Wollemi pine tree

WOLLEMI PINE TREE

The Wollemi pine tree is also know as “Dinosaur tree”. The Wollemi Pine can grow up to 130ft (39.6m) high in the wild, with a trunk diameter of more than 3ft (91cm).

The Family
The Wollemi pine tree is the only species in the third living genus (Wollemia) of the conifer family Araucariaceae. It has features in common with the other living genera Agathis and Araucaria as well as with Cretaceous and early Tertiary fossil groups such as Araucarioides.

Habitat and Growing Conditions
The Wollemi pine tree grows to a height of 130 feet (40 meters) in its natural habitat with a trunk diameter of over three feet (one meter). However, in cultivation they are expected to reach a maximum height of 65 feet (20 meters). The Pines have grown in temperatures from 23-113°F (-5 to 45°C) and trials in the US and Japan have indicated that it will survive temperatures as cold as 10.4°F (-12°C). They are fast growing, respond well to light and favor acid soils. The Wollemi™ pine trees produced from seeds and cuttings from the wild population are growing rapidly and averaging about one and a half feet (half a meter) in height a year if they have sufficient fertilization.


Unique Characteristics
The Wollemi pine tree's habit of spontaneously sprouting multiple trunks from its base (known as self-coppicing) has proved a vital defense in withstanding damage through fire and other natural disasters. Another unusual characteristic of the Wollemi pine tree, common to the Araucaria genus, is its habit of shedding whole branches rather than individual leaves. The distinct bark, which resembles bubbling chocolate, is also unique to the Wollemi pine tree.


Genetics
Research has not yet revealed genetic variation within or between the Wollemi™ pine tree populations. In fact, there is very low genetic variation within the whole family of Araucariaceae. Scientists believe that this may prove that it is possible to have exceptionally low variability and yet survive the ravages of bush fires, the Ice Age, dinosaurs, and the movement of continents.

Sex
Like its closest living relatives, the Wollemi pine tree is bisexual with both female and male reproductive cones on the same tree. The male and female cones are found at the very tips of the branches, with the majority of the female cones at the top of the trees.


Special Properties
A fungus found on the leaves of some of the Wollemi pine trees in the wild has been found to produce small quantities of a chemical known as Taxol—an anti-cancer agent. Taxol is not a byproduct of the Wollemi pine tree. Previously, Taxol has been found on trees in the Taxus genus (e.g. Yew Trees). The amount of Taxol found on the Wollemi™ pine trees is too small to be used for medicinal purposes.

Propagation
The aim of releasing the Wollemi pine tree is to safeguard its long-term survival by removing the threat of visits to the wild population. As seeds from the wild population are difficult and dangerous to collect, and collection poses the threat of damage to the trees, propagation is being carried out vegetatively from young plants grown from the original seeds and cuttings from the Wollemi pine trees in the wild. Research is also being conducted to test the viability of utilizing micro propagation methods for commercial production.



Dinosaur trees' heavily guarded

Wollemi Pine Thousands of rare baby "dinosaur" trees have been placed under 24-hour security to protect them before they go on sale. About 15,000 Wollemi Pine - a tree once thought to have become extinct millions of years ago - are thriving in a greenhouse in Cornwall.

Horticultural expert Tony Russell, who is helping to arrange the Jurassic exhibit, said the discovery of the Wollemi Pine - a fern-like evergreen tree - was "like finding a living dinosaur".


To save the trees from extinction Wollemi Pine International is spearheading a project to raise saplings from the trees in the wild and make them commercially available across the world. The money raised will help to protect the secret location from outsiders, as well as fund a research programme to establish how the tree has managed to survive 17 Ice Ages.

QUICK INFOS

The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus

The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus fictitious endangered species of cephalopod, was given the Latin name "Octopus paxarbolis" (which means, roughly, "Pacific tree octopus"). It was purported to be able to live both on land and in water, and is said to live in the Olympic National Forest and nearby rivers, spawning in water where eggs are laid.

The Pacific Northwest tree octopus (Octopus paxarbolis) can be found in the temperate rainforests of the Olympic Peninsula on the west coast of North America. Their habitat lies on the Eastern side of the Olympic mountain range, adjacent to Hood Canal. These solitary cephalopods reach an average size (measured from arm-tip to mantle-tip,) of 30-33 cm.




Unlike most other cephalopods, tree octopuses are amphibious, spending only their early life and the period of their mating season in their ancestral aquatic environment. Because of the moistness of the rainforests and specialized skin adaptations, they are able to keep from becoming desiccated for prolonged periods of time, but given the chance they would prefer resting in pooled water.
An intelligent and inquisitive being (it has the largest brain-to-body ratio for any mollusk), the tree octopus explores its arboreal world by both touch and sight.



Adaptations its ancestors originally evolved in the three dimensional environment of the sea have been put to good use in the spatially complex maze of the coniferous Olympic rainforests. The challenges and richness of this environment (and the intimate way in which it interacts with it,) may account for the tree octopus's advanced behavioral development. (Some evolutionary theorists suppose that "arboreal adaptation" is what laid the groundwork in primates for the evolution of the human mind.)

Reaching out with one of her eight arms, each covered in sensitive suckers, a tree octopus might grab a branch to pull herself along in a form of locomotion called tentaculation; or she might be preparing to strike at an insect or small vertebrate, such as a frog or rodent, or steal an egg from a bird's nest; or she might even be examining some object that caught her fancy, instinctively desiring to manipulate it with her dexterous limbs (really deserving the title "sensory organs" more than mere "limbs",) in order to better know it.



Tree octopuses have eyesight comparable to humans. Besides allowing them to see their prey and environment, it helps them in inter-octopus relations. Although they are not social animals like us, they display to one-another their emotions through their ability to change the color of their skin: red indicates anger, white fear, while they normally maintain a mottled brown tone to blend in with the background.

The reproductive cycle of the tree octopus is still linked to its roots in the waters of the Puget Sound from where it is thought to have originated. Every year, in Spring, tree octopuses leave their homes in the Olympic National Forest and migrate towards the shore and, eventually, their spawning grounds in Hood Canal. There, they congregate (the only real social time in their lives,) and find mates. After the male has deposited his sperm, he returns to the forests, leaving the female to find an aquatic lair in which to attach her strands of egg-clusters. The female will guard and care for her eggs until they hatch, refusing even to eat, and usually dying from her selflessness. The young will spend the first month or so floating through Hood Canal, Admiralty Inlet, and as far as North Puget Sound before eventually moving out of the water and beginning their adult lives.
Why It's Endangered

Although the tree octopus is not officially listed on the Endangered Species List, we feel that it should be added since its numbers are at a critically low level for its breeding needs. The reasons for this dire situation include

• Decimation of habitat by logging and suburban encroachment; building of roads that cut off access to the water, which it needs for spawning.


• Predation by foreign species such as house cats.


• Booming populations of its natural predators, including the bald eagle.

The possibility of Pacific Northwest tree octopus extinction is not an unwarranted fear. Other tree octopus species including the Douglas octopus and the red-ringed madrona sucker were once abundant throughout the Cascadia region, but have since gone extinct because of threats similar to those faced by paxarbolis, as well as overharvesting by the now-illegal tree octopus trade.



The history of the tree octopus trade is a sad one. Their voracious appetite for bird plumes having exhausted all the worthy species of that family, the fashionistas moved on to cephalopodic accoutrements during the early 20th Century. Tree octopuses became prized by the fashion industry as ornamental decorations for hats, leading greedy trappers to wipe out whole populations to feed the vanity of the fashionable rich. While fortunately this practice has been outlawed, its effects still reverberate today as these millinery deprivations brought tree octopus numbers below the critical point where even minor environmental change could cause disaster.

Octopus – The Great Mollusk

Fast Facts
Type: Invertebrate
Diet: Carnivore
Average lifespan in the wild: 1 to 2 years
Size: 12 to 36 in (30.5 to 91.4 cm)[Size relative to a 6ft (2m) man]
Weight: 6.6 to 22 lbs (3 to 10 kg)

Did you know? Common octopuses will collect crustacean shells and other objects to construct fortresses, or "gardens," around their lairs.

There are over 160 different species of Octopus, broken into two large groups:
• Cirrata: Finned octopi that live at depths between 1,000 and 24,000 feet
• Incirrata: non-finned shallow water dwellers

Octopus General Informations

An octopus is a cephalopod. Cephalopods are various marine mollusks of the class Cephalopoda, such as the octopus, squid, cuttlefish, or nautilus, having a large head, large eyes, prehensile tentacles, and, in most species, an ink sac containing a dark fluid used for defense. Cephalopods are really cool animals.
[Octopuses belong to a group known as Cephalopods; other members of this group are cuttlefish, squid and nautilus - all are types of mollusks, like the familiar snail.]



The octopus is very different from a squid. An octopus has eight arms, which can also be called tentacles. It has a round-like body and two large distinct eyes. An octopus comes in many different sizes from two inches to eighteen feet long in length. All eight tentacles have two rows of fleshy suckers. They are also called suction cups. Each octopus has a total of 240 suction cups. The octopus also has a beak like a bird's whch it use to eat its prey.

The common octopus would be unique for its appearance alone, with its massive bulbous head, large eyes, and eight distinctive arms. But by far the most striking characteristic of the octopus is the wide array of techniques it uses to avoid or thwart attackers.


Octopuses live in a variety of conditions in the ocean, from very deep water to coral reefs or even along the shore. Some are adept at leaving the water for a time and hunting along the water's edge, in tide pools. People sometimes think that octopuses can barely move once out of the water. These hunting octopuses travel along very well, collecting good things to eat and stuffing them in their mantle to carry back to their den, where they will have a fine dinner.



Also known as the ‘Devil-Fish’ due to the terror their strange appearance caused early sea-farers the Octopus or “Eight Footed” cephalopod refers to the Genus Octopi, which are members of the Phylum Mollusca of the class Cephalopoda, order and family Octopoda. Characterized by their having eight “legs” which are more accurately referred to as arms, a lack of skeletal structure and unique locomotion capabilities the Octopus is an often misunderstood and much maligned creature.
Each of the octopus’s arms have two rows of suction cups each of which has ‘taste sensors’ to allow it to identify food. With the ability to regenerate lost arms and an eye on each side of its head Octopi are hardy predators with unique self defence mechanisms and very good eyesight. They are however deaf.



Most Octopi have a globe-shaped ‘head’ or mantle that contains all the vital organs and mouth which hold a sharp beak which is used to kill and decimate prey. Their skin is smooth and ranges in color most normally from a tan to light brown with some coloration, but many are able to change colors by contracting skin cells filled with pigments to allow it to hide when hunting for prey. Some Octopi can even mimic other fish and objects, and their defensive arsenal includes the ability to squirt an ink like substance at an attacker to mask their getaway.


With life spans of approximately two years Octopus are often confused with squid, another Cephalopoda which has two longer arms called ‘tentacles’ – in an octopus all eight appendages are of a similar length and are called ‘arms’ not legs.
Living primarily in dens which provide refuge from predators including other octopi and various fish their staple consists primarily of crustaceans and molluscs such as crabs and scallops.
This diet is supplemented by other bivalves, snails, fish and even other octopi. They gain access to shelled prey either by pulling it apart, biting it with their beak to break it apart or by drilling through the shell and secreting a toxin to dissolve the connective tissues.




STRANGE FACT

A misconception is that octopi eat their own arms when stressed – but studies have show that this behaviour is caused by a virus that attacks the nervous system although stress may allow the virus to attack more readily.

Although difficult to maintain in captivity it is not unheard of for some people to keep them as pets, although they are very sensitive and their short life span discourages many would-be owners, as does the ability to escape from even well secured tanks due to their well known problem-solving abilities and high intelligence, which has been compared to that of an average house cat. They also are a food source in many parts of the world and some species are even bred and raised exclusively for that purpose.

DEFENSE

Its first—and most amazing—line of defense is its ability to hide in plain sight. Using a network of pigment cells and specialized muscles in its skin, the common octopus can almost instantaneously match the colors, patterns, and even textures of its surroundings. Predators such as sharks, eels, and dolphins swim by without even noticing it.

When discovered, an octopus will release a cloud of black ink to obscure its attacker's view, giving it time to swim away. The ink even contains a substance that dulls a predator's sense of smell, making the fleeing octopus harder to track. Fast swimmers, they can jet forward by expelling water through their mantles. And their soft bodies can squeeze into impossibly small cracks and crevices where predators can't follow.



If all else fails, an octopus can lose an arm to escape a predator's grasp and regrow it later with no permanent damage. They also have beaklike jaws that can deliver a nasty bite, and venomous saliva, used mainly for subduing prey.

OCTOPUS TRAVEL METHODS (LOCOMOTION)



The primary locomotion is to crawl or swim which is achieved via their arms. This allows the octopus to use their suckers to sense any molluscs or food they come into contact with. For fast locomotion however, all octopi have a somewhat unique ability to circulate water through their mantle cavities. While this is primarily used for respiration and waste removal it also is used for rapid locomotion. In addition to providing rapid locomotion octopi have been seen to use this ability for cleaning of dens and to repel pests.


It is not unheard of for Octopi to leave the water for brief periods, and in fact octopuses kept as pets have been known to escape their containers and invade nearby aquariums to utilize the fish as a food source. This unique ability led to a recent Octopus hoax about an ‘endangered species’ of octopi called the ““Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus aka Octopus paxarbolis” which is NONEXISTENT! This interesting faux variant is now often touted as real since being quoted in a research paper but does NOT exist. Supposedly an Octopus found only in the Pacific Northwest it was said to be amphibious, spending only their early life and mating season in the water. I mention it here to help end the misinformation.

CRAWLING
Most commonly the Octopi crawl, using their legs in a scuttling motion to push and pull themselves along a surface or the ocean floor. Crawling is interesting since they do not have full control over their arms, they simply send a high level command for movement and it sorts itself out!



WALKING
There are several species that actually ‘walk’ in the classic sense, using two alternating arms in a rolling gait and utilizing the remaining arms for camouflage: they are the
• Octopus marginatus – which resembles a coconut
• Octopus aculeatus – which appears to be a clump of floating algae

JET PROPULSION




The fastest method of locomotion is the direction of water through their mantles as mentioned previously. During this process water flows into the mantle across the gills from an opening in the head. The octopi builds pressure by sealing off all orifices except for a path called the “funnel” or “siphon” and uses the thick muscles of the mantle wall to squeeze the water out the narrow funnel. Able to reach speeds of 25 miles per hour with this method of travel they utilize it normally only in dire circumstances since their ability to maintain it is limited.
To steer they simply adjust the direction of the funnel and can use it to trap prey in rapid movements as well as shoo away pests and to agitate predators.

FLYING
Even more astonishing is the fact that some octopi have been known to ‘fly’ by blasting themselves out of the water completely to escape predators. Several varieties of squad have also been known to accomplish this feat.
SWIMMING
The finned variety of Octopus, known Cirrata can use their fins as balance and propulsion similar to a fish. They may also use their fins in combination with their funnel, for direction control.




Have a Look at Octopus Videos
Octopus Vs Shark

Ameloctopus

Cyanea Octopus

Octopus Escape

Yucca elephantipes

Description

Spineless or giant yucca is true to both its names: Its leaves are pliable and lack the sharp spines on the tips that are so characteristic of most yuccas, and this is one big yucca, getting up to 30 ft (9.1 m) tall. With age the trunk becomes rough and thick, and when mature it develops a swollen base and often branches a few feet off the ground. The leaves, which grow in a spiral rosette are shiny green, to 4 ft (1.2 m) long and about 3 in (7.6 cm) wide with serrated margins. Like other yuccas, this one has white bell shaped flowers borne on tall stalks above the foliage in summer. The selection, 'Variegata' has leaves with creamy yellow margins.


Location
Spineless yucca grows in arid regions of southern Mexico and Central America. It is a popular landscape plant in South Florida.

Culture



This yucca is easy to grow in any well drained soil, acidic or alkaline, and it is moderately tolerant of salt spray and salty soils. Light: Spineless yucca tolerates full sun to shade.
Moisture: Spineless yucca is highly tolerant of drought.
Hardiness: USDA Zones 9 - 11.
Propagation: Propagate yuccas from seeds or cuttings. Unlike some species, this yucca does not die after flowering.

Usage


Spineless yucca is the tallest of the yuccas, and is often used as a framing specimen at the side of a building or along a walkway. It makes a striking presence in large landscapes, but may be too much for a small yard. Since they lack the sharp spines of other yuccas, spineless yuccas are harmless and can be used where most others cannot. They are grown in containers and sometimes seen in indoor malls. Use this handsome tropical looking yucca as an accent in a gravelly succulent garden, but realize it will get large. The flower petals are edible.

Features
There are some 40 species of yuccas, all from North and Central America. Yuccas require a specific moth for pollination, and if the right moth isn't around, you won't see fruit develop even though the plant produces flowers.
This species is apparently in the midst of a name change. The official name is now Yucca guatemalensis and Y. elephantipes is now a synonym as is an even older name, Y. gigantea. Floridata will keep the old name for a while until we hve a better way to manage botanical synonyms in our database.