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▸ Main Sim

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Includes the Burj al Arab

Includes the instructions and parts list for both versions!

 

Credit to www.flickr.com/photos/126485861@N06 for the inspiration for the wheels

 

rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-31090/LordofAngmarMB/ig-227-hail...

 

Avatar texture (includes a set of mesh ears, a simple flexi tail and eyes) .{o}. Siamese Cat [Lilac Point]; Head is Paws Feline Head; Ears are Sweet Thing. Fluffy Neko Ears; Hands are Catseye "Furry Hand Paws" ; Tail is the Sweet Thing. Fluffy Neko Tail (Bento); Feet are Apricot Paws Feety Peets; I'm also wearing the furry neck fix [OS] Female Neck;

 

Body : Maitreya Mesh Body - Lara V4.1

 

Hair : Moon. Hair. // Bloom

  

Necklace : *MUKA* Foxy Collar

 

Dress : neve dress - stark (Currently available at Tres Chic, Main Store)

 

Ring : ^^Swallow^^ Love Ring

  

Pose : :: ANTAYA :: Bento pose coffee and donuts

 

For links, please go to my blog caladreisfashion.blogspot.com/

Remastered for vinyl by band member Chris Carter. Includes 12x12 booklet.

37558 (424) approaches Parton station with 2C41 0845 Barrow-in-Furness - Carlisle. Decided to include the cars/van as there was no way of excluding them and they add a timeframe to the shot. 03/06/17

The geothermal areas of Yellowstone include several geyser basins in Yellowstone National Park as well as other geothermal features such as hot springs, mud pots, and fumaroles. The number of thermal features in Yellowstone is estimated at 10,000. A study that was completed in 2011 found that a total of 1,283 geysers have erupted in Yellowstone, 465 of which are active during an average year. These are distributed among nine geyser basins, with a few geysers found in smaller thermal areas throughout the Park. The number of geysers in each geyser basin are as follows: Upper Geyser Basin (410), Midway Geyser Basin (59), Lower Geyser Basin (283), Norris Geyser Basin (193), West Thumb Geyser Basin (84), Gibbon Geyser Basin (24), Lone Star Geyser Basin (21), Shoshone Geyser Basin (107), Heart Lake Geyser Basin (69), other areas (33). Although famous large geysers like Old Faithful are part of the total, most of Yellowstone's geysers are small, erupting to only a foot or two. The hydrothermal system that supplies the geysers with hot water sits within an ancient active caldera. Many of the thermal features in Yellowstone build up sinter, geyserite, or travertine deposits around and within them.

 

The various geyser basins are located where rainwater and snowmelt can percolate into the ground, get indirectly superheated by the underlying Yellowstone hotspot, and then erupt at the surface as geysers, hot springs, and fumaroles. Thus flat-bottomed valleys between ancient lava flows and glacial moraines are where most of the large geothermal areas are located. Smaller geothermal areas can be found where fault lines reach the surface, in places along the circular fracture zone around the caldera, and at the base of slopes that collect excess groundwater. Due to the Yellowstone Plateau's high elevation the average boiling temperature at Yellowstone's geyser basins is 199 °F (93 °C). When properly confined and close to the surface it can periodically release some of the built-up pressure in eruptions of hot water and steam that can reach up to 390 feet (120 m) into the air (see Steamboat Geyser, the world's tallest geyser). Water erupting from Yellowstone's geysers is superheated above that boiling point to an average of 204 °F (95.5 °C) as it leaves the vent. The water cools significantly while airborne and is no longer scalding hot by the time it strikes the ground, nearby boardwalks, or even spectators. Because of the high temperatures of the water in the features it is important that spectators remain on the boardwalks and designated trails. Several deaths have occurred in the park as a result of falls into hot springs.

 

Prehistoric Native American artifacts have been found at Mammoth Hot Springs and other geothermal areas in Yellowstone. Some accounts state that the early people used hot water from the geothermal features for bathing and cooking. In the 19th century Father Pierre-Jean De Smet reported that natives he interviewed thought that geyser eruptions were "the result of combat between the infernal spirits". The Lewis and Clark Expedition traveled north of the Yellowstone area in 1806. Local natives that they came upon seldom dared to enter what we now know is the caldera because of frequent loud noises that sounded like thunder and the belief that the spirits that possessed the area did not like human intrusion into their realm. The first white man known to travel into the caldera and see the geothermal features was John Colter, who had left the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He described what he saw as "hot spring brimstone". Beaver trapper Joseph Meek recounted in 1830 that the steam rising from the various geyser basins reminded him of smoke coming from industrial smokestacks on a cold winter morning in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In the 1850s famed trapper Jim Bridger called it "the place where Hell bubbled up".

 

The heat that drives geothermal activity in the Yellowstone area comes from brine (salty water) that is 1.5–3 miles (7,900–15,800 ft; 2,400–4,800 m) below the surface. This is actually below the solid volcanic rock and sediment that extends to a depth of 3,000 to 6,000 feet (900 to 1,800 m) and is inside the hot but mostly solid part of the pluton that contains Yellowstone's magma chamber. At that depth the brine is superheated to temperatures that exceed 400 °F (204 °C) but is able to remain a liquid because it is under great pressure (like a huge pressure cooker).

 

Convection of the churning brine and conduction from surrounding rock transfers heat to an overlaying layer of fresh groundwater. Movement of the two liquids is facilitated by the highly fractured and porous nature of the rocks under the Yellowstone Plateau. Some silica is dissolved from the fractured rhyolite into the hot water as it travels through the fractured rock. Part of this hard mineral is later redeposited on the walls of the cracks and fissures to make a nearly pressure-tight system. Silica precipitates at the surface to form either geyserite or sinter, creating the massive geyser cones, the scalloped edges of hot springs, and the seemingly barren landscape of geyser basins.

 

There are at least five types of geothermal features found at Yellowstone:

 

Fumaroles: Fumaroles, or steam vents, are the hottest hydrothermal features in the park. They have so little water that it all flashes into steam before reaching the surface. At places like Roaring Mountain, the result is loud hissing of steam and gases.

Geysers: Geysers such as Old Faithful are a type of geothermal feature that periodically erupt scalding hot water. Increased pressure exerted by the enormous weight of the overlying rock and water prevents deeper water from boiling. As the hot water rises it is under less pressure and steam bubbles form. They, in turn, expand on their ascent until the bubbles are too big and numerous to pass freely through constrictions. At a critical point the confined bubbles actually lift the water above, causing the geyser to splash or overflow. This decreases the pressure of the system and violent boiling results. Large quantities of water flash into tremendous amounts of steam that force a jet of water out of the vent: an eruption begins. Water (and heat) is expelled faster than the geyser's recharge rate, gradually decreasing the system's pressure and eventually ending the eruption.

Hot springs: Hot springs such as Grand Prismatic Spring are the most common hydrothermal features in the park. Their plumbing has no constrictions. Superheated water cools as it reaches the surface, sinks, and is replaced by hotter water from below. This circulation, called convection, prevents water from reaching the temperature needed to set off an eruption. Many hot springs give rise to streams of heated water.

Mudpots: Mudpots such as Fountain Paint Pots are acidic hot springs with a limited water supply. Some microorganisms use hydrogen sulfide (rotten egg smell), which rises from deep within the earth, as an energy source. They convert the gas into sulfuric acid, which breaks down rock into clay.

Travertine terraces: Travertine terraces, found at Mammoth Hot Springs, are formed from limestone (a rock type made of calcium carbonate). Thermal waters rise through the limestone, carrying high amounts of dissolved carbonate. Carbon dioxide is released at the surface and calcium carbonate deposited as travertine, the chalky white rock of the terraces. These features constantly and quickly change due to the rapid rate of deposition.

Geyser basins

 

The Norris Geyser Basin 44°43′43″N 110°42′16″W is the hottest geyser basin in the park and is located near the northwest edge of Yellowstone Caldera near Norris Junction and on the intersection of three major faults. The Norris-Mammoth Corridor is a fault that runs from Norris north through Mammoth to the Gardiner, Montana, area. The Hebgen Lake fault runs from northwest of West Yellowstone, Montana, to Norris. This fault experienced an earthquake in 1959 that measured 7.4 on the Richter scale (sources vary on exact magnitude between 7.1 and 7.8; see 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake). Norris Geyser Basin is so hot and dynamic because these two faults intersect with the ring fracture zone that resulted from the creation of the Yellowstone Caldera of 640,000 years ago.

 

The Basin consists of three main areas: Porcelain Basin, Back Basin, and One Hundred Springs Plain. Unlike most of other geyser basins in the park, the waters from Norris are acidic rather than alkaline (for example, Echinus Geyser has a pH of ~3.5). The difference in pH allows for a different class of bacterial thermophiles to live at Norris, creating different color patterns in and around the Norris Basin waters.

 

The Ragged Hills that lie between Back Basin and One Hundred Springs Plain are thermally altered glacial kames. As glaciers receded the underlying thermal features began to express themselves once again, melting remnants of the ice and causing masses of debris to be dumped. These debris piles were then altered by steam and hot water flowing through them. Madison lies within the eroded stream channels cut through lava flows formed after the caldera eruption. The Gibbon Falls lies on the caldera boundary as does Virginia Cascades.

 

Algae on left bacteria on right at the intersection of flows from the Constant & Whirlgig Geysers at Norris Geyser Basin

The tallest active geyser in the world, Steamboat Geyser,[11] is located in Norris Basin. Unlike the slightly smaller but much more famous Old Faithful Geyser located in Upper Geyser Basin, Steamboat has an erratic and lengthy timetable between major eruptions. During major eruptions, which may be separated by intervals of more than a year (the longest recorded span between major eruptions was 50 years), Steamboat erupts over 300 feet (90 m) into the air. Steamboat does not lie dormant between eruptions, instead displaying minor eruptions of approximately 40 feet (12 m).

 

Norris Geyser Basin periodically undergoes a large-scale, basin-wide thermal disturbance lasting a few weeks. Water levels fluctuate, and temperatures, pH, colors, and eruptive patterns change throughout the basin. During a disturbance in 1985, Porkchop Geyser continually jetted steam and water; in 1989, the same geyser apparently clogged with silica and blew up, throwing rocks more than 200 feet (61 m). In 2003 a park ranger observed it bubbling heavily, the first such activity seen since 1991. Activity increased dramatically in mid-2003. Because of high ground temperatures and new features beside the trail much of Back Basin was closed until October. In 2004 the boardwalk was routed around the dangerous area and now leads behind Porkchop Geyser.

 

North of Norris, Roaring Mountain is a large, acidic hydrothermal area (solfatara) with many fumaroles. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the number, size, and power of the fumaroles were much greater than today. The fumaroles are most easily seen in the cooler, low-light conditions of morning and evening.

 

The Gibbon Geyser Basin 44°41′58″N 110°44′34″W includes several thermal areas in the vicinity of the Gibbon River between Gibbon Falls and Norris. The most accessible feature in the basin is Beryl Spring, with a small boardwalk right along the Grand Loop Road. Artists' Paintpots is a small hydrothermal area south of Norris Junction that includes colorful hot springs and two large mudpots.

 

The Monument Geyser Basin 44°41′03″N 110°45′14″W has no active geysers, but its 'monuments' are siliceous sinter deposits similar to the siliceous spires discovered on the floor of Yellowstone Lake. Scientists hypothesize that this basin's structures formed from a hot water system in a glacially dammed lake during the waning stages of the Pinedale Glaciation. The basin is on a ridge reached by a very steep one-mile (1.6 km) trail south of Artists' Paint Pots. Other areas of thermal activity in Gibbon Geyser Basin lie off-trail.

 

South of Norris along the rim of the caldera is the Upper Geyser Basin 44°27′52″N 110°49′45″W, which has the highest concentration of geothermal features in the park. This complement of features includes the most famous geyser in the park, Old Faithful Geyser, as well as four other predictable large geysers. One of these large geysers in the area is Castle Geyser which is about 1,400 feet (430 m) northwest of Old Faithful. Castle Geyser has an interval of approximately 13 hours between major eruptions, but is unpredictable after minor eruptions. The other three predictable geysers are Grand Geyser, Daisy Geyser, and Riverside Geyser. Biscuit Basin and Black Sand Basin are also within the boundaries of Upper Geyser Basin.

 

The hills surrounding Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser Basin are reminders of Quaternary rhyolitic lava flows. These flows, occurring long after the catastrophic eruption of 640,000 years ago, flowed across the landscape like stiff mounds of bread dough due to their high silica content.

 

Evidence of glacial activity is common, and it is one of the keys that allows geysers to exist. Glacier till deposits underlie the geyser basins providing storage areas for the water used in eruptions. Many landforms, such as Porcupine Hills north of Fountain Flats, are made up of glacial gravel and are reminders that 70,000 to 14,000 years ago, this area was buried under ice.

 

Signs of the forces of erosion can be seen everywhere, from runoff channels carved across the sinter in the geyser basins to the drainage created by the Firehole River. Mountain building is evident on the drive south of Old Faithful, toward Craig Pass. Here the Rocky Mountains reach a height of 8,262 feet (2,518 m), dividing the country into two distinct watersheds.

 

Midway Geyser Basin 44°31′04″N 110°49′56″W is much smaller than the other basins found alongside the Firehole River. Despite its small size, it contains two large features, the 200-by-300-foot-wide (60 by 90 m) Excelsior Geyser which pours over 4,000 U.S. gallons (15,000 L; 3,300 imp gal) per minute into the Firehole River. The largest hot spring in Yellowstone, the 370-foot-wide (110 m) and 121-foot-deep (37 m) Grand Prismatic Spring is found here. Also in the basin is Turquoise Pool and Opal Pool.

 

Lower Geyser Basin

Blue spring with steam rising from it; irregular blotches of red and orange residue are on the banks, along with dead tree trunks.

Silex Spring at Fountain Paint Pot

 

Farther north is the Lower Geyser Basin 44°32′58″N 110°50′09″W, which is the largest geyser basin in area, covering approximately 11 square miles. Due to its large size, it has a much less concentrated set of geothermal features, including Fountain Paint Pots. Fountain Paint Pots are mud pots, that is, a hot spring that contains boiling mud instead of water. The mud is produced by a higher acidity in the water which enables the spring to dissolve surrounding minerals to create an opaque, usually grey, mud. Also there is Firehole Spring, Celestine Pool, Leather Pool, Red Spouter, Jelly spring, and a number of fumaroles.

 

Geysers in Lower Geyser Basin include Great Fountain Geyser, whose eruptions reach 100 to 200 feet (30–61 m) in the air, while waves of water cascade down its sinter terraces., the Fountain group of Geysers (Clepsydra Geyser which erupts nearly continuously to heights of 45 feet (14 m), Fountain Geyser, Jelly Geyser, Jet Geyser, Morning Geyser, and Spasm Geyser), the Pink Cone group of geysers (Dilemma Geyser, Labial Geyser, Narcissus Geyser, Pink Geyser, and Pink Cone Geyser), the White Dome group of geysers (Crack Geyser, Gemini Geyser, Pebble Geyser, Rejuvenated Geyser, and White Dome Geyser), as well as Sizzler Geyser.

 

Clepsydra Geyser erupting. July 2019

Fountain Paint Pots

White Dome Geyser

West Thumb Geyser Basin

Several pools of blue water in ashen rock basin.

West Thumb Geyser Basin

Blackened basin with orange streaks; steam is rising from it with fir trees in the background.

Overflow areas of Silex springs

 

The West Thumb Geyser Basin 44°25′07″N 110°34′23″W, including Potts Basin to the north, is the largest geyser basin on the shores of Yellowstone Lake. The heat source of the thermal features in this location is thought to be relatively close to the surface, only 10,000 feet (3,000 m) down. West Thumb is about the same size as another famous volcanic caldera, Crater Lake in Oregon, but much smaller than the great Yellowstone Caldera which last erupted about 640,000 years ago. West Thumb is a caldera within a caldera.

 

West Thumb was created approximately 162,000 years ago when a magma chamber bulged up under the surface of the earth and subsequently cracked it along ring fracture zones. This in turn released the enclosed magma as lava and caused the surface above the emptied magma chamber to collapse. Water later filled the collapsed area of the caldera, forming an extension of Yellowstone Lake. This created the source of heat and water that feed the West Thumb Geyser Basin today.

 

The thermal features at West Thumb are not only found on the lake shore, but extend under the surface of the lake as well. Several underwater hydrothermal features were discovered in the early 1990s and can be seen as slick spots or slight bulges in the summer. During the winter, the underwater thermal features are visible as melt holes in the icy surface of the lake. The surrounding ice can reach three feet (one yard) in thickness.

 

Perhaps the most famous hydrothermal feature at West Thumb is a geyser on the lake shore known as Fishing Cone. Walter Trumbull of the 1870 Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition described a unique event while a man was fishing adjacent to the cone: "...in swinging a trout ashore, it accidentally got off the hook and fell into the spring. For a moment it darted about with wonderful rapidity, as if seeking an outlet. Then it came to the top, dead, and literally boiled." Fishing Cone erupted frequently to the height of 40 feet (12 m) in 1919 and to lesser heights in 1939. One fisherman was badly burned in Fishing Cone in 1921. Fishing at the geyser is now prohibited.

 

Early visitors would arrive at West Thumb via stagecoach from the Old Faithful area. They had a choice of continuing on the stagecoach or boarding the steamship Zillah to continue the journey by water to Lake Hotel. The boat dock was located near the south end of the geyser basin near Lakeside Spring.

 

Backcountry Geyser Basins

The Heart Lake 44°18′00″N 110°30′56″W, Lone Star 44°24′50″N 110°49′04″W, and Shoshone Geyser Basins 44°21′16″N 110°47′57″W are located away from the road and require at least several miles of hiking to reach. These areas lack the boardwalks and other safety features of the developed areas. As falling into geothermal features can be fatal, it is usually advisable to visit these areas with an experienced guide or at the very least, travelers need to ensure they remain on well-marked trails.

 

The Heart Lake Geyser Basin contains several groups of geysers and deep blue hot springs near Heart Lake in the south-central portion of Yellowstone, southeast of most of the main geyser basins. Lying in the Snake River watershed east of Lewis Lake and south of Yellowstone Lake, Heart Lake was named sometime before 1871 for Hart Hunney, a hunter. Other explorers in the region incorrectly assumed that the lake's name was spelled 'heart' because of its shape. The Heart Lake Geyser Basin begins a couple miles from the lake and descends along Witch Creek to the lakeshore. Five groups of hydrothermal features comprise the basin, and all of them contain geysers, although some are dormant.

 

Between Shoshone Lake and Old Faithful is the Lone Star Geyser Basin, of which the primary feature is Lone Star Geyser, named for its isolation from the nearby geysers of the Upper Geyser Basin. The basin is reachable on foot or bicycle via a 3 mile road that is closed to vehicles.

 

The Shoshone Geyser Basin, reached by hiking or by boat, contains one of the highest concentrations of geysers in the world – more than 80 in an area 1,600 by 800 feet (490 by 240 m). Hot springs and mudpots dot the landscape between the geyser basin and Shoshone Lake.

 

Hot Spring Basin is located 15 miles (24 km) north-northeast of Fishing Bridge and has one of Yellowstone's largest collections of hot springs and fumaroles. The geothermal features there release large amounts of sulfur. This makes water from the springs so acidic that it has dissolved holes in the pants of people who sit on wet ground and causes mounds of sulfur three feet (1 m) high to develop around fumaroles. The very hot acidic water and steam have also created voids in the ground that are only covered by a thin crust.

 

Mammoth Hot Springs is a large complex of hot springs on a hill of travertine in Yellowstone National Park adjacent to Fort Yellowstone and the Mammoth Hot Springs Historic District. It was created over thousands of years as hot water from the spring cooled and deposited calcium carbonate (over two tons flow into Mammoth each day in a solution). Because of the huge amount of geothermal vents, travertine flourishes. Although these springs lie outside the caldera boundary, their energy has been attributed to the same magmatic system that fuels other Yellowstone geothermal areas.

 

The thermal features at Mud Volcano and Sulphur Caldron are primarily mud pots and fumaroles because the area is situated on a perched water system with little water available. Fumaroles or "steam vents" occur when the ground water boils away faster than it can be recharged. Also, the vapors are rich in sulfuric acid that leaches the rock, breaking it down into clay. Because no water washes away the acid or leached rock, it remains as sticky clay to form a mud pot. Hydrogen sulfide gas is present deep in the earth at Mud Volcano and is oxidized to sulfuric acid by microbial activity, which dissolves the surface soils to create pools and cones of clay and mud. Along with hydrogen sulfide, steam, carbon dioxide, and other gases explode through the layers of mud.

 

A series of shallow earthquakes associated with the volcanic activity in Yellowstone struck this area in 1978. Soil temperatures increased to nearly 200 °F (93 °C). The slope between Sizzling Basin and Mud Geyser, once covered with green grass and trees, became a barren landscape of fallen trees known as "the cooking hillside".

 

Yellowstone National Park is a national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872. Yellowstone was the first national park in the U.S. and is also widely held to be the first national park in the world. The park is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features, especially the Old Faithful geyser, one of its most popular. While it represents many types of biomes, the subalpine forest is the most abundant. It is part of the South Central Rockies forests ecoregion.

 

While Native Americans have lived in the Yellowstone region for at least 11,000 years, aside from visits by mountain men during the early-to-mid-19th century, organized exploration did not begin until the late 1860s. Management and control of the park originally fell under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of the Interior, the first Secretary of the Interior to supervise the park being Columbus Delano. However, the U.S. Army was eventually commissioned to oversee the management of Yellowstone for 30 years between 1886 and 1916. In 1917, the administration of the park was transferred to the National Park Service, which had been created the previous year. Hundreds of structures have been built and are protected for their architectural and historical significance, and researchers have examined more than a thousand archaeological sites.

 

Yellowstone National Park spans an area of 3,468.4 sq mi (8,983 km2), comprising lakes, canyons, rivers, and mountain ranges. Yellowstone Lake is one of the largest high-elevation lakes in North America and is centered over the Yellowstone Caldera, the largest super volcano on the continent. The caldera is considered a dormant volcano. It has erupted with tremendous force several times in the last two million years. Well over half of the world's geysers and hydrothermal features are in Yellowstone, fueled by this ongoing volcanism. Lava flows and rocks from volcanic eruptions cover most of the land area of Yellowstone. The park is the centerpiece of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the largest remaining nearly intact ecosystem in the Earth's northern temperate zone. In 1978, Yellowstone was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

 

Hundreds of species of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians have been documented, including several that are either endangered or threatened. The vast forests and grasslands also include unique species of plants. Yellowstone Park is the largest and most famous megafauna location in the contiguous United States. Grizzly bears, cougars, wolves, and free-ranging herds of bison and elk live in this park. The Yellowstone Park bison herd is the oldest and largest public bison herd in the United States. Forest fires occur in the park each year; in the large forest fires of 1988, nearly one-third of the park was burnt. Yellowstone has numerous recreational opportunities, including hiking, camping, boating, fishing, and sightseeing. Paved roads provide close access to the major geothermal areas as well as some of the lakes and waterfalls. During the winter, visitors often access the park by way of guided tours that use either snow coaches or snowmobiles.

 

Teton County is a county in the U.S. state of Wyoming. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 23,331. Its county seat is Jackson. Its west boundary line is also the Wyoming state boundary shared with Idaho and the southern tip of Montana. Teton County is part of the Jackson, WY-ID Micropolitan Statistical Area.

 

Teton County contains the Jackson Hole ski area, all of Grand Teton National Park, and 40.4% of Yellowstone National Park's total area, including over 96.6% of its water area (largely in Yellowstone Lake).

 

Wyoming is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the south. With a population of 576,851 in 2020, Wyoming is the least populous state despite being the 10th largest by area, with the second-lowest population density after Alaska. The state capital and most populous city is Cheyenne, which had an estimated population of 63,957 in 2018.

 

Wyoming's western half consists mostly of the ranges and rangelands of the Rocky Mountains; its eastern half consists of high-elevation prairie, and is referred to as the High Plains. Wyoming's climate is semi-arid in some parts and continental in others, making it drier and windier overall than other states, with greater temperature extremes. The federal government owns just under half of Wyoming's land, generally protecting it for public uses. The state ranks sixth in the amount of land—-and fifth in the proportion of its land—-that is owned by the federal government. Its federal lands include two national parks (Grand Teton and Yellowstone), two national recreation areas, two national monuments, and several national forests, as well as historic sites, fish hatcheries, and wildlife refuges.

 

Indigenous peoples inhabited the region for thousands of years. Historic and currently federally recognized tribes include the Arapaho, Crow, Lakota, and Shoshone. Part of the land that is now Wyoming came under American sovereignty via the Louisiana Purchase, part via the Oregon Treaty, and, lastly, via the Mexican Cession. With the opening of the Oregon Trail, the Mormon Trail, and the California Trail, vast numbers of pioneers travelled through parts of the state that had once been traversed mainly by fur trappers, and this spurred the establishment of forts, such as Fort Laramie, that today serve as population centers. The Transcontinental Railroad supplanted the wagon trails in 1867 with a route through southern Wyoming, bringing new settlers and the establishment of founding towns, including the state capital of Cheyenne. On March 27, 1890, Wyoming became the union's 44th state.

 

Farming and ranching, and the attendant range wars, feature prominently in the state's history. Today, Wyoming's economy is largely based on tourism and the extraction of minerals such as coal, natural gas, oil, and trona. Its agricultural commodities include barley, hay, livestock, sugar beets, wheat, and wool.

 

Wyoming was the first state to allow women the right to vote (not counting New Jersey, which had allowed it until 1807), and the right to assume elected office, as well as the first state to elect a female governor. In honor of this part of its history, its most common nickname is "The Equality State" and its official state motto is "Equal Rights". It is among the least religious states in the country, and is known for having a political culture that leans towards libertarian conservatism. The Republican presidential nominee has carried the state in every election since 1968.

Looking back at the 75th Members' Meeting, Goodwood.

HAWAIIAN HIBISCUS

are the seven known species of hibiscus regarded as native to Hawaiʻi. The yellow hibiscus is Hawaii's state flower. Although tourists regularly associate the hibiscus flower with their experiences visiting the US state of Hawaiʻi, and the plant family Malvaceae includes a relatively large number of species that are native to the Hawaiian Islands, those flowers presented to or regularly observed by tourists are generally not the native hibiscus flowers. Most commonly grown as ornamental plants in the Islands are the Chinese hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis) and its numerous hybrids.

The native plants in the genus Hibiscus in Hawaiʻi are thought to have derived from four independent colonization events: two for the five endemic species (four closely related species plus the yellow-flowered species) and one each for the two indigenous species.

  

For more informations, please, follow this link:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian_hibiscus

 

IT WAS CAPTURED ON MY TERRACE AS IT WAS.

NO PHOTOSHOP; NO DIGITALLY CORRECTED: OBLIQUE NATURAL LIGHTED.

 

SEE ON BLACK, PLEASE, IT WOULD BE EVEN BETTER

"Give every day

the chance to become

the most beutiful day

in your life"

[Mark Twain]

 

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“It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera…

they are made with the eye, heart and head.”

[Henry Cartier Bresson]

 

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"The site of the Piarist Church of the Finding of the Holy Cross is located in Litomyšl on the slope east of the square. It includes the church of the Finding of the Holy Cross itself, the building of the Piarist dormitory, the garden and the building of the former Piarist gymnasium, which housed the Litomyšl Regional Museum from 1926. It is currently home to the Faculty of Restoration of the University of Pardubice.

 

The order of Piarists from Mikulov was brought to Litomyšl by Frebonia Eusebio from Pernštejn in 1640. The Piarists had three wings of the dormitory, a school and a church built. The Piarist gymnasium was opened in 1644. The last wing of the dormitory was built in 1681, part of the dormitory was a refectory with stucco and painting decoration and a chapel called Purgatory. A large garden with an orchard was established near the dormitory, which is part of the so-called Monastery Gardens complex. In the church, services were held mainly by Piarists and students of their schools. The Piarists left Litomyšl in 1948.

 

The one-nave church has a Latin cross plan with a semicircular finial. In the facade, there are two diagonally built three-story towers on a square plan, covered by articulated mines. Two semicircular chapels adjoin the main nave in a crossing. The church is vaulted with three fields of barrel vault with cut-outs above the longitudinal nave and a flat vault above the crossing. The entrance facade has three portals, it is girdled by a heavy cordon cornice, the main cornice has a balustrade with sculptures and a nani three-sided gable with a sun nimbus. The facade is convex and decorated with sculptures from the workshop of sculptor Matyáš Bernard Braun. Above the main portal is a sandstone cartouche under the crown with the coat of arms of the Trauttmansdorf family by Jiří Pacák and on the cornice an allegory of Hope and Faith from the workshop of Matyáš Bernard Braun. Above the side entrances are shields with the dates 1722 and 1892 and statues of putti. Between the towers there is an attic with a baluster railing and statues of St. Václav and Vojtěch.

 

Litomyšl (German: Leitomischel, Leutomischel) is a town in the Svitavy district of the Pardubice region on the Czech side of the former land border with Moravia. It is located 17 km northwest of the district town of Svitavy (which was itself the seat of the district until 1960) and 13 km southwest of Ústí nad Orlicí. Litomyšl covers an area of ​​less than 34 square kilometers in the central part of the Svitava Uplands on the Loučná River at an altitude of 330 meters. The cadastral area of ​​Litomyšle includes the territorially independent parts of Kornice, Nová Ves u Litomyšle, Pazucha, Pohodlí and Suchá. Approximately 10 thousand inhabitants live here.

 

The name of the city comes from the Old Bohemian personal name Ľutomysl. Litomyšl received city privileges in 1259 (confirmed in 1263) from King Přemysl Otakar II as a vassal town of the local Premonstratensian monastery, whose lily symbol was adopted by the town as its coat of arms. The development of the city is closely linked to its lordship - first ecclesiastical (Premonstratensian monastery, bishopric of Litomyšl), later secular (Kostková from Postupice, Pernštejn, Trauttmansdorff, Valdštejn-Vartenberk, Thurn-Taxis). A number of leading personalities were born or worked in the city, including Bedřich Smetana, Alois Jirásek, Bozena Němcová, Josef Váchal or Olbram Zoubek.

 

The castle hill and the city itself offer a combination of historical architecture (the Renaissance castle on the UNESCO World Heritage list, the Baroque Church of the Finding of the Holy Cross and the Gothic Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross) with modern artistic trends (revitalization and projects by Josef Pleskot ). A number of events and festivals take place in the city throughout the year (Smetanova Litomyšl, Litomyšl Days of Baroque Tradition, ArchiMyšl, MD Rettigová Gastronomic Festivals). Litomyšl is therefore often referred to as a "modern historical city".

 

Bohemia (Latin Bohemia, German Böhmen, Polish Czechy) is a region in the west of the Czech Republic. Previously, as a kingdom, they were the center of the Czech Crown. The root of the word Czech probably corresponds to the meaning of man. The Latin equivalent of Bohemia, originally Boiohaemum (literally "land of Battles"), which over time also influenced the names in other languages, is derived from the Celtic tribe of the Boios, who lived in this area from the 4th to the 1st century BC Bohemia on it borders Germany in the west, Austria in the south, Moravia in the east and Poland in the north. Geographically, they are bounded from the north, west and south by a chain of mountains, the highest of which are the Krkonoše Mountains, in which the highest mountain of Bohemia, Sněžka, is also located. The most important rivers are the Elbe and the Vltava, with the fertile Polabean Plain extending around the Elbe. The capital and largest city of Bohemia is Prague, other important cities include, for example, Pilsen, Karlovy Vary, Kladno, Ústí nad Labem, Liberec, Hradec Králové, Pardubice and České Budějovice, Jihlava also lies partly on the historical territory of Bohemia." - info from Wikipedia.

 

Summer 2019 I did a solo cycling tour across Europe through 12 countries over the course of 3 months. I began my adventure in Edinburgh, Scotland and finished in Florence, Italy cycling 8,816 km. During my trip I took 47,000 photos.

 

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More from Storm Jorge, at high tide, Shoreham Harbour.

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ㅤㅤ• Non PBR version

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· ▸ Land Impact · 50

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· ▸ Materials Enabled

· ▸ Resize

· ▸ Phantom

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· ▸ Copy

· ▸ Modify

· ▸ No Transfer

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Includes Teams from Wagner/BH, Vermillion, Britton-Hecla, Stanley County West Central. Permission granted for journalism outlets and educational purposes. Not for commercial use. Must be credited. Photo courtesy of South Dakota Public Broadcasting.

©2021 SDPB

 

Bali is an island and province of Indonesia. The province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nusa Ceningan. It is located at the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, between Java to the west and Lombok to the east. Its capital of Denpasar is located at the southern part of the island.

 

With a population of 3,890,757 in the 2010 census, and 4,225,000 as of January 2014, the island is home to most of Indonesia's Hindu minority. According to the 2010 Census, 83.5% of Bali's population adhered to Balinese Hinduism, followed by 13.4% Muslim, Christianity at 2.5%, and Buddhism 0.5%.

 

Bali is a popular tourist destination, which has seen a significant rise in numbers since the 1980s. It is renowned for its highly developed arts, including traditional and modern dance, sculpture, painting, leather, metalworking, and music. The Indonesian International Film Festival is held every year in Bali.

 

Bali is part of the Coral Triangle, the area with the highest biodiversity of marine species. In this area alone over 500 reef building coral species can be found. For comparison, this is about 7 times as many as in the entire Caribbean. There is a wide range of dive sites with high quality reefs, all with their own specific attractions. Many sites can have strong currents and swell, so diving without a knowledgeable guide is inadvisable. Most recently, Bali was the host of the 2011 ASEAN Summit, 2013 APEC and Miss World 2013.

 

HISTORY

ANCIENT

Bali was inhabited around 2000 BC by Austronesian people who migrated originally from Southeast Asia and Oceania through Maritime Southeast Asia. Culturally and linguistically, the Balinese are closely related to the people of the Indonesian archipelago, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Oceania. Stone tools dating from this time have been found near the village of Cekik in the island's west.

 

In ancient Bali, nine Hindu sects existed, namely Pasupata, Bhairawa, Siwa Shidanta, Waisnawa, Bodha, Brahma, Resi, Sora and Ganapatya. Each sect revered a specific deity as its personal Godhead.

 

Inscriptions from 896 and 911 don't mention a king, until 914, when Sri Kesarivarma is mentioned. They also reveal an independent Bali, with a distinct dialect, where Buddhism and Sivaism were practiced simultaneously. Mpu Sindok's great granddaughter, Mahendradatta (Gunapriyadharmapatni), married the Bali king Udayana Warmadewa (Dharmodayanavarmadeva) around 989, giving birth to Airlangga around 1001. This marriage also brought more Hinduism and Javanese culture to Bali. Princess Sakalendukirana appeared in 1098. Suradhipa reigned from 1115 to 1119, and Jayasakti from 1146 until 1150. Jayapangus appears on inscriptions between 1178 and 1181, while Adikuntiketana and his son Paramesvara in 1204.

 

Balinese culture was strongly influenced by Indian, Chinese, and particularly Hindu culture, beginning around the 1st century AD. The name Bali dwipa ("Bali island") has been discovered from various inscriptions, including the Blanjong pillar inscription written by Sri Kesari Warmadewa in 914 AD and mentioning "Walidwipa". It was during this time that the people developed their complex irrigation system subak to grow rice in wet-field cultivation. Some religious and cultural traditions still practised today can be traced to this period.

 

The Hindu Majapahit Empire (1293–1520 AD) on eastern Java founded a Balinese colony in 1343. The uncle of Hayam Wuruk is mentioned in the charters of 1384-86. A mass Javanese emigration occurred in the next century.

 

PORTUGUESE CONTACTS

The first known European contact with Bali is thought to have been made in 1512, when a Portuguese expedition led by Antonio Abreu and Francisco Serrão sighted its northern shores. It was the first expedition of a series of bi-annual fleets to the Moluccas, that throughout the 16th century usually traveled along the coasts of the Sunda Islands. Bali was also mapped in 1512, in the chart of Francisco Rodrigues, aboard the expedition. In 1585, a ship foundered off the Bukit Peninsula and left a few Portuguese in the service of Dewa Agung.

 

DUTCH EAST INDIA

In 1597 the Dutch explorer Cornelis de Houtman arrived at Bali, and the Dutch East India Company was established in 1602. The Dutch government expanded its control across the Indonesian archipelago during the second half of the 19th century (see Dutch East Indies). Dutch political and economic control over Bali began in the 1840s on the island's north coast, when the Dutch pitted various competing Balinese realms against each other. In the late 1890s, struggles between Balinese kingdoms in the island's south were exploited by the Dutch to increase their control.

 

In June 1860 the famous Welsh naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace, travelled to Bali from Singapore, landing at Buleleng on the northcoast of the island. Wallace's trip to Bali was instrumental in helping him devise his Wallace Line theory. The Wallace Line is a faunal boundary that runs through the strait between Bali and Lombok. It has been found to be a boundary between species of Asiatic origin in the east and a mixture of Australian and Asian species to the west. In his travel memoir The Malay Archipelago, Wallace wrote of his experience in Bali:

 

I was both astonished and delighted; for as my visit to Java was some years later, I had never beheld so beautiful and well-cultivated a district out of Europe. A slightly undulating plain extends from the seacoast about ten or twelve miles inland, where it is bounded by a fine range of wooded and cultivated hills. Houses and villages, marked out by dense clumps of coconut palms, tamarind and other fruit trees, are dotted about in every direction; while between them extend luxurious rice-grounds, watered by an elaborate system of irrigation that would be the pride of the best cultivated parts of Europe.

 

The Dutch mounted large naval and ground assaults at the Sanur region in 1906 and were met by the thousands of members of the royal family and their followers who fought against the superior Dutch force in a suicidal puputan defensive assault rather than face the humiliation of surrender. Despite Dutch demands for surrender, an estimated 200 Balinese marched to their death against the invaders. In the Dutch intervention in Bali, a similar massacre occurred in the face of a Dutch assault in Klungkung.

 

AFTERWARD THE DUTCH GOVERNORS

exercised administrative control over the island, but local control over religion and culture generally remained intact. Dutch rule over Bali came later and was never as well established as in other parts of Indonesia such as Java and Maluku.

 

n the 1930s, anthropologists Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, artists Miguel Covarrubias and Walter Spies, and musicologist Colin McPhee all spent time here. Their accounts of the island and its peoples created a western image of Bali as "an enchanted land of aesthetes at peace with themselves and nature." Western tourists began to visit the island.

 

Imperial Japan occupied Bali during World War II. It was not originally a target in their Netherlands East Indies Campaign, but as the airfields on Borneo were inoperative due to heavy rains, the Imperial Japanese Army decided to occupy Bali, which did not suffer from comparable weather. The island had no regular Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) troops. There was only a Native Auxiliary Corps Prajoda (Korps Prajoda) consisting of about 600 native soldiers and several Dutch KNIL officers under command of KNIL Lieutenant Colonel W.P. Roodenburg. On 19 February 1942 the Japanese forces landed near the town of Senoer [Senur]. The island was quickly captured.

 

During the Japanese occupation, a Balinese military officer, Gusti Ngurah Rai, formed a Balinese 'freedom army'. The harshness of war requisitions made Japanese rule more resented than Dutch rule. Following Japan's Pacific surrender in August 1945, the Dutch returned to Indonesia, including Bali, to reinstate their pre-war colonial administration. This was resisted by the Balinese rebels, who now used recovered Japanese weapons. On 20 November 1946, the Battle of Marga was fought in Tabanan in central Bali. Colonel I Gusti Ngurah Rai, by then 29 years old, finally rallied his forces in east Bali at Marga Rana, where they made a suicide attack on the heavily armed Dutch. The Balinese battalion was entirely wiped out, breaking the last thread of Balinese military resistance.

 

INDIPENDENCE FROM THE DUTCH

In 1946, the Dutch constituted Bali as one of the 13 administrative districts of the newly proclaimed State of East Indonesia, a rival state to the Republic of Indonesia, which was proclaimed and headed by Sukarno and Hatta. Bali was included in the "Republic of the United States of Indonesia" when the Netherlands recognised Indonesian independence on 29 December 1949.

 

CONTEMPORARY

The 1963 eruption of Mount Agung killed thousands, created economic havoc and forced many displaced Balinese to be transmigrated to other parts of Indonesia. Mirroring the widening of social divisions across Indonesia in the 1950s and early 1960s, Bali saw conflict between supporters of the traditional caste system, and those rejecting this system. Politically, the opposition was represented by supporters of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) and the Indonesian Nationalist Party (PNI), with tensions and ill-feeling further increased by the PKI's land reform programs. An attempted coup in Jakarta was put down by forces led by General Suharto.

 

The army became the dominant power as it instigated a violent anti-communist purge, in which the army blamed the PKI for the coup. Most estimates suggest that at least 500,000 people were killed across Indonesia, with an estimated 80,000 killed in Bali, equivalent to 5% of the island's population. With no Islamic forces involved as in Java and Sumatra, upper-caste PNI landlords led the extermination of PKI members.

 

As a result of the 1965/66 upheavals, Suharto was able to manoeuvre Sukarno out of the presidency. His "New Order" government reestablished relations with western countries. The pre-War Bali as "paradise" was revived in a modern form. The resulting large growth in tourism has led to a dramatic increase in Balinese standards of living and significant foreign exchange earned for the country. A bombing in 2002 by militant Islamists in the tourist area of Kuta killed 202 people, mostly foreigners. This attack, and another in 2005, severely reduced tourism, producing much economic hardship to the island.

 

GEOGRAPHY

The island of Bali lies 3.2 km east of Java, and is approximately 8 degrees south of the equator. Bali and Java are separated by the Bali Strait. East to west, the island is approximately 153 km wide and spans approximately 112 km north to south; administratively it covers 5,780 km2, or 5,577 km2 without Nusa Penida District, its population density is roughly 750 people/km2.

 

Bali's central mountains include several peaks over 3,000 metres in elevation. The highest is Mount Agung (3,031 m), known as the "mother mountain" which is an active volcano rated as one of the world's most likely sites for a massive eruption within the next 100 years. Mountains range from centre to the eastern side, with Mount Agung the easternmost peak. Bali's volcanic nature has contributed to its exceptional fertility and its tall mountain ranges provide the high rainfall that supports the highly productive agriculture sector. South of the mountains is a broad, steadily descending area where most of Bali's large rice crop is grown. The northern side of the mountains slopes more steeply to the sea and is the main coffee producing area of the island, along with rice, vegetables and cattle. The longest river, Ayung River, flows approximately 75 km.

 

The island is surrounded by coral reefs. Beaches in the south tend to have white sand while those in the north and west have black sand. Bali has no major waterways, although the Ho River is navigable by small sampan boats. Black sand beaches between Pasut and Klatingdukuh are being developed for tourism, but apart from the seaside temple of Tanah Lot, they are not yet used for significant tourism.

 

The largest city is the provincial capital, Denpasar, near the southern coast. Its population is around 491,500 (2002). Bali's second-largest city is the old colonial capital, Singaraja, which is located on the north coast and is home to around 100,000 people. Other important cities include the beach resort, Kuta, which is practically part of Denpasar's urban area, and Ubud, situated at the north of Denpasar, is the island's cultural centre.

 

Three small islands lie to the immediate south east and all are administratively part of the Klungkung regency of Bali: Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan. These islands are separated from Bali by the Badung Strait.

 

To the east, the Lombok Strait separates Bali from Lombok and marks the biogeographical division between the fauna of the Indomalayan ecozone and the distinctly different fauna of Australasia. The transition is known as the Wallace Line, named after Alfred Russel Wallace, who first proposed a transition zone between these two major biomes. When sea levels dropped during the Pleistocene ice age, Bali was connected to Java and Sumatra and to the mainland of Asia and shared the Asian fauna, but the deep water of the Lombok Strait continued to keep Lombok Island and the Lesser Sunda archipelago isolated.

 

CLIMATE

Being just 8 degrees south of the equator, Bali has a fairly even climate year round.

 

Day time temperatures at low elevations vary between 20-33⁰ C although it can be much cooler than that in the mountains. The west monsoon is in place from approximately October to April and this can bring significant rain, particularly from December to March. Outside of the monsoon period, humidity is relatively low and any rain unlikely in lowland areas.

 

ECOLOGY

Bali lies just to the west of the Wallace Line, and thus has a fauna that is Asian in character, with very little Australasian influence, and has more in common with Java than with Lombok. An exception is the yellow-crested cockatoo, a member of a primarily Australasian family. There are around 280 species of birds, including the critically endangered Bali myna, which is endemic. Others Include barn swallow, black-naped oriole, black racket-tailed treepie, crested serpent-eagle, crested treeswift, dollarbird, Java sparrow, lesser adjutant, long-tailed shrike, milky stork, Pacific swallow, red-rumped swallow, sacred kingfisher, sea eagle, woodswallow, savanna nightjar, stork-billed kingfisher, yellow-vented bulbul and great egret.

 

Until the early 20th century, Bali was home to several large mammals: the wild banteng, leopard and the endemic Bali tiger. The banteng still occurs in its domestic form, whereas leopards are found only in neighbouring Java, and the Bali tiger is extinct. The last definite record of a tiger on Bali dates from 1937, when one was shot, though the subspecies may have survived until the 1940s or 1950s. The relatively small size of the island, conflict with humans, poaching and habitat reduction drove the Bali tiger to extinction. This was the smallest and rarest of all tiger subspecies and was never caught on film or displayed in zoos, whereas few skins or bones remain in museums around the world. Today, the largest mammals are the Javan rusa deer and the wild boar. A second, smaller species of deer, the Indian muntjac, also occurs. Saltwater crocodiles were once present on the island, but became locally extinct sometime during the last century.

 

Squirrels are quite commonly encountered, less often is the Asian palm civet, which is also kept in coffee farms to produce Kopi Luwak. Bats are well represented, perhaps the most famous place to encounter them remaining the Goa Lawah (Temple of the Bats) where they are worshipped by the locals and also constitute a tourist attraction. They also occur in other cave temples, for instance at Gangga Beach. Two species of monkey occur. The crab-eating macaque, known locally as "kera", is quite common around human settlements and temples, where it becomes accustomed to being fed by humans, particularly in any of the three "monkey forest" temples, such as the popular one in the Ubud area. They are also quite often kept as pets by locals. The second monkey, endemic to Java and some surrounding islands such as Bali, is far rarer and more elusive is the Javan langur, locally known as "lutung". They occur in few places apart from the Bali Barat National Park. They are born an orange colour, though by their first year they would have already changed to a more blackish colouration. In Java however, there is more of a tendency for this species to retain its juvenile orange colour into adulthood, and so you can see a mixture of black and orange monkeys together as a family. Other rarer mammals include the leopard cat, Sunda pangolin and black giant squirrel.

 

Snakes include the king cobra and reticulated python. The water monitor can grow to at least 1.5 m in length and 50 kg and can move quickly.

 

The rich coral reefs around the coast, particularly around popular diving spots such as Tulamben, Amed, Menjangan or neighbouring Nusa Penida, host a wide range of marine life, for instance hawksbill turtle, giant sunfish, giant manta ray, giant moray eel, bumphead parrotfish, hammerhead shark, reef shark, barracuda, and sea snakes. Dolphins are commonly encountered on the north coast near Singaraja and Lovina.

 

A team of scientists conducted a survey from 29 April 2011 to 11 May 2011 at 33 sea sites around Bali. They discovered 952 species of reef fish of which 8 were new discoveries at Pemuteran, Gilimanuk, Nusa Dua, Tulamben and Candidasa, and 393 coral species, including two new ones at Padangbai and between Padangbai and Amed. The average coverage level of healthy coral was 36% (better than in Raja Ampat and Halmahera by 29% or in Fakfak and Kaimana by 25%) with the highest coverage found in Gili Selang and Gili Mimpang in Candidasa, Karangasem regency.

 

Many plants have been introduced by humans within the last centuries, particularly since the 20th century, making it sometimes hard to distinguish what plants are really native.[citation needed] Among the larger trees the most common are: banyan trees, jackfruit, coconuts, bamboo species, acacia trees and also endless rows of coconuts and banana species. Numerous flowers can be seen: hibiscus, frangipani, bougainvillea, poinsettia, oleander, jasmine, water lily, lotus, roses, begonias, orchids and hydrangeas exist. On higher grounds that receive more moisture, for instance around Kintamani, certain species of fern trees, mushrooms and even pine trees thrive well. Rice comes in many varieties. Other plants with agricultural value include: salak, mangosteen, corn, kintamani orange, coffee and water spinach.

 

ENVIRONMENT

Some of the worst erosion has occurred in Lebih Beach, where up to 7 metres of land is lost every year. Decades ago, this beach was used for holy pilgrimages with more than 10,000 people, but they have now moved to Masceti Beach.

 

From ranked third in previous review, in 2010 Bali got score 99.65 of Indonesia's environmental quality index and the highest of all the 33 provinces. The score measured 3 water quality parameters: the level of total suspended solids (TSS), dissolved oxygen (DO) and chemical oxygen demand (COD).

 

Because of over-exploitation by the tourist industry which covers a massive land area, 200 out of 400 rivers on the island have dried up and based on research, the southern part of Bali would face a water shortage up to 2,500 litres of clean water per second by 2015. To ease the shortage, the central government plans to build a water catchment and processing facility at Petanu River in Gianyar. The 300 litres capacity of water per second will be channelled to Denpasar, Badung and Gianyar in 2013.

 

ECONOMY

Three decades ago, the Balinese economy was largely agriculture-based in terms of both output and employment. Tourism is now the largest single industry in terms of income, and as a result, Bali is one of Indonesia's wealthiest regions. In 2003, around 80% of Bali's economy was tourism related. By end of June 2011, non-performing loan of all banks in Bali were 2.23%, lower than the average of Indonesian banking industry non-performing loan (about 5%). The economy, however, suffered significantly as a result of the terrorist bombings 2002 and 2005. The tourism industry has since recovered from these events.

 

AGRICULTURE

Although tourism produces the GDP's largest output, agriculture is still the island's biggest employer; most notably rice cultivation. Crops grown in smaller amounts include fruit, vegetables, Coffea arabica and other cash and subsistence crops. Fishing also provides a significant number of jobs. Bali is also famous for its artisans who produce a vast array of handicrafts, including batik and ikat cloth and clothing, wooden carvings, stone carvings, painted art and silverware. Notably, individual villages typically adopt a single product, such as wind chimes or wooden furniture.

 

The Arabica coffee production region is the highland region of Kintamani near Mount Batur. Generally, Balinese coffee is processed using the wet method. This results in a sweet, soft coffee with good consistency. Typical flavours include lemon and other citrus notes. Many coffee farmers in Kintamani are members of a traditional farming system called Subak Abian, which is based on the Hindu philosophy of "Tri Hita Karana". According to this philosophy, the three causes of happiness are good relations with God, other people and the environment. The Subak Abian system is ideally suited to the production of fair trade and organic coffee production. Arabica coffee from Kintamani is the first product in Indonesia to request a Geographical Indication.

 

TOURISM

The tourism industry is primarily focused in the south, while significant in the other parts of the island as well. The main tourist locations are the town of Kuta (with its beach), and its outer suburbs of Legian and Seminyak (which were once independent townships), the east coast town of Sanur (once the only tourist hub), in the center of the island Ubud, to the south of the Ngurah Rai International Airport, Jimbaran, and the newer development of Nusa Dua and Pecatu.

 

The American government lifted its travel warnings in 2008. The Australian government issued an advice on Friday, 4 May 2012. The overall level of the advice was lowered to 'Exercise a high degree of caution'. The Swedish government issued a new warning on Sunday, 10 June 2012 because of one more tourist who was killed by methanol poisoning. Australia last issued an advice on Monday, 5 January 2015 due to new terrorist threats.

 

An offshoot of tourism is the growing real estate industry. Bali real estate has been rapidly developing in the main tourist areas of Kuta, Legian, Seminyak and Oberoi. Most recently, high-end 5 star projects are under development on the Bukit peninsula, on the south side of the island. Million dollar villas are being developed along the cliff sides of south Bali, commanding panoramic ocean views. Foreign and domestic (many Jakarta individuals and companies are fairly active) investment into other areas of the island also continues to grow. Land prices, despite the worldwide economic crisis, have remained stable.

 

In the last half of 2008, Indonesia's currency had dropped approximately 30% against the US dollar, providing many overseas visitors value for their currencies. Visitor arrivals for 2009 were forecast to drop 8% (which would be higher than 2007 levels), due to the worldwide economic crisis which has also affected the global tourist industry, but not due to any travel warnings.

 

Bali's tourism economy survived the terrorist bombings of 2002 and 2005, and the tourism industry has in fact slowly recovered and surpassed its pre-terrorist bombing levels; the longterm trend has been a steady increase of visitor arrivals. In 2010, Bali received 2.57 million foreign tourists, which surpassed the target of 2.0–2.3 million tourists. The average occupancy of starred hotels achieved 65%, so the island is still able to accommodate tourists for some years without any addition of new rooms/hotels, although at the peak season some of them are fully booked.

 

Bali received the Best Island award from Travel and Leisure in 2010. The island of Bali won because of its attractive surroundings (both mountain and coastal areas), diverse tourist attractions, excellent international and local restaurants, and the friendliness of the local people. According to BBC Travel released in 2011, Bali is one of the World's Best Islands, ranking second after Santorini, Greece.

 

In August 2010, the film Eat Pray Love was released in theatres. The movie was based on Elizabeth Gilbert's best-selling memoir Eat, Pray, Love. It took place at Ubud and Padang-Padang Beach at Bali. The 2006 book, which spent 57 weeks at the No. 1 spot on the New York Times paperback nonfiction best-seller list, had already fuelled a boom in Eat, Pray, Love-related tourism in Ubud, the hill town and cultural and tourist center that was the focus of Gilbert's quest for balance through traditional spirituality and healing that leads to love.

 

In January 2016, after music icon David Bowie died, it was revealed that in his will, Bowie asked for his ashes to be scattered in Bali, conforming to Buddhist rituals. He had visited and performed in a number of Southest Asian cities early in his career, including Bangkok and Singapore.

 

Since 2011, China has displaced Japan as the second-largest supplier of tourists to Bali, while Australia still tops the list. Chinese tourists increased by 17% from last year due to the impact of ACFTA and new direct flights to Bali. In January 2012, Chinese tourists year on year (yoy) increased by 222.18% compared to January 2011, while Japanese tourists declined by 23.54% yoy.

 

Bali reported that it has 2.88 million foreign tourists and 5 million domestic tourists in 2012, marginally surpassing the expectations of 2.8 million foreign tourists. Forecasts for 2013 are at 3.1 million.

 

Based on Bank Indonesia survey in May 2013, 34.39 percent of tourists are upper-middle class with spending between $1,286 to $5,592 and dominated by Australia, France, China, Germany and the US with some China tourists move from low spending before to higher spending currently. While 30.26 percent are middle class with spending between $662 to $1,285.

 

SEX TOURISM

In the twentieth century the incidence of tourism specifically for sex was regularly observed in the era of mass tourism in Indonesia In Bali, prostitution is conducted by both men and women. Bali in particular is notorious for its 'Kuta Cowboys', local gigolos targeting foreign female tourists.

 

Tens of thousands of single women throng the beaches of Bali in Indonesia every year. For decades, young Balinese men have taken advantage of the louche and laid-back atmosphere to find love and lucre from female tourists—Japanese, European and Australian for the most part—who by all accounts seem perfectly happy with the arrangement.

 

By 2013, Indonesia was reportedly the number one destination for Australian child sex tourists, mostly starting in Bali but also travelling to other parts of the country. The problem in Bali was highlighted by Luh Ketut Suryani, head of Psychiatry at Udayana University, as early as 2003. Surayani warned that a low level of awareness of paedophilia in Bali had made it the target of international paedophile organisations. On 19 February 2013, government officials announced measures to combat paedophilia in Bali.

 

TRANSPORTATION

The Ngurah Rai International Airport is located near Jimbaran, on the isthmus at the southernmost part of the island. Lt.Col. Wisnu Airfield is found in north-west Bali.

 

A coastal road circles the island, and three major two-lane arteries cross the central mountains at passes reaching to 1,750m in height (at Penelokan). The Ngurah Rai Bypass is a four-lane expressway that partly encircles Denpasar. Bali has no railway lines.

 

In December 2010 the Government of Indonesia invited investors to build a new Tanah Ampo Cruise Terminal at Karangasem, Bali with a projected worth of $30 million. On 17 July 2011 the first cruise ship (Sun Princess) anchored about 400 meters away from the wharf of Tanah Ampo harbour. The current pier is only 154 meters but will eventually be extended to 300–350 meters to accommodate international cruise ships. The harbour here is safer than the existing facility at Benoa and has a scenic backdrop of east Bali mountains and green rice fields. The tender for improvement was subject to delays, and as of July 2013 the situation remained unclear with cruise line operators complaining and even refusing to use the existing facility at Tanah Ampo.

 

A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed by two ministers, Bali's Governor and Indonesian Train Company to build 565 kilometres of railway along the coast around the island. As of July 2015, no details of this proposed railways have been released.

 

On 16 March 2011 (Tanjung) Benoa port received the "Best Port Welcome 2010" award from London's "Dream World Cruise Destination" magazine. Government plans to expand the role of Benoa port as export-import port to boost Bali's trade and industry sector. The Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry has confirmed that 306 cruise liners are heading for Indonesia in 2013 – an increase of 43 percent compared to the previous year.

 

In May 2011, an integrated Areal Traffic Control System (ATCS) was implemented to reduce traffic jams at four crossing points: Ngurah Rai statue, Dewa Ruci Kuta crossing, Jimbaran crossing and Sanur crossing. ATCS is an integrated system connecting all traffic lights, CCTVs and other traffic signals with a monitoring office at the police headquarters. It has successfully been implemented in other ASEAN countries and will be implemented at other crossings in Bali.

 

On 21 December 2011 construction started on the Nusa Dua-Benoa-Ngurah Rai International Airport toll road which will also provide a special lane for motorcycles. This has been done by seven state-owned enterprises led by PT Jasa Marga with 60% of shares. PT Jasa Marga Bali Tol will construct the 9.91 kilometres toll road (totally 12.7 kilometres with access road). The construction is estimated to cost Rp.2.49 trillion ($273.9 million). The project goes through 2 kilometres of mangrove forest and through 2.3 kilometres of beach, both within 5.4 hectares area. The elevated toll road is built over the mangrove forest on 18,000 concrete pillars which occupied 2 hectares of mangroves forest. It compensated by new planting of 300,000 mangrove trees along the road. On 21 December 2011 the Dewa Ruci 450 meters underpass has also started on the busy Dewa Ruci junction near Bali Kuta Galeria with an estimated cost of Rp136 billion ($14.9 million) from the state budget. On 23 September 2013, the Bali Mandara Toll Road is opened and the Dewa Ruci Junction (Simpang Siur) underpass is opened before. Both are ease the heavy traffic congestion.

 

To solve chronic traffic problems, the province will also build a toll road connecting Serangan with Tohpati, a toll road connecting Kuta, Denpasar and Tohpati and a flyover connecting Kuta and Ngurah Rai Airport.

 

DEMOGRAPHICS

The population of Bali was 3,890,757 as of the 2010 Census; the latest estimate (for January 2014) is 4,225,384. There are an estimated 30,000 expatriates living in Bali.

 

ETHNIC ORIGINS

A DNA study in 2005 by Karafet et al. found that 12% of Balinese Y-chromosomes are of likely Indian origin, while 84% are of likely Austronesian origin, and 2% of likely Melanesian origin. The study does not correlate the DNA samples to the Balinese caste system.

 

CASTE SYSTEM

Bali has a caste system based on the Indian Hindu model, with four castes:

 

- Sudra (Shudra) – peasants constituting close to 93% of Bali's population.

- Wesia (Vaishyas) – the caste of merchants and administrative officials

- Ksatrias (Kshatriyas) – the kingly and warrior caste

- Brahmana (Bramhin) – holy men and priests

 

RELIGION

Unlike most of Muslim-majority Indonesia, about 83.5% of Bali's population adheres to Balinese Hinduism, formed as a combination of existing local beliefs and Hindu influences from mainland Southeast Asia and South Asia. Minority religions include Islam (13.3%), Christianity (1.7%), and Buddhism (0.5%). These figures do not include immigrants from other parts of Indonesia.

 

Balinese Hinduism is an amalgam in which gods and demigods are worshipped together with Buddhist heroes, the spirits of ancestors, indigenous agricultural deities and sacred places. Religion as it is practised in Bali is a composite belief system that embraces not only theology, philosophy, and mythology, but ancestor worship, animism and magic. It pervades nearly every aspect of traditional life. Caste is observed, though less strictly than in India. With an estimated 20,000 puras (temples) and shrines, Bali is known as the "Island of a Thousand Puras", or "Island of the Gods". This is refer to Mahabarata story that behind Bali became island of god or "pulau dewata" in Indonesian language.

 

Balinese Hinduism has roots in Indian Hinduism and Buddhism, and adopted the animistic traditions of the indigenous people. This influence strengthened the belief that the gods and goddesses are present in all things. Every element of nature, therefore, possesses its own power, which reflects the power of the gods. A rock, tree, dagger, or woven cloth is a potential home for spirits whose energy can be directed for good or evil. Balinese Hinduism is deeply interwoven with art and ritual. Ritualizing states of self-control are a notable feature of religious expression among the people, who for this reason have become famous for their graceful and decorous behaviour.

 

Apart from the majority of Balinese Hindus, there also exist Chinese immigrants whose traditions have melded with that of the locals. As a result, these Sino-Balinese not only embrace their original religion, which is a mixture of Buddhism, Christianity, Taoism and Confucianism, but also find a way to harmonise it with the local traditions. Hence, it is not uncommon to find local Sino-Balinese during the local temple's odalan. Moreover, Balinese Hindu priests are invited to perform rites alongside a Chinese priest in the event of the death of a Sino-Balinese. Nevertheless, the Sino-Balinese claim to embrace Buddhism for administrative purposes, such as their Identity Cards.

 

LANGUAGE

Balinese and Indonesian are the most widely spoken languages in Bali, and the vast majority of Balinese people are bilingual or trilingual. The most common spoken language around the tourist areas is Indonesian, as many people in the tourist sector are not solely Balinese, but migrants from Java, Lombok, Sumatra, and other parts of Indonesia. There are several indigenous Balinese languages, but most Balinese can also use the most widely spoken option: modern common Balinese. The usage of different Balinese languages was traditionally determined by the Balinese caste system and by clan membership, but this tradition is diminishing. Kawi and Sanskrit are also commonly used by some Hindu priests in Bali, for Hinduism literature was mostly written in Sanskrit.

 

English and Chinese are the next most common languages (and the primary foreign languages) of many Balinese, owing to the requirements of the tourism industry, as well as the English-speaking community and huge Chinese-Indonesian population. Other foreign languages, such as Japanese, Korean, French, Russian or German are often used in multilingual signs for foreign tourists.

 

CULTURE

Bali is renowned for its diverse and sophisticated art forms, such as painting, sculpture, woodcarving, handcrafts, and performing arts. Balinese cuisine is also distinctive. Balinese percussion orchestra music, known as gamelan, is highly developed and varied. Balinese performing arts often portray stories from Hindu epics such as the Ramayana but with heavy Balinese influence. Famous Balinese dances include pendet, legong, baris, topeng, barong, gong keybar, and kecak (the monkey dance). Bali boasts one of the most diverse and innovative performing arts cultures in the world, with paid performances at thousands of temple festivals, private ceremonies, or public shows.

 

The Hindu New Year, Nyepi, is celebrated in the spring by a day of silence. On this day everyone stays at home and tourists are encouraged to remain in their hotels. On the day before New Year, large and colourful sculptures of ogoh-ogoh monsters are paraded and finally burned in the evening to drive away evil spirits. Other festivals throughout the year are specified by the Balinese pawukon calendrical system.

 

Celebrations are held for many occasions such as a tooth-filing (coming-of-age ritual), cremation or odalan (temple festival). One of the most important concepts that Balinese ceremonies have in common is that of désa kala patra, which refers to how ritual performances must be appropriate in both the specific and general social context. Many of the ceremonial art forms such as wayang kulit and topeng are highly improvisatory, providing flexibility for the performer to adapt the performance to the current situation. Many celebrations call for a loud, boisterous atmosphere with lots of activity and the resulting aesthetic, ramé, is distinctively Balinese. Often two or more gamelan ensembles will be performing well within earshot, and sometimes compete with each other to be heard. Likewise, the audience members talk amongst themselves, get up and walk around, or even cheer on the performance, which adds to the many layers of activity and the liveliness typical of ramé.

 

Kaja and kelod are the Balinese equivalents of North and South, which refer to ones orientation between the island's largest mountain Gunung Agung (kaja), and the sea (kelod). In addition to spatial orientation, kaja and kelod have the connotation of good and evil; gods and ancestors are believed to live on the mountain whereas demons live in the sea. Buildings such as temples and residential homes are spatially oriented by having the most sacred spaces closest to the mountain and the unclean places nearest to the sea.

 

Most temples have an inner courtyard and an outer courtyard which are arranged with the inner courtyard furthest kaja. These spaces serve as performance venues since most Balinese rituals are accompanied by any combination of music, dance and drama. The performances that take place in the inner courtyard are classified as wali, the most sacred rituals which are offerings exclusively for the gods, while the outer courtyard is where bebali ceremonies are held, which are intended for gods and people. Lastly, performances meant solely for the entertainment of humans take place outside the walls of the temple and are called bali-balihan. This three-tiered system of classification was standardised in 1971 by a committee of Balinese officials and artists to better protect the sanctity of the oldest and most sacred Balinese rituals from being performed for a paying audience.

 

Tourism, Bali's chief industry, has provided the island with a foreign audience that is eager to pay for entertainment, thus creating new performance opportunities and more demand for performers. The impact of tourism is controversial since before it became integrated into the economy, the Balinese performing arts did not exist as a capitalist venture, and were not performed for entertainment outside of their respective ritual context. Since the 1930s sacred rituals such as the barong dance have been performed both in their original contexts, as well as exclusively for paying tourists. This has led to new versions of many of these performances which have developed according to the preferences of foreign audiences; some villages have a barong mask specifically for non-ritual performances as well as an older mask which is only used for sacred performances.

 

Balinese society continues to revolve around each family's ancestral village, to which the cycle of life and religion is closely tied. Coercive aspects of traditional society, such as customary law sanctions imposed by traditional authorities such as village councils (including "kasepekang", or shunning) have risen in importance as a consequence of the democratisation and decentralisation of Indonesia since 1998.

 

WIKIPEDIA

From a trip up to Devils Dyke this evening, plenty of small flowers on the lower slopes. A Betony or other form of Stachys, perhaps?

More leaping rally cars from the Goodwood Festival of Speed

Includes 8 minifigures with assorted weapons and accessories: Vorash, Brigid, Orion, Zuvog, and 4 Zombies

Beach textures among the dunes on the Praia do Guincho, Portugal

Product includes

 

♥ 2 shape versions (Reborn + Waifu)

 

♥ Brow shape

 

♥ Style Card.

 

Mesh Head & Body Not Included!!!

 

Copy + Modifiable

 

♡ Marketplace

A foggy start in Shoreham this morning - creating an atmospheric scene by the Adur Ferry Bridge.

 

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The White Park is a rare breed of horned cattle with ancient herds preserved in Great Britain. It includes two very rare types often regarded as distinct, the Chillingham and the Vaynol cattle. The White Park is a medium-large, long-bodied bovine. A programme of linear assessment, including 200 bulls and 300 cows, has been carried out in the UK since 1994 to define its size and conformation. Mature bull weights vary from 800 to 1,000 kilograms, depending on the quality of grazing, but bulls in good condition may weigh 1,250 kilograms. Average withers height is 146 centimetres, chest depth 88 centimetres, body length (point of withers to point of pin bone (tuber ischii) 167 centimetres, hip (tuber coxae) width 64 centimetres, and scrotal circumference 45 centimetres. The relevant corresponding measurements for adult cows are 500 to 700 kilograms, 132 centimetres, 76 centimetres, 148 centimetres and 60 centimetres. The colour is distinctive, being porcelain white with coloured (black or red) points, namely ears, nose, eye rims, hooves, and teats and tips of the long horns. The colour pattern is dominant to other colours. The horns of the cows vary in shape, but the majority grow forwards and upwards in a graceful curve. The horns of bulls are thicker and shorter, and not so uplifted. In their native environment in Britain, White Park cattle are noted not only for their distinctive appearance, but also for their grazing behaviour, where they show a preference for coarser herbage. They are well-suited to non-intensive production and some herds are kept outside throughout the year on rough upland grazing without shelter or supplementary feed. They are docile, easy-calving, and have a long productive life. Some traits may vary a little in other countries, but the basic type is the same. They are beef animals noted for the quality of their meat.They are capable of converting coarse herbage into high quality meat, and of gaining weight at over 1 kg per day in good conditions. Until relatively recently they were a triple-purpose breed – meat, milk and draught. The 3rd Lord Dynevor (1765–1852) kept a team of draught oxen, and the practice continued up to 1914. The records of one plough ox that was killed in 1871 at 14 years of age, show that he stood 183 centimetres at the withers and weighed 1,171 kilograms. They were used as dairy cattle even more recently. Some cows were being milked in the Dynevor herd in 1951, but yields were moderate. Beef became the main product during the twentieth century, and gained a reputation as a textured meat, with excellent flavour and marbling, which commanded a significant premium in speciality markets. The best quality beef comes from 36-month-old animals, and fine marbling is the key to its eating quality, while the low cholesterol content adds to its attraction for the health-conscious consumers. Several blood typing and DNA studies have revealed the genetic distinctness of White Park cattle and the Oklahoma State University web site confirms the White Park is not closely related to two breeds of the same colour, but which are hornless, namely the American White Park (which actually is British White) and the British White and is genetically distinct from them. The colour-pointed coat pattern also appears in other cattle breeds such as the Irish Moiled, the Blanco Orejinegro, the Berrenda, the Nguni and the Texas Longhorn. The breeds most closely related seem to be the Highland cattle and Galloway cattle of Scotland, but the White Park "is genetically far distant from all British breeds". The Chillingham has diverged from the main White Park population and various stories have grown up around them. Hemming references the work of Hall in the following excerpt: "- – In other words, since the Chillingham cattle, wherever they came from, cannot be aurochsen, they must be Bos taurus just like Jerseys or Herefords or any other breed. They do look more like miniature aurochsen, but that is because they have not been selectively bred for beef or milk, and cattle that have been left to their own devices will tend to revert to ancestral type. Although both the late president and the patron have quoted genetic work done on the cattle to support their arguments, the zoological reports in fact make it quite clear that the Chillingham herd does not have any special relationship to the aurochs whatsoever (Hall 1982-3, 96; 1991, 540)."

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Colac. Population 12,300.

In 1837 a group of pastoralists landed near Geelong to explore the hinterlands along the Barwon River for suitable pastoral states. The group include Hugh Murray, Thomas and James Austin from Van Diemen’s Land and others. The Austin brothers arrived in Hobart in 1831.The Austin brothers settled on the Barwon River (Winchelsea) and at Werribee and Hugh Murray settled near Lake Colac on the Barongarook Creek which now enters the lake at the Colac boat ramp by the Botanic Gardens. In 1838 Captain Foster Fyans the Land Commissioner of Geelong took up land here too for a beef property. In Geelong he became the magistrate in 1849 and lived in the town hence the suburb of Fyansford across the Barwon River. Hugh Murray built the Crook and Plaid Inn near his homestead which partially marks the start of Colac as a town in 1844. The town was surveyed that same year and a blacksmith set up for business in 1845 and a general store opened. Usually the beginning of postal service marks the development of a town and Colac had its first Post Office established in 1847. In 1848 a simple Presbyterian chapel opened and it was followed by a police station in 1849, a second hotel and a day school. In 1850 the town progressed further but the gold rushes of 1851 saw labourers leave the town and progress stalled. At this time Colac had a population of 672 people. More residences and a second Presbyterian Church were built in 1853 and a Catholic Church was erected in 1856. The town had a national school, a flour mill and a Methodist Church by 1860. It was an established town.

 

In the 1865 the Botanical Gardens were started, the first bank opened and the first Shire Hall offices were built. The first town newspaper began, the first Anglican Church was constructed and an Oddfellows Hall built. Although the Botanic Gardens were started at thinks time little happened. Trustees were appointed in 1874 and work finally began. William Guilfoyle of Melbourne Botanic Gardens had a private commission in 1910 to replan the gardens. In 1877 the railway to Colac from Geelong opened. Branch lines opened from Colac to surrounding towns but now all are closed. In 1889 three trains a day left Geelong at 8:45 am, 1:45 pm and 9:15 pm taking about two and a half hours to reach Colac. A few years later an express service was added making four journeys a day. It took less than two hours to do this trip. The town prospered on the back of sheep and their fleeces until the 1890s when dairying became a major industry. The Colac Dairy Company was formed in 1892. The Company closed in 1987 when the factory was taken over by Bonlac Milk Company. After Thomas Austin of Barwon Park estate introduced rabbits in 1857 the district was overrun. To capitalise on this Colac had a rabbit canning factory from 1871 to 1889. As a town Colac is distinctive because it is on the edge of Lake Colac. This freshwater lake has a circumference of 33 kms. It was formed by volcanic activity which created a depression and then lava flows blocked the path of two local rivers southwards forcing them to drain into the depression. It covers almost 2,900 hectares and is relatively shallow with birds nesting in the reeds and commercial eel farming and amateur fishing in the waters. Beyond this lake is Lake Corangamite which is Australia’s largest freshwater lake covering 23,000 hects.

 

Some heritage listed structures in Colac.

•1 Murray St. Great example of 19th century general store. Balustrade and pediment across roof line. Large windows.

•4 Murray St. The former Post Office. Built in 1876 with additions 1888. Similar to the Shire Office but it has central triple arched entrance with clock, rounded windows on upper floor and no pilasters on ground floor.

•6 Murray St. The impressive symmetrical Italianate Shire Hall built in 1892. It replaced the earlier 1865 Shire hall. It has good classical detailing. It complements the Post Office in style.

•15 Murray St. The former Union Bank has recently been an antiques shop. Built in 1916 by architect Walter Butler who designed matching banks in Shepparton, Yarra etc.

•21 Murray St. The former Regent Theatre opened in 1925. Later became the R.S.L Club rooms. Was the site of the first Wesleyan Methodist Church until a new one was built in 1925 in Skene St.

•28 Murray St. Former National Bank. Mr Alexander Dennis laid the foundation stone in 1884. Built in 1885. Rounded window’s on ground floor, central entrance with small triangular pediment above it.

•At corner of Murray and Hesse St is the former two storey Colonial Bank. It is now a shop. Built in 1881.

•As you turn right into Hesse St on your left is Memorial Square. The World War One memorial- a walk in memorial, was designed by Fredrick Sales in 1924. The Square also has memorials to Andrew Fisher, Cliff Young etc. Opposite the memorial back in Murray St is the two storey offices of the Colac Reformer newspaper established in 1875. This building was refashioned in stripped classical style in 1925 with unusual rounded shell fan decoration. Now Hulm’s Bakery.

•(Detour: at end of the park in Dennis St. you will see the Oddfellows Hall built in 1891 in classical style but the rear part was built in 1870. Further along is the former Fire Station built in 1923. North from the IOOF is Derrinook on the next corner north. This huge Edwardian weatherboard private hospital was erected in 1900 for Dr William Brown. Dr Brown died in 1926 and in 1935 it was converted into flats. End of detour. )

•35 Hesse St. The red brick Freemasons Hall with leadlight window in gable built in 1924. It has a temple like appearance and Arts and Crafts details. Note the masons’ symbols in the cartouche above the window.

•25 Hesse St. St Andrews Presbyterian Church built in 1877. Built in blue basalt stone with freestone quoins and window surrounds etc. Has a typical Presbyterian octagonal tower and spire and a rose window in the end gable. Behind the church is a red brick church hall.

•17 Hesse St. St Johns Anglican Church. It was built in 1870 in red brick with a square corner tower and narrow arched Gothic windows in the street facing gable. Next to it is an Art Deco parish hall and Sunday school room built in 1902 with two side Art Deco wings added in 1933. Designed with cream rendered gables to divide the red brick walls. Two blocks ahead is an entrance to the Botanic Gardens. From here one block to the left along Fyans St. is the Catholic Church 1979. (Original was 1883.) West of the church is the impressive two storey Convent of Mercy and its chapel built in 1889. Return to the town centre along Gellibrand St. at no 14 is the Elms House. This austere single storey villa with bay window and cream brick quoins was built in 1883.

•Corners of Bromfield and Corangamite Streets- two medical surgeries and doctors residences. Glenora built with Art Nouveau features in 1907 and Lislea House built in 1892 Edwardian/Arts and Crafts style.

 

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The garden of Al Montazah is 3000 meters wide contains a huge selection of trees and plants, some of them quite rare. Some of the tropical plants are still in good shape although they have been planted more than 75 years ago. The plant collection in Montazah includes Catania, huge boots, Zamia, Carlota, and special types of palms. This is beside the big size plants like Anthurium, Hokiry, Araliaceae, Victoria, and Ropilia..Taken @Alexandria, Egypt

Includes:

- German Officer Torso

- German Rifleman Torso

- Japanese Infantry Torso

- US Officer Torso

- US Pilot Torso

- French Infantry Torso

- US Infantry Legs

- German Infantry Legs

- British Infantry Legs

A member of the Asteraceae family of dicotyledonous plants, its garden relatives thus include the sunflower, daisy, chrysanthemum, and zinnia.

There are 42 species of dahlia, with hybrids commonly grown as garden plants.

Dahlias are perennial plants with tuberous roots, though they are grown as annuals in some regions with cold winters.

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".

The tubers were grown as a food crop by the Aztecs, but this use largely died out after the Spanish Conquest.

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 imperialis) for water pipes.

 

I hope your day is filled with beauty, thank you for your comments, Magda, (*_*)

 

For more: www.indigo2photography.com

IT IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN (BY LAW!!!) TO USE ANY OF MY images or TEXT on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit permission.

 

Dahlia, red, full, buds, bloom, natural, Nature, Summer, flowers, blooming, colour, studio, square, "black background", "conceptual Art", DESIGN, "Magda Indigo", "NIKON D7000"

Real "rally" weather for the South Downs Stages at Goodwood today - cold with a bit of sleet in the air

Created for the 4th Annual Lego Military Contest 2011.

Submitted:

Diorama: Small / Peacekeeping

MLS

 

“Two Pronged Strategy”

In order to maintain peace in the Middle East, a two pronged strategy is necessary. The first crucial part is more of a cultural strategy. In order to be successful in any foreign country, the ‘outsiders’ must acclimate to a different cultural world. This includes meetings with the local elder leaders of the small communities. The second, but equally important, requirement is military action. This may involve raids on suspected enemy bases of operations.

 

At a remote FOB (Forward Operating Base), the U.S. military leaders meet with the village elders. At the same time a Special Forces team preps for a covert operation on a known terrorist safe house.

Include ; Rose Dress, Apron, Inner skirt, Headdress [Total 4 piece.]

From a quick trip to Woods Mill this afternoon. This Bee was working hard on the last of the flowers on this teasel.

-4 C (25 F) is pretty cold for the south coast - and it had probably ticked up a couple of degrees by the time I took the Fiesta for its MOT test - a pass after fixing a worn tie rod end.

A balmy and hazy Summer's evening up on Mill Hill.

This week has been extremely productive! I've taken all my rolling stock and converted it into box cars! Also creating a new single truck. I've used up heaps of tiles and bricks into making all of these and have tried to include more detail than previously. The wagons include: 1x cattle wagon and 4x fish wagons (1x 9V powered wagon). I also had the time to WIP up a decent size LMS brake van, which I'm very happy with :) I'll post some nicer photos of the wagons and brake van soon!

A Dragonfly spotted at work on the way to the canteen to grab a coffee.

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Unashamedly I will shout it from the rooftops.

  

I LOVE CARRION CROW.

   

There, I've said it. Words I use to describe these amazing birds would include stunning, beautiful, bold, magnificent, intelligent and fantastic, loving, tender, victimized...... oh yes, and sometimes they can be brutal (Let's face it, Mother nature often is).

  

Recently I had a resident pair of Carrion crows who decided that my garden was theirs, playing a game of cat and mouse with a pair of cheeky Magpies (Pica pica) for dominance and food rights. The male crow actually flew in and 'winged' the magpies to make them leave, an incredible sight to witness. It was an honour and a privilege to be able to win their trust and they have given me so much pleasure this year being able to get within a few feet of them, and their three youngsters, to photograph and feed them, and they have reinforced my already deep admiration for a bird that is brimming with beauty, intelligence, confidence and also surrounded by myths, legend and prejudice.

  

So let's begin with a look back over history.

  

LEGEND AND MYTHOLOGY

  

Crows appear in the Bible where Noah uses one to search for dry land and to check on the recession of the flood. Crows supposedly saved the prophet, Elijah, from famine and are an Inuit deity. Legend has it that England and its monarchy will end when there are no more crows in the Tower of London. And some believe that the crows went to the Tower attracted by the regular corpses following executions with written accounts of their presence at the executions of Anne Boleyn and Jane Gray.

  

In Welsh mythology, unfortunately Crows are seen as symbolic of evilness and black magic thanks to many references to witches transforming into crows or ravens and escaping. Indian legend tells of Kakabhusandi, a crow who sits on the branches of a wish-fulfilling tree called Kalpataru and a crow in Ramayana where Lord Rama blessed the crow with the power to foresee future events and communicate with the souls.

  

In Native American first nation legend the crow is sometimes considered to be something of a trickster, though they are also viewed positively by some tribes as messengers between this world and the next where they carry messages from the living to those deceased, and even carry healing medicines between both worlds. There is a belief that crows can foresee the future. The Klamath tribe in Oregon believe that when we die, we fly up to heaven as a crow. The Crow can also signify wisdom to some tribes who believe crows had the power to talk and were therefore considered to be one of the wisest of birds. Tribes with Crow Clans include the Chippewa (whose Crow Clan and its totem are called Aandeg), the Hopi (whose Crow Clan is called Angwusngyam or Ungwish-wungwa), the Menominee, the Caddo, the Tlingit, and the Pueblo tribes of New Mexico.

  

The crow features in the Nanissáanah (Ghost dance), popularized by Jerome Crow Dog, a Brulé Lakota sub-chief and warrior born at Horse Stealing Creek in Montana Territory in 1833, the crow symbolizing wisdom and the past, when the crow had became a guide and acted as a pathfinder during hunting. The Ghost dance movement was originally created in 1870 by Wodziwob, or Gray Hair, a prophet and medicine man of the Paiute tribe in an area that became known as Nevada. Ghost dancers wore crow and eagle feathers in their clothes and hair, and the fact that the Crow could talk placed it as one of the sages of the animal kingdom. The five day dances seeking trance,prophecy and exhortations would eventually play a major part in the pathway towards the white man's broken treaties, the infamous battle at Wounded knee and the surrender of Matȟó Wanáȟtaka (Kicking Bear), after officials began to fear the ghost dancers and rituals which seemed to occur prior to battle.

  

Historically the Vikings are the group who made so many references to the crow, and Ragnarr Loðbrók and his sons used this species in his banner as well as appearances in many flags and coats of arms. Also, it had some kind of association with Odin, one of their main deities. Norse legend tells us that Odin is accompanied by two crows. Hugin, who symbolizes thought, and Munin, who represents a memory. These two crows were sent out each dawn to fly the entire world, returning at breakfast where they informed the Lord of the Nordic gods of everything that went on in their kingdoms. Odin was also referred to as Rafnagud (raven-god). The raven appears in almost every skaldic poem describing warfare.Coins dating back to 940's minted by Olaf Cuaran depict the Viking war standard, the Raven and Viking war banners (Gonfalon) depicted the bird also.

  

In Scandinavian legends, crows are a representative of the Goddess of Death, known as Valkyrie (from old Norse 'Valkyrja'), one of the group of maidens who served the Norse deity Odin, visiting battlefields and sending him the souls of the slain worthy of a place in Valhalla. Odin ( also called Wodan, Woden, or Wotan), preferred that heroes be killed in battle and that the most valiant of souls be taken to Valhöll, the hall of slain warriors. It is the crow that provides the Valkyries with important information on who should go. In Hindu ceremonies that are associated to ancestors, the crow has an important place in Vedic rituals. They are seen as messengers of death in Indian culture too.

  

In Germanic legend, Crows are seen as psychonomes, meaning the act of guiding spirits to their final destination, and that the feathers of a crow could cure a victim who had been cursed. And yet, a lone black crow could symbolize impending death, whilst a group symbolizes a lucky omen! Vikings also saw good omens in the crow and would leave offerings of meat as a token.

  

The crow also has sacred and prophetic meaning within the Celtic civilization, where it stood for flesh ripped off due to combat and Morrighan, the warrior goddess, often appears in Celtic mythology as a raven or crow, or else is found to be in the company of the birds. Crow is sacred to Lugdnum, the Celtic god of creation who gave his name to the city of Lug

  

In Greek mythology according to Appolodorus, Apollo is supposedly responsible for the black feathers of the crow, turning them forever black from their pristine white original plumage as a punishment after they brought news that Κορωνις (Coronis) a princess of the Thessalian kingdom of Phlegyantis, Apollo's pregnant lover had left him to marry a mortal, Ischys. In one legend, Apollo burned the crows feathers and then burned Coronis to death, in another Coronis herself was turned into a black crow, and another that she was slain by the arrows of Αρτεμις (Artemis - twin to Apollo). Koronis was later set amongst the stars as the constellation Corvus ("the Crow"). Her name means "Curved One" from the Greek word korônis or "Crow" from the word korônê.

  

A similar Muslim legend allegedly tells of Muhammad, founder of Islam and the last prophet sent by God to Earth, who's secret location was given away by a white crow to his seekers, as he hid in caves. The crow shouted 'Ghar Ghar' (Cave, cave) and thus as punishment, Muhammad turned the crow black and cursed it for eternity to utter only one phrase, 'Ghar, ghar). Native Indian legend where the once rainbow coloured crows became forever black after shedding their colourful plumage over the other animals of the world.

  

In China the Crow is represented in art as a three legged bird on a solar disk, being a creature that helps the sun in its journey. In Japan there are myths of Crow Tengu who were priests who became vain, and turned into this spirit to serve as messengers until they learn the lesson of humility as well as a great Crow who takes part in Shinto creation stories.

  

In animal spirit guides there are general perceptions of what sightings of numbers of crows actually mean:

  

1 Crow Meaning: To carry a message from your near one who died recently.

 

2 Crows Meaning: Two crows sitting near your home signifies some good news is on your way.

 

3 Crows Meaning: An upcoming wedding in your family.

 

4 Crows Meaning: Symbolizes wealth and prosperity.

 

5 Crows Meaning: Diseases or pain.

 

6 Crows Meaning: A theft in your house!

 

7 Crows Meaning: Denotes travel or moving from your house.

 

8 Crows Meaning: Sorrowful events

  

Crows are generally seen as the symbolism when alive for doom bringing, misfortune and bad omens, and yet a dead crow symbolises potentially bringing good news and positive change to those who see it. This wonderful bird certainly gets a mixed bag of contradictory mythology and legend over the centuries and in modern days is often seen as a bit of a nuisance, attacking and killing the babies of other birds such as Starlings, Pigeons and House Sparrows as well as plucking the eyes out of lambs in the field, being loud and noisy and violently attacking poor victims in a 'crow court'....

  

There is even a classic horror film called 'THE CROW' released in 1994 by Miramax Films, directed by Alex Proyas and starring Brandon Lee in his final film appearance as Eric Draven, who is revived by a Crow tapping on his gravestone a year after he and his fiancée are murdered in Detroit by a street gang. The crow becomes his guide as he sets out to avenge the murders. The only son of martial arts expert Bruce Lee, Brandon lee suffered fatal injuries on the set of the film when the crew failed to remove the primer from a cartridge that hit Lee in the abdomen with the same force as a normal bullet. Lee died that day, March 31st 1993 aged 28.

  

The symbolism of the Crow resurrecting the dead star and accompanying him on his quest for revenge was powerful, and in some part based on the history of the carrion crow itself and the original film grossed more than $94 Million dollars with three subsequent sequels following.

  

TAKING A CLOSER LOOK

  

So let's move away from legend, mythology and stories passed down from our parents and grandparents and look at these amazing birds in isolation.

  

Carrion crow are passerines in the family Corvidae a group of Oscine passerine birds including Crows, Ravens, Rooks, Jackdaws, Jays, Magpies, Treepies, Choughs and Nutcrackers. Technically they are classed as Corvids, and the largest of passerine birds. Carrion crows are medium to large in size with rictal bristles and a single moult per year (most passerines moult twice). Carrion crow was one of the many species originally described by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (Carl Von Linne after his ennoblement) in his 1758 and 1759 editions of 'SYSTEMA NATURAE', and it still bears its original name of Corvus corone, derived from the Latin of Corvus, meaning Raven and the Greek κορώνη (korōnē), meaning crow.

  

Carrion crow are of the Animalia kingdom Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Passeriformes Family: Corvidae Genus: Corvus and Species: Corvus corone

  

Corvus corone can reach 45-47cm in length with a 93-104cm wingspan and weigh between 370-650g. They are protected under The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in the United Kingdom with a Green UK conservation status which means they are of least concern with more than 1,000,000 territories. Breeding occurs in April with fledging of the chicks taking around twenty nine days following an incubation period of around twenty days with 3 to 4 eggs being the average norm.

  

They are abundant in the UK apart from Northwest Scotland and Ireland where the Hooded crow (Corvus cornix) was considered the same species until 2002. They have a lifespan of around four years, whilst Crow species can live to the age of Twenty years old, and the oldest known American crow in the wild was almost Thirty years old. The oldest documented captive crow died at age Fifty nine. They are smaller and have a shorter lifespan than the Raven, which again is used as a symbol in history to live life to the full and not waste a moment!

  

They are often mistaken for the Rook (Corvus frugilegus), a similar bird, though in the UK, the Rook is actually technically smaller than the Carrion crow averaging 44-46cm in length, 81-99cm wingspan and weighing up to 340g. Rooks have white beaks compared to the black beaks of Carrion crow. There are documented cases in the UK of singular and grouped Rooks attacking and killing Carrion crows in their territory. Rooks nest in colonies unlike Carrion crows. Carrion crows have only a few natural enemies including powerful raptors such as the northern goshawk, the peregrine falcon, the Eurasian eagle-owl and the golden eagle which will all readily hunt them.

  

Regarded as one of the most intelligent birds, indeed creatures on the planet, studies suggest that Corvids cognitive abilities can rival that of primates such as chimpanzees and gorillas and even provide clues to understanding human intelligence. Crows have relatively large brains for their body size, compared to other animals. Their encephalization quotient (EQ) a ratio of brain to body size, adjusted for size because there isn’t a linear relationship is 4.1. That is remarkably close to chimps at 4.2 whilst humans are 8.1. Corvids also have a very high neuronal density, the number of neurons per gram of brain, factoring in the number of cortical neurons, neuron packing density, interneuronal distance and axonal conduction velocity shows that Corvids score high on this measure as well, with humans scoring the highest.

  

A corvid's pallium is packed with more neurons than a great ape's. Corvids have demonstrated the ability to use a combination of mental tools such as imagination, and anticipation of future events. They can craft tools from twigs and branches to hook grubs from deep recesses, they can solve puzzles and intricate methods of gaining access to food set by humans., and have even bent pieces of wire into hooks to obtain food. They have been proven to have a higher cognitive ability level than seven year old humans. Communications wise, their repertoire of wraw-wraw's is not fully understood, but the intensity, rhythm, and duration of caws seems to form the basis of a possible language. They also remember the faces of humans who have hindered or hurt them and pass that information on to their offspring.

  

Aesop's fable of 'The Crow and the Pitcher, tells of a thirsty crow which drops stones into a water pitcher to raise the water level and enable it to take a drink. Scientists have conducted tests to see whether crows really are this intelligent. They placed floating treats in a deep tube and observed the crows indeed dropping dense objects carefully selected into the water until the treat floated within reach. They had the intelligence to pick up, weigh and discount objects that would float in the water, they also did not select ones that were too large for the container.

  

Pet crows develop a unique call for their owners, in effect actually naming them. They also know to sunbathe for a dose of vitamin D, regularly settling on wooden garden fences, opening their mouths and wings and raising their heads to the sun. In groups they warn of danger and communicate vocally. They store a cache of food for later if in abundance and are clever enough to move it if they feel it has been discovered. They leave markers for their cache. They have even learned to place walnuts and similar hard food items under car tyres at traffic lights as a means of cracking them!

  

Crows regularly gather around a dead fellow corvid, almost like a funeral, and it is thought they somehow learn from each death. They can even remember human faces for decades. Crows group together to attack larger predators and even steal their food, and they have different dialects in different areas, with the ability to mimic the dialect of the alpha males when they enter their territory!

  

They have a twenty year life span, the oldest on record reaching the age of Fifty nine. Crows can leave gifts for those who feed them such as buttons or bright shiny objects as a thank you, and they even kiss and make up after an argument, having mated for life.

  

In mythology they are associated with good and bad luck, being the bringers of omens and even witchcraft and are generally reviled for their attacks on baby birds and small mammals. They have an attack method of to stunning smaller birds before consuming them, tearing violently at smaller, less aggressive birds, which is simply down to the fact that they are so highly intelligent, and also the top of the food chain. Their diet includes over a thousand different items: Dead animals (as their name suggests), invertebrates, grain, as well as stealing eggs and chicks from other birds' nests, worms, insects, fruit, seeds, kitchen scraps. They are highly adaptable when food sources grow scarce. I absolutely love them, they are magnificent, bold, beautiful and incredibly interesting to watch and though at times it is hard to witness attacks made by them, I cannot help but adore them for so many other and more important reasons.

  

OBSERVATIONS ON THE PAIR IN MY GARDEN

  

Crows have been in the area for a while, but rarely had strayed into my garden, leaving the Magpies to own the territory. Things changed towards the end of May when a beautiful female Carrion crow appeared and began to take some of the food that I put down for the other birds. Within a few days she began to appear regularly, on occasions stocking up on food, whilst other times placing pieces in the birdbath to soften them. She would stand on the birdbath and eat and drink and come back over the course of the day to eat the softened food.

  

Shortly afterwards she brought along her mate, a tall and handsome fella, much larger than her who was also very vocal if he felt she was getting a little too close to me. By now I had moved from a seated position from the patio as an observer, to laying on a mat just five feet from the birdbath with my Nikon so that I could photograph the pair as they landed, scavenged and fed. She was now confident enough to let me be very close, and she even tolerated and recognized the clicking of the camera. At first I used silent mode to reduce the noise but this only allowed two shooting frame rates of single frame or continuous low frame which meant I was missing shots. I reverted back to normal continuous high frames and she soon got used to the whirring of the frames as the mirror slapped back and forth.

  

The big fella would bark orders at her from the safety of the fence or the rear of the garden, whilst she rarely made a sound. That was until one day when in the sweltering heat she kept opening her beak and sunning on the grass, panting slightly in the heat. I placed the circular water sprayer nearby and had it rotating so that the birdbath and grass was bathed in gentle water droplets and she soon came back, landed and seemed to really like the cooling effect on offer. She then climbed onto the birdbath and opened her wings slightly and made some gentle purring, cooing noises....

  

I swear she was expressing happiness, joy....

  

On another blisteringly hot day when the sprayer was on, she came down, walked towards it and opened her wings up running into the water spray. Not once, but many times.

  

A final observation came with the male and female on the rear garden fence. They sat together, locked beaks like a kiss and then the male took his time gently preening her head feathers and the back of her neck as she made tiny happy sounds. They stayed together like that for several minutes, showing a gentle, softer side to their nature and demonstrating the deep bond between them. Into July and the pair started to bring their three youngsters to my garden, the nippers learning to use the birdbath for bathing and dipping food, the parents attentive as ever.

  

Corvus Corone.... magnificently misunderstood by some!

  

Paul Williams June 4th 2021

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Sixty two metres at 10:25am during a brief passing rain shower on a beautiful summer morning on Thursday 3rd June 2021, off Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.

  

Here we see a large adult Female Carrion crow (Corvus corone), a passerine bird of the family Corvidae and the genus Raven (Higher classification: Corvus), which is native to western Europe and eastern Asia. It can grow to twenty inches in length with a wingspan of up to thirty nine inches.

  

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Nikon D850 Focal length: 340mm Shutter speed: 1/200s Aperture: f/7.1 iso250 Hand held with Tamron VC Vibration control set to ON (Position 1) 14 Bit uncompressed RAW NEF file size L (8256 x 5504 pixels) FX (36 x 24) Focus mode: AF-C AF-Area mode: 3D-tracking AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points Exposure mode: Manual exposure mode Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance on: Auto1 (4960k) Colour space: RGB Picture control: Neutral (Sharpening +2)

  

Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 95mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.

    

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LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.67s

LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.54s

ALTITUDE: 62.00m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 90.4MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 57.90MB

     

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PROCESSING POWER:

  

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00

  

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

Includes 12 chunky shapes

Each shape fits through a hole of the same shape on the wooden cube.

Classic learning activity with nostalgic appeal

  

www.gadgetgiga.com/product/melissa-doug-shape-sorting-cub...

Pelargonium is a genus of flowering plants that includes about 280 species of perennials, succulents, and shrubs, commonly called geraniums, pelargoniums, or storksbills. Geranium is also the botanical name and common name of a separate genus of related plants, also known as cranesbills. Both genera belong to the family Geraniaceae. Carl Linnaeus originally included all the species in one genus, Geranium, and they were later separated into two genera by Charles Louis L'Héritier de Brutelle in 1789.

 

While Geranium species are mostly temperate herbaceous plants, dying down in winter, Pelargonium species are evergreen perennials indigenous to warm temperate and tropical regions of the world, with many species in southern Africa. They are drought and heat tolerant but can tolerate only minor frosts. Some species are extremely popular garden plants, grown as houseplants and bedding plants in temperate regions. They have a long flowering period, with flowers mostly in red, orange, or white, but intensive breeding has produced a huge array of cultivars with great variety in size, flower colour, leaf form and aromatic foliage.

 

Etymology

 

One of hundreds of garden and houseplant cultivars

The name Pelargonium is derived from the Greek πελαργός, pelargós (stork), because the seed head looks like a stork's beak. Dillenius originally suggested the name 'stork', because Geranium was named after a crane — "a πελαργός, ciconia, sicuti vocamus Gerania, γερανός, grus" (from pelargos, stork, as we call the Gerania, geranos, crane).

 

Description

Pelargonium occurs in a large number of growth forms, including herbaceous annuals, shrubs, subshrubs, stem succulents and geophytes. The erect stems bear five-petaled flowers in umbel-like clusters, which are occasionally branched. Because not all flowers appear simultaneously, but open from the centre outwards, this is a form of inflorescence is referred to as pseudoumbels.

 

The flower has a single symmetry plane (zygomorphic), which distinguishes it from the Geranium flower, which has radial symmetry (actinomorphic). Thus the lower three (anterior) petals are differentiated from the upper two (posterior) petals. The posterior sepal is fused with the pedicel to form a hypanthium (nectary tube). The nectary tube varies from only a few millimeters, up to several centimeters, and is an important floral characteristic in morphological classification. Stamens vary from 2 to 7, and their number, position relative to staminodes, and curvature are used to identify individual species. There are five stigmata in the style. For the considerable diversity in flower morphology, see figure 1 of Röschenbleck et al. (2014).

 

Leaves are usually alternate, and palmately lobed or pinnate, often on long stalks, and sometimes with light or dark patterns. The leaves of Pelargonium peltatum (Ivy-leaved Geranium), have a thick cuticle better adapting them for drought tolerance.

 

Taxonomy

 

Dillenius' introduction of the term 'Pelargonium' in Hortus Elthamensis 1732

 

Pelargonium inquinans, (Geranium Afric. arborescens), Hortus Elthamensis

Pelargonium is the second largest genus (after Geranium) within the family Geraniaceae, within which it is sister to the remaining genera of the family in its strict sense, Erodium, Geranium, and Monsonia including Sarcocaulon. The Geraniaceae have a number of genetic features unique amongst angiosperms, including highly rearranged plastid genomes differing in gene content, order and expansion of the inverted repeat.

 

Genus history

The name Pelargonium was first proposed by Dillenius in 1732, who described and illustrated seven species of geraniums from South Africa that are now classified as Pelargonium. Dillenius, who referred to these seven species with apparent unique characteristics as Geranium Africanum (African Geranium) suggested "Possent ergo ii, quibus novi generis cupido est, ea, quorum flores inaequales vel et irrregulares sunt, Pelargonia vocare" (Those who wish a new genus can therefore call those, whose flowers are unequal or irregular, ‘Pelargonia’). The name was then formally introduced by Johannes Burman in 1738. However Carl Linnaeus who first formally described these plants in 1753 did not recognise Pelargonium and grouped together in the same genus (Geranium) the three similar genera Erodium, Geranium, and Pelargonium. Linnaeus' reputation prevented further differentiation for forty years. The eventual distinction between them was made by Charles L’Héritier based on the number of stamens or anthers, seven in the case of Pelargonium. In 1774, P. cordatum, P. crispum, P. quercifolium and P. radula were introduced, followed by P. capitatum in 1790.

 

Circumscription

Pelargonium is distinguished from the other genera in the family Geraniaceae by the presence of a hypanthium, which consists of an adnate nectar spur with one nectary, as well as a generally zygomorphic floral symmetry.

 

Subdivision

De Candolle first proposed dividing the genus into 12 sections in 1824, based on the diversity of growth forms. Traditionally the large number of Pelargonium species have been treated as sixteen sections, based on the classification of Knuth (1912) who described 15 sections, as modified by van der Walt et al. (1977-1997) who added Chorisma, Reniformia and Subsucculentia.

 

These are as follows;

 

section Campylia (Lindley ex Sweet) de Candolle

section Chorisma (Lindley ex Sweet) de Candolle

section Ciconium (Sweet) Harvey

section Cortusina (DC.) Harvey

section Glaucophyllum Harvey

section Hoarea (Sweet) de Candolle

section Isopetalum (Sweet) de Candolle

section Jenkinsonia (Sweet) de Candolle

section Ligularia (Sweet) Harvey

section Myrrhidium de Candolle

section Otidia (Lindley ex Sweet) de Candolle

section Pelargonium (Sweet) Harvey

section Peristera de Candolle

section Polyactium de Candolle

section Reniformia (Knuth) Dreyer

section Subsucculentia J.J.A. van der Walt

Phylogenetic analyses

All subdivision classifications had depended primarily on morphological differences till the era of phylogenetic analyses (Price and Palmer 1993). However phylogenetic analysis shows only three distinct clades, labelled A, B and C. In this analysis not all sections were monophyletic, although some were strongly supported including Chorisma, Myrrhidium and Jenkinsonia, while other sections were more paraphyletic. This in turn has led to a proposal, informal at this stage, of a reformulation of the infrageneric subdivision of Pelargonium.

 

In the proposed scheme of Weng et al. there would be two subgenera, based on clades A+B, and C respectively and seven sections based on subclades. Subsequent analysis with an expanded taxa set confirmed this infrageneric subdivision into two groups which also correspond to chromosome length (<1.5 μ, 1.5-3.0μ), but also two subclades within each major clade, suggesting the presence of four subgenera, these correspond to clades A, B, C1 and C2 of the earlier analysis, A being by far the largest clade with 141 taxa. As before the internal structure of the clades supported monophyly of some sections (Myrrhidium, Chorisma, Reniformia, Pelargonium, Ligularia and Hoarea) but paraphyly in others (Jenkinsonia, Ciconium, Peristera). A distinct clade could be identified within the paraphyletic Polyactium, designated section Magnistipulacea. As a result, Polyactium has been split up to provide this new section, which in itself contains two subsections, Magnistipulacea and Schizopetala, following Knuth's original treatment of Polyactium as having four subsections.

 

Subgenus Pelargonium section Otidia: P. crithmifolium

Thus Röschenbleck et al. (2014) provide a complete revision of the subgeneric classification of Pelargonium based on four subgenera corresponding to their major clades (A, B, C1, C2);

 

subgenus Magnipetala Roeschenbl. & F. Albers Type: Pelargonium praemorsum (Andrews) F Dietrich

subgenus Parvulipetala Roeschenbl. & F. Albers Type: Pelargonium hypoleucum Turczaninow

subgenus Paucisignata Roeschenbl. & F. Albers Type: Pelargonium zonale (L.) L'Hér. in Aiton

subgenus Pelargonium L'Hér. Type: Pelargonium cucullatum (L.) Aiton

Sixteen sections were then assigned to the new subgenera as follows, although many species remained only assigned to subgenera at this stage

 

subgenus Magnipetala 3 sections

section Chorisma (Lindley ex Sweet) de Candolle - 4 species

section Jenkinsonia (Sweet) de Candolle - 11 species

section Myrrhidium de Candolle - 8 species

subgenus Parvulipetala 3 sections

section Isopetalum (Sweet) de Candolle - 1 species (Pelargonium cotyledonis (L.) L'Hér.)

section Peristera de Candolle - 30 species

section Reniformia (Knuth) Dreyer - 8 species

subgenus Paucisignata 2 sections

section Ciconium (Sweet) Harvey - 16 species

section Subsucculentia J.J.A. van der Walt - 3 species

subgenus Pelargonium 8 sections

section Campylia (Lindley ex Sweet) de Candolle - 9 species

section Cortusina (DC.) Harvey - 7 species

section Hoarea (Sweet) de Candolle - 72 species

section Ligularia (Sweet) Harvey - 10 species

section Magnistipulacea Roeschenbl. & F. Albers Type: Pelargonium schlecteri Knuth - 2 subsections

subsection Magnistipulacea Roeschenbl. & F. Albers Type: Pelargonium schlecteri Knuth - 2 species (P. schlecteri & P. luridum)

subsection Schizopetala (Knuth) Roeschenbl. & F. Albers Type: Pelargonium caffrum (Eckl. & Zeyh.) Steudel - 3 species (P. caffrum, P. bowkeri, P. schizopetalum)

section Otidia (Lindley ex Sweet) de Candolle - 14 species

section Pelargonium L'Hér. - 34 species

section Polyactium de Candolle - 2 subsections

subsection Caulescentia Knuth - 1 species (Pelargonium gibbosum)

subsection Polyactium de Candolle - 7 species

Subgenera

Subgenus Magnipetala: Corresponds to clade C1, with 24 species. Perennial to short lived, spreading subshrubs, rarely herbaceous annuals. Petals five, but may be four, colour mainly white. Mainly winter rainfall region of South Africa, spreading into summer rainfall region. One species in northern Namibia and Botswana. Two species in East Africa and Ethiopia. Chromosomes x=11 and 9.

 

Subgenus Parvulipetala: Corresponds to clade B, with 39-42 species. Perennials, partly annuals. Petals five and equal, colour white or pink to deep purplish red. Mainly South Africa, but also other southern hemisphere except South America. a few species in East Africa and Ethiopia. Chromosomes x=7-19.

 

Subgenus Paucisignata: Corresponds to clade C2, with 25-27 species. Erect sometimes trailing shrubs or subshrubs, rarely geophytes or semi-geophytes. Petals five and equal, colour pink to red sometimes white. Summer rainfall region of South Africa, spreading into winter rainfall region and northern Namibia, with a few species in tropical Africa, Ethiopia, Somalia, Madagascar, the Arabian Peninsula and Asia Minor. Chromosomes x=mainly 9 or 10, but from 4-18.

 

Subgenus Pelargonium: Corresponds to clade A, with 167 species. Frequently xerophytic deciduous perennials with many geophytes and succulent subshrubs, less frequently woody evergreen shrubs or annual herbs. Petals five, colour shades of pink to purple or yellow. Winter rainfall region of South Africa and adjacent Namibia, spreading to summer rainfall area, and two species in tropical Africa. Chromosomes x=11, may be 8-10.

 

Species

Main article: List of Pelargonium species

Pelargonium has around 280 species. Röschenbleck et al lists 281 taxa. There is considerable confusion as to which Pelargonium are true species, and which are cultivars or hybrids. The nomenclature has changed considerably since the first plants were introduced to Europe in the 17th century.

 

Distribution

Pelargonium is a large genus within the family Geraniaceae, which has a worldwide distribution in temperate to subtropical zones with some 800 mostly herbaceous species. Pelargonium itself is native to southern Africa (including Namibia) and Australia. Southern Africa contains 90% of the genus, with only about 30 species found elsewhere, predominantly the East African rift valley (about 20 species) and southern Australia, including Tasmania. The remaining few species are found in southern Madagascar, Yemen, Iraq, Asia Minor, the north of New Zealand and isolated islands in the south Atlantic Ocean (Saint Helena and Tristan da Cunha) and Socotra in the Indian Ocean. The centre of diversity is in southwestern South Africa where rainfall is confined to the winter, unlike the rest of the country where rainfall is predominantly in the summer months. Most of the Pelargonium plants cultivated in Europe and North America have their origins in South Africa.

 

Ecology

Pelargonium species are eaten by the caterpillars of some Lepidoptera species, including the noctuid moth angle shades, Phlogophora meticulosa. The diurnal butterflies Cacyreus marshalli and C. tespis (Lycaenidae), native to southern Africa, also feed on Geranium and Pelargonium. C. marshallii has been introduced to Europe and can develop into a pest on cultivated Pelargoniums. It has naturalised along the Mediterranean, but does not survive the winter in Westen Europe.

 

The Japanese beetle, an important agricultural insect pest, becomes rapidly paralyzed after consuming flower petals of the garden hybrids known as "zonal geraniums" (P. × hortorum). The phenomenon was first described in 1920, and subsequently confirmed. Research conducted by Dr. Christopher Ranger with the USDA Agricultural Research Service and other collaborating scientists have demonstrated the excitatory amino acid called quisqualic acid present within the flower petals is responsible for causing paralysis of the Japanese beetle. Quisqualic acid is thought to mimic L-glutamic acid, which is a neurotransmitter in the insect neuromuscular junction and mammalian central nervous system.

 

A study by the Laboratory of Apiculture & Social Insects group at the University of Sussex on the attractiveness of common garden plants to pollinators found that a cultivar of Pelargonium × hortorum was unattractive to pollinators in comparison to other selected garden plants such as Lavandula (lavender) and Origanum.

 

Pests and diseases

Main articles: List of geranium diseases, Pelargonium flower break virus, and Pelargonium line pattern virus

The geranium bronze butterfly is a pest of Pelargonium species. The larvae of the geranium bronze bore into the stem of the host plant, causing the stem to typically turn black and die soon after. Geranium bronze are currently listed as an A2 quarantine pest by the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization and can cause significant damage to Pelargonium species.

 

Cultivation

 

Pelargonium triste, the first species of its genus to be cultivated, here shown in its native habitat in Cape Town

Various types of Pelargonium are regular participants in flower shows and competitive events, with numerous societies devoted exclusively to their cultivation. They are easy to propagate vegetatively from cuttings. It is recommended that cuttings should have at least two nodes. Zonal geraniums grow in U.S. Department of Agriculture hardiness zones 9 through 12. Zonal geraniums are basically tropical perennials. Although they are often grown as annuals, they may overwinter in zones as cool as zone 7.

 

Cultivation history

The first species of Pelargonium known to be cultivated was P. triste, a native of South Africa. It was probably brought to the Botanical Garden in Leiden before 1600 on ships which had stopped at the Cape of Good Hope. In 1631, the English gardener John Tradescant the elder bought seeds from Rene Morin in Paris and introduced the plant to England. By 1724, P. inquinans, P. odoratissimum, P. peltatum, P. vitifolium, and P. zonale had been introduced to Europe.

 

Cultivars

 

Zonal pelargonium

There was little attempt at any rational grouping of Pelargonium cultivars, the growing of which was revived in the mid-twentieth century, and the origins of many if not most were lost in obscurity. In 1916 the American botanist Liberty Hyde Bailey (1858–1954) introduced two new terms for zonal and regal pelargoniums. Those pelargoniums which were largely derived from P. zonale he referred to as P. × hortorum (i.e. from the garden), while those from P. cucullatum he named P. × domesticum (i.e. from the home) In the late 1950s a list (the Spalding List) was produced in the United States, based on nursery listings and the 1897 list of Henri Dauthenay. It described seven groups, listing each cultivar with the list of its originator, and in most cases a date. These were Species, Zonals, Variegated-Leaved, Domesticum (Regals), Ivy-Leaved, Scented-Leaved and Old. In the 1970s the British Pelargonium and Geranium Society produced a checklist and the Australian Geranium Society started to produce a register but it was not completed till its author, Jean Llewellyn's death in 1999. None of these were published. The most complete list in its time was the 2001 compilation by The Geraniaceae Group, which included all cultivars up to 1959.

 

Registration of cultivars is the responsibility of the Pelargonium & Geranium Society (PAGS: formed in 2009 from the British Pelargonium and Geranium Society and the British and European Geranium Society) which administers the International Register of Pelargonium Cultivars. PAGS is the International Cultivar Registration Authority (ICRA) of the International Society for Horticultural Science for pelargoniums.

  

Contrasting leaves: Ivy-leaved Group (Left) Zonal Group (Right)

Cultivated pelargoniums are commonly divided into six groups in addition to species pelargoniums and primary hybrids. The following list is ordered by position in the PAGS classification. Abbreviations indicate Royal Horticultural Society usage.

 

A. Zonal (Z)

B. Ivy-leaved (I)

C. Regal (R)

D. Angel (A)

E. Unique (U)

F. Scented-leaved (Sc)

G. Species

H. Primary hybrids

Of these, A, U and Sc groups are sometimes lumped together as Species Derived (Sppd). This term implies that they are closely related to a species from which they were derived, and do not fit into the R, I or Z groups.

 

In addition to the primary groups, additional descriptors are used. The Royal Horticultural Society has created description codes. These include;

 

Cactus (Ca)

Coloured foliage (C)

Decorative (Dec)

Double (d)

Dwarf (Dw)

Dwarf Ivy-leaved (Dwl)

Frutetorum (Fr)

Miniature (Min)

Miniature Ivy-leaved (MinI)

Stellar (St)

Tulip (T)

Variegated (v)

These may then be combined to form the code, e.g. Pelargonium 'Chelsea Gem' (Z/d/v), indicating Zonal Double with variegated foliage. Crosses between groups are indicated with an ×, e.g. Pelargonium 'Hindoo' (R × U), indicating a Regal × Unique cross.

 

A. Zonal pelargoniums (Pelargonium × hortorum Bailey)

 

Pelargonium × hortorum (Zonal)

These are known as zonal geraniums because many have zones or patterns in the center of the leaves,[36] this is the contribution of the Pelargonium zonale parent. Common names include storksbill, fish or horseshoe geraniums.[50] They are also referred to as Pelargonium × hortorum Bailey. Zonal pelargoniums are tetraploid, mostly derived from P. inquinans and P. zonale, together with P. scandens and P. frutetorum.

 

Zonal pelargoniums are mostly bush-type plants with succulent stems grown for the beauty of their flowers, traditionally red, salmon, violet, white or pink. The scarlet colouring is attributed to the contribution of P. inquinans. Flowers may be double or single. They are the pelargoniums most often confused with genus Geranium, particularly in summer bedding arrangements. This incorrect nomenclature is widely used in horticulture, particularly in North America.

 

Zonals include a variety of plant types along with genetic hybrids such as hybrid ivy-leaved varieties that display little or no ivy leaf characteristics (the Deacons varieties), or the Stellar varieties. Hybrid zonals are crosses between zonals and either a species or species-derived pelargonium. There are hundreds of zonal cultivars available for sale, and like other cultivars are sold in series such as 'Rocky Mountain', each of which is named after its predominant colour, e.g. 'Rocky Mountain Orange', 'White', 'Dark Red', etc.

  

'Rocky Mountain Orange' (Zonal)

(i) Basic plants – Mature plants with foliage normally exceeding 180 mm (7 in) in height above the rim of the pot. For exhibition these should be grown in a pot exceeding 120 mm (4+3⁄4 in) in diameter but not normally exceeding 165 mm (6+1⁄2 in).

(ii) Dwarf plants – Smaller than basic. Mature plants with foliage more than 125 mm (5 in) above the rim of the pot, but not normally more than 180 mm (7 in). For exhibition should be grown in a pot exceeding 90 mm (3+1⁄2 in) but not exceeding 120 mm (4+3⁄4 in). They should not exceed 200 mm in height, grown in an 11 cm pot.

(iii) Miniature plants – Slowly growing pelargoniums. Mature plants with foliage normally less than 125 mm (5 in) above the rim of the pot. For exhibition should be grown in a pot not exceeding 90 mm (3+1⁄2 in). They should not exceed 125 mm in height, grown in a 9 cm pot.

(iv) Micro-miniature plants – Smaller and more slowly growing than miniature pelargoniums. Mature plants with foliage normally less than 100 mm (4 in) above the rim of the pot. They should not exceed 75 mm in height, grown in a 6 cm pot. Usually no separate classes for these in exhibition and will therefore normally be shown as Miniature Zonals.

(v) Deacon varieties –Genetic hybrid similar to a large Dwarf. For exhibition (when shown in a separate class), usually grown in a pot not exceeding 125 mm (5 in), otherwise as for Dwarf Zonals.

(vi) Stellar varieties – A relatively modern genetic hybrid originating from the work done by the Australian hybridiser Ted Both in the late 1950s and 1960s from crosses between Australian species and Zonal types. Easily identifiable by their distinctive half-star-shaped leaves and slim-petalled blooms which create an impression of being star shaped (or five fingered). Single varieties tend to have larger elongated triangular petals whereas doubles tend to have thin feathered petals that are tightly packed together. For exhibition purposes there is a separate class for 'Stellar' varieties, but being Zonals could be shown in an open class for Basic, Dwarf or Miniature Zonals (unless otherwise stated). Also known as "The Five-fingered Geraniums", "Staphysagroides", "Both’s Staphs", "Both’s Hybrid Staphs", "Fingered Flowers" and "Bodey’s Formosum Hybrids".

Fancy-leaf zonal pelargoniums – besides having green leaves with or without zoning, this group also have variable coloured foliage[50] that is sometimes used in classifying for exhibition purposes, e.g. ‘Bicolour’, ‘Tricolour’, ‘Bronze’ or ‘Gold’. Other foliage types are: ‘Black’ or ‘Butterfly’. There are an increasing number of these plants with showy blooms;

 

(a) Bicolour – includes those with white or cream veined leaves or those with two distinct colours with clearly defined edges, other than the basic zone.

(b) Tricolour – (May be Silver Tricolour (usually called a Silver Leaf) or a Gold Tricolour).

(i) Gold Tricolour – Leaves of many colours including red and gold, but usually with clearly defined edges of golden yellow and having a leaf zone, usually red or bronze, that overlays two or more of the other distinct leaf colours, so that the zone itself appears as two or more distinct colours.

(ii) Silver Tricolour or Silver Leaf – These tend to resemble a normal bi-colour leaf plant with two distinct colours usually of green and pale cream or white; the third colour is usually made up of bronze zoning. When this zoning overlays the green part of the leaf it is deemed to represent a silver colour.

(c) Bronze Leaved – Leaves of Green or Golden/Green with a heavy bronze or chestnut coloured centre zone which is known as a medallion. For exhibition purposes, when exhibited in specific ‘Bronze’ Leaf class – Must have over 50% of leaf surface bronze coloured. The dwarf plant ‘Overchurch’ which has a heavy bronze medallion.

(d) Gold Leaved – Leaves coloured golden/yellow or green/yellow but not showing a tendency to green. For exhibition purposes, when exhibited in specific ‘Gold’ Leaf class – Must have over 50% of leaf surface gold coloured.

(e) Black Leaved – Leaves coloured black, purple-black or with distinct large dark zones or centre markings on green.

(f) Butterfly Leaved – Leaves with a butterfly marking of distinct tone or hue in centre of leaf. This can be encompassed in many of the coloured leaf varieties.

Zonal pelargoniums have many flower types, as follows:

 

(a) Single flowered (S) – each flower pip normally having no more than five petals. This is the standard flower set for all Pelargoniums.

(b) Semi-double flowered (SD) – each flower pip normally having between six and nine petals.

(c) Double flowered (D)– each flower pip composed of more than nine petals (i.e. double the standard flower set) but not ‘hearted’ like the bud of a rose, e.g. the dwarf ‘Dovepoint’ which has full double blooms.

(d) Rosebud (or noisette) flowered – each bloom fully double and ‘hearted’. The middle petals are so numerous that they remain unopened like the bud of a rose.

(e) Tulip flowered – having semi-double blooms that never fully open. The large cup shaped petals open just sufficiently to resemble a miniature tulip.

(f) Bird's-egg group – having blooms with petals that have spots in a darker shade than the base colour, like many birds eggs.

(g) Speckled flowered group – having petals that are marked with splashes and flecks of another colour, e.g. ‘Vectis Embers’.

(h) Quilled (or cactus-flowered group, or poinsettia in USA) – having petals twisted and furled like a quill.

“Zonquil” pelargoniums result from a cross between Zonal pelargonium cultivars and P. quinquelobatum.

 

B. Ivy-leaved pelargoniums (derived from Pelargonium peltatum)

 

Pelargonium peltatum (Ivy-leaved)

Also known as "ivy geraniums". Usually of lax growth (trailing), mainly due to the long thin stems, with thick, waxy ivy-shaped stiff fleshy evergreen leaves developed by the species P. peltatum to retain moisture during periods of drought. Much used for hanging pots, tubs and basket cultivation. In the UK the bulbous double-headed types are preferred whilst on the European continent the balcon single types for large-scale hanging floral displays are favoured. Ivy-leaved pelargoniums embrace all such growth size types including small-leaved varieties and genetic hybrid crosses, which display little or no zonal characteristics. May have bicolour leaves and may have flowers that are single, double or rosette. Ivy pelargoniums are often sold as series such as 'Great Balls of Fire', in a variety of colours such as 'Great Balls of Fire Burgundy'.

 

Additional descriptive terms include;

 

Hybrid Ivy — the result of ivy × zonal crosses, but still more closely resemble ivy-leaved pelargoniums.

Fancy leaf — leaves with marked color variation, together with or other than green.

Miniature — miniature leaves and flowers, stems with short nodes, and compact growth. e.g. 'Sugar Baby' listed as Dwarf Ivy (DwI) by RHS.

C. Regal pelargoniums (Pelargonium × domesticum Bailey)

 

'Karl Offenstein' (Regal)

These are large bush-type floriferous evergreen pelargoniums. In addition to "Regals" they are also known as “Show Pelargoniums”. In the United States they are often known as the "Martha Washington" or ‘"Lady Washington" pelargoniums. They are grown primarily for the beauty and richness of their flower heads, which are large. Most of those cultivars grown currently are the result of hybridization over the last 50 years. They are very short-jointed and compact, which results in their requiring very little work in order to create a floriforous and well-rounded plant. Flowers are single, rarely double, in mauve, pink, purple or white. They have rounded, sometimes lobed or partially toothed (serrated) leaves, unlike the Zonal groups, without any type of zoning.

 

Additional descriptive terms include;

Decorative pelargoniums (Decoratives) – Descendants of older, less compact, smaller-flowered varieties that are more suited to outdoor conditions. These have smaller flowers than Regal, but are otherwise similar. e.g. ‘Royal Ascot’

Miniature – Flowers and leaves similar to Regal, but miniature in form, with compact growth. Other terms include “Pansy Geraniums” or “Pansy Pelargoniums”. e.g. ‘Lara Susan’

Oriental pelargoniums – The result of crosses between Regals and members of the Angel group (see below). Some have bicolour foliage.

D. Angel pelargoniums (derived from Pelargonium crispum)

 

'Angeleyes Randy' (Angel)

Angel pelargoniums are similar to Regal pelargoniums but more closely resemble P. crispum in leaf shape and growth habit. The majority of Angel cultivars originate from a cross between P. crispum and a Regal variety in the early part of the 20th century. Angels have grown in popularity in the last 30 years or so due mainly to an explosion of new varieties being released by specialist nurseries resulting from the work done by dedicated amateur hybridisers. These hybrisers have managed to obtain many new flower colour breaks and tighter growth habits resulting in plants suitable for all sorts of situations. Angels basically have the appearance of a small Regal with small serrated leaves and much smaller flowers and are more compact and bushy. The group extends to include similar small-leaved and -flowered types but usually with P. crispum in their parentage. They are mostly upright bush-type plants but there are some lax varieties that can be used for basket or hanging pot cultivation. Often called "pansy-faced" in the US. Some varieties have bicolour foliage. Other terms include ‘Langley-Smith Hybrids’.

 

E. Unique pelargoniums (derived from Pelargonium fulgidum)

 

Unique in sense of not fitting into any of the above categories. The parentage of Unique pelargoniums is confused and obscure. One theory being a derivation from P. fulgidum, but a derivation from an older cultivar 'Old Unique’, also known as or ‘Rollinson’s Crimson’, in the mid-19th century is also claimed. Unique pelargoniums resemble upright Scented Leaf pelargoniums in being shrubby and woody evergreens. They have distinctly scented leaves, and small flowers with blotched and feathered petals. They may have bicolour foliage. Some types, popularly known in the hobby as hybrid Uniques, have been crossed with Regal pelargoniums and, as a result of this cross, are much more floriferous.

 

Cultivar

Pelargonium graveolens (Scented leaf)

Shrubby evergreen perennials grown chiefly for their fragrance, may be species or cultivars but all must have a clear and distinct scented foliage. Scent is emitted when the leaves are touched or bruised with some scents aromatic, others pungent and in a few cases, quite unpleasant. Several of the scented leaved pelargoniums are grown for the oil geraniol, which is extracted from the leaves and is an essential oil much used commercially in perfumery. The scent of some species growing in their natural habitat, acts as a deterrent to grazing animals who appear to dislike the emitted scent. Conversely, it also attracts other insect life to visit the bloom and pollinate the plant. The scented leaves can be used for potpourri and they also have a use as flavourings in cooking. Occasionally scented types can be found in some of the other groups mentioned; for example, the Angels, having P. crispum in their genetic makeup, can often have a strong citrus scent. Leaves are lobed, toothed, incised or variegated. Growth habit is very variable, but the flowers are less prominent than other groups, and most closely resemble the species they originated from.

 

These include:

Pelargonium ionidiflorum (Scented leaf)

Almond - Pelargonium quercifolium

Apple - Pelargonium odoratissimum

Apple - Pelargonium cordifolium

Apple/Mint - Pelargonium album

Apricot/Lemon - Pelargonium scabrum

Balsam - Pelargonium panduriforme

Camphor - Pelargonium betulinum

Celery - Pelargonium ionidiflorum

Cinnamon - Pelargonium 'Ardwyck Cinnamon'

Coconut - Pelargonium grossalarioides (Pelargonium parriflorum)

Eau de Cologne - Pelargonium 'Brilliantine'

Eucalyptus - Pelargonium 'Secret Love'

Grapefruit - Pelargonium 'Poquita'

Ginger - Pelargonium 'Torrento' or 'Cola Bottles' which is a variety of Pelargonium x nervosum

Hazelnut - Pelargonium 'Odorata Hazelnut

Lavender - Pelargonium 'Lavender Lindy'

Lemon - Pelargonium crispum

Lemon - Pelargonium citronellum (Synonym - Pelargonium 'Mabel Grey')

Lemon Balm - Pelargonium x melissinum

Lime - Pelargonium x nervosum

Myrrh - Pelargonium myrrhifolium

Nutmeg - Pelargonium x fragrans

Old Spice - Variety of Pelargonium x fragrans

Orange - Pelargonium x citriodorum (Synonym - Pelargonium 'Prince of Orange')

Peach - Pelargonium 'Peaches and Cream'

Peppermint - Pelargonium tomentosum

Pine - Pelargonium denticulatum

Pineapple - Pelargonium 'Brilliant'

Raspberry - Pelargonium 'Red Raspberry'

Rose - Pelargonium graveolens (Synonym - Pelargonium roseum)

Rose - Pelargonium capitatum

Rose - Pelargonium radens

Southernwood - Pelargonium abrotanifolium

Spicy - Pelargonium exstipulatum

Strawberry - Pelargonium x scarboroviae

Cultivars

'Attar of Roses' - a cultivar of P. capitatum

'Crowfoot Rose' - a cultivar of P. radens

'Dr. Livingston' - a cultivar of P. radens

'Grey Lady Plymouth' - a cultivar of P. graveolens

'Prince Rupert' - a cultivar of P. crispum

G. Species pelargoniums

The species are the forefathers of all the cultivar groups listed above. In general, the definition of a species is that it breeds true, and is to be found doing this in the "wild". Species pelargoniums have a large diversity of characteristics in habit, shape, size and colour, which probably accounts for them having retained their popularity for more than 300 years.

 

H. Primary hybrids

A primary hybrid is recognised as being the resultant plant from a first-time cross between two different known species. Examples are P. × ardens – from P. lobatum × P. fulgidum (1810). P. × glauciifolium – from P. gibbosum × P. lobatum (1822). Usually, but not always, primary hybrids are sterile.

 

The following is a selection of pelargoniums which have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:

 

'Attar of Roses' (rose scented leaves, pink flowers)

'Citriodorum' (lemon scented leaves, rose pink flowers

'Dolly Varden' (variegated leaves, scarlet flowers)

'Frank Headley' (cream vareigated leaves, salmon pink flowers)

'Fringed Aztec' (white & purple fringed flowers)

'Gemstone' (scented leaves, pink flowers)

'Grace Thomas' (lemon scented leaves, pale pink flowers)

'Joy' (pink & white frilled flowers)

'Lady Plymouth' (P. graveolens variegata - small mauve flowers)

'Lara Candy Dancer' (scented leaves, pale mauve flowers)

'Lara Starshine' (aromatic leaves, lilac flowers.

'L'Élégante' (ivy-leaved, trailing, white and purple flowers)

'Mabel Grey' (lemon-scented leaves, mauve flowers)

'Mrs Quilter' (bronze leaves, salmon pink flowers)

'Radula' (lemon & rose scented leaves, pink & purple flowers)

'Royal Oak' (balsam scented leaves, mauve flowers)

'Spanish Angel' (lilac & magenta flowers)

'Sweet Mimosa' (balsam-scented leaves, pale pink flowers)

'Tip Top Duet' (pink & wine-red flowers)

'Voodoo' (crimson & black flowers)

P. tomentosum (peppermint-scented leaves, small white flowers)

Usage

Ornamental plants

Pelargoniums rank as one of the highest number of potted flowering plants sold and also in terms of wholesale value.

 

Scented leaf pelargoniums

Other than being grown for their beauty, species such as P. graveolens are important in the perfume industry and are cultivated and distilled for their scents. Although scented pelargoniums exist which have smells of citrus, mint, pine, spices or various fruits, the varieties with rose scents are most commercially important. Pelargonium distillates and absolutes, commonly known as "scented geranium oil" are sometimes used to supplement or adulterate expensive rose oils. The oils of the scented pelargoniums contain citronellol, geraniol, eugenol, alpha-pinene and many other compounds. The edible leaves and flowers are also used as a flavouring in desserts, cakes, jellies and teas. Scented-leafed pelargoniums can be used to flavor jellies, cakes, butters, ice cream, iced tea and other dishes, The rose-, lemon- and peppermint-scents are most commonly used. Also used are those with hints of peach, cinnamon and orange. Commonly used lemon-scented culinary species include P. crispum and P. citronellum. Rose-scenteds include P. graveolens and members of the P. graveolens cultivar group. Other species and cultivars with culinary use include the lime-scented P. ‘Lime’, the lemon balm-scented P. ‘Lemon Balm’, the strawberry-lemon-scented P. ‘Lady Scarborough’ and the peppermint-scented P. tomentosum.[81] Scented leaf pelargoniums have also been historically used as toilet paper by fishermen in remote places, such as the Minquiers.

 

Herbal medicine

In herbal medicine, Pelargonium has been used for intestinal problems, wounds and respiratory ailments, but Pelargonium species have also been used for fevers, kidney complaints and other conditions. Geranium (Pelargonium) oil is considered a relaxant in aromatherapy, and in recent years, respiratory/cold remedies made from P. sidoides and P. reniforme have been sold in Europe and the United States. P. sidoides along with Echinacea is used for bronchitis. P. odoratissimum is used for its astringent, tonic and antiseptic effects. It is used internally for debility, gastroenteritis, and hemorrhage and externally for skin complaints, injuries, and neuralgia and throat infections. The essential oil is used in aromatherapy.

 

Pets

According to the ASPCA, these plants are toxic to cats, dogs, and horses.

 

Chemistry

Pelargonin (pelargonidin 3,5-O-diglucoside) is a petal pigment of the scarlet pelargonium.

 

Culture

The chemist, John Dalton, realized that he was color blind in 1794 when he heard others describe the color of the flowers of the pink Pelargonium zonale as pink or red, when to him it looked either pink or blue, having no relationship to red at all.

Includes teams from O'Gorman, Yankton, Pierre T.F. Riggs, Huron. Permission granted for journalism outlets and educational purposes. Not for commercial use. Must be credited. Photo courtesy of South Dakota Public Broadcasting.

©2021 SDPB

 

++++++ from Wikipedia ++++++

 

Taipei (/ˌtaɪˈpeɪ/), officially known as Taipei City, is the capital city and a special municipality of Taiwan (officially known as the Republic of China, "ROC"). Sitting at the northern tip of the island, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City. It is about 25 km (16 mi) southwest of the northern port city Keelung. Most of the city is located on the Taipei Basin, an ancient lakebed bounded by the two relatively narrow valleys of the Keelung and Xindian rivers, which join to form the Tamsui River along the city's western border.[5] Formerly known as Taipeh-fu during Qing era and Taihoku under Japanese rule, Taipei became the capital of the Taiwan Province as part of the Republic of China in 1945 and recently has been the capital[a] of the ROC since 1949, when the Kuomintang lost the mainland to the Communists in the Chinese Civil War.

 

The city proper is home to an estimated population of 2,704,810 in 2015,[6] forming the core part of the Taipei–Keelung metropolitan area which includes the nearby cities of New Taipei and Keelung with a population of 7,047,559,[6][7] the 40th most-populous urban area in the world—roughly one-third of Taiwanese citizens live in the metro district. The name "Taipei" can refer either to the whole metropolitan area or the city proper.

 

Taipei is the political, economic, educational, and cultural center of Taiwan island, and one of the major hubs of Greater China. Considered to be a global city,[8] Taipei is part of a major high-tech industrial area.[9] Railways, high-speed rail, highways, airports, and bus lines connect Taipei with all parts of the island. The city is served by two airports – Taipei Songshan and Taiwan Taoyuan. Taipei is home to various world-famous architectural or cultural landmarks which include Taipei 101, Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, Dalongdong Baoan Temple, Hsing Tian Kong, Lungshan Temple of Manka, National Palace Museum, Presidential Office Building, Taipei Guest House, Ximending, and several night markets dispersing over the city. Its natural features such as Maokong, Yangmingshan, and hot springs are also well known to international visitors.

 

As the capital city, "Taipei" is sometimes used as a synecdoche for the Republic of China. Due to the ongoing controversy over the political status of Taiwan, the name Chinese Taipei is designated for official use when Taiwanese governmental representatives or national teams participate in some international organizations or international sporting events (which may require UN statehood) in order to avoid extensive political controversy by using other names.

 

Contents

 

1 History

1.1 First settlements

1.2 Empire of Japan

1.3 Republic of China

2 Geography

2.1 Climate

2.2 Air quality

2.3 Cityscape

3 Demographics

4 Economy

5 Culture

5.1 Tourism

5.1.1 Commemorative sites and museums

5.1.2 Taipei 101

5.1.3 Performing arts

5.1.4 Shopping and recreation

5.1.5 Temples

5.2 Festivals and events

5.3 Taipei in films

6 Romanization

7 Government

7.1 Garbage recycling

7.2 Administrative divisions

7.3 City planning

8 Transportation

8.1 Metro

8.2 Rail

8.3 Bus

8.4 Airports

8.5 Ticketing

9 Education

9.1 Chinese language program for foreigners

10 Sports

10.1 Major sporting events

10.2 Youth baseball

11 Media

11.1 Television

11.2 Newspapers

12 International relations

12.1 Twin towns and sister cities

12.2 Partner cities

12.3 Friendship cities

13 Gallery

14 See also

15 Notes

16 References

17 External links

 

History

Main article: History of Taipei

The National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall is a famous monument and tourist attraction in Taipei.

 

Prior to the significant influx of Han Chinese immigrants, the region of Taipei Basin was mainly inhabited by the Ketagalan plains aborigines. The number of Han immigrants gradually increased in the early 18th century under Qing Dynasty rule after the government began permitting development in the area.[10] In 1875, the northern part of the island was incorporated into the new Taipeh Prefecture.

 

The Qing dynasty of China made Taipeh the temporary capital of Fujian-Taiwan Province in 1886 when Taiwan was separated from Fujian Province.[11][12] Taipeh was formally made the provincial capital in 1894.

 

Japan acquired Taiwan in 1895 under the Treaty of Shimonoseki after the First Sino-Japanese War. Taiwan became a colony of Imperial Japan with Taihoku (formerly Taipeh) as its capital, in which the city was administered under Taihoku Prefecture. Taiwan's Japanese rulers embarked on an extensive program of advanced urban planning that featured extensive railroad links. A number of Taipei landmarks and cultural institutions date from this period.[13]

 

Following the Japanese surrender of 1945, control of Taiwan was handed to the Republic of China (ROC) (see Retrocession Day). After losing mainland China to the Chinese Communist Party in the Chinese Civil War, the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) relocated the ROC government to Taiwan and declared Taipei the provisional capital of the ROC in December 1949.[14][15] In 1990 Taipei provided the backdrop for the Wild Lily student rallies that moved Taiwanese society from one-party rule to multi-party democracy. The city is today home to Taiwan's democratically elected national government.

First settlements

 

The region known as the Taipei Basin was home to Ketagalan tribes before the eighteenth century.[16] Han Chinese mainly from Fujian Province of Qing dynasty China began to settle in the Taipei Basin in 1709.[17][18]

 

In the late 19th century, the Taipei area, where the major Han Chinese settlements in northern Taiwan and one of the designated overseas trade ports, Tamsui, were located, gained economic importance due to the booming overseas trade, especially that of tea export. In 1875, the northern part of Taiwan was separated from Taiwan Prefecture and incorporated into the new Taipeh Prefecture as a new administrative entity of the Qing dynasty.[13] Having been established adjoining the flourishing townships of Bangka, Dalongdong, and Twatutia, the new prefectural capital was known as Chengnei (Chinese: 城內; pinyin: chéngnèi; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: siâⁿ-lāi), "the inner city", and government buildings were erected there. From 1875 (still Qing era) until the beginning of Japanese rule in 1895, Taipei was part of Tamsui County of Taipeh Prefecture and the prefectural capital.

 

In 1885, work commenced to create an independent Taiwan Province, and Taipei City was temporarily made the provincial capital. Taipei officially became the capital of Taiwan in 1894.[citation needed] All that remains from the Qing era is the north gate. The west gate and city walls were demolished by the Japanese while the south gate, little south gate, and east gate were extensively modified by the Kuomintang (KMT) and have lost much of their original character.[19]

Empire of Japan

The Taihoku Prefecture government building in the 1910s (now the Control Yuan)

 

As settlement for losing the First Sino-Japanese War, China ceded the island of Taiwan to the Empire of Japan in 1895 as part of the Treaty of Shimonoseki. After the Japanese take-over, Taipei, called Taihoku in Japanese, was retained as the capital and emerged as the political center of the Japanese Colonial Government.[13] During that time the city acquired the characteristics of an administrative center, including many new public buildings and housing for civil servants. Much of the architecture of Taipei dates from the period of Japanese rule, including the Presidential Building which was the Office of the Governor-General of Taiwan.

 

During Japanese rule, Taihoku was incorporated in 1920 as part of Taihoku Prefecture. It included Bangka, Twatutia, and Jōnai (城內) among other small settlements. The eastern village of Matsuyama (松山庄, modern-day Songshan District, Taipei) was annexed into Taihoku City in 1938. Upon the Japanese defeat in the Pacific War and its consequent surrender in August 1945, the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party) assumed control of Taiwan. Subsequently, a temporary Office of the Taiwan Province Administrative Governor was established in Taipei City.[20]

Republic of China

With President Chiang Kai-shek, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower waved to a crowd during his visit to Taipei in June 1960.

 

In 1947 the KMT government under Chiang Kai-shek declared island-wide martial law in Taiwan as a result of the February 28 Incident, which began with incidents in Taipei but led to an island-wide crackdown on the local population by forces loyal to Chiang. Two years later, on December 7, 1949, Chiang and the Kuomintang were forced to flee mainland China by the Communists near the end of the Chinese Civil War. The refugees declared Taipei to be the provisional capital of a continuing Republic of China, with the official capital at Nanjing (Nanking) even though that city was under Communist control.[14][15]

 

Taipei expanded greatly in the decades after 1949, and as approved on December 30, 1966 by the Executive Yuan, Taipei was declared a special centrally administered municipality on July 1, 1967 and given the administrative status of a province.[18] In the following year, Taipei City expanded again by annexing Shilin, Beitou, Neihu, Nangang, Jingmei, and Muzha. At that time, the city's total area increased fourfold through absorbing several outlying towns and villages and the population increased to 1.56 million people.[18]

 

The city's population, which had reached one million in the early 1960s, also expanded rapidly after 1967, exceeding two million by the mid-1970s. Although growth within the city itself gradually slowed thereafter[20] — its population had become relatively stable by the mid-1990s — Taipei remained one of the world's most densely populated urban areas, and the population continued to increase in the region surrounding the city, notably along the corridor between Taipei and Keelung.

 

In 1990 Taipei's 16 districts were consolidated into the current 12 districts.[21] Mass democracy rallies that year in the plaza around Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall led to an island-wide transition to multi-party democracy, where legislators are chosen via regularly scheduled popular elections, during the presidency of Lee Teng-Hui.

Geography

The city of Taipei, as seen from Maokong.

 

Taipei City is located in the Taipei Basin in northern Taiwan.[22] It is bordered by the Xindian River on the south and the Tamsui River on the west. The generally low-lying terrain of the central areas on the western side of the municipality slopes upward to the south and east and especially to the north,[5] where it reaches 1,120 metres (3,675 ft) at Qixing Mountain, the highest (inactive) volcano in Taiwan in Yangmingshan National Park. The northern districts of Shilin and Beitou extend north of the Keelung River and are bordered by Yangmingshan National Park. The Taipei city limits cover an area of 271.7997 km2,[23] ranking sixteenth of twenty-five among all counties and cities in Taiwan.

 

Two peaks, Qixing Mountain and Mt. Datun, rise to the northeast of the city.[24] Qixing Mountain is located on the Tatun Volcano Group and the tallest mountain at the rim of the Taipei Basin, with its main peak at 1,120 metres (3,670 ft). Mt. Datun's main peak is 1,092 metres (3,583 ft). These former volcanoes make up the western section of Yangmingshan National Park, extending from Mt. Datun northward to Mt. Caigongkeng (菜公坑山). Located on a broad saddle between two mountains, the area also contains the marshy Datun Pond.

 

To the southeast of the city lie the Songshan Hills and the Qingshui Ravine, which form a barrier of lush woods.[24]

Climate

 

Taipei has a monsoon-influenced humid subtropical climate[25][26][27] (Köppen: Cfa).[28] Summers are long-lasting, hot and humid, and accompanied by occasional heavy rainstorms and typhoons, while winters are short, generally warm and generally very foggy due to the northeasterly winds from the vast Siberian High being intensified by the pooling of this cooler air in the Taipei Basin. As in the rest of Northern Taiwan, daytime temperatures of Taipei can often peak above 26 degrees Celsius during a warm winter day, while they can dip below 26 degrees Celsius during a rainy summer's afternoon. Occasional cold fronts during the winter months can drop the daily temperature by 3 to 5 degrees Celsius, though temperatures rarely drop below 10 degrees Celsius.[29] Extreme temperatures ranged from −0.2 °C (31.6 °F) on February 13, 1901 to 39.3 °C (102.7 °F) on August 8, 2013, while snow has never been recorded in the city besides on mountains located within the city limit such as Mount Yangmingshan. Due to Taiwan's location in the Pacific Ocean, it is affected by the Pacific typhoon season, which occurs between June and October.

 

Air quality

 

When compared to other Asian cities, Taipei has "excellent" capabilities for managing air quality in the city.[31] Its rainy climate, location near the coast, and strong environmental regulations have prevented air pollution from becoming a substantial health issue, at least compared to cities in southeast Asia and industrial China. However, smog is extremely common and there is poor visibility throughout the city after rain-less days.

 

Motor vehicle engine exhaust, particularly from motor scooters, is a source of air pollution in Taipei. There are higher levels of fine particulate matter and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the mornings because of less air movement; sunlight reduces some pollution.[32] Occasionally, dust storms from Mainland China can temporarily bring extremely poor air quality to the city.[33]

Cityscape

Taipei viewed from Tiger Mountain, with Taipei 101 on the left.

Demographics

 

Taipei City is home to 2,704,810 people (2015), while the metropolitan area has a population of 7,047,559 people.[6] The population of the city has been decreasing in recent years while the population of the adjacent New Taipei has been increasing. The population loss, while rapid in its early years, has been stabilized by new lower density development and campaigns designed to increase birthrate in the city. The population has begun to rise since 2010.[6][34][35]

 

Due to Taipei's geography and location in the Taipei Basin as well as differing times of economic development of its districts, Taipei's population is not evenly distributed. The districts of Daan, Songshan, and Datong are the most densely populated. These districts, along with adjacent communities such as Yonghe and Zhonghe contain some of the most densely populated neighborhoods in the world.[34]

 

In 2008, the crude birth rate stood at 7.88% while the mortality rate stood at 5.94%. A decreasing and rapidly aging population is an important issue for the city.[34] By the end of 2009, one in ten people in Taipei was over 65 years of age.[36] Residents who had obtained a college education or higher accounted for 43.48% of the population, and the literacy rate stood at 99.18%.[34]

 

Like the rest of Taiwan, Taipei is composed of four major ethnic groups: Hoklos, Mainlanders, Hakkas, and aborigines.[34] Although Hoklos and Mainlanders form the majority of the population of the city, in recent decades many Hakkas have moved into the city. The aboriginal population in the city stands at 12,862 (<0.5%), concentrated mostly in the suburban districts. Foreigners (mainly from Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines) numbered 52,426 at the end of 2008.[34]

 

Economy

 

As the center of Taiwan's largest conurbation, Taipei has been at the center of rapid economic development in the country and has now become one of the global cities in the production of high technology and its components.[37] This is part of the so-called Taiwan Miracle which has seen dramatic growth in the city following foreign direct investment in the 1960s. Taiwan is now a creditor economy, holding one of the world's largest foreign exchange reserves of over US$403 billion as of December 2012.[38]

 

Despite the Asian financial crisis, the economy continues to expand at about 5% per year, with virtually full employment and low inflation. As of 2013, the nominal GDP per capita in Taipei city is lower than that in Hong Kong by a narrow margin according to The Economist(Nominal GDP per capita in HK is US$38181 in 2013 from IMF).[39] Furthermore, according to Financial times, GDP per capita based on Purchasing Power Parity(PPP) in Taipei in 2015 is 44173 USD, behind that in Singapore(US$48900 from IMF) and Hong Kong(US$56689 from IMF).[40]

 

Taipei and its environs have long been the foremost industrial area of Taiwan, consisting of industries of the secondary and tertiary sectors.[41] Most of the country's important factories producing textiles and apparel are located there; other industries include the manufacture of electronic products and components, electrical machinery and equipment, printed materials, precision equipment, and foods and beverages. Such companies include Shihlin Electric, CipherLab and Insyde Software. Shipbuilding, including yachts and other pleasure craft, is done in the port of Keelung northeast of the city.

 

Services, including those related to commerce, transportation, and banking, have become increasingly important. Tourism is a small but significant component of the local economy[42][43] with international visitors totaling almost 3 million in 2008.[44] Taipei has many top tourist attractions and contributes a significant amount to the US$6.8 billion tourism industry in Taiwan.[45] National brands such as ASUS,[46] Chunghwa Telecom,[47] Mandarin Airlines,[48] Tatung,[49] and Uni Air,[50][51] D-Link [52] are headquartered in Taipei City.

Culture

Tourism

See also: List of tourist attractions in Taipei

 

Tourism is a major part of Taipei's economy. In 2013, over 6.3 million overseas visitors visited Taipei, making the city the 15th most visited globally.[53] The influx of visitors contributed $10.8 billion USD to the city's economy in 2013, the 9th highest in the world and the most of any city in the Chinese-speaking world.[54]

Commemorative sites and museums

The National Palace Museum

 

The National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall is a famous monument, landmark and tourist attraction that was erected in memory of General Chiang Kai-shek, former President of the Republic of China.[55] The structure stands at the east end of Memorial Hall Square, site of the National Concert Hall and National Theater and their adjacent parks as well as the memorial. The landmarks of Liberty Square stand within sight of Taiwan's Presidential Building in Taipei's Zhongzheng District.

The National Taiwan Museum

 

The National Taiwan Museum sits nearby in what is now 228 Peace Memorial Park and has worn its present name since 1999. The museum is Taiwan's oldest, founded on October 24, 1908 by Taiwan's Japanese colonial government (1895-1945) as the Taiwan Governor's Museum. It was launched with a collection of 10,000 items to celebrate the opening of the island's North-South Railway.[56] In 1915 a new museum building opened its doors in what is now 228 Peace Memorial Park. This structure and the adjacent governor's office (now Presidential Office Building), served as the two most recognizable public buildings in Taiwan during its period of Japanese rule.[56]

Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines

 

The National Palace Museum is a vast art gallery and museum built around a permanent collection centered on ancient Chinese artifacts. It should not be confused with the Palace Museum in Beijing (which it is named after); both institutions trace their origins to the same institution. The collections were divided in the 1940s as a result of the Chinese Civil War.[57][58] The National Palace Museum in Taipei now boasts a truly international collection while housing one of the world's largest collections of artifacts from ancient China.[58]

 

The Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines stands just 200 metres across the road from the National Palace Museum. The museum offers displays of art and historical items by Taiwanese aborigines along with a range of multimedia displays.

 

The Taipei Fine Arts Museum was established in 1983 as the first museum in Taiwan dedicated to modern art. The museum is housed in a building designed for the purpose that takes inspiration from Japanese designs. Most art in the collection is by Taiwanese artists since 1940. Over 3,000 art works are organized into 13 groups.

 

The National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall near Taipei 101 in Xinyi District is named in honor of a founding father of the Republic of China, Sun Yat-sen. The hall, completed on May 16, 1972, originally featured exhibits that depicted revolutionary events in China at the end of the Qing Dynasty. Today it functions as multi-purpose social, educational, concert and cultural center for Taiwan's citizens.[59]

Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei, aka "old city hall"

 

In 2001 a new museum opened as Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei. The museum is housed in a building that formerly housed Taipei City government offices.[60]

Night view of a fully lit Taipei 101

Taipei 101

 

Taipei 101 is a 101-floor landmark skyscraper that claimed the title of world's tallest building when it opened in 2004, a title it held for six years before relinquishing it to the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Designed by C.Y. Lee & Partners and constructed by KTRT Joint Venture, Taipei 101 measures 509 m (1,670 ft) from ground to top, making it the first skyscraper in the world to break the half-kilometer mark in height. Built to withstand typhoon winds and earthquake tremors, its design incorporates many engineering innovations and has won numerous international awards. Taipei 101 remains one of the tallest skyscrapers in the world and holds LEED's certification as the world's largest "green" building. Its shopping mall and its indoor and outdoor observatories draw visitors from all over the world. Taipei 101's New Year's Eve fireworks display is a regular feature of international broadcasts.

Performing arts

Taiwan's National Concert Hall at night

 

The National Theater and Concert Hall stand at Taipei's Liberty Square and host events by foreign and domestic performers. Other leading concert venues include Zhongshan Hall at Ximending and the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall near Taipei 101.

 

A new venue, the Taipei Performing Arts Center, is under construction and slated to open in 2015.[61][62] The venue will stand near the Shilin Night Market[63] and will house three theaters for events with multi-week runs. The architectural design, by Rem Koolhaas and OMA, was determined in 2009 in an international competition.[64] The same design process is also in place for a new Taipei Center for Popular Music and Taipei City Museum.[65]

Shopping and recreation

Main article: Shopping in Taipei

 

Taipei is known for its many night markets, the most famous of which is the Shilin Night Market in the Shilin District. The surrounding streets by Shilin Night Market are extremely crowded during the evening, usually opening late afternoon and operating well past midnight. Most night markets feature individual stalls selling a mixture of food, clothing, and consumer goods.

The busy streets of Ximending at night

 

Ximending has been a famous area for shopping and entertainment since the 1930s. Historic structures include a concert hall, a historic cinema, and the Red House Theater. Modern structures house karaoke businesses, art film cinemas, wide-release movie cinemas, electronic stores, and a wide variety of restaurants and fashion clothing stores.[66] The pedestrian area is especially popular with teens and has been called the "Harajuku" of Taipei.[67]

Eastern district at night

 

The newly developed Xinyi District is popular with tourists and locals alike for its many entertainment and shopping venues, as well as being the home of Taipei 101, a prime tourist attraction. Malls in the area include the sprawling Shin Kong Mitsukoshi complex, Breeze Center, Bellavita, Taipei 101 mall, Eslite Bookstore's flagship store (which includes a boutique mall), The Living Mall, ATT shopping mall, and the Vieshow Cinemas (formerly known as Warner Village). The Xinyi district also serves as the center of Taipei's active nightlife, with several popular lounge bars and nightclubs concentrated in a relatively small area around the Neo19, ATT 4 FUN and Taipei 101 buildings. Lounge bars such as Barcode and nightclubs such as Spark and Myst are among the most-visited places here.

Eslite Bookstore in Xinyi District

 

The thriving shopping area around Taipei Main Station includes the Taipei Underground Market and the original Shin Kong Mitsukoshi department store at Shin Kong Life Tower. Other popular shopping destinations include the Zhongshan Metro Mall, Dihua Street, the Guang Hua Digital Plaza, and the Core Pacific City. The Miramar Entertainment Park is known for its large Ferris wheel and IMAX theater.

 

Taipei maintains an extensive system of parks, green spaces, and nature preserves. Parks and forestry areas of note in and around the city include Yangmingshan National Park, Taipei Zoo and Da-an Forest Park. Yangmingshan National Park (located 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north of the central city) is famous for its cherry blossoms, hot springs, and sulfur deposits. It is the home of famous writer Lin Yutang, the summer residence of Chiang Kai-shek, residences of foreign diplomats, the Chinese Culture University, the meeting place of the now defunct National Assembly of the Republic of China, and the Kuomintang Party Archives. The Taipei Zoo was founded in 1914 and covers an area of 165 hectares for animal sanctuary.

 

Bitan is known for boating and water sports. Tamsui is a popular sea-side resort town. Ocean beaches are accessible in several directions from Taipei.

Temples

Built in 1738, Longshan Temple is one of the oldest temples in the city.

Street corner shrine, Taipei 2013

 

Taipei is rich in beautiful, ornate temples housing Buddhist, Taoist, and Chinese folk religion deities. The Longshan Temple, built in 1738 and located in the Wanhua District, demonstrates an example of architecture with southern Chinese influences commonly seen on older buildings in Taiwan.

 

Xinsheng South Road is known as the "Road to Heaven" due to its high concentration of temples, shrines, churches, and mosques.[68][69] Other famous temples include Baoan Temple located in historic Dalongdong, a national historical site, and Xiahai City God Temple, located in the old Dadaocheng community, constructed with architecture similar to temples in southern Fujian.[70] The Taipei Confucius Temple traces its history back to 1879 during the Qing Dynasty and also incorporates southern Fujian-style architecture.[71]

 

Besides large temples, small outdoor shrines to local deities are very common and can be spotted on road sides, parks, and neighborhoods. Many homes and businesses may also set up small shrines of candles, figurines, and offerings. Some restaurants, for example, may set up a small shrine to the Kitchen god for success in a restaurant business.[72]

New Year's Eve fireworks at Taipei 101

Festivals and events

 

Many yearly festivals are held in Taipei. In recent years some festivals, such as the Double Ten Day fireworks and concerts, are increasingly hosted on a rotating basis by a number of cities around Taiwan.

 

When New Year's Eve arrives on the solar calendar, thousands of people converge on Taipei's Xinyi District for parades, outdoor concerts by popular artists, street shows, round-the clock nightlife. The high point is of course the countdown to midnight, when Taipei 101 assumes the role of the world's largest fireworks platform.

 

The Taipei Lantern Festival concludes the Lunar New Year holiday. The timing of the city's lantern exhibit coincides with the national festival in Pingxi, when thousands of fire lanterns are released into the sky.[73] The city's lantern exhibit rotates among different downtown locales from year to year, including Liberty Square, Taipei 101, and Zhongshan Hall in Ximending.

 

On Double Ten Day, patriotic celebrations are held in front of the Presidential Building. Other annual festivals include Ancestors Day (Tomb-Sweeping Day), the Dragon Boat Festival, the Ghost Festival, and the Mid-Autumn Festival (Moon Festival).[73]

 

Taipei regularly hosts its share of international events. The city recently hosted the 2009 Summer Deaflympics.[74] This event was followed by the Taipei International Flora Exposition, a garden festival hosted from November 2010 to April 2011. The Floral Expo was the first of its kind to take place in Taiwan and only the seventh hosted in Asia; the expo admitted 110,000 visitors on February 27, 2011.

Taipei in films

  

Romanization

  

The spelling "Taipei" derives from the Wade–Giles romanization T'ai-pei.[75] The name could be also romanized as Táiběi according to Hanyu Pinyin and Tongyong Pinyin.[76][77]

Government

 

Taipei City is a special municipality which is directly under the Executive Yuan (Central Government) of ROC. The mayor of Taipei City had been an appointed position since Taipei's conversion to a centrally administered municipality in 1967 until the first public election was held in 1994.[78] The position has a four-year term and is elected by direct popular vote. The first elected mayor was Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party. Ma Ying-jeou took office in 1998 for two terms, before handing it over to Hau Lung-pin who won the 2006 mayoral election on December 9, 2006.[79] Both Chen Shui-bian and Ma Ying-Jeou went on to become President of the Republic of China. The incumbent mayor, Ko Wen-je, was elected on November 29, 2014 and took office on December 25, 2014.[80]

 

Based on the outcomes of previous elections in the past decade, the vote of the overall constituency of Taipei City shows a slight inclination towards the pro-KMT camp (the Pan-Blue Coalition);[81] however, the pro-DPP camp (the Pan-Green Coalition) also has considerable support.[82]

 

Ketagalan Boulevard, where the Presidential Office Building and other government structures are situated, is often the site of mass gatherings such as inauguration and national holiday parades, receptions for visiting dignitaries, political demonstrations,[83][84] and public festivals.[85]

Garbage recycling

 

Taipei City is also famous for its effort in garbage recycling, which has become such a good international precedent that other countries have sent teams to study the recycling system. After the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) established a program in 1998 combining the efforts of communities, a financial resource named the Recycling Fund was made available to recycling companies and waste collectors. Manufacturers, vendors and importers of recyclable waste pay fees to the Fund, which uses the money to set firm prices for recyclables and subsidize local recycling efforts. Between 1998 and 2008, the recycling rate increased from 6 percent to 32 percent.[86] This improvement enabled the government of Taipei to demonstrate its recycling system to the world at the Shanghai World Expo 2010.

Administrative divisions

 

Taipei City is divided up into 12 administrative districts (區 qu).[87] Each district is further divided up into urban villages (里), which are further sub-divided up into neighborhoods (鄰).

Map District Population

(Jan. 2016) Area

(km2) Postal

code

 

Beitou 北投區 Běitóu Pei-t'ou Pak-tâu 257,922 56.8216 112

Da'an 大安區 Dà'ān Ta-an Tāi-an 312,909 11.3614 106

Datong 大同區 Dàtóng Ta-t'ung Tāi-tông 131,029 5.6815 103

Nangang 南港區 Nángǎng Nan-kang Lâm-káng 122,296 21.8424 115

Neihu 內湖區 Nèihú Nei-hu Lāi-ô͘ 287,726 31.5787 114

Shilin 士林區 Shìlín Shih-lin Sū-lîm 290,682 62.3682 111

Songshan 松山區 Sōngshān Sung-shan Siông-san 209,689 9.2878 105

Wanhua 萬華區 Wànhuá Wan-hua Báng-kah 194,314 8.8522 108

Wenshan 文山區 Wénshān Wen-shan Bûn-san 275,433 31.5090 116

Xinyi 信義區 Xìnyì Hsin-yi Sìn-gī 229,139 11.2077 110

Zhongshan 中山區 Zhōngshān Chung-shan Tiong-san 231,286 13.6821 104

Zhongzheng 中正區 Zhōngzhèng Chung-cheng Tiong-chèng 162,549 7.6071 100

 

City planning

 

The city is characterized by straight roads and public buildings of grand Western architectural styles.[88] The city is built on a square grid configuration, however these blocks are huge by international standards with 500 m (1,640.42 ft) sides. The area in between these blocks are infilled with lanes and alleys, which provide access to quieter residential or mixed-use development. Other than a citywide 30 kilometres per hour (19 mph) speed limit, there is little uniform planning within this "hidden" area; therefore lanes (perpendicular to streets) and alleys (parallel with street, or conceptually, perpendicular to the lane) spill out from the main throughways. These minor roads are not always perpendicular and sometimes cut through the block diagonally.

 

Although development began in the western districts (still considered the cultural heart of the city) of the city due to trade, the eastern districts of the city have become the focus of recent development projects. Many of the western districts, already in decline, have become targets of new urban renewal initiatives.[88]

Transportation

Platform of Wende Station on the Taipei Metro system.

 

Public transport accounts for a substantial portion of different modes of transport in Taiwan, with Taipei residents having the highest utilization rate at 34.1%.[89] Private transport consists of motor scooters, private cars, and bicycles. Motor-scooters often weave between cars and occasionally through oncoming traffic. Respect for traffic laws, once scant, has improved with deployment of traffic cameras and increasing numbers of police roadblocks checking riders for alcohol consumption and other offenses.

 

Taipei Station serves as the comprehensive hub for the subway, bus, conventional rail, and high-speed rail.[41] A contactless smartcard, known as EasyCard, can be used for all modes of public transit as well as several retail outlets. It contains credits that are deducted each time a ride is taken.[90] The EasyCard is read via proximity sensory panels on buses and in MRT stations, and it does not need to be removed from one's wallet or purse.

Metro

Main article: Taipei Metro

 

Taipei's public transport system, the Taipei Metro (commonly referred to as the MRT), incorporates a metro and light rail system based on advanced VAL and Bombardier technology. There are currently five metro lines that are labelled in three ways: color, line number and depot station name. In addition to the rapid transit system itself, the Taipei Metro also includes several public facilities such as the Maokong Gondola, underground shopping malls, parks, and public squares. Modifications to existing railway lines to integrate them into the metro system are underway.

 

In 2017 a rapid transit line was opened to connect Taipei with Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taoyuan City. The new line is part of the new Taoyuan Metro system.

Taipei Railway Station front

Rail

Main articles: Taiwan High Speed Rail and Taiwan Railway Administration

 

Beginning in 1983, surface rail lines in the city were moved underground as part of the Taipei Railway Underground Project.[91] The Taiwan High Speed Rail system opened in 2007. The bullet trains connect Taipei with the west coast cities of New Taipei, Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Taichung, Chiayi, and Tainan before terminating at Zuoying (Kaohsiung) at speeds that cut travel times by 60% or more from what they normally are on a bus or conventional train.[92] The Taiwan Railway Administration also runs passenger and freight services throughout the entire island.

Bus

 

An extensive city bus system serves metropolitan areas not covered by the metro, with exclusive bus lanes to facilitate transportation.[41] Riders of the city metro system are able to use the EasyCard for discounted fares on buses, and vice versa. Several major intercity bus terminals are located throughout the city, including the Taipei Bus Station and Taipei City Hall Bus Station.[93]

Taipei Songshan Airport

Airports

Main articles: Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei Songshan Airport

 

Most scheduled international flights are served by Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in nearby Taoyuan City. Songshan Airport at the heart of the city in the Songshan District serves domestic flights and scheduled flights to Tokyo International Airport (also known as Haneda Airport), Gimpo International Airport in Seoul, and about 15 destinations in the People's Republic of China. Songshan Airport is accessible by the Taipei Metro Neihu Line; Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is accessible by the Taoyuan International Airport MRT system.

Ticketing

 

In 1994, with the rapid development of Taipei, a white paper for transport policies expressed the strong objective to "create a civilised transport system for the people of Taipei." In 1999, they chose Mitac consortium, which Thales-Transportation Systems is part of. Thales was then selected again in 2005 to deploy an upgrade of Taipei's public transport network with an end-to-end and fully contactless automatic fare collection solution that integrates 116 metro stations, 5,000 buses and 92 car parks.[citation needed]

Education

West Site of National Taiwan University Hospital

 

24 universities have campuses located in Taipei:

 

National Taiwan University (1928)

National Chengchi University (1927)

National Defense Medical Center (1902)

National Defense University (1906)

National Taipei University (1949)

National Taipei University of Business (1917)

National Taipei University of Education (1895)

National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Science (1947)

National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (1974)

National Taipei University of Technology (1912)

National Taiwan College of Performing Arts (1957)

National Taiwan Normal University (1946)

National Yang-Ming University (1975)

Taipei National University of the Arts (1982)

University of Taipei (2013)

  

Tamkang University (1950)

Soochow University (1900)

Chinese Culture University (1962)

Ming Chuan University (1957)

Shih Hsin University (1956)

Shih Chien University (1958)

Taipei Medical University (1960)

Tatung University (1956)

China University of Technology (1965)

 

National Taiwan University (NTU) was established in 1928 during the period of Japanese colonial rule. NTU has produced many political and social leaders in Taiwan. Both pan-blue and pan-green movements in Taiwan are rooted on the NTU campus. The university has six campuses in the greater Taipei region (including New Taipei) and two additional campuses in Nantou County. The university governs farms, forests, and hospitals for educational and research purposes. The main campus is in Taipei's Da-An district, where most department buildings and all the administrative buildings are located. The College of Law and the College of Medicine are located near the Presidential Building. The National Taiwan University Hospital is a leading international center of medical research.[94]

 

National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU or Shida) likewise traces its origins to the Japanese colonial period. Originally a teacher training institution, NTNU has developed into a comprehensive international university with demanding entrance requirements. The university boasts especially strong programs in the humanities and international education. Worldwide it is perhaps best known as home of the Mandarin Training Center, a program that offers Mandarin language training each year to over a thousand students from dozens of countries throughout the world. The main campus in Taipei's Da-An district, near MRT Guting Station, is known for its historic architecture and giving its name to the Shida Night Market, one of the most popular among the numerous night markets in Taipei.

Chinese language program for foreigners

 

Taiwan Mandarin Institute (TMI) (福爾摩莎)

International Chinese Language Program (ICLP) (國際華語研習所) of National Taiwan University

Mandarin Training Center (MTC) (國語教學中心) of National Taiwan Normal University

Taipei Language Institute (中華語文研習所)

 

Ceduna. This “capital” of the Far West Coast is 50 kms further from Adelaide than Melbourne is from Adelaide. As it is 780 kms west of Adelaide it should be in a different time zone but it is not. With Thevenard it has 2,200 residents. Almost 25% of residents are Aboriginal but this figure is does not include the floating or transient population of Aboriginal visitors from inland areas and further west (Yalata) which is 250 kms away. The people from Yalata speak Pitjantjatjara unlike the local Wirangu people. Most of the permanent Aboriginal residents are employed by local government, the state government or the local industries. The transient population usually come to Ceduna for medical treatment. The Ceduna Hospital has 15 acute overnight beds, four day beds, two dialysis beds and 38 general beds. Medical imaging is available two days a week at the hospital. Rex Airlines provides seven flights a week to Adelaide. The Western Australian border across the Nullarbor is 500 kms west of Ceduna. The Head of the Bight is 300 kms west. The Eyre Highway to the WA border was sealed in 1976.

 

European exploration of the Ceduna area and Murat Bay began in 1627 when Captain Francois Thijssen, a Dutch explorer in his ship the Golden Zeepard, visited this region with Pieter Nuijts. The islands off the coast were named Nuyts Archipelago in honour of that voyage by Captain Matthew Flinders when he charted the coast here in 1801. The largest island in the archipelago was named by Captain Thijssen in 1627 after the patron saint of Nuijt – St Pierre Isle now known as St Peters Island. The second largest island in the archipelago he named after his own patron stain St Francois – St Francis Island. Another European, the French man Nicholas Baudin named Murat Bay when he charted the coast also in 1802. He was the explorer who met Matthew Flinders near Victor Harbor which Flinders named Encounter Bay. Murat was a French general and brother-in-law of Napoleon Bonaparte. When Flinders entered the bay next to Murat he tested the water for salinity as he felt sure a major river would have an estuary on the bay. In disappointment he named it Denial Bay. In 1893 the Hundred of Bonython was declared around Murat Bay. It was not changed to Ceduna until the railway arrived in 1915 when the railways named their station Ceduna. Ceduna is believed to be a corruption of the local Wirangu Aboriginal word 'chedoona' which means "a place to sit down and rest". The foreshore of Murat Bay is a great place to sit down and rest under the Norfolk Island pine trees looking towards Thevenard. Or you can get almost the same view from the Ceduna Foreshore Hotel!

 

Unlike most South Australia towns Ceduna was founded in the 20th century when the optimism of the 19th century farmers had waned. Early explorers had not reported favourably on the land here. Edward John Eyre made his visit to the region in 1839 after sailing to Port Lincoln and then he explored it again in 1840/41. On his second trip he complained about the lack of any water after a ship had provided water to him at Streaky Bay. His party then walked as there was no water for horses. This fateful journey, when Aborigines killed two of his party and Eyre and his Aboriginal friend Wylie nearly died of thirst, Eyre managed to cross the Nullarbor Plain to WA. But none of his reports encouraged settlers. Two explorers Miller and Dutton in 1857 noted no water but said there were good areas of grasslands. The first large pastoral leaseholds were taken up in 1860 but soon surrendered and taken up again after 1868. This was tough country even for sheep. Robert Barr smith took out the Fowlers Bay run which included Murat Bay and covered 199 square miles. Other leaseholds were also taken up along the coast. All were resumed by the government in the late 1880s when the hundreds were declared. The Hundred of Bonython which covers Ceduna was declared in 1893 and a small farming community began on Murat Bay. Thirty early settler families petitioned the government for a surveyed town in 1896. This happened in 1901 and it was named Murat Bay. But the town developed very slowly. The first church opened in 1909; the government school only opened in 1914 and minimal development occurred before 1915 when the railway from Port Lincoln reached the town. The first government wharf was built in 1902 to take away the bagged grain; and early stone Institute building was erected; there were two early general stores; the town had a stone hotel –licensed to Mr Charles Mudge in 1901 for opening in 1902; the first police station opened in 1903; the first wooden Post Office opened in 1902; the town before 1909 had a saddler, a blacksmith, a butcher, baker, etc but no candle stick maker.

 

All the major Christian faiths have been represented in Ceduna. The first church built in Ceduna was the Methodist in 1909 in Poynton Street. Its porched was added 1959 and the “new” church hall was added in 1962. The second church was the early Anglican Church also built in Poynton Street in 1911. It was last used for services in 1954 when the new St Michael’s and All Angels Church across the street opened. It was dedicated by the Bishop of Willochra in 1955 and the adjacent parish hall was built in 1981. The third church erected in town was the Lutheran Church in East Terrace. It was built in 1928 but was in a deteriorating condition by 1970. In 1971 it was demolished and a new Lutheran Church opened. Lutheranism was a strong faith in this region with the Koonibba Lutheran Aboriginal Mission (est. 1901) 39 kms out of town and the early Lutheran Church in Denial Bay 13 kms away which was the first church in the whole region built in 1896. In 1929 the Catholics built a church in Bergman Drive. It was dedicated as Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church. A new parish hall was erected in 1977. Ceduna became a separate Catholic parish with a resident priest in 1973 when it broke away from Streaky Bay.

 

Thevenard. Ceduna-Thevenard was the main terminus of the Eyre Peninsula railway system with the line from Port Lincoln reaching here in 1915. The town of Thevenard was surveyed and land sold in 1915. The railway line from Port Lincoln reached Wudinna, about half way in 1913.Then the first trains operated to Ceduna in 1915 with a passenger train for travel to or from Port Lincoln. It took two days with an overnight stay in Minnipa! Almost all the railway stations and sidings on Eyre Peninsula have local Aboriginal words for their names. Here are some of the interesting siding names from near Ceduna – Yantanabie; Chillundie; Mudamuckla; Chimbingina; Uworra; Nunjikompita; Yantanabie; Puntabie; Wiabuna; Koonibba; Kalanbi; Chinta. Passenger trains on Eyre Peninsula from Ceduna were coordinated to arrive in Port Lincoln to connect with coast steamers to Adelaide until the last steamer service ended in 1963. The railway from Thevenard was extended to Penong further west (73 kms) in 1924. This is now the only railway line in operation on Eyre Peninsula since May 2019 when Viterra grain handlers could not reach an agreement with the track owners of Eyre Peninsula, Genesee & Wyoming Australia. The rail service was terminated. The last grain train to Penong operated in 1997 but the line to Kevin gypsum mines still operates. Three round trips are made each day for most days of the week. The export of gypsum is one of the major exports from Thevenard. The jetty at Thevenard was extended in 1972 to allow larger ships to visit the port. Thevenard exports roughly 6 million bushels of grain a year, 80,000 tons of salt and 200,000 tons of gypsum from the mines at Kevin near Penong and increasing amounts of mineral sands (zircon). Some processed and frozen fish and seafood are also exported from Thevenard. Flinders Ports Holdings operates the port which is the second busiest in South Australia. There are current plans for a $15million upgrade of Thevenard jetty and port. A transportable Methodist Church was moved to Thevenard in 1953 and a small Greek Orthodox Church opened in Thevenard in 1972. Prior to that Orthodox services were held in the Greek Hall. For many years Thevenard had a gypsum factory producing plaster.

  

Epic Sony A7RII Malibu Beach Fine Art Landscape /Seascape Sunset! Dr. Elliot McGucken Fine Art Sea Caves Landscape and Nature Photography

 

Sony Vario-Tessar T* FE 16-35mm f/4 ZA OSS Lens SEL1635Z Carl Zeiss!

 

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Join my new 45EPIC fine art landscapes page on facebook!

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Working on a couple photography books! 45EPIC GODDESS PHOTOGRAPHY: A classic guide to exalting the archetypal woman. And 45EPIC Fine Art Landscape Photography!

 

Fresh snow! More on my golden ratio musings: facebook.com/goldennumberratio

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Greetings all! I have been busy finishing a few books on photography, while traveling all over--to Zion and the Sierras--shooting fall colors. Please see some here: facebook.com/mcgucken

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Let me know in the comments if you would like a free review copy of one of my photography books! :)

 

Titles include:

The Tao of Epic Landscape Photography: Exalt Fine Art with the Yin-Yang Wisdom of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching!

 

The Golden Number Ratio Principle: Why the Fibonacci Numbers Exalt Beauty and How to Create PHI Compositions in Art, Design, & Photography

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And I am also working on a book on photographing the goddesses! :) More goddesses soon!

 

Best wishes on your epic hero's odyssey!:)

 

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The Wee MacGregor tram and rail complex and the former towns of Ballara and Hightville’ is located in the Argylla Ranges between Cloncurry and Mount Isa in North West Queensland, in the traditional country of the Kalkadoon people. Constructed during an early 20th century boom in copper prices, the place includes the sites of two abandoned mining towns, Hightville and Ballara (surveyed in 1913 and 1914 respectively); the former western terminus (near Ballara) of a private 3ft 6in (1.1m) narrow gauge railway line, constructed 1913 - 1914; and the route of an associated private 2ft (0.6m) gauge tramway, constructed 1914 - 1915, between Ballara and the Wee MacGregor mine. The complex includes a 48m long ore transfer stage (1914), and a 77m long tunnel (1914 - 1915).

 

The town of Cloncurry was surveyed in the 1870s to support the local mining and pastoral industries. Pastoralist Ernest Henry had discovered copper nearby in 1867 and established the ‘Great Australia’ (or Great Australian) mine. Part of the area was proclaimed a goldfield in 1874, and the Cloncurry Mining District (later the Cloncurry Gold and Mineral Field) was proclaimed in 1883. Copper was discovered south of Cloncurry in 1884, and a town was formed in 1898 called Hampden (later called Kuridala). At Mount Elliot, south of Hampden, copper was discovered in 1899 and mining commenced in 1906.

 

The absence of a railway initially hampered the effective exploitation of Cloncurry’s mineral resources. The closure of the Great Australia Mine in 1887 meant a proposed railway from Normanton was diverted to Croydon (1888 - 1891), but when copper prices rose in 1905 the Queensland Government decided to extend the Great Northern Railway west from Richmond, and the first construction train reached Cloncurry in December 1907.

 

Mining activity was increasing on the Cloncurry field even before the railway arrived. By March 1906, copper had been discovered as an outcrop at the Wee MacGregor lease, west-southwest of Cloncurry. The Leichhardt Development Syndicate was formed in October 1906 to develop the Wee MacGregor ‘group’ of mines, which included the Wee MacGregor, Grand Central, Wattle, and Wallaroo leases, and two months later MacGregor Cloncurry Copper Mines (the MacGregor Company) was floated in London. Hampden Cloncurry Copper Mines Ltd, and Mount Elliot Limited, two companies which later dominated the Cloncurry field during World War I (WWI), were also floated in 1906.

 

By October 1907 there were three prospecting shafts on the Wee MacGregor lease. That year, with a population of 650 miners (almost double that of 1906), the Cloncurry field produced 5.6% of Queensland’s copper. By July 1908 the MacGregor Company was employing 70 men, not including mine officials, and during 1908 a telephone link with Cloncurry was established and tenders were called for a mail service.

 

By 1909 a settlement, including company offices and a store, was developing near the Wallaroo mine, located about 1km southeast of the Wee MacGregor mine. That year John Frost constructed the MacGregor Hotel on the site of Hightville. The hotel was listed under ‘Hightville’ in Wise’s Post Office Directory of 1911, although the town of Hightville was not surveyed until November 1913.

 

Isolation threatened the economic viability of the Wee MacGregor group of mines. Ore was first drayed to Cloncurry along a rough road in May 1909, but this form of transport was uneconomic. One option for the MacGregor Company was to build a private mining railway, as had been done elsewhere in Queensland. Such railways were part of a wider pattern in Queensland during the late 19th-early 20th century: the construction of private and local government railways and tramways to transport the products of primary industry. However, the MacGregor Company could not afford a private railway to the closest point on the Mount Elliott Railway, 39km away.

 

Another option was for the company to contribute towards a state-owned railway, as had occurred with the railway from Cloncurry to Mount Elliott, via Hampden. The cost of this railway, which opened in 1910, was split 50/50 between the Kidston Government and the Mount Elliott Company. In September 1910 the MacGregor Company proposed a branch line from Malbon, on the Mount Elliott railway, under similar terms, and the government agreed to split the cost of a line survey and plans.

 

In June 1911 the MacGregor Company sought government support for a shorter branch line, this time linking to the state railway being built southwest from Malbon towards Sulieman Creek. Government officials were sceptical about the profitability and lifespan of the Wee MacGregor group of mines, despite the company estimating reserves of 100,000 tons of ore (most from the Wee MacGregor mine). Instead of a 50-50 funding arrangement for a state owned branch line, the government agreed to rent the MacGregor Company the rails they needed to construct a private line.

 

Queensland’s Railways Commissioner, Charles Evans, inspected the proposed route to the Wee MacGregor mine in July 1912, and the Railway Department’s Engineer, Percy Ainscow, proposed a ‘no-frills’ railway, with a 10ft (3m) wide formation, reduced earthworks, less side drainage, cheap concrete culverts and the minimum of bridges.

 

The company’s branch line was proposed at an opportune time. In 1912, the Cloncurry field produced 45% of Queensland’s annual production of copper, with annual copper earnings now exceeding gold’s earnings. There were 1485 copper miners on the field, which was the ‘foremost producer of copper in the State’.

 

The Wee MacGregor Tramway Agreement Bill was introduced to Parliament in November 1912. It proposed that the MacGregor Company pay for the construction and maintenance of a private 3ft 6in ‘tramway’ (actually a narrow gauge railway), 24 miles and 40 chains (39.4km) long, from the Malbon to Sulieman Creek Railway to a terminus at or near the Wee MacGregor mine. The Commissioner for Railways would provide steel rails, fish plates, fastenings, sleepers, and other permanent way materials. The company would pay 5% per year ‘rent’ on the cost of the materials supplied by the government, which had the power to acquire the line. By the 2nd of December 1912, the company involved in the proposal had become the Hampden Company, which purchased the Wee MacGregor group of mines from the Macgregor Company for £108,750.

 

Despite the Labor Party’s concern about a company gaining a competitive advantage from a private railway line, The Wee MacGregor Tramway Agreement Act 1912 was passed on the 4th of December 1912. Walter Paget, Minister for Railways, noted the difference from previous private sector-government railway agreements, with less government exposure to risk.

 

Work started on the 3ft 6in railway in early 1913, supervised by Ainscow. MacGregor Junction (Devoncourt), on the Malbon to Sulieman Creek railway, was the location of the main construction camp. The steepest grade for the railway was 1 in 40, with a minimum curve radius of 5 chains (100m). By April 1913 about 200 men were employed on the project.

 

The railway was planned as far as the Wallaroo mine, located east of the town of Hightville, but in late 1913 the Hampden Company decided that, due to the steep, difficult terrain near Hightville, the railway would be shortened, with the terminus now 22 miles, 49 chains (35.9km) from MacGregor Junction. The remainder of the route to Hightville, and beyond to the Wee MacGregor mine, would now be traversed by a 2ft gauge tramway, which could accommodate tighter curves and steeper grades than the railway.

 

A railway station and goods shed were constructed on the northern side of the town of Ballara, where a triangular junction was located. Ballara, situated at ‘Lady Lease Flats’, was surveyed in June 1914. A sale of town lots was scheduled for the 14th of August 1914, with upset prices for the quarter acre (0.1ha) lots ranging from £10 to £30. The outbreak of WWI led to the sale’s cancellation, and by the time a sale of 36 lots was held on the 24th of February 1915, prices had trebled. Facilities at Ballara included a Post Office, established in late 1914, and a police reserve was gazetted at the west end of the town in 1915. A district hospital was established by August 1918, on 5 acres north of the turning triangle. The Ballara Hotel existed by 1918, although it burnt down on the 27th of April that year, and again in April 1919. A state school was approved in May 1919, and opened in July 1919. A cemetery reserve was also gazetted, northeast of the hospital reserve, replacing the previous cemetery south of Hightville.

 

Hightville slowly declined after the 1913 decision to shorten the railway and relocate its terminus to Ballara, although a sale of 45 town lots still occurred in May 1914, with prices for a quarter acre (0.1ha) ranging from £5 to £25. As well as the Macgregor Hotel, Hightville had a butcher by 1913; a storekeeper and postmaster by 1914; and a boarding house by 1915. A state school was also approved in May 1917, and sites were reserved for the school and police in 1918. By 1917, however, Hightville listings were included under ‘Ballara’ in Wise’s Post Office Directory. When the MacGregor Hotel burnt down in 1914, its replacement, the former Cosmopolitan Hotel from Ravenswood, was moved to Hightville, and later to Ballara. The school and its pupils moved to Ballara in 1919.

 

The 2ft tramway ran west from the triangular junction at Ballara, over a raised concrete ore transfer stage, past the terminus of the railway, and then curved north. It passed between Hightville and the Wallaroo mine, and proceeded to the Wee MacGregor mine – a total route of about 3.8 miles (6.1km). A short branch tramway ran to the Wallaroo mine. Ore was transported via the tramway from the mines to the ore transfer stage, where it would be tipped from trucks on the tramway down into trucks on the railway. The railway would then convey the ore to the Hampden smelters (operational 1911). As the tramway was not part of the 1912 agreement, the company funded construction and purchased its 28 pound rails and steel sleepers.

 

By the 5th of May 1914 all earthworks, bridges, drains, and rails for the railway were completed to the terminal yard at Ballara, although the station building and earthworks beyond the station weren’t finished. The railway was operational during May 1914 and was officially opened to the public in July 1914, yet it was of little use for moving ore until the tramway was completed.

 

The tramway was under construction in early 1914, with earthworks extending for two miles (3.2km), and the ‘first five bridges and drains’ nearing completion, by the 5th of May 1914. Between Hightville and the Wee MacGregor mine a 77m long unlined tunnel, with concrete portals, and a 1 in 22 grade towards the mine, was constructed through MacGregor Hill. The tunnel was nearly completed by January 1915, with rails laid 5 chains (101m) through it by the 11th of March 1915.

 

The tramway was transporting ore by the 31st of May 1915. It had cost £11,005, and had curves as tight as 2 chains (40m) radius. The tunnel remains the most westerly railway tunnel in Queensland, and the 47.9m long, 2.65m high ore transfer stage is unique as the only recorded tramway-to-railway ore transhipment platform in Queensland.

 

The Annual Report of the Under Secretary of Mines for 1915 stated that ‘a 2-ft gauge tramway, four miles [6.4km] in length, from Ballara, connects the MacGregor and Wallaroo Mines with the main line, and carries 50 tons of ore per day in three train loads to Ballara, conveying firewood, mine timber, and general stores as return loading’.

 

Three trains a week had run along the railway from the 25th of May to 15 June 1914. However, the start of WWI on the 4th of August 1914 led to a temporary halt to mining, as German buyers held the contracts for the sale of copper. Only one supply train a week was run to Ballara until early 1915, when the Allied demand for copper revived mining and railway activity. Around 300 tons of ore was railed from Ballara each week during the war, and annual passenger numbers peaked at 4533 in 1916.

 

Wartime copper prices boosted the fortunes of the whole Cloncurry Gold and Mineral Field. The London market price for copper rose from under £60 a ton to £84 10s during 1915, and the Cloncurry district produced 53% of Queensland’s copper that year. During 1916, copper prices rose from £85 to £150 a ton, and in September 1917 British Munitions authorities fixed the price at £110 5s. The Cloncurry field produced 63.2% of Queensland’s copper in 1918, when the total population of the field reached 7795.

 

Copper prices dropped after the end of WWI, falling from £112 per ton in December 1918 to £75 per ton in April 1919. By March 1919 it was reported that the price slump and a scarcity of workers had ‘dealt a knockout blow to all’, although a new shaft was still being sunk on the Wee MacGregor mine. Copper production on the Cloncurry field fell in 1919, and only one train a week ran to Ballara, with 2170 tons of freight carried during the year – a 90% reduction from 1918.

 

Copper prices were £72 a ton at the end of 1920. This, along with high overheads, caused the closure of the Wee MacGregor mine in November 1920. Tenders were invited in December 1920 for purchase of the ‘MacGregor Mines tramway’, including ‘about 4 miles of 2 foot gauge tramway, built of 28lb. steel rails, iron sleepers, locomotive, and ten bogie trucks’. The tramway’s rails were removed during 1921 and stacked at Ballara. The train service to Ballara dropped to once a month from February 1921, when there were still 17 families in the town, plus ‘copper gougers’ (small mine operators) in the area. During 1921 the railway only carried 199 tons of freight.

 

Train services to Ballara were maintained by the government throughout most of the 1920s. In October 1922 a service from Cloncurry to Ballara ran on alternate Wednesdays. The discovery of a large silver-lead deposit at Mount Isa in 1923 raised hopes that the railway could be extended from Ballara to Mount Isa, but the line was constructed from Duchess instead. Services to Ballara alternated between a weekly and a fortnightly schedule until early 1927, when regular services ended.

 

The MacGregor Junction to Ballara railway survived for a short while longer, as 38 tons of minerals and 10 tons of other goods were carried in the 1928 - 1929 financial year, from Pindora siding. The rails between MacGregor Junction and Ballara were removed in 1929, and were stacked at Malbon. There were complaints that a final train was not even sent out to evacuate 30 copper gougers and their families.

 

After the mine’s closure in 1920, Ballara’s decline was inevitable. In 1920 Wise’s Post Office Directory listed a district and a maternity hospital at Ballara; plus a school teacher; butchers; refreshment rooms; stores; a boarding house; a station and post master; and the MacGregor and Ballara Hotels. By 1927 no names or institutions were listed under Ballara.

 

Although the tramway and railway had closed, and Hightville and Ballara were abandoned, copper gougers retained an interest in the Wee MacGregor area over the following decades. In 1954, prospectors also discovered uranium deposits at Ballara. Several concrete slabs at the site of Hightville date from the early 1970s, during a period of renewed mining activity at the Wee MacGregor mine, and in 2018, exploratory drilling work was underway at the mine.

 

Source: Queensland Heritage Register.

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Anemone is a genus of flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. Plants of the genus are commonly called windflowers. They are native to the temperate and subtropical regions of all continents except Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica. The genus is closely related to several other genera including Anemonoides, Anemonastrum, Hepatica, and Pulsatilla. Some botanists include these genera within Anemone.

 

Description

 

An illustration of an anemone

Anemone are perennials that have basal leaves with long leaf-stems that can be upright or prostrate. Leaves are simple or compound with lobed, parted, or undivided leaf blades. The leaf margins are toothed or entire.

 

Flowers with 4–27 sepals are produced singly, in cymes of 2–9 flowers, or in umbels, above a cluster of leaf- or sepal-like bracts. Sepals may be any color. The pistils have one ovule. The flowers have nectaries, but petals are missing in the majority of species.

 

The fruits are ovoid to obovoid shaped achenes that are collected together in a tight cluster, ending variously lengthened stalks; though many species have sessile clusters terminating the stems. The achenes are beaked and some species have feathery hairs attached to them.

 

Taxonomy

Anemone was named by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is situated in the tribe Anemoneae, subfamily Ranunculoideae, and the family Ranunculaceae. As considered in the broader sense (sensu lato) the genus is sometimes considered to include a number of other genera, such as Anemonoides, Anemonastrum, Hepatica, Pulsatilla, Knowltonia, Barneoudia, and Oreithales. Several of these were included as separate genera within Anemoneae by Wang et al., a tribe with six genera in total.

 

Early molecular analyses divided the genus into two subgenera (Anemonidium and Anemone), with seven sections, and 12 informal subsections. Ziman and colleagues (2008) treated the genus Anemone as 5 subgenera, 23 sections, 4 subsections, 23 series and about 118 species. A further reclassification by Hoot and colleagues (2012) estimated 200 species.

 

Hoot et al. found many of the previously defined subdivisions, based on morphological characteristics were polyphyletic or paraphyletic. In contrast two clearly defined monophyletic clades emerged corresponding to the above two subgenera. Anemonidium demonstrated four subclades, corresponding to sections. The larger subgenus Anemone showed a similar pattern.

 

Hoot et al. proposed the following two subgenera and several sections be retained, with a number of subsections and series:

 

Anemone subg. Anemonidium (Spach) Juz.

A. subg. Anemonidium sect. Hepatica Spreng.

A. subg. Anemonidium sect. Keiskea Tamura

A. subg. Anemonidium sect. Anemonidium Spach

A. subg. Anemonidium sect. Omalocarpus DC.

Anemone subg. Anemone L.

A. subg. Anemone sect. Pulsatilloides DC.

A. subg. Anemone sect. Pulsatilla (Mill.) DC.

A. subg. Anemone sect. Rivularidium Jancz.

A. subg. Anemone sect. Anemone L.

Species

As of April 2020 Kew's Plants of the World Online lists 63 species in the genus Anemone:

 

Anemone afghanica Podlech

Anemone alaschanica (Schipcz.) Borodina

Anemone angustiloba H.Eichler

Anemone baissunensis Juz. ex M.M.Sharipova

Anemone begoniifolia H.Lév. & Vaniot

Anemone berlandieri Pritz.

Anemone biflora DC.

Anemone brachystema W.T.Wang

Anemone brevistyla C.C.Chang ex W.T.Wang

Anemone bucharica (Regel) Finet & Gagnep.

Anemone canadensis L.

Anemone caroliniana Walter

Anemone cathayensis Kitag. ex Tamura

Anemone coronaria L.

Anemone cylindrica A.Gray

Anemone debilis Fisch. ex Turcz.

Anemone decapetala Ard.

Anemone drummondii S.Watson

Anemone edwardsiana Tharp

Anemone flexuosissima Rech.f.

Anemone fulingensis W.T.Wang & Z.Y.Liu

Anemone fuscopurpurea H.Hara

Anemone glazioviana Urb.

Anemone hemsleyi Britton

Anemone hokouensis C.Y.Wu ex W.T.Wang

Anemone hortensis L.

Anemone howellii Jeffrey & W.W.Sm.

Anemone imperialis Kadota

Anemone koraiensis Nakai

Anemone lacerata (Y.L.Xu) Luferov

Anemone laceratoincisa W.T.Wang

Anemone liangshanica W.T.Wang

Anemone lithophila Rydb.

Anemone lutienensis W.T.Wang

Anemone milinensis W.T.Wang

Anemone motuoensis W.T.Wang

Anemone multifida Poir.

Anemone nutantiflora W.T.Wang & L.Q.Li

Anemone ochotensis (Fisch. ex Pritz.) Fisch.

Anemone okennonii Keener & B.E.Dutton

Anemone orthocarpa Hand.-Mazz.

Anemone palmata L.

Anemone parviflora Michx.

Anemone pavoniana Boiss.

Anemone pendulisepala Y.N.Lee

Anemone petiolulosa Juz.

Anemone poilanei Gagnep.

Anemone raui Goel & U.C.Bhattach.

Anemone robusta W.T.Wang

Anemone robustostylosa R.H.Miao

Anemone scabriuscula W.T.Wang

Anemone seravschanica Kom.

Anemone somaliensis Hepper

Anemone sumatrana de Vriese

Anemone taipaiensis W.T.Wang

Anemone tamarae Kharkev.

Anemone thomsonii Oliv.

Anemone tibetica W.T.Wang

Anemone triternata Vahl

Anemone truncata (H.F.Comber) Luferov

Anemone tschernaewii Regel

Anemone tuberosa Rydb.

Anemone virginiana L.

Anemone xingyiensis Q.Yuan & Q.E.Yang

Etymology

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Greek ἀνεμώνη (anemōnē) means 'daughter of the wind', from ἄνεμος (ánemos, 'wind') + feminine patronymic suffix -ώνη (-ṓnē, so 'daughter of'). The Metamorphoses of Ovid tells that the plant was created by the goddess Aphrodite when she sprinkled nectar on the blood of her dead lover Adonis, and Ovid describes the etymology as referring to the frailty of the petals that can be easily blown away by the wind. "Anemone" may also refer to Nea'man, the Phoenician name for Adonis, referring to an earlier Syrian myth of the god of vegetation, also tusked by a boar. The common name windflower is used for the entire genus.

 

Ecology

Diseases and pests

Main article: List of anemone diseases

Anemone species are sometimes targeted by cutworms, the larvae of noctuid moths such as angle shades and heart and dart.

 

Cultivation

Pink anemone

Some of the species are grown in gardens. Their popularity varies by species and region. In addition to certain straight species being available, hybrids and cultivars are available for certain species. Certain species, such as Anemone coronaria, are typically only available in hybrid form while others, such as Anemonoides blanda are nearly always sold in straight species form.

 

Cultivated anemones are nearly always one of the following colors: bluish violet, white, pink, red, and hues in a range between violet and pink. There are no truly blue anemones, despite the frequent use of the label "blue" in marketing to describe blue-violet flowers (flowers that are more violet than blue). Color labelling inaccuracy in marketing is found in treatments of numerous other genera, especially as it concerns the color blue — although some popular garden flowers from the same family are actually blue, such as some selections from Delphinium. One species of anemone, Anemone ranunculoides, is unusual for its yellow flowers. In horticultural terms there are three main groups:

 

spring-flowering species found in woodland and alpine meadows, often tuberous or rhizomatous; e.g. Anemonoides nemorosa, Anemonoides blanda

spring- and summer-flowering species from hot dry areas, with tuberous roots, e.g. Anemone coronaria

summer- and autumn-flowering species with fibrous roots, which thrive in moist dappled shade; e.g. Eriocapitella hupehensis

The spring-flowering autumn-planted ephemeral species Anemonoides blanda is grown in large-scale commercial cultivation and can be purchased in bulk quantities. It is most commonly-available with a bluish violet flower (usually erroneously called "Blue Shades" despite its flower being more purple than blue) that varies from intense to pale, depending upon the individual plant and possibly soil conditions. A white-flowered form is the second-most common type. The least common of the commonly-cultivated forms is a pale pink. The violet, and especially pink, forms sometimes possess petals that fade to white near the flower center. The genus contains quite a number of other spring-flowering species. A. hortensis and the hybrid A. fulgens have less-divided leaves than some others and have rose-purple or scarlet flowers.

 

Among the most well-known anemones is A. coronaria, often called the poppy anemone. It is a tuberous-rooted plant with parsley-like divided leaves and large poppy-like blossoms on stalks of from 15–20 cm high. It can be planted in the fall in zones 7 or 8 without extra protection or in spring in cooler zones. If planted in fall it will flower in the spring and if planted in the spring it will flower in late summer. The flowers are typically scarlet, crimson, bluish purple, reddish purple, or white. There are also double-flowered varieties, in which the stamens in the centre are replaced by a tuft of narrow petals. It has been used as a garden plant, in hybrid form in particular, for a long time in some parts of the world. Double forms are named varieties. Hybrids of the de Caen and St. Brigid groups are the most prevalent on the market. In Israel, large numbers of red-flowering non-hybrid A. coronaria can be seen growing in certain natural areas.

 

Eriocapitella hupehensis, and its white cultivar 'Honorine Joubert', the latter especially, are well-known autumn-flowering selections. They grow well in well-drained but moisture-retentive soil and reach 60–100 cm in height, blooming continually for several weeks. E. hupehensis, E. vitifolia, and their hybrids and are particularly attractive to honeybees. A number of low-growing species, such as the native British Anemonoides nemorosa and Anemonoides apennina, have woodlands and other shady places as their habitat. Hepatica species typically also grow in shade.

 

Garden-cultivated anemones generally grow best in a loamy well-drained evenly-moist fertile soil, although the ephemeral A. blanda does not require as much moisture during the summer when it is dormant (unlike the related Eranthis species that can suffer if they become too dry even while dormant). Some prairie species that are rarely cultivated, such as Anemone cylindrica, grow well in drier warmer conditions and poor soil. A. coronaria has been described by some professional sources as preferring acidic soil and by others as preferring alkaline soil. Hardy species may be planted in October in many zones. Unlike a hardier species such as A. blanda, A. coronaria is described as hardy only as low as climate zone 7 by some sources and by others hardy only as low as zone 8. Various strategies, such as the use of protection, can be tried to plant them outdoors in fall in zone 6 but results may vary. As with other plants, some species can be readily raised from seed while some hybrids may be sterile. A. blanda typically blooms in mid spring. The larger anemone species typically grow well in partial shade, or in full sun provided they are shielded from the hottest sun in southern areas. A well-drained soil, enriched with compost, is typically utilized.

 

If cut flowers are desired, it is best to harvest the flowers early in the morning while it is still cold outside while the bloom is still closed. To open your flowers place in room temperature water out of direct sun. A. coronaria blooms can be purchased from some florists, between November and June depending upon availability.

 

Anemones in culture

"Anemone" has several different meanings depending on the culture and context in which the flower is being used.

 

Several of the Western meanings of anemone flowers pertain to the Greek mythology of the origin of the anemone flower featuring Adonis and Aphrodite. The goddess Aphrodite kept the mortal man Adonis as a lover; when Adonis was gored by a wild boar, Aphrodite's tears at his death mixed with his blood and gave rise to the anemone. In other versions, the boar was sent by other jealous Greek gods to murder Adonis. These origin stories reflect the classical dual meanings of the arrival of spring breezes and the death of a loved one.

 

In the Victorian language of flowers, the anemone represented a forsaken love of any kind, while European peasants carried them to ward off pests and disease as well as bad luck.

 

In other cultures, the meanings differ. In Chinese and Egyptian cultures, the flower of anemone was considered a symbol of illness due to its coloring. The anemone can be a symbol of bad luck in Eastern cultures. The Japanese anemone may be associated with ill tidings.

 

The flowers are featured in Robe violette et Anémones, a 1937 painting by Henri Matisse

Castle , Kasteel de Haar near the suburb of Vleuten that includes village of Haarzuilen rebuild by architect Pierre Cuyper Project was finished in around 1912 took 20 years to be finished , Martin’s photograph , Utrecht , the Netherlands , June 5. 2019

  

Beautiful staircase

Beautiful staircase in castle , Kasteel de Haar

Staircase

Stairway critters sculptures in Castle

Stairway sculptures

Spiral stairway

Central Station in Amsterdam , build by architect Pierre Cuyper

de Rijks Museum in Amsterdam build by architect Pierre Cuyper

de Rijks Museum in Amsterdam

Central Station in Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Lavet bad tub

Lavet bad tub and washing machine

main door

Beautiful staircase

Kasteel de Haar near the suburb of Vleuten that includes village of Haarzuilen

architect Pierre Cuyper

Martin’s photograph

Utrecht

the Netherlands

Nederland

June 2019

Favourites

IPhone 6

Village of Haarzuilen

Kasteel de Haar

Castle the Haar

Kasteel de Haar was rebuild by architect Pierre Cuyper Project was finished in around 1912 took 20 years to be finished

city of Utrecht in the province Utrecht

Beautiful staircase in Kasteel de Haar

Door knocker

Beautiful window and seating

architect Pierre Cuyper