The banana plant is a gigantic herb that springs from an underground stem, or rhizome, to form a false trunk 3β6 metres (10β20 feet) high. This trunk is composed of the basal portions of leaf sheaths and is crowned with a rosette of 10 to 20 oblong to elliptic leaves that sometimes attain a length of 3β3.5 metres (10β11.5 feet) and a breadth of 65 cm (26 inches). A large flower spike, carrying numerous yellowish flowers protected by large purple-red bracts, emerges at the top of the false trunk and bends downward to become bunches of 50 to 150 individual fruits, or fingers. The individual fruits, or bananas, are grouped in clusters, or hands, of 10 to 20. After a plant has fruited, it is cut down to the ground, because each trunk produces only one bunch of fruit. The dead trunk is replaced by others in the form of suckers, or shoots, which arise from the rhizome at roughly six-month intervals. The life of a single rhizome thus continues for many years, and the weaker suckers that it sends up through the soil are periodically pruned, while the stronger ones are allowed to grow into fruit-producing plants.
Jadobe Β· 3 months ago
Australian zebra finch
The Australian zebra finch (Taeniopygia castanotis)[2] is the most common estrildid finch of Central Australia. It ranges over most of the continent, avoiding only the cool humid south and some areas of the tropical far north. The bird has been introduced to Puerto Rico and Portugal.[1] Due to the ease of keeping and breeding the zebra finch in captivity, it has become Australia's most widely studied bird; by 2010, it was the most studied captive model passerine species worldwide, by a considerable margin.[3] |
Jadobe Β· 3 months ago
Blue mussel
The blue mussel (Mytilus edulis), also known as the common mussel,[1] is a medium-sized edible marine bivalve mollusc in the family Mytilidae, the only extant family in the order Mytilida, known as "true mussels". Blue mussels are subject to commercial use and intensive aquaculture. A species with a large range, the blue mussel leaves empty shells that are commonly found on beaches around the world. |
Jadobe Β· 3 months ago
Zebra mussel is a small shellfish
Color patterns vary, with only dark or colored shells or no stripes. They are typically found attached to objects, surfaces, or each other by threads underneath the shells. Although similar in appearance to the quagga mussel, the two species can be easily distinguished. When placed on a surface zebra mussels are stable on their flattened underside while quagga mussels, lacking a flat underside, will fall over. |
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