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Borassus

Borassus

See text Borassus (Palmyra Palm) is a genus of five species of palms, native to tropical regions of Africa, Asia and New Guinea. They are tall palms, capable of growing up to 30 m high. The leaves are long, fan-shaped, 2 to 3 m in length. The flowers are small, in densely clustered spikes, followed by large, brown, roundish fruits. ;Species
- Borassus aethiopium - African Palmyra Palm (tropical Africa)
- Borassus flabellifer - Asian Palmyra Palm (southern Asia)
- Borassus heineanus - New Guinea Palmyra Palm (New Guinea)
- Borassus madagascariensis - Madagascar Palmyra Palm (Madagascar)
- Borassus sambiranensis - Sambirano Palmyra Palm (Madagascar)

Cultivation and uses

Palmyra Palms are economically useful, and widely cultivated in tropical regions. The palmyra palm has long been one of the most important trees of India, where it is used over 800 different ways. The leaves are used for thatching, mats, baskets, fans, hats, umbrellas, and writing paper. The stalks are used to make fences and also produce a strong, wiry fiber suitable for cordage and brushes. The black timber is hard, heavy, and durable and is highly valued for construction. The tree also yields many types of food. The young plants are cooked as a vegetable or roasted and pounded to make meal. The fruits are eaten roasted or raw, and the young, jellylike seeds are eaten also. A sugary sap, called toddy, can be obtained from the flower buds. Toddy is fermented to make a beverage called arrack, or it is concentrated to a crude sugar called jaggery. It is called Gula Jawa (Javanese Sugar) in Indonesia and is widely used in the Javanese Cuisine. In addition, the tree sap is taken as a laxative, and medicinal values have been ascribed to other parts of the plant. Category:Palms

Arecaceae

Many; see list of Arecaceae genera Arecaceae (also known as Palmae), the Palm Family, is a family of flowering plants, belonging to the monocot order, Arecales. There are 202 currently known genera with around 2,600 species, most of which are restricted to tropical or subtropical climates. Of all the families of plants, the Arecaceae is the most easily recognizable as distinct by most persons. The type member of this family is the areca palm, the fruit of which is chewed with the betel leaf and often confused with it. The Date Palm, Rattan, and Coconut also belong to this family. Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil produced by the oil palms in the genus Elaeis. Several species are harvested for heart of palm. Palm sap is sometimes fermented to produce palm wine. The Palm Sunday festival uses palms, hence the name. Palms first appear in the fossil record around 70-80 million years ago, during the Cretaceous Period, making them one of the older families of flowering plants. Economically important genera include:
- Areca
- Arenga
- Attalea
- Bactris
- Borassus (Palmyra Palm)
- Calamus - rattan palm
- Cocos - coconut
- Copernicia - carnauba wax palm
- Elaeis - oil palm
- Euterpe Cabbage Heart Palm, and Açaí Palm
- Jessenia
- Jubaea Chilean Wine Palm and Coquito Palm
- Orbignya
- Phoenix - date palms
- Rhapis
- Roystonea - royal palm
- Sabal - palmetto
- Salacca - salak
- Trachycarpus
- Veitchia
- Wallichia
- Washingtonia See list of Arecaceae genera for a complete listing. list of Arecaceae genera list of Arecaceae genera Few palms tolerate severe cold, and the majority of the species are tropical or subtropical. The most cold-tolerant are Trachycarpus, native to eastern Asia, and Rhapidophyllum, native to the southeastern United States. For more details, see hardy palms. In the United States, different types of palm trees can be seen in tropical and mediterranean climate areas, such as Florida, (southern) California and Hawaii and along the Gulf Coast through southern Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana to Texas. The southeastern state of South Carolina is nicknamed the Palmetto State because of the number of palms that line the state's Atlantic coast. Some palms can be grown as far north as Maryland, Arkansas, and even up along the Pacific coast to Oregon and Washington. There have even been known species of transplanted palms that have survived as far north as southern New Jersey [http://www.bg-map.com/palms/woodbury.html]. The desert areas of Nevada, Arizona, Utah and New Mexico are also home to some native palms. Southern Europe has two native palms, Chamaerops humilis (widespread, but mainly seen in Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Malta) and Phoenix theophrastii (Crete; also southern Turkey). Many other palms are widely planted, with the Japanese Trachycarpus wagnerianus being grown successfully as far north as Iceland.

References

- C. H. Schultz-Schultzenstein (1832). Natürliches System des Pflanzenreichs..., 317. Berlin, Germany.
- N. W. Uhl, J. Dransfield (1987). Genera palmarum: a classification of palms based on the work of Harold E. Moore, Jr. (Allen Press, Lawrence, Kansas)

External links

- [http://www.kew.org/cgi-bin/web.dbs/genlist.pl?PALMAE Kew Botanic Garden's Palm Genera list] A list of the currently acknowledged genera by Kew Royal Botanic Gardens in London, England.
- [http://www.plantapalm.com/vpe/taxonomy/vpe_taxonomy3.htm Taxonomy of the family Arecaceae]
- [http://www.pacsoa.org.au/palms/ PACSOA] Palm and Cycad Societies of Australia palm species listing with images.
- [http://www.plantapalm.com/vpe/photos/vpe_photos.htm Plant a Palm] A website with a large amount of information on palms, their cultivation and uses. This link goes to the photo gallery via species listing. Category:Plant families Category:Palms ja:ヤシ (植物) th:ปาล์ม

Asia

Asia is the central and eastern part of Eurasia, and the world's largest continent. Defined by subtracting Europe from Eurasia, Asia is either regarded as a landmass of its own, or as part of Eurasia. The demarcation between Asia and Africa is the isthmus of Suez (although the Sinai Peninsula, being a part of Egypt east of the canal, is often geopolitically considered a part of Africa). The boundary between Asia and Europe runs via the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, to the Black Sea, the Caucasus Mountains, the Caspian Sea, the Ural River to its source, and the Ural Mountains to the Kara Sea at Kara, Russia. About 60 percent of the world's human population lives in Asia. Asia as a political division consists of the eastern part of Eurasia and nearby islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, often excluding Russia. Pacific Ocean

Etymology

The word Asia entered English, via Latin, from Ancient Greek Ασία (Asia; see also List of traditional Greek place names). This name is first attested in Herodotus (c. 440 BC), where it refers to Asia Minor; or, for the purposes of describing the Persian Wars, to the Persian Empire, as opposed to Greece and Egypt. Even before Herodotus, Homer knew of a Trojan ally named Asios, son of Hyrtacus, a ruler over several towns, and elsewhere he describes a marsh as ασιος (Iliad 2, 461). The Greek term may be derived from from Assuwa, a 14th century BC confederation of states in Western Anatolia. Hittite assu- "good" is probably an element in that name. Alternatively, the ultimate etymology of the term may be from the Akkadian word (w)aṣû(m), cognate of Hebrew יצא, which means "to go out", referring to the direction of the sun at sunset in the Middle East. This may be compared to a similar etymology proposed for Europe, as being from Semitic erēbu "to enter" or "set" (of the sun). These etymologies presuppose an originally Mesopotamian or Middle Eastern perspective, which would explain how the term "Asia" first came to be associated with Anatolia as lying west of the Semitic speaking area.

Geographical Regions

See also Geography of Asia. As already mentioned, Asia is a subregion of Eurasia. For further subdivisions based on that term, see North Eurasia and Central Eurasia. Some Asian countries stretch beyond Asia. See Bicontinental country for details about the borderline cases between Asia and Europe, Asia and Africa and Asia and Oceania. Asia itself is often divided in the following subregions:
- North Asia
- Central Asia
- East Asia (or Far East)
- Southeast Asia
- South Asia (or Indian Subcontinent)
- Southwest Asia (or West Asia)

North Asia

This term is rarely used by geographers, but usually it refers to the bigger Asian part of Russia, also known as Siberia. Sometimes the northern parts of other Asian nations, such as Kazakhstan are also included in Northern Asia.

Central Asia

There is no absolute consensus in the usage of this term. Usually, Central Asia includes:
- the Central Asian Republics of Kazakhstan (excluding its small European territory), Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan.
- Afghanistan, Mongolia, and the western regions of China are also sometimes included.
- Former Soviet states in the Caucasus region. Central Asia is currently geopolitically important because international disputes and conflicts over oil pipelines, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Chechnya, as well as the presence of U.S. military forces in Afghanistan.

East Asia (or Far East)

This area includes:
- The Pacific Ocean islands of Taiwan and Japan.
- North and South Korea on the Korean Peninsula.
- China, but sometimes only the eastern regions Sometimes the nations of Mongolia and Vietnam are also included in East Asia. More informally, Southeast Asia is included in East Asia on some occasions.

Southeast Asia

This region contains the Malay Peninsula, Indochina and islands in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean. The countries it contains are:
- In mainland Southeast Asia, the countries Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
- In Maritime Southeast Asia, the countries of Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, Singapore and Indonesia (some of the Indonesian islands also lie in the Melanesia region of Oceania). East Timor (also Melanesian) is sometimes included too. The country of Malaysia is divided in two by the South China Sea, and thus has both a mainland and island part.

South Asia (or Indian Subcontinent)

South Asia is also referred to as the Indian Subcontinent. It includes:
- the Himalayan States of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.
- the Indian Ocean nations of Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

Southwest Asia (or West Asia)

This can also be called by the Western term Middle East, which is commonly used by Europeans and Americans. Middle East (to some interpretations) is often used to also refer to some countries in North Africa. Southwest Asia can be further divided into:
- Anatolia (i.e. Asia Minor), constituting the Asian part of Turkey.
- The island nation of Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea.
- The Levant or Near East, which includes Syria, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and the Asian portion of Egypt.
- The Arabian peninsula, including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen and occasionally Kuwait.
- The Caucasus region, including Armenia, a tiny portion of Russia and almost the whole of Georgia and Azerbaijan.
- The Iranian Plateau, containing Iran and parts of other nations. Also see Gulf States, for a different grouping involving several of the above countries.

Economy

Main article: Economy of Asia In terms of gross domestic product (PPP), Asia's largest economy wholly within Asia is that of the PRC (People's Republic of China), however the economy of the E.U. (European Union), one state of which (Cyprus) lies within Asia, is the largest in the world. The E.U.'s status as a supranational union, rather than a sovereign state, makes the claim questionable, especially since, when considered alone, the economy of Cyprus is one of the smallest in both the E.U. and Asia, and not many times larger than that of East Timor, the Asian state with the smallest economy (although as of 2005 there is no reliable data for either Iraq or North Korea). Over the last decade, China's and India's economies have been growing rapidly, both with an average annual growth rate over 6%. PRC is the world's third largest economy after the E.U. and U.S.A., followed by Japan and India as the world's fourth and fifth largest economies respectively (then followed by the European nations: Germany, U.K., France and Italy). In terms of exchange rates however, Japan has the largest economy in Asia and the third largest in the world. Trade blocs:
- Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
- Association of Southeast Asian Nations
- Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement
- Commonwealth of Independent States
- South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
- South Asia Free Trade Agreement (proposed)

Natural resources

Asia is by a considerable margin the largest continent in the world, and is rich in natural resources, such as Petroleum and iron. High productivity in agriculture, especially of rice, allows high population density of countries in the warm and humid area. Other main agricultural products include wheat and chicken. Forestry is extensive throughout Asia except Southwest and Central Asia. Fishing is a major source of food in Asia, particularly in Japan.

Manufacturing

Manufacturing in Asia has traditionally been strongest in East and Southeast Asia, particularly in PRC, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Singapore. The industry varies from manufacturing cheap goods such as toys to high-tech goods such as computers and cars. Many companies from Europe, North America, and Japan have significant operations in the developing Asia to take avantage of its abundant supply of cheap labor. One of the major employers in manufacturing in Asia is the textile industry. Much of the world's supply of clothing and footwear now originates in Southeast Asia.

Financial and other services

Asia has three main financial centers. They are in Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo. Call centers are becoming major employers in India, due to the availablity of many well-educated English speakers. The rise of the business process outsourcing industry has seen the rise of India and China as the other financial centers.

Early history

Main article: History of Asia The history of Asia can be seen as the distinct histories of several peripheral coastal regions, East Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East, linked by the interior mass of the Eurasian steppe. The coastal periphery was home to some of the world's earliest known civilizations, with each of the three regions developing early civilizations around fertile river valleys. The civilizations in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and the Yangtze shared many similarities and likely exchanged technologies and ideas such as mathematics and the wheel. Other notions such as that of writing likely developed individually in each area. Cities, states and empires developed in these lowlands. The steppe region had long been inhabited by mounted nomads, and from the central steppes they could reach all areas of Asia. The earliest known such central expansion out of the steppe is that of the Indo-Europeans, who spread their languages into the Middle East, India, and in the Tocharians to the borders of China. The northern part of Asia, covering much of Siberia, was inaccessible to the steppe nomads, due to the dense forests and the tundra. These areas were very sparsely populated. The centre and periphery were kept separate by mountains and deserts. The Caucasus, Himalaya, Karakum Desert and Gobi Desert formed barriers that the steppe horsemen could only cross with difficulty. While technologically and culturally, the urban city dwellers were more advanced, they could do little militarily to defend against the mounted hordes of the steppe. However, the lowlands did not have enough open grasslands to support a large horsebound force. Thus the nomads who conquered states in China, India, and the Middle East were soon forced to adapt to the local societies.

Population density

The following table lists countries and dependencies by population density in inhabitants and km². Unlike the figures in the country articles, the figures in this table are based on areas including inland water bodies (lakes, reservoirs, rivers) and may therefore be lower here. The whole of Egypt, Russia, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey are referred to in the table, although they are only partly in Asia.

Religion

A large majority of the people in the world who practice a religious faith practice one which was founded in Asia. Religions founded in Asia and with a majority of their contemporary adherents in Asia include:
- Bahá'í Faith (slightly more than half of all adherents are in Asia)
- Buddhism (Japan,Sri Lanka, Korea, Singapore, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia, India)
- Hinduism (India, Singapore, Malaysia, Nepal, Bali)
- Islam (Central, South, and Southwest Asia, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia)
- Jainism (India)
- Shinto (Japan)
- Sikhism(India, Malaysia, Hong kong)
- Taoism (China, Vietnam, Singapore, and Taiwan)
- Zoroastrianism (Iran, India, Pakistan) Religions founded in Asia that have the majority of their contemporary adherents in other regions include:
- Christianity (South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, East Timor, India and the Philippines)
- Judaism (slightly fewer than half of its adherents reside in Asia)

References

External links

- http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/asia.html
- http://www.freeworldmaps.net/asia/index.html
- [http://www.alloexpat.com AlloExpat - Asia Information & Forums]
- [http://www.asiaexpat.info Asia Expat Forum - Discuss this region with expatriates] Category:Continents zh-min-nan:A-chiu ko:아시아 ms:Asia ja:アジア simple:Asia th:ทวีปเอเชีย

New Guinea

right New Guinea, located just north of Australia, is the world's second largest island having become separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known as the Torres Strait flooded around 5000 BC. The name papua has also been long-associated with the island: this is discussed further under History, below.

Political divisions

The island is divided politically along east-west lines, roughly into equal halves:
- The portions of the island of New Guinea (Irian in Bahasa Indonesia) located west of 141°E longitude (see [http://www.papuaweb.org/goi/pp/peta-hr.gif map]) are incorporated into Indonesia as the provinces:
- West Irian Jaya (Irian Jaya Barat) with Manokwari as its capital
- Papua (formerly Irian Jaya) with the city of Jayapura as its capital. A proposal to split this into Central Papua (Papua Tengah) and East Papua (Papua Timur) has not been implemented.Jayapura] :Papuans actively have supported a broad-based independence movement, the Organisasi Papua Merdeka or OPM, against Indonesia since 1962. Its military arm is the TPN, or the Liberation Army of Free Papua. The Indonesian authorities view this as a separatist and a terrorist movement, the members of which are guilty of high treason. The OPM has charged the Indonesian government with racism, genocide, political assassination, torture and terrorism. Amnesty International has estimated more than 100,000 Papuans have died as a result of government-sponsored violence against Papuans, while others have set the number at more than 200,000.
- The eastern part forms the primary part of the nation of Papua New Guinea, which has been an independent country since 1975.

People

Populated by very nearly a thousand different Papua Melanesian tribal groups since 45,000 BC, New Guinea is the home of the world's oldest independent societies and a staggering number of separate languages, the Papuan languages. The separation was not merely linguistic; warfare among societies was a factor in the evolution of the men's house: separate housing of groups of adult men, from the single-family houses of the women and children, for mutual protection against the other groups. Pig-based trade between the groups and pig-based feasts are a common theme with the other peoples of Southeast Asia and Oceania. Most societies practice agriculture, supplemented by hunting and gathering. The island's population is comprised of roughly two indigenous ethnic groups: Papuans and Austronesians. Current evidence (archaeological, linguistic and biological) indicates that the Papuans are the oldest human residents of New Guinea, and that they constitute the majority of the population of New Guinea. Austronesians are a group who originated in Taiwan and spread from there through the Philippines and Indonesia and on into the Pacific. These seafaring peoples reached New Guinea many thousands of years after the arrival of the Papuans. They have colonised many offshore islands in the north and east of New Guinea, and in some places have settled on the mainland. The many thousands of years of human occupation of New Guinea has led to a great deal of ethnic diversity, which has been increased by the arrival of the Austronesians and the more recent history of European and Asian colonization. The Indonesian government which controls the western half of New Guinea has instituted an aggressive transmigration program designed to bring chiefly Sumatran and Javanese immigrants to Indonesian New Guinea to tip the largely black population toward a more Asian "balance." To date, more than 1 million Asian immigrants have settled in western New Guinea as part of the transmigration program.

Ecology

With some 786,000 km² of tropical land, New Guinea has an immense ecological value: 11,000 plant species; nearly 600 unique bird species, including the birds of paradise, cassowaries; over 400 amphibians; 455 butterfly species; marsupials including bondegezou, Goodfellow's tree kangaroo, Huon tree kangaroo, long-beaked echidna, tenkile, agile wallaby, alpine wallaby, cuscus and possums; and various other mammal species. Most of these species are shared, at least in their origin, with the continent of Australia, which was until fairly recent geological times, part of the same landmass. See Australia-New Guinea for an overview.

History

See also: History of Papua New Guinea The first inhabitants of New Guinea arrived at least 60,000 years ago, having travelled through the south-east Asian peninsula. These first inhabitants, from whom the Papuan people are probably descended, adapted to the range of ecologies and in time developed one of the earliest known agricultures. Remains of this agricultural system, in the form of ancient irrigation systems in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, are being studied by archaeologists. This work is still in its early stages so there is still uncertainty as to precisely what crop was being grown, or when/where agriculture arose. The gardens of the New Guinea highlands are ancient, intensive permacultures, adapted to high population densities, very high rainfalls (as high as 10,000 mm/yr (400 in/yr)), earthquakes, hilly land, and occasional frost. Complex mulches, crop rotations and tillages are used in rotation on terraces with complex irrigation systems. Western agronomists still do not understand all practices, and native gardeners are notably more successful than most scientific farmers. Some authorities believe that New Guinea gardeners invented crop rotation well before western europeans. A unique feature of New Guinea permaculture is the silviculture of Casuarina oligodon, a tall, sturdy native ironwood tree, suited to use for timber and fuel, with root nodules that fix nitrogen. Pollen studies show that it was adopted during an ancient period of extreme deforestation. In more recent millennia another wave of people arrived on the shores of New Guinea. These were the Austronesian people, who had spread down from Taiwan, through the south-east Asian archipelago, colonising many of the islands on the way. The Austronesian people had technology and skills extremely well adapted to ocean voyaging and Austronesian language speaking people are present along much of the coastal areas and islands of New Guinea. The first European contact with New Guinea was by Portuguese and/or Spanish sailors in the 16th century. In 1526-27 Don Jorge de Meneses saw the western tip of New Guinea and named it ilhas dos Papuas. The word papua is often said to derive from the Malay word papua or pua-pua, meaning ‘frizzly-haired’, referring to the frizzled hair of the inhabitants of these areas. Another possibility, (put forward by Sollewijn Gelpke in 1993) is that it comes from the Biak phrase sup i papwa which means ‘the land below [the sunset]’ and refers to the islands west of the Bird’s Head, as far as Halmahera. Whatever the origin of the name Papua, it came to be associated with this area, and more especially with Halmahera, which was known to the Portuguese by this name during the era of their colonisation in this part of the world. In 1545 the Spaniard Yñigo Ortiz de Retez sailed along the north coast of New Guinea as far as the Mamberamo River near which he landed, naming the island 'Nueva Guinea'. The first map showing the whole island (as an island) was published in 1600 and shows it as 'Nova Guinea'. The first European claim occurred in 1828, when the Netherlands formally claimed the western half of the island. In 1883, following a short-lived French annexation of New Ireland, the British colony of Queensland annexed south-eastern New Guinea. However, the Queensland government's superiors in the United Kingdom revoked the claim, and (formally) assumed direct responsibility in 1884, when Germany claimed north-eastern New Guinea as a protectorate. The first Dutch government posts were established in 1898 and in 1902 Manokwari on the North coast, Fak-Fak in the West and Merauke in the South at the border with British New Guinea (later renamed Papua). Both the Dutch and the British tried to suppress warfare and headhunting once common between the villages of the populace. In 1906 the British government transferred total responsibility for south-east New Guinea to Australia. During World War I, Australian forces seized German New Guinea, which in 1920 became a League of Nations mandated territory of Australia. The Australian territories became collectively known as The Territories of Papua and New Guinea (until February 1942). Before about 1930, most European maps showed the highlands as uninhabited forests. When first flown over by aircraft, numerous settlements with agricultural terraces and stockades were observed. Netherlands New Guinea and the Australian territories were invaded in 1942 by the Japanese. The Australian territories were put under military administration and were known simply as New Guinea. The highlands, northern and eastern parts of the island became key battlefields in the South West Pacific Theatre of World War II. Papuans often gave vital assistance to the Allies, fighting alongside Australian and US troops, and carrying equipment and injured men across New Guinea. Following the return to civil administration, the Australian section was known as the Territory of Papua-New Guinea (1945-49) and then as Papua and New Guinea. Although the rest of the Dutch East Indies achieved independence as Indonesia on December 27, 1949, the Netherlands regained control of western New Guinea. During the 1950s the Dutch government began to prepare Netherlands New Guinea for full independence and allowed elections in 1959; an elected Papuan Council, the New Guinea Council (Nieuw Guinea Raad) took office on April 5, 1961. The Council decided on the name of West Papua, a national emblem, a flag called the Morning Star or Bintang Kejora, and a national anthem; the flag was first raised — next to the Dutch flag — on December 1, 1961. However, Indonesia threatened with an invasion, after full mobilisation of its army, by August 15, 1962. It had received with military help from the Soviet Union. Under strong pressure of the Kennedy administration the Dutch, who were prepared to resist an Indonesian attack, had to go to the conference table. On October 1, 1962, the Dutch handed over the territory to a temporary UN administration (UNTEA). On May 1, 1963, Indonesia took control. The territory was renamed West Irian and then Irian Jaya. In 1969 Indonesia, under the 1962 New York Agreement, had to organize a plebiscite to seek the consent of the Papuans for Indonesian rule. This so called Act of Free Choice (Pepera) resulted under strong threats and intimidations of the Indonesian army in a 100% vote for continued Indonesian rule. From 1971, the name Papua New Guinea was used for the Australian territory. In 1975, Australia granted full independence to Papua New Guinea. In 2000, amid increasing discontent and opposition to Indonesian rule, Irian Jaya was formally renamed "The Province of Papua" and a large measure of "special autonomy" was granted in 2001. This law on special autonomy, however, was never implemented. On the contrary, beginning of 2003 President Megawati Sukarnoputri announced the division of the province into three parts, while the name "Papua" for the province would again revert to Irian. With strong public protest by Papuans only the province of West Irian Jaya, with Manokwari as its capital, covering the Bird's Head peninsula was split from Papua Province. In 2005 a new proposal came from Jakarta to split the province into five provinces, with the clear purpose to eliminate all anti-Indonesian and pro-independence action.

External links

- [http://natzoo.si.edu/Publications/ZooGoer/2001/2/intoxnewguineabirds.cfm The Intoxicating Birds of New Guinea by John Tidwell]
- [http://www.fpcn-global.org/index.php?module=htmlpages&func=display&pid=1 Online documentaries re OPM sponsored by West German-based Friends of Peoples Close to Nature]
- [http://www.papuaweb.org/gb/peta/sejarah/collingridge/ Facsimile of material from "The Discovery of New Guinea" by George Collingridge] Category:Islands Category:Melanesia Category:New Guinea zh-min-nan:Sin Guinea ko:뉴기니 섬 ja:ニューギニア島

Leaf

:This article is about the leaf, a plant organ. See Leaf (disambiguation) for other meanings. ---- In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat (laminar) and thin, to expose the chloroplast containing cells (chlorenchyma tissue) to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues. Leaves are also the sites in most plants where respiration, transpiration, and guttation take place. Leaves can store food and water, and are modified in some plants for other purposes. The comparable structures of ferns are correctly referred to as fronds. frond frond frond

Leaf anatomy

A structurally complete leaf of an angiosperm consists of a petiole (leaf stem), a lamina (leaf blade), and stipules (small processes located to either side of the base of the petiole). The point at which the petiole attaches to the stem is called the leaf axil. Not every species produces leaves with all of these structural parts. In some species, paired stipules are not obvious or are absent altogether; a petiole may be absent; or the blade may not be laminar (flattened). The tremendous variety shown in leaf structure (anatomy) from species to species is presented in detail below under Leaf types, arrangements, and forms. A leaf is considered to be a plant organ, typically consisting of the following tissues: # An epidermis that covers the upper and lower surfaces # An interior chlorenchyma called the mesophyll # An arrangement of veins (the vascular tissue). stipule

Epidermis

The epidermis is the outer multi-layered group of cells covering the leaf. It forms the boundary between the plant and the external world. The epidermis serves several functions: protection against water loss, regulation of gas exchange, secretion of metabolic compounds, and (in some species) absorption of water. Most leaves show dorsoventral anatomy: the upper (adaxial) and lower (abaxial) surfaces have somewhat different construction and may serve different functions. The epidermis is usually transparent (epidermal cells lack chloroplasts) and coated on the outer side with a waxy cuticle that prevents water loss. The cuticle may be thinner on the lower epidermis than on the upper epidermis; and is thicker on leaves from dry climates as compared with those from wet climates. The epidermis tissue includes several differentiated cell types: epidermal cells, guard cells, subsidiary cells, and epidermal hairs (trichomes). The epidermal cells are the most numerous, largest, and least specialized. These are typically more elongated in the leaves of monocots than in those of dicots. The epidermis is covered with pores called stomata (sing., stoma), part of a stoma complex consisting of a pore surrounded on each side by chloroplast-containing guard cells, and two to four subsidiary cells that lack chloroplasts. The stoma complex regulates the exchange of gases and water vapor between the outside air and the interior of the leaf. Typically, the stomata are more numerous over the abaxial (lower) epidermis than the (adaxial) upper epidermis. Trichomes or hairs grow out from the epidermis in many species.

Mesophyll

Most of the interior of the leaf between the upper and lower layers of epidermis is a parenchyma (ground tissue) or chlorenchyma tissue called the mesophyll (= middle leaf). This "assimilation tissue" is the primary location of photosynthesis in the plant. The products of photosynthesis are called assimilates. In ferns and most flowering plants the mesophyll is divided into two layers:
- An upper palisade layer of tightly packed, vertically elongated cells, one to two cells thick, directly beneath the adaxial epidermis. Its cells contain many more chloroplasts than the spongy layer. These long cylindrical cells are regularly arranged in one to five rows. Cylindrical cells, with the chloroplasts close to the walls of the cell, can take optimal advantage of light. The slight separation of the cells provides maximum absorption of carbon dioxide. This separation must be minimal to afford capillary action for water distribution. In order to adapt to their different environment (such as sun or shade), plants had to adapt this structure to obtain optimal result. Sun leaves have a multi-layered palisade layer, while shade leaves or older leaves closer to the soil, are single-layered.
- Beneath the palisade layer is the spongy layer. The cells of the spongy layer are more rounded and not so tightly packed. There are large intercellular air spaces. These cells contain less chloroplasts than those of the palisade layer. The pores or stomata of the epidermis open into substomatal chambers, connecting to air spaces between the spongy layer cells. These two different layers of the mesophyll are absent in many aquatic and marsh plants. Even an epidermis and a mesophyll may be lacking. Instead for their gaseous exchanges they use a homogenous aerenchyma (thin-walled cells separated by large gas-filled spaces). Their stomata are situated at the upper surface. Leaves are normally green in color, which comes from chlorophyll found in plastids in the chlorenchyma cells. Plants that lack chlorophyll cannot photosynthesize. Leaves in temperate, boreal, and seasonally dry zones may be seasonally deciduous (falling off or dying for the inclement season). This mechanism to shed leaves is called abscission. After the leaf is shed, a leaf scar develops on the twig. In cold autumns they sometimes turn yellow, bright orange or red as various accessory pigments (carotenoids and anthocyanins) are revealed when the tree responds to cold and reduced sunlight by curtailing chlorophyll production.

Veins

The veins are the vascular tissue of the leaf and are located in the spongy layer of the mesophyll. They are typical examples of pattern formation through ramification. The veins are made up of:
- xylem, which brings water from the stem into the leaf.
- phloem, which usually moves sap out, the latter containing the glucose produced by photosynthesis in the leaf. The xylem typically lies over the phloem. Both are embedded in a dense parenchyma tissue (= ground tissue), called pith, with usually some structural collenchyma tissue present.

Leaf morphology

External leaf characteristics (such as shape, margin, hairs, etc.) are important for identifying plant species, and botanists have developed a rich terminology for describing leaf characteristics. phloem Leaves may be classified in many different ways, and the type is usually characteristic of a species, although some species produce more than one type of leaf. The terminology associated with describing leaf morphology is presented (with illustrations) at [http://wikibooks.org/wiki/Botany:_Leaves_(forms) Wikibooks].

Basic leaf types

- Ferns have fronds.
- Conifer leaves are typically needle-, awl-, or scale-shaped
- Angiosperm (flowering plant) leaves: the standard form includes stipules, petiole, and lamina.
- Microphyll leaves.
- Sheath leaves (type found in most grasses).
- Other specialized leaves.

Arrangement on the stem

As a stem grows, leaves tend to appear arranged around the stem in away that optimizes yield of light. In essence, leaves come off the stem in a spiral pattern, either clockwise or counterclockwise, with (depending upon the species) the same angle of divergence. There is a regularity in these angles and they follow the numbers in a Fibonacci series: 1/2, 2/3, 3/5, 5/8, 8/13, 13/21, 21/34, 34/55, 55/89. This series tends to a limit of 360° x 34/89 = 137,52 or 137° 30', an angle known mathematically as the 'golden angle'. In the series, the numerator gives the number of complete turns or gyres until the leaf arrives at the initial position. The denominator gives the number of leaves in the arrangement. This can be demonstrated by the following:
- alternate leaves have an angle of 180° (or 1/2)
- 120° (or 1/3) : three leaves in one circle
- 144° (or 2/5) : five leaves in two gyres
- 135° (or 3/8) : eight leaves in three gyres. The fact that an arrangement of anything in nature can be described by a mathematical formula is not in itself mysterious. Mathematics is the science of discovering numerical relationships and applying formulae to these relationships. The formulae themselves can provide clues to the underlying physiological processes that, in this case, determine where the next leaf bud will form in the elongating stem. However, we can more easily describe the arrangement of leaves using the following terms:
- Alternate — leaf attachments singular at nodes, and leaves alternate direction, to a greater or lesser degree, along the stem.
- Opposite — leaf attachments paired at each node; decussate if, as typical, each successive pair is rotated 90° going along the stem; or distichous if not rotated, but two-ranked (in the same plane).
- Whorled — three or more leaves attach at each point or node on the stem. As with opposite leaves, successive whorls may or may not be decussate, rotated by half the angle between the leaves in the whorl (i.e., successive whorls of three rotated 60°, whorls of four rotated 45°, etc). Note: opposite leaves may appear whorled near the tip of the stem.
- Rosulate — leaves form a rosette ( = a cluster of leaves growing in crowded circles from a common center). Fibonacci series

Divisions of the lamina (blade)

Two basic forms of leaves can be described considering the way the blade is divided. A simple leaf has an undivided blade. However, the leaf shape may be one of lobes, but the gaps between lobes do not reach to the main vein. A compound leaf has a fully subdivided blade, each leaflet of the blade separated along a main or secondary vein. Because each leaflet can appear to be a "simple leaf", it is important to recognize where the petiole occurs to identify a compound leaf. Compound leaves are a characteristic of some families of higher plants, such as the Fabaceae.
- Palmately compound leaves have the leaflets radiating from the end of the petiole, like fingers off the palm of a hand. There is no rachis, e.g. Cannabis (hemp) and Aesculus (buckeyes).
- Pinnately compound leaves have the leaflets arranged along the main or mid-vein (called a rachis in this case).
- odd pinnate: with a terminal leaflet, e.g. Fraxinus (ash).
- even pinnate: lacking a terminal leaflet, e.g. Swietenia (mahogany).
- Bipinnately compound leaves are twice divided: the leaflets are arranged along a secondary vein that is one of several branching off the rachis. Each leaflet is called a pinnule. The pinnules on one secondary vein are called pinna; e.g. Albizia (silk tree).
- trifoliate: a pinnate leaf with just three leaflets, e.g. Trifolium (clover), Laburnum (laburnum).
- pinnatifid: pinnately dissected to the midrib, but with the leaflets not entirely separate, e.g. some Sorbus (whitebeams). ;Characteristics of the petiole:
- Petiolated leaves have a petiole.
- In peltate leaves, the petiole attaches to the blade inside from the blade margin.
- Sessile or clasping leaves do not have a petiole. In sessile leaves the blade attaches directly to the stem. In clasping leaves, the blade partially or wholly surrounds the stem, giving the impression that the shoot grows through the leaf such as in Claytonia perfoliata of the purslane family (Portulacaceae). In some Acacia species, such as the Koa Tree (Acacia koa), the petioles are expanded or broadened and function like leaf blades; these are called phyllodes. There may or may not be normal pinnate leaves at the tip of the phyllode. ;Characteristics of the stipule
- A stipule, present on the leaves of many dicotyledons, is an appendage on each side at the base of the petiole, resembling a small leaf. They may be lasting and not be shed (a stipulate leaf, such as in roses and beans); or be shed as the leaf expands, leaving a stipule scar on the twig (an exstipulate leaf).
- The situation, arrangement, and structure of the stipules is called the stipulation.
- free
- adnate : fused to the petiole base
- ochreate : provided with ochrea, or sheath-formed stipules, e.g. rhubarb,
- encircling the petiole base
- interpetiolar : between the petioles of two opposite leaves.
- intrapetiolar : between the petiole and the subtending stem

Venation (arrangement of the veins)

rhubarb There are two subtypes of venation, craspedodromus (the major veins stretch up to the margin of the leaf) and camptodromous (major veins come close to the margin, but bend before they get to it).
- Feather-veined, reticulate — the veins arise pinnately from a single mid-vein and subdivide into veinlets. These, in turn, form a complicated network. This type of venation is typical for dicotyledons.
- Pinnate-netted, penniribbed, penninerved, penniveined; the leaf has usually one main vein (called the mid-vein), with veinlets, smaller veins branching off laterally, usually somewhat parallel to each other; eg Malus (apples).
- Three main veins originate from the base of the lamina, as in Ceanothus.
- Palmate-netted, palmate-veined, fan-veined; several main veins diverge from near the leaf base where the petiole attaches, and radiate toward the edge of the leaf; e.g. most Acer (maples).
- Parallel-veined, parallel-ribbed, parallel-nerved, penniparallel — veins run parallel most the length of the leaf, from the base to the apex. Commissural veins (small veins) connect the major parallel veins. Typical for most monocotyledons, such as grasses.
- Dichotomous — There are no dominant bundles, with the veins forking regularly by pairs; found in Ginkgo and some pteridophytes.
pteridophyte

Leaf terminology

;Shape See Leaf shape

Margins (edge)

The leaf margin is characteristic for a genus and aids in determining the species.
- entire: even; with a smooth margin; without toothing
- ciliate: fringed with hairs
- crenate: wavy-toothed; dentate with rounded teeth, such as Fagus (beech)
- dentate: toothed, such as Castanea (chestnut)
- coarse-toothed: with large teeth
- glandular toothed: with teeth that bear glands.
- denticulate: finely toothed
- doubly toothed: each tooth bearing smaller teeth, such as Ulmus (elm)
- lobate: indented, with the indentations not reaching to the center, such as many Quercus (oaks)
- palmately lobed: indented with the indentations reaching to the center, such as Humulus (hop).
- serrate: saw-toothed with asymmetrical teeth pointing forward, such as Urtica (nettle)
- serrulate: finely serrate
- sinuate: with deep, wave-like indentations; coarsely crenate, such as many Rumex (docks)
- spiny: with stiff, sharp points, such as some Ilex (hollies) and Cirsium (thistles).

Tip of the leaf

- acuminate: long-pointed, prolonged into a narrow, tapering point in a concave manner.
- acute: ending in a sharp, but not prolonged point
- cuspidate: with a sharp, elongated, rigid tip; tipped with a cusp.
- emarginate: indented, with a shallow notch at the tip.
- mucronate: abruptly tipped with a small short point, as a continuation of the midrib; tipped with a mucro.
- mucronulate: mucronate, but with a smaller spine.
- obcordate: inversely heart-shaped, deeply notched at the top.
- obtuse: rounded or blunt
- truncate: ending abruptly with a flat end, that looks cut off.

Base of the leaf

- acuminate: coming to a sharp, narrow, prolonged point.
- acute: coming to a sharp, but not prolonged point.
- auriculate: ear-shaped
- cordate: heart-shaped with the norch away from the stem.
- cuneate: wedge-shaped.
- hastate: shaped like an halberd and with the basal lobes pointing outward.
- oblique: slanting.
- reniform: kidney-shaped but rounder and broader than long.
- rounded: curving shape.
- sagittate: shaped like an arrowhead and with the acute basal lobes pointing downward.
- truncate: ending abruptly with a flat end, that looks cut off.

Surface of the leaf

The surface of a leaf can be described by several botanical terms:
- farinose: bearing farina; mealy, covered with a waxy, whitish powder.
- glabrous: smooth, not hairy.
- glaucous: with a whitish bloom; covered with a very fine, bluish-white powder.
- glutinous: sticky, viscid.
- papillate, papillose: bearing papillae (minute, nipple-shaped protuberances).
- pubescent: covered with erect hairs (especially soft and short ones)
- punctate: marked with dots; dotted with depressions or with translucent glands or colored dots.
- rugose: deeply wrinkled; with veins clearly visible.
- scurfy: covered with tiny, broad scalelike particles.
- tuberculate: covered with tubercles; covered with warty prominences.
- verrucose: warted, with warty outgrowths.
- viscid, viscous: covered with thick, sticky secretions.

Hairiness (trichomes)

Leaves can show several degrees of hairiness. The meaning of several of the following terms can overlap. See also : Trichome.
- glabrous: no hairs of any kind present.
- arachnoid, arachnose: with many fine, entangled hairs giving a cobwebby appearance.
- barbellate: with finely barbed hairs (barbellae).
- bearded: with long, stiff hairs.
- bristly: with stiff hair-like prickles.
- canescent: hoary with dense grayish-white pubescence.
- ciliate: marginally fringed with short hairs (cilia).
- ciliolate: minutely ciliate.
- floccose: with flocks of soft, woolly hairs, which tend to rub off.
- glandular: with a gland at the tip of the hair.
- hirsute: with rather rough or stiff hairs.
- hispid: with rigid, bristly hairs.
- hispidulous: minutely hispid.
- hoary: with a fine, close grayish-white pubescence.
- lanate, lanose: with woolly hairs.
- pilose: with soft, clearly separated hairs.
- puberulent, puberulous: with fine, minute hairs.
- pubescent: with soft, short and erect hairs.
- scabrous, scabrid: rough to the touch
- sericeous: silky appearance through fine, straight and appressed (lying close and flat) hairs.
- silky: with adpressed, soft and straight pubescence.
- stellate, stelliform: with star-shaped hairs.
- strigose: with appressed, sharp, straight and stiff hairs.
- tomentose: densely pubescent with matted, soft white woolly hairs.
- cano-tomentose: between canescent and tomentose
- felted-tomentose: woolly and matted with curly hairs.
- villous: with long and soft hairs, usually curved.
- woolly: with long, soft and tortuous or matted hairs.

Adaptations

In order to survive in a harsh environment, leaves can adapt in the following ways:
- Hairs develop on the leaf surface to trap humidity in dry climates, creating a large boundary layer to lessen water loss
- Leaves rustle to move humidity away from the surface reducing the boundary layer resistance between the leaf and the air.
- Plant prickles are modified clusters of epidermal hairs
- Waxy leaf surfaces form to prevent water loss
- Small, shiny leaves to deflect the sun's rays
- Thicker leaves to store water (e.g. rhubarb)
- Change to spines instead of laminar (blade) leaves (e.g. cactus)
- Shrink (to phyllodes) or disappear (with the appearance of cladodes), as photosynthetic functions are transferred to the leaf stem (Acacia species)
- Change shape to deflect wind or reduce wind resistance
- Leaves to trap insects (e.g. pitcher plant)
- Change to bulb parts to store food (e.g. onion)
- Produce aromatic oils to deter herbivores (e.g. eucalypts)
- Protect as spines, which are modified leaves.

External links

- [http://www.ibiblio.org/botnet/glossary/b_i.html Position and Arrangement] Category:Photosynthesis Category:Plant physiology Category:plant morphology Category:Plant anatomy ko:잎 ja:葉 th:ใบไม้

Category:Palms

This is the category of palms, members of the Family Arecaceae. Category:Liliopsida Category:Trees

Deliriant

The deliriants (or anticholinergics) are a special class of dissociative which are antagonists for the acetylcholine receptors (unlike muscarine which is an agonist of this receptor). Deliriants are considered to be true hallucinogens as users will have conversations with people who aren't there, or become angry with a 'person' mimicking their actions, not realizing it is their own reflection in a mirror (which could be dangerous if they became aggressive towards a glass mirror). The anticholinergics have effects akin to sleepwalking (where you don't remember things you did). Included in this group are such Solanaceae plants as deadly nightshade, mandrake, henbane and datura (sometimes referred to as the Belladonna alkaloids), as well as a number of pharmaceutical drugs when taken in very high doses such as the antihistamines and antiemetics diphenhydramine (Benadryl) and dimenhydrinate (Dramamine or Gravol). In addition to the danger of being far more "out of it" than with other drugs, and retaining a truly fragmented dissociation from regular consciousness without being immobilized (imagine sleepwalking on drugs while having a nightmare), the anticholinergics are toxic, can cause death due to overdose, and also include plenty of uncomfortable side effects including an intense drying effect where sweat, saliva, mucus and urination are prevented, as well as a pronounced dilation of the pupils which can last for several days resulting in sensitivity to light, blurry vision and inability to read. Deliriants are common to European mythology, including the plants mandrake, deadly nightshade, and various datura species.

Pharmacological classes of deliriants, and their general subjective effects

Entries marked with a # are naturally occurring.

Tropanes

- Atropine #
- Scopolamine #
- Hyoscyamine #
- 3-quinuclidinyl benzilate

Antihistaminics

- diphenhydramine (Benadryl)
- dimenhydrinate (Dramamine)
- cyclizine (Marezine or Marzine)

Borassus

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Arecaceae

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Leaf

Leaf anatomy

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Mesophyll

Veins

Leaf morphology

Basic leaf types

Arrangement on the stem

Divisions of the lamina (blade)

Venation (arrangement of the veins)

Leaf terminology

Margins (edge)

Tip of the leaf

Base of the leaf

Surface of the leaf

Hairiness (trichomes)

Adaptations

See also

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Category:Palms

Deliriant

Pharmacological classes of deliriants, and their general subjective effects

Tropanes

Antihistaminics

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