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Banksia dentata

Banksia dentata is a species of tree in the genus Banksia. It occurs in northern Australia, southern New Guinea and the Aru Islands. Growing as a gnarled tree up to 7 m (23 ft) high, it has leaves up to 22 cm (8.7 in) long with toothed margins. The cylindrical yellow flower spikes, up to 13 cm (5 in) high, appear between November and May, attracting honeyeaters, sunbirds, sugar gliders and insects. Flowers fall off the spikes, which swell and develop follicles containing up to two seeds each. Collected by Sir Joseph Banks in 1770, B. dentata is one of the four Banksia species published in 1782 as part of Carl Linnaeus the Younger's original description of Banksia. It is classified in Salicinae, a series, or group of species, from Australia's eastern states. Genetic studies show it to be an early offshoot within the group. It is found in savanna, associated with Pandanus and Melaleuca. After bushfires it regrows from its woody base, known as a lignotuber. (Full article...)

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Republicopteron douseae fossil
Republicopteron douseae fossil

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Ali Bongo Ondimba in May 2022
Ali Bongo Ondimba

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September 1

Illuminated Guru Granth Sahib folio
Illuminated Guru Granth Sahib folio
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Josephine Butler
Josephine Butler

The English feminist and social reformer Josephine Butler wrote more than 90 books and pamphlets over a period of at least 40 years, mostly in support of her campaigning work. She was especially concerned with the welfare of prostitutes, although she campaigned on a broad range of women's rights. In 1864, her daughter Eva fell 40 feet (12 m) from the top-floor banister onto the stone floor of the hallway in her home; she died three hours later. The death led Butler to begin a career of campaigning that ran until the end of her life. Her targets included women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, the right to better education and the end of coverture in British law, although she achieved her greatest success in leading the movement to repeal the Contagious Diseases Acts, legislation that attempted to control the spread of venereal diseases. Butler's first full-length publication was Memoir of John Grey of Dilston, detailing the life of her father, John Grey, which she wrote in 1869 following his death. In 1878, she published a biography of Catharine of Siena, which Glen Petrie, Butler's biographer, wrote was probably her best work. Butler wrote a monograph of her husband George in 1892, two years after his death. (Full list...)

Pholiota squarrosa

Pholiota squarrosa is a species of mushroom in the family Strophariaceae. Common in North America and Europe, it is a secondary parasite, in that it attacks trees that have already been weakened from prior injury or infection by bacteria or other fungi. It has a wide range of hosts among deciduous trees, although it can also infect conifers. It can also live as a saprobe, deriving nutrients from decomposing wood. The mushroom is typically found growing in clusters at the base of trees and stumps, and is covered in small, pointed scales that are pointed downward and backward. This P. squarrosa cluster was photographed near Ingstetten in Schelklingen, Germany.

Photograph credit: Holger Krisp

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