton in England, Thouin in Paris, and Christoph Friedrich Otto, director of the Berlin Botanical Garden. More significantly, he sent seeds to botanist Carl Ludwig Willdenow in Germany. Willdenow now reclassified the rapidly growing number of species, changing the genus from Dahlia to Georgina; after naturalist Johann Gottlieb Georgi. He combined the Cavanilles species D. pinnata and D. rosea under the name of Georgina variabilis; D. coccinea was still held to be a separate species, which he renamed Georgina coccinea.
CLASSIFICATION
Since 1789 when Cavanilles first flowered the dahlia in Europe, there has been an ongoing effort by many growers, botanists and taxonomists, to determine the development of the dahlia to modern times. At least 85 species have been reported: approximately 25 of these were first reported from the wild, the remainder appeared in gardens in Europe. They were considered hybrids, the results of crossing between previously reported species, or developed from the seeds sent by Humboldt from Mexico in 1805, or perhaps from some other undocumented seeds that had found their way to Europe. Several of these were soon discovered to be identical with earlier reported species, but the greatest number are new varieties. Morphological variation is highly pronounced in the dahlia. William John Cooper Lawrence, who hybridized hundreds of families of dahlias in the 1920s, stated: "I have not yet seen any two plants in the families I have raised which were not to be distinguished one from the other. Constant reclassification of the 85 reported species has resulted in a considerably smaller number of distinct species, as there is a great deal of disagreement today between systematists over classification.
In 1829, all species growing in Europe were reclassified under an all-encompassing name of D. variabilis, Desf., though this is not an accepted name. Through the interspecies cross of the Humboldt seeds and the Cavanilles species, 22 new species were reported by that year, all of which had been classified in different ways by several different taxonomists, creating considerable confusion as to which species was which.
In 1830 William Smith suggested that all dahlia species could be divided into two groups for color, red-tinged and purple-tinged. In investigating this idea Lawrence determined that with the exception of D. variabilis, all dahlia species may be assigned to one of two groups for flower-colour: Group I (ivory-magenta) or Group II (yellow-orange-scarlet).
CIRCUMSCRIPTION
The genus Dahlia is situated in the Asteroideae subfamily of the Asteraceae, in the Coreopsideae tribe. Within that tribe it is the second largest genus, after Coreopsis, and appears as a well defined clade within the Coreopsideae.
SUBDIVISION
INFRAGENERIC SUBDIVISION
Sherff (1955), in the first modern taxonomy described three sections for the 18 species he recognised, Pseudodendron, Epiphytum and Dahlia. By 1969 Sørensen recognised 29 species and four sections by splitting off Entemophyllon from section Dahlia. By contrast Giannasi (1975) using a phytochemical analysis based on flavonoids, reduced the genus to just two sections, Entemophyllon and Dahlia, the latter having three subsections, Pseudodendron, Dahlia, and Merckii. Sørensen then issued a further revision in 1980, incorporating subsection Merckii in his original section Dahlia. When he described two new species in the 1980s (Dahlia tubulata and D. congestifolia), he placed them within his existing sections. A further species, Dahlia sorensenii was added by Hansen and Hjerting in (1996). At the same time they demonstrated that Dahlia pinnata should more properly be designated D. x pinnata. D. x pinnata was shown to actually be a variant of D. sorensenii that had acquired hybrid qualities before it was introduced to Europe in the sixteenth century and formally named by Cavanilles. The original wild D. pinnata is presumed extinct. Further species continue to be described, Saar (2003) describing 35 species. However separation of the sections on morphological, cytologal and biocemical criteria has not been entirely satisfactory.
To date these sectional divisions have not been fully supported phylogenetically, which demonstrate only section Entemophyllon as a distinct sectional clade. The other major grouping is the Core Dahlia Clade (CDC), which includes most of section Dahlia. The remainder of the species occupy what has been described as the Variable Root Clade (VRC) which includes the small section Pseudodendron but also the monotypic section Epiphytum and a number of species from within section Dahlia. Outside of these three clades lie D. tubulata and D. merckii as a polytomy.
Horticulturally the sections retain some usage, section Pseudodendron being referred to as 'Tree Dahlias', Epiphytum as the 'Vine Dahlia'. The remaining two herbaceous sections being distinguished by their pinnules, opposing (Dahlia) or alternating (Entemophyllon).
SECTIONS
Sections (including chromosome numbers), with geographical distribution;
- Epiphytum Sherff (2n = 32)
10 m tall climber with aerial roots 5 cm thick and up to more than 20 m long; pinnules opposite
1 species, D. macdougallii Sherff
Mexico: Oaxaca
- Entemophyllon P. D. Sorensen (2n = 34)
6 species
Mexico: Hidalgo, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, Querétaro, Durango, San Luis Potosí
- Pseudodendron P. D. Sorensen (2n = 32)
3 species + D. excelsa of uncertain identity
Mexico: Chiapas, Guerrero, Jalisco, Michoacan, Oaxaca, and
Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala & Colombia
- Dahlia (2n = 32, 36 or 64)
24 species
Mexico: Distrito Federal, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Morelos, Nuevo León, Puebla, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Oaxaca, Puebla, Chiapas, México, Huehuetenango, Chihuahua, Durango, Michoacan & Guatemala
Only Pseudodendron (D. imperialis) and Dahlia (D. australis, D. coccinea) occur outside Mexico.
SPECIES
There are currently 42 accepted species in the Dahlia genus, but new species continue to be described.
ETYMOLOGY
The naming of the plant itself has long been a subject of some confusion. Many sources state that the name "Dahlia" was bestowed by the pioneering Swedish botanist and taxonomist Carl Linnaeus to honor his late student, Anders Dahl, author of Observationes Botanicae. However, Linnaeus died in 1778, more than eleven years before the plant was introduced into Europe in 1789, so while it is generally agreed that the plant was named in 1791 in honor of Dahl, who had died two years before, Linnaeus could not have been the one who did so. It was probably Abbe Antonio Jose Cavanilles, Director of the Royal Gardens of Madrid, who should be credited with the attempt to scientifically define the genus, since he not only received the first specimens from Mexico in 1789, but named the first three species that flowered from the cuttings.
Regardless of who bestowed it, the name was not so easily established. In 1805, German botanist Carl Ludwig Willdenow, asserting that the genus Dahlia Thunb. (published a year after Cavanilles's genus and now considered a synonym of Trichocladus) was more widely accepted, changed the plants' genus from Dahlia to Georgina; after the German-born naturalist Johann Gottlieb Georgi, a professor at the Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg, Russia. He also reclassified and renamed the first three species grown, and identified, by Cavanilles. It was not until 1810, in a published article, that he officially adopted the Cavanilles' original designation of Dahlia. However, the name Georgina still persisted in Germany for the next few decades.
"Dahl" is a homophone of the Swedish word "dal", or "valley"; although it is not a true translation, the plant is sometimes referred to as the "valley flower".
DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT
Predominantly Mexico, but some species are found ranging as far south as northern South America. D. australis occurs at least as far south as southwestern Guatemala, while D. coccinea and D. imperialis also occur in parts of Central America and northern South America. Dahlia is a genus of the uplands and mountains, being found at elevations between 1,500 and 3,700 meters, in what has been described as a "pine-oak woodland" vegetative zone. Most species have limited ranges scattered throughout many mountain ranges in Mexico.
ECOLOGY
The commonest pollinators are bees and small beetles.
PESTS AND DISEASES
Slugs and snails are serious pests in some parts of the world, particularly in spring when new growth is emerging through the soil. Earwigs can also disfigure the blooms. The other main pests likely to be encountered are aphids (usually on young stems and immature flower buds), red spider mite (causing foliage mottling and discolouration, worse in hot and dry conditions) and capsid bugs (resulting in contortion and holes at growing tips). Diseases affecting dahlias include powdery mildew, grey mould (Botrytis cinerea), verticillium wilt, dahlia smut (Entyloma calendulae f. dahliae), phytophthora and some plant viruses. Dahlias are a source of food for the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Angle Shades, Common Swift, Ghost Moth and Large Yellow Underwing.
CULTIVATION
Dahlias grow naturally in climates which do not experience frost (the tubers are hardy to USDA Zone 8), consequently they are not adapted to withstand sub-zero temperatures. However, their tuberous nature enables them to survive periods of dormancy, and this characteristic means that gardeners in temperate climates with frosts can grow dahlias successfully, provided the tubers are lifted from the ground and stored in cool yet frost-free conditions during the winter. Planting the tubers quite deep (10 – 15 cm) also provides some protection. When in active growth, modern dahlia hybrids perform most successfully in well-watered yet free-draining soils, in situations receiving plenty of sunlight. Taller cultivars usually require some form of staking as they grow, and all garden dahlias need deadheading regularly, once flowering commences.
HORTICURAL CLASSIFICATION
HISTORY
The inappropriate term D. variabilis is often used to describe the cultivars of Dahlia since the correct parentage remains obscure, but probably involves Dahlia coccinea. In 1846 the Caledonia Horticultural Society of Edinburgh offered a prize of 2,000 pounds to the first person succeeding in producing a blue dahlia. This has to date not been accomplished. While dahlias produce anthocyanin, an element necessary for the production of the blue, to achieve a true blue color in a plant, the anthocyanin delphinidin needs six hydroxyl groups. To date dahlias have only developed five, so the closest that breeders have come to achieving a "blue" specimen are variations of mauve, purples and lilac hues.
By the beginning of the twentieth century a number of different types were recognised. These terms were based on shape or colour, and the National Dahlia Society included cactus, pompon, single, show and fancy in its 1904 guide. Many national societies developed their own classification systems until 1962 when the International Horticultural Congress agreed to develop an internationally recognised system at it Brussels meeting that year, and subsequently in Maryland in 1966. This culminated in the 1969 publication of The International Register of Dahlia Names by the Royal Horticultural Society which became the central registering authority.
This system depended primarily on the visibility of the central disc, whether it was open centred or whether only ray florets were apparent centrally (double bloom). The double bloom cultivars were then subdivided according to the way in which they were folded along their longitudinal axis, flat, involute (curled inwards) or revolute (curling backwards). If the end of the ray floret was split, they were considered fimbriated. Based on these characteristics, nine groups were defined plua a tenth miscellaneous group for any cultivars not fitting the above characteristics. Fimbriated dahlias were added in 2004, and two further groups (Single and Double orchid) in 2007. The last group to be added, Peony, first appeared in 2012.
In many cases the bloom diametre was then used to further label certain groups from miniature through to giant. This practice was abandoned in 2012.
MODERN SYSTEM (RHS)
There are now more than 57,000 registered cultivars, which are officially registered through the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). The official register is The International Register of Dahlia Names 1969 (1995 reprint) which is updated by annual supplements. The original 1969 registry published about 14,000 cultivars adding a further 1700 by 1986 and in 2003 there were 18,000. Since then about a hundred new cultivars are added annually.
FLOWER TYPE
The official RHS classification lists fourteen groups, grouped by flower type, together with the abbreviations used by the RHS;
Group 1 – Single-flowered dahlias (Sin) — Flower has a central disc with a single outer ring of florets (which may overlap) encircling it, and which may be rounded or pointed.
Group 2 – Anemone-flowered dahlias (Anem) — The centre of the flower consists of dense elongated tubular florets, longer than the disc florets of Single dahlias, while the outer parts have one or more rings of flatter ray florets. Disc absent.
Group 3 – Collerette dahlias (Col) — Large flat florets forming a single outer ring around a central disc and which may overlap a smaller circle of florets closer to the centre, which have the appearance of a collar.
Group 4 – Waterlily dahlias (WL) — Double blooms, broad sparse curved, slightly curved or flat florets and very shallow in depth compared with other dahlias. Depth less than half the diameter of the bloom. Group 5 – Decorative dahlias (D) — Double blooms, ray florets broad, flat, involute no more than seventy five per cent of the longitudinal axis, slightly twisted and usually bluntly pointed. No visible central disc.
Group 6 – Ball dahlias (Ba)— Double blooms that are ball shaped or slightly flattened. Ray florets blunt or rounded at the tips, margins arranged spirally, involute for at least seventy five percent of the length of the florets. Larger than Pompons.
Group 7 – Pompon dahlias (Pom) — Double spherical miniature flowers made up entirely from florets that are curved inwards (involute) for their entire length (longitudinal axis), resembling a pompon.
Group 8 – Cactus dahlias (C) — Double blooms, ray florets pointed, with majority revolute (rolled) over more than fifty percent of their longitudinal axis, and straight or incurved. Narrower than Semi cactus.
Group 9 – Semi cactus dahlias (S–c)— Double blooms, very pointed ray florets, revolute for greater than twenty five percent and less than fifty percent of their longitudinal axis. Broad at the base and straight or incurved, almost spiky in appearance.
Group 10 – Miscellaneous dahlias (Misc) — not described in any other group.
Group 11 – Fimbriated dahlias (Fim) — ray florets evenly split or notched into two or more divisions, uniformly throughout the bloom, creating a fimbriated (fringed) effect. The petals may be flat, involute, revolute, straight, incurving or twisted.
Group 12 – Single Orchid (Star) dahlias (SinO) — single outer ring of florets surround a central disc. The ray florets are either involute or revolute.
Group 13 – Double Orchid dahlias (DblO) — Double blooms with triangular centres. The ray florets are narrowly lanceolate and are either involute or revolute. The central disc is absent.
Group 14 – Peony-flowered dahlias (P) — Large flowers with three or four rows of rays that are flattened and expanded and arranged irregularly. The rays surround a golden disc similar to that of Single dahlias.
FLOWER SIZE
Earlier versions of the registry subdivided some groups by flower size. Groups 4, 5, 8 and 9 were divided into five subgroups (A to E) from Giant to Miniature, and Group 6 into two subgroups, Small and Miniature. Dahlias were then described by Group and Subgroup, e.g. 5(d) ‘Ace Summer Sunset’. Some Dahlia Societies have continued this practice, but this is neither official nor standardised. As of 2013 The RHS uses two size descriptors
Dwarf Bedder (Dw.B.) — not usually exceeding 600 mm in height, e.g. 'Preston Park' (Sin/DwB)
Lilliput dahlias (Lil) — not usually exceeding 300 mm in height, with single, semi-double or double florets up to 26 mm in diameter. ("baby" or "top-mix" dahlias), e.g. 'Harvest Tiny Tot' (Misc/Lil)
Sizes can range from tiny micro dahlias with flowers less than 50mm to giants that are over 250mm in diameter. The groupings listed here are from the New Zealand Society.
Giant flowered cultivars have blooms with a diameter of over 250mm.
Large flowered cultivars have blooms with a diameter between 200mm-250mm.
Medium flowered cultivars have blooms with a diameter between 155mm-200mm.
Small flowered cultivars have blooms with a diameter between 115mm-155mm.
Miniature flowered cultivars have blooms with a diameter between 50mm-115mm.
Pompom flowered cultivars have blooms with a diameter less than 50mm.
In addition to the official classification and the terminology used by various dahlia societies, individual horticulturalists use a wide range of other descriptions, such as 'Incurved' and abbreviations in their catalogues, such as CO for Collarette.
BRANDING
Some plant growers include their brand name in the cultivar name. Thus Fides (part of the Dümmen Orange Group) in the Netherlands developed a series of cultivars which they named the Dahlinova Series, for example Dahlinova 'Carolina Burgundy'. These are Group 10 Miscellaneous in the RHS classification scheme.
DOUBLE DAHLIAS
In 1805, several new species were reported with red, purple, lilac, and pale yellow coloring, and the first true double flower was produced in Belgium. One of the more popular concepts of dahlia history, and the basis for many different interpretations and confusion, is that all the original discoveries were single flowered types, which, through hybridization and selective breeding, produced double forms. Many of the species of dahlias then, and now, have single flowered blooms. coccinea, the third dahlia to bloom in Europe, was a single. But two of the three drawings of dahlias by Dominguez, made in Mexico between 1570–77, showed definite characteristics of doubling. In the early days of the dahlia in Europe, the word "double" simply designated flowers with more than one row of petals. The greatest effort was now directed to developing improved types of double dahlias.
During the years 1805 to 1810 several people claimed to have produced a double dahlia. In 1805 Henry C. Andrews made a drawing of such a plant in the collection of Lady Holland, grown from seedlings sent that year from Madrid. Like other doubles of the time it did not resemble the doubles of today. The first modern double, or full double, appeared in Belgium; M. Donckelaar, Director of the Botanic Garden at Louvain, selected plants for that characteristic, and within a few years secured three fully double forms. By 1826 double varieties were being grown almost exclusively, and there was very little interest in the single forms. Up to this time all the so-called double dahlias had been purple, or tinged with purple, and it was doubted if a variety untinged with that color was obtainable.
In 1843, scented single forms of dahlias were first reported in Neu Verbass, Austria. D. crocea, a fragrant variety grown from one of the Humboldt seeds, was probably interbred with the single D. coccinea. A new scented species would not be introduced until the next century when the D. coronata was brought from Mexico to Germany in 1907.
The exact date the dahlia was introduced in the United States is uncertain. One of the first Dahlias in the USA may be the D. coccinea speciosissima grown by Mr William Leathe, of Cambridgeport, near Boston, around 1929. According to Edward Sayers "it attracted much admiration, and at that time was considered a very elegant flower, it was however soon eclipsed by that splendid scarlet, the Countess of Liverpool". However 9 cultivars were already listed in the catalog from Thornburn, 1825. And even earlier reference can be found in a catalogue from the Linnaean Botanical Garden, New York, 1820, that includes one scarlet, one purple, and two double orange Dahlias for sale.
Sayers stated that "No person has done more for the introduction and advancement of the culture of the Dahlia than George C. Thorburn, of New York, who yearly flowers many thousand plants at his place at Hallet's Cove, near Harlaem. The show there in the flowering season is a rich treat for the lovers of floriculture : for almost every variety can be seen growing in two large blocks or masses which lead from the road to the dwelling-house, and form a complete field of the Dahlia as a foreground to the house. Mr T. Hogg, Mr William Read, and many other well known florists, have also contributed much in the vicinity of New York, to the introduction of the Dahlia. Indeed so general has become the taste that almost every garden has its show of the Dahlia in the season." In Boston too there were many collections, a collection from the Messrs Hovey of Cambridgeport was also mentioned.
In 1835 Thomas Bridgeman, published a list of 160 double dahlias in his Florist's Guide. 60 of the choicest were supplied by Mr. G. C. Thornburn of Astoria, N.Y. who got most of them from contacts in the UK. Not a few of them had taken prices "at the English and American exhibitions".
"STARS OF DEVIL"
In 1872 J.T. van der Berg of Utrecht in the Netherlands, received a shipment of seeds and plants from a friend in Mexico. The entire shipment was badly rotted and appeared to be ruined, but van der Berg examined it carefully and found a small piece of root that seemed alive. He planted and carefully tended it; it grew into a plant that he identified as a dahlia. He made cuttings from the plant during the winter of 1872-1873. This was an entirely different type of flower, with a rich, red color and a high degree of doubling. In 1874 van der Berg catalogued it for sale, calling it Dahlia juarezii to honor Mexican President Benito Pablo Juarez, who had died the year before, and described it as "...equal to the beautiful color of the red poppy. Its form is very outstanding and different in every respect of all known dahlia flowers.".
This plant has perhaps had a greater influence on the popularity of the modern dahlia than any other. Called "Les Etoiles de Diable" (Stars of the Devil) in France and "Cactus dahlia" elsewhere, the edges of its petals rolled backwards, rather than forward, and this new form revolutionized the dahlia world. It was thought to be a distinct mutation since no other plant that resembled it could be found in the wild. Today it is assumed that D. juarezii had, at one time, existed in Mexico and subsequently disappeared. Nurserymen in Europe crossbred this plant with dahlias discovered earlier; the results became the progenitors of all modern dahlia hybrids today.
AWARD OF GARDEN MERIT (RHS)
As of 2015, 124 dahlia cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:
"Bednall beauty"
"Bishop of Llandaff"
"Clair de lune"
"David Howard"
"Ellen Huston"
"Fascination"
"Gallery art deco"
"Gallery Art Nouveau"
"Glorie van Heemstede"
"Honka"
"Moonfire"
"Twyning's After Eight"
USES
FLORICULTURE
The asterid eudicots contain two economically important geophyte genera, Dahlia and Liatris. Horticulturally the garden dahlia is usually treated as the cultigen D. variabilis Hort., which while being responsible for thousands of cultivars has an obscure taxonomic status.
OTHER
Today the dahlia is still considered one of the native ingredients in Oaxacan cuisine; several cultivars are still grown especially for their large, sweet potato-like tubers. Dacopa, an intense mocha-tasting extract from the roasted tubers, is used to flavor beverages throughout Central America.
In Europe and America, prior to the discovery of insulin in 1923, diabetics - as well as consumptives - were often given a substance called Atlantic starch or diabetic sugar, derived from inulin, a naturally occurring form of fruit sugar, extracted from dahlia tubers. Inulin is still used in clinical tests for kidney functionality.
WIKIPEDIA
Very cool table for a special client in Yellowstone Club
, Big Sky, Montana.
Coastal Redwood with "Flower Burl Pattern" Tree Trunk Coffee Table
~50-54'' Diameter x 20''H (~12 Thick)
Bronze Tapered Rounded Legs
The cap was about 7.25 inches in diameter. The stem wasn't very tall and was hardly 1 inch wide. Could it be a Yellow Patches mushroom - Amanita Flavoconia? It was growing under a large Maple tree where it got very little sunshine. It was growing in the grass with other mushrooms growing near it, after a hot, humid and very rainy Spring and Summer in Putnam County, Carmel,NY.
red habanero pepper planet and a 36 inch diameter garden with 75 Chinese long beans and 6 tomato vines plants Square foot hydroponic gardens are self-contained growing systems and is a reliable method for circulating oxygen and nutrients
to the roots of your plants. By using a Drainback, your plants will flourish!
Temple Wood comprises two circles. The southern circle contains a ring of 13 standing stones with a diameter of around 12 metres. In the past it may have contained 22 stones. In the centre is a burial cist surrounded by a stone circle with a diameter of around 3 metres. The first burial site in the southern circle could have been erected around 3000 BC.
The northern circle is smaller and consists of round river stones. There is a single stone in the centre; another stone lies at the edge of the circle. This circle could originally have been a wooden circle.
This is the result of various phases of construction and remodelling over thousands of years. The first monument was erected around 5,000 years ago and consisted of a circle of upright wooden posts surrounding a central wooden post at the location of the northern circle. About a century later, the wooden posts were removed and a stone circle was erected on this site: together with a larger stone circle on the site of the southern circle.
The site was used for around 2,000 years, from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age.
With a diameter of 100 meters, the Radio Telescope Effelsberg is one of the largest fully steerable radio telescopes on earth. Since operations started in 1972, the technology has been continually improved (i.e. new surface for the antenna-dish, better reception of high-quality data, extremely low noise electronics) making it one of the most advanced modern telescopes worldwide.
The telescope is employed to observe pulsars, cold gas- and dust clusters, the sites of star formation, jets of matter emitted by black holes and the nuclei (centres) of distant far-off galaxies.
Effelsberg is an important part of the worldwide network of radio telescopes. The combination of different telescopes in interferometric mode makes possible to obtain the sharpest images of the universe.
Text (C) Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy
The telescope may receive radio signals from a distance of up to 12bn light years. Together with a radio telescope in the US (Green Bank, Virginia), it is the largest radio telescope in the world.
The photos show the telescope at different angles because it was turning quite a bit during our visit.
6" diameter x 1 1/2". Ceramic piece, porcelain, ceramic, and vitreous tiles, glass, beads, dressmaker pins, gravel, and rough-cut stone. Mom (Roberta Mitchell) made the frame and the folding ceramic inclusion.
I was trying to remember what slow time looks like, and I think this might be it. I expect the dressmaker pins to rust slowly in their cement bed.
I had asked my mom to make some ceramic stuff to go in mosaics, so she brought me a treasure trove yesterday. The folding piece near the top, as well as the frame, are both hers.