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Conium

Conium

Conium is a genus of 2-3 species of perennial herbaceous plants in the family Apiaceae. The most familiar species is Conium maculatum (also known as Poison Hemlock), the most common of several species of hemlock noted for their toxicity. It is a biennial herb which grows up to about 10 feet or 3 meters tall, has a smooth (sometimes purple) spotted stem and finely divided lacy leaves. The new leaves and root, when crushed emit a rank, unpleasant odour often compared to mice or parsnips. The flowers are small, white and clustered in the umbrella shape so familiar to this family. The plant is often mistaken for fennel, parsley or wild carrot although the characteristic stem hairs of the wild carrots are missing. The Conium root is fleshy, white and often unbranched and can be mistaken for parsnip. Conium contains the alkaloids Coniine, N-methylconiine, conhydrine, pseudoconhydrine and g-coniceïne. The most important and toxic of these is Coniine. Coniine is a neurotoxin, which disrupts the workings of the central nervous system and is toxic to all classes of livestock and humans. A lethal dose for a horse is 4 to 5 pounds (1.8 to 2.2 kg) of leaves, cattle; 1 to 2 pounds (0.45 to 0.9 kg), and sheep; half pound (0.2 kg) or less. The whole plant is toxic, but especially the root and seeds. Conium maculatum is a native of Europe and Asia, but has been introduced and naturalised in many other areas, including much of North America and Australia. Poison hemlock is often found on poorly drained soils, particularly near streams, ditches, and other surface water. A useful trick to determine whether a plant is poison hemlock rather than fennel, which it resembles, is to crush some leaves and smell the result. Fennel smells like anise or licorice, whereas the smell of poison hemlock is often described as mouse-like or musty. The plant should be discarded if there is any doubt. Conium is used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Silver-ground Carpet.
Socrates
The most famous victim of hemlock poisoning is probably Socrates. After being condemned to death for impiety in 399 BC, Socrates was given a potent solution of the hemlock plant. Plato described Socrates' death in Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo.
He walked about and, when he said his legs were heavy, lay down on his back, for such was the advice of the attendant. The man who had administered the poison laid his hands on him and after a while examined his feet and legs, then pinched his foot hard and asked if he felt it. He said "No"; then after that, his thighs; and passing upwards in this way he showed us that he was growing cold and rigid. And again he touched him and said that when it reached his heart, he would be gone. ... To this question he made no reply, but after a little while he moved; the attendant uncovered him; his eyes were fixed. -- [http://perseus.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plat.+Phaedo+117e Plato, Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo]
Sometimes the characteristic red spots found on the stem and branches is referred to as "the blood of Socrates" in reference to his death.
Medicinal uses
Poison hemlock has been used as a sedative and for its antispasmodic properties. It was also used by Greek and Arab physicians for a variety of problems such as arthritis. However, it wasn't always effective as the difference between a therapeutic and a toxic amount is very slight. Overdoses can produce paralysis and loss of speech being followed by depression of the respiratory function and then death.
External links

- [http://www.nd.edu/~plato/bloch.htm Journal of the International Plato Society], "Hemlock Poisoning and the Death of Socrates: Did Plato Tell the Truth?" Category:Apiaceae Category:Poisonous plants

Genus
In biology, a genus (plural genera) is a grouping in the classification of living organisms having one or more related and morphologically similar species. In the common binomial nomenclature, the name of an organism is composed of two parts: its genus (always capitalized) and a species modifier. An example is Homo sapiens, the name for the human species which belongs to the genus Homo. See scientific classification for more details of this system. The type genus of a taxon is usually the first genus to be named and described. Families, and in plants all taxa up to division, are named after the type genus. The genus and these higher taxa are typified by a specimen that shows the characteristics of the genus. The specimen used to describe this species is preserved as the holotype and designated as a generitype in a zoological museum or a herbarium to be available for further study. A generic name in one kingdom is allowed to bear the same name as a genus or other taxon name in another kingdom (though this is discouraged by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature). For instance, Anura is a genus of plants in the family Asteraceae and the order of frogs; Aotus is the genus of golden peas and night monkeys; Oenanthe is the genus of wheatears and water dropworts, and Prunella is the genus of accentors and self-heal. It is, however, not allowed for two genera within the same kingdom to have the same name. This explains why the platypus genus is Ornithorhynchus — although the name Platypus was chosen by George Shaw in 1799, that name had already been given to the ambrosia beetle by Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Herbst in 1793. Since beetles and platypuses are both member of the kingdom Animalia, the name Platypus could not be used for both. Johann Friedrich Blumenbach published the replacement name Ornithorhynchus in 1800.
See also

- Linnaean taxonomy
- Cladistics rank17 rank17 rank17 als:Gattung (Biologie) ms:Genus th:สกุล (ชีววิทยา)

Perennial

A perennial plant or perennial (Latin per, "through", annus, "year") is a plant that lives for more than two years. Herbaceous perennials are plants that do not form woody tissue and the term perennial more commonly describes these plants, since woody plants (i.e., trees and shrubs) are always perennials. Perennials that flower and fruit only once and then die are termed monocarpic (semelparous). However, most perennials are polycarpic, flowering over many seasons in their lifetime. In warmer and more clement climates, perennials grow continuously. In seasonal climates, their growth is limited to the growing season. For example, in temperate regions a perennial plant may grow and bloom during the warm part of the year, with the foliage dying back in the winter. These plants are deciduous perennials. Regrowth is from existing stem tissue. In many parts of the world, seasonality is expressed as wet and dry periods rather than warm and cold periods. In some species, perennials retain their foliage all year round; these are evergreen perennials. Examples of evergreen perennials include Begonia and banana. Examples of deciduous perennials include Goldenrod and mint. Perennial plants dominate most natural ecosystems. For example, grasses and most forbs on the prairie are perennials. Perennial plants are usually better competitors than annual plants, especially under stable, resource-poor conditions. This is due to the development of larger root systems which can access water and soil nutrients deeper in the soil and to earlier emergence in the spring. Perennials can be grouped by hardiness. For example, varieties that flourish in Missouri may not survive a Minnesota winter. In the United States, the Department of Agriculture publishes a hardiness map, using average minimum temperature ranges to form a zone numbering system. The higher the zone number, the less hardy the plant. For example, a zone 8 perennial, suited to a minimum temperature range of 10 to 20 degrees F, will not survive a normal zone 4 winter, which has a minimum temperature range of -30 to -20 degrees F.

External link

- [http://www.orst.edu/extension/mg/botany/cycles.html Plant life cycles]
- [http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map] Category:Plants Category:Botany Category: gardening Category: plant morphology ja:多年生植物

Plant

- Land plants (embryophytes)
- Non-vascular plants (bryophytes)
- Marchantiophyta - liverworts
- Anthocerotophyta - hornworts
- Bryophyta - mosses
- Vascular plants (tracheophytes)
- Lycopodiophyta - clubmosses
- Equisetophyta - horsetails
- Pteridophyta - "true" ferns
- Psilotophyta - whisk ferns
- Ophioglossophyta - adderstongues
- Seed plants (spermatophytes)
- †Pteridospermatophyta - seed ferns
- Pinophyta - conifers
- Cycadophyta - cycads
- Ginkgophyta - ginkgo
- Gnetophyta - gnetae
- Magnoliophyta - flowering plants Magnoliophyta Plants are a major group of living things (about 300,000 species), including familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, and ferns. Aristotle divided all living things between plants, which generally do not move or have sensory organs, and animals. In Linnaeus' system, these became the Kingdoms Vegetabilia (later Plantae) and Animalia. Since then, it has become clear that the Plantae as originally defined included several unrelated groups, and the fungi and several groups of algae were removed to new kingdoms. However, these are still often considered plants in many contexts. Indeed, any attempt to match "plant" with a single taxon is doomed to fail, because plant is a vaguely defined concept unrelated to the presumed phylogenic concepts on which modern taxonomy is based.

Embryophytes

:See main article at Embryophytes Most familiar are the multicellular land plants, called embryophytes. They include the vascular plants, plants with full systems of leaves, stems, and roots. They also include a few of their close relatives, often called bryophytes, of which mosses and liverworts are the most common. All of these plants have eukaryotic cells with cell walls composed of cellulose, and most obtain their energy through photosynthesis, using light and carbon dioxide to synthesize food. About three hundred plant species do not photosynthesize but are parasites on other species of photosynthetic plants. Plants are distinguished from green algae, from which they evolved, by having specialized reproductive organs protected by non-reproductive tissues. Bryophytes first appeared during the early Palaeozoic. They can only survive where moisture is available for significant periods, although some species are desiccation tolerant. Most species of bryophyte remain small throughout their life-cycle. This involves an alternation between two generations: a haploid stage, called the gametophyte, and a diploid stage, called the sporophyte. The sporophyte is short-lived and remains dependent on its parent gametophyte. Vascular plants first appeared during the Silurian period, and by the Devonian had diversified and spread into many different land environments. They have a number of adaptations that allowed them to overcome the limitations of the bryophytes. These include a cuticle resistant to desiccation, and vascular tissues which transport water throughout the organism. In most the sporophyte acts as a separate individual, while the gametophyte remains small. Devonians (Pteridophyta) more closely allied to seed plants than they are to clubmosses (Lycopodiophyta)]] The first primitive seed plants, Pteridosperms (seed ferns) and Cordaites, both groups now extinct, appeared in the late Devonian and diversified through the Carboniferous, with further evolution through the Permian and Triassic periods. In these the gametophyte stage is completely reduced, and the sporophyte begins life inside an enclosure called a seed, which develops while on the parent plant, and with fertilisation by means of pollen grains. Whereas other vascular plants, such as ferns, reproduce by means of spores and so need moisture to develop, some seed plants can survive and reproduce in extremely arid conditions. Early seed plants are referred to as gymnosperms (naked seeds), as the seed embryo is not enclosed in a protective structure at pollination, with the pollen landing directly on the embryo. Four surviving groups remain widespread now, particularly the conifers, which are dominant trees in several biomes. The angiosperms, comprising the flowering plants, were the last major group of plants to appear, emerging from within the gymnosperms during the Jurassic and diversifying rapidly during the Cretaceous. These differ in that the seed embryo is enclosed, so the pollen has to grow a tube to penetrate the protective seed coat; they are the predominant group of flora in most biomes today.

Algae and Fungi

The algae comprise several different groups of organisms that produce energy through photosynthesis. However, they are not classified within the kingdom plantae but in the kingdom protista instead. The most conspicuous are the seaweeds, multicellular algae that often closely resemble terrestrial plants, but as stated above are not plants, found among the green, red, and brown algae. These and other algal groups also include various single-celled creatures and forms that are simple collections of cells, without differentiated tissues. Many can move about, and some have even lost their ability to photosynthesize; when first discovered, these were considered as both plants and animals. Now they are considered neither, but protists. The embryophytes developed from green algae; the two are collectively referred to as the green plants or Viridiplantae. The kingdom Plantae is now usually taken to mean this monophyletic group, as shown above. With a few exceptions among the green algae, all such forms have cell walls containing cellulose and chloroplasts containing chlorophylls a and b, and store food in the form of starch. They undergo closed mitosis without centrioles, and typically have mitochondria with flat cristae. The chloroplasts of green plants are surrounded by two membranes, suggesting they originated directly from endosymbiotic cyanobacteria. The same is true of the red algae, and the two groups are generally believed to have a common origin. In contrast, most other algae have chloroplasts with three or four membranes. They are not in general close relatives of the green plants, acquiring chloroplasts separately from ingested or symbiotic green and red algae. Unlike embryophytes and algae, fungi are not photosynthetic, but are saprophytes: they obtain their food by breaking down and absorbing surrounding materials. Most fungi are formed by microscopic tubes called hyphae, which may or may not be divided into cells but contain eukaryotic nuclei. Fruiting bodies, of which mushrooms are the most familiar, are actually only the reproductive structures of fungi. They are not related to any of the photosynthetic groups, but are close relatives of animals. Therefore, fungus has a kingdom of its own.

Importance

The photosynthesis and carbon fixation conducted by land plants and algae are the ultimate source of energy and organic material in nearly all habitats. These processes also radically changed the composition of the Earth's atmosphere, which as a result contains a large proportion of oxygen. Animals and most other organisms are aerobic, relying on oxygen; those that do not are confined to relatively few, anaerobic environments. Much of human nutrition depends on cereals. Other plants that are eaten include fruits, vegetables, herbs, and spices. Some vascular plants, referred to as trees and shrubs, produce woody stems and are an important source of building material. A number of plants are used decoratively, including a variety of flowers.

Growth

It is a common misconception that most of the solid material in a plant is taken from the soil, when in fact almost all of it is actually taken from the air. Through a process known as photosynthesis, plants use the energy in sunlight to convert carbon dioxide from the air into simple sugars. These sugars are then used as building blocks and form the main structural component of the plant. Plants rely on soil primarily for water (in quantitative terms), but also obtain nitrogen, phosphorus and other crucial nutrients. phosphorus Simple plants like algae may have short life spans as individuals, but their populations are commonly seasonal. Other plants may be organized according to their seasonal growth pattern:
- Annual: live and reproduce within one growing season.
- Biennial: live for two growing seasons; usually reproduce in second year.
- Perennial: live for many growing seasons; continue to reproduce once mature. Among the vascular plants, perennials include both evergreens that keep their leaves the entire year, and deciduous plants which lose their leaves for some part. In temperate and boreal climates, they generally lose their leaves during the winter; many tropical plants lose their leaves during the dry season. The growth rate of plants is extremely variable. Some mosses grow less than 0.001 mm/h, while most trees grow 0.025-0.250 mm/h. Some climbing species, such as kudzu, which do not need to produce thick supportive tissue, may grow up to 12.5 mm/h.

Fossils

Plant fossils include roots, wood, leaves, seeds, fruit, pollen, spores, phytoliths, and amber (the fossilized resin produced by some plants). Fossil land plants are recorded in terrestrial, lacustrine, fluvial and nearshore marine sediments. Pollen, spores and algae (dinoflagellates and acritarchs) are used for dating sedimentary rock sequences. The remains of fossil plants are not as common as fossil animals, although plant fossils are locally abundant in many regions worldwide. Early fossils of these ancient plants show the individual cells within the plant tissue. The Devonian period also saw the evolution of what many believe to be the first modern tree, Archaeopteris. This fern-like tree combined a woody trunk with the fronds of a fern, but produced no seeds. Archaeopteris The Coal Measures are a major source of Palaeozoic plant fossils, with many groups of plants in existence at this time. The spoil heaps of coal mines are the best places to collect; coal itself is the remains of fossilised plants, though structural detail of the plant fossils is rarely visible in coal. In the Fossil Forest at Victoria Park in Glasgow, Scotland, the stumps of Lepidodendron trees are found in their original growth positions. The fossilized remains of conifer and angiosperm roots, stems and branches may be locally abundant in lake and inshore sedimentary rocks from the Mesozoic and Caenozoic eras. Sequoia and its allies, magnolia, oak, and palms are often found. Petrified wood is common in some parts of the world, and is most frequently found in arid or desert areas were it is more readily exposed by erosion. Petrified wood is often heavily silicified (the organic material replaced by silicon dioxide), and the impregnated tissue is often preserved in fine detail. Such specimens may be cut and polished using lapidary equipment. Fossil forests of petrified wood have been found in all continents. Fossils of seed ferns such as Glossopteris are widely distributed throughout several continents of the southern hemisphere, a fact that gave support to Alfred Wegener's early ideas regarding Continental drift theory.

Distribution

References and further reading

- Kenrick, Paul & Crane, Peter R. (1997). The Origin and Early Diversification of Land Plants: A Cladistic Study. Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. ISBN 1-56098-730-8.
- Raven, Peter H., Evert, Ray F., & Eichhorn, Susan E. (2005). Biology of Plants (7th ed.). New York: W. H. Freeman and Company. ISBN 0-7167-1007-2.
- Taylor, Thomas N. & Taylor, Edith L. (1993). The Biology and Evolution of Fossil Plants. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-651589-4.

External links

- [http://tolweb.org/tree?group=Green_plants&contgroup=Eukaryotes Tree of Life]
- Chaw, S.-M. et al. [http://mbe.library.arizona.edu/data/1997/1401/7chaw.pdf Molecular Phylogeny of Extant Gymnosperms and Seed Plant Evolution: Analysis of Nuclear 18s rRNA Sequences (pdf file)] Molec. Biol. Evol. 14 (1): 56-68. 1997.
- [http://florabase.calm.wa.gov.au/phylogeny/cronq88.html Interactive Cronquist classification]

Botanical and vegetation databases

- [http://www.efloras.org/index.aspx e-Floras (Flora of China, Flora of North America and others)]
- [http://plants.usda.gov/ United States of America]
- [http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/FE/fe.html Flora Europaea]
- [http://www.anbg.gov.au/cpbr/databases/ Australia]
- [http://davesgarden.com/pdb/ 'Dave's Garden' horticultural plant database]
- [http://www.chilebosque.cl Chilean plants at Chilebosque] Category:Plants Category:Plant_taxonomy zh-min-nan:Si̍t-bu̍t ko:식물 ms:Tumbuhan ja:植物 simple:Plant th:พืช

Apiaceae

See text
Ref: [http://hortiplex.gardenweb.com/plants/p1/gw3000704.html Hortiplex 2003-11-14] The Apiaceae or Umbelliferae (both names are allowed by the ICBN) are a family of usually aromatic plants with hollow stems, including parsley, carrot, and other relatives. It is a large family with about 300 genera and more than 3,000 species. The earlier name Umbelliferae derives from the inflorescence being in the form of a compound "umbel". The small flowers are radially symmetrical with 5 small sepals, 5 petals and 5 stamens. The family contains some highly toxic plants, such as hemlock, which was used to execute Socrates and also used to poison arrow tips. It also contains some highly useful plants, such as carrots, parsley, caraway, and fennel. Many plants in this family, such as wild carrot have estrogenic properties, and have been used as folk medicine for birth control. Most notable for this use is the extinct giant fennel, silphium. Notable members include:
- Anethum graveolens - Dill
- Anthriscus cerefolium - Chervil
- Angelica spp. - Angelica
- Apium graveolens - Celery
- Carum carvi - Caraway
- Centella asiatica - Gotu kola (pennywort)
- Conium maculatum - Poison hemlock
- Coriandrum sativum - Coriander
- Cuminum cyminum - Cumin
- Daucus carota - Carrot
- Eryngium spp. - Sea holly
- Foeniculum vulgare - Fennel
- Myrrhis odorata - Cicely
- Pastinaca sativa - Parsnip
- Petroselinum crispum - Parsley
- Pimpinella anisum - Anise
- Levisticum officinale - Lovage

Genera

- Aciphylla
- Actinotus
- Aegopodium
- Aethusa
- Aletes
- Ammi
- Ammoselinum
- Anethum
- Angelica
- Anthriscus
- Apiastrum
- Apium
- Arracacia
- Astrantia
- Athamantha
- Azorella
- Berula
- Bifora
- Bolax
- Bowlesia
- Bunium
- Bupleurum
- Carum
- Caucalis
- Centella
- Chaerophyllum
- Ciclospermum
- Cicuta
- Cnidium
- Coelopleurum
- Conioselinum
- Conium
- Conopodium
- Coriandrum
- Crithmum Crithmum
- Cryptotaenia
- Cuminum
- Cyclospermum
- Cymopterus
- Cynosciadium
- Daucosma
- Daucus carrot
- Dorema
- Erigenia
- Eryngium
- Eurytaenia
- Falcaria
- Ferula
- Foeniculum
- Glehnia
- Harbouria
- Heracleum
- Hydrocotyle (is now classified under Araliaceae)
- Laser
- Laserpitium
- Levisticum
- Ligusticum
- Lilaeopsis
- Limnosciadium
- Lomatium
- Meum
- Monizia
- Musineon
- Myrrhis
- Neoparrya
- Oenanthe
- Oreomyrrhis
- Oreonana
- Oreoxis
- Orogenia
- Osmorhiza
- Oxypolis
- Pastinaca
- Perideridia
- Petroselinum
- Peucedanum
- Pimpinella
- Pleurospermum
- Podistera
- Polytaenia
- Prangos
- Pseudocymopterus
- Pteryxia
- Ptilimnium
- Sanicula
- Scandix
- Selinum
- Seseli
- Shoshonea
- Silaum
- Sison
- Sium
- Smyrnium
- Spermolepis
- Sphenosciadium
- Sympholoma
- Synelcosciadium
- Taenidia
- Tauschia
- Thapsia
- Thaspium
- Tilingia
- Tordylium
- Torilis
- Trachymene
- Trachyspermum
- Trepocarpus
- Turgenia
- Yabea
- Zizia Category:Plant families
- ja:セリ科

Hemlock

Several poisonous plants in the Parsley family, Apiaceae (formerly Umbelliferae) are called hemlock:
- Poison hemlock is a common European plant, Conium maculatum; it contains the alkaloid Coniine.
- Water hemlock was the state poison of ancient Greece.
- Water dropwort is Oenanthe crocota. Several other related but edible species are similar in appearance to the above hemlocks, including parsnip and carrot. It is therefore essential that one knows what one is picking, or the results could very well be deadly. ----
- Quite different from these are the coniferous trees in the genus Tsuga, family Pinaceae. These are not toxic, being called 'hemlock' through a supposed (but not very real!) similarity in the scent of the foliage to that of Conium maculatum. ----
- Hemlock is occasionally used as a place name (generally in the US because of the tree). see:
- Hemlock, Michigan
- Hemlock, Ohio ----

Parsnip

The parsnip is a root vegetable related to the carrot, which it resembles, although it has a paler color and a stronger flavor. Like carrots, parsnips are native to Eurasia and have been eaten since ancient times. Indeed, until the potato arrived from the New World, its place in dishes was occupied by the parsnip. Parsnips can be boiled, roasted or used in stews, soups and casseroles.

Cultivation

Parsnips are not grown in warm climates, since frost is necessary to develop their flavor. The parsnip is a favorite with gardeners in areas with short growing seasons. Sandy, loamy soil is preferred; silty, clay, and rocky soils are unsuitable as they produce short forked roots. Seeds can be planted in early spring, as soon as the ground can be worked. February is the traditional month for sowing (in the Northern hemisphere), although it is better to wait until March when the ground has warmed. Harvesting can begin in late fall, after the first frost, and continued through winter, until the ground freezes over. More than almost any other vegetable seed, parsnip seed significantly deteriorates in viability if stored for long, so it is advisable to use fresh seed each year. In the United States, most states have wild parsnip on their list of noxious weeds or invasive species. Parsnip is used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Common Swift, Garden Dart and Ghost Moth.

Danger

When picking wild vegetables, poison hemlock (Conium maculatum) can easily be mistaken for parsnip, with deadly results.

External links

- [http://dmoz.org/Home/Cooking/Fruits_and_Vegetables/Parsnips/ Recipes with parsnips]

References

- Dr D.G.Hessayon (2003)"The Vegetable & Herb Expert". Expert Books. ISBN 0-903-50546-0 Category:Root vegetables Category:Apiaceae ja:パースニップ

Flower

:This article is about the plants; for other uses see Flower (disambiguation). Flower (disambiguation) Flower (Latin flos, floris; French fleur), a term popularly used for the bloom or blossom of a plant, is the reproductive structure of those plants classified as angiosperms (flowering plants; Division Magnoliophyta). The flower structure incorporates the reproductive organs, and its function is to produce seeds through sexual reproduction. For the higher plants, seeds are the next generation, and serve as the primary means by which individuals of a species are dispersed across the landscape. After fertilization, portions of the flower develop into a fruit containing the seed(s).

Flower anatomy

Flowering plants are heterosporangiate (producing two types of reproductive spores) and the pollen (male spores) and ovules (female spores) are produced in different organs, but these are together in a bisporangiate strobilus that is the typical flower. A flower is regarded as a modified stem (Eames, 1961) with shortened internodes and bearing, at its nodes, structures that may be highly modified leaves. In essence, a flower structure forms on a modified shoot or axis with an apical meristem that does not grow continuously (growth is determinate). The stem is called a pedicel, the end of which is the torus or receptacle. The parts of a flower are arranged in whorls on the torus. The four main parts or whorls (starting from the base of the flower or lowest node and working upwards) are as follows: flower
- calyx – the outer whorl of sepals; typically these are green, but are petal-like in some species.
- corolla – the whorl of petals, which are usually thin, soft and colored to attract insects that help the process of pollination.
- androecium (from Greek andros oikia: man's house) – one or two whorls of stamens, each a filament topped by an anther where pollen is produced. Pollen contains the male gametes.
- gynoecium (from Greek gynaikos oikia: woman's house) – one or more pistils. The female reproductive organ is the carpel: this contains an ovary with ovules (female gametes). A pistil may consist of a number of carpels merged together, in which case there is only one pistil to each flower, or of a single individual carpel (the flower is then called apocarpous). The sticky tip of the pistil, the stigma, is the receptor of pollen. The supportive stalk, the style becomes the pathway for pollen tubes to grow from pollen grains adhering to the stigma, to the ovules, carrying the reproductive material. carpel Although the floral structure described above is considered the "typical" structural plan, plant species show a wide variety of modifications from this plan. These modifications have significance in the evolution of flowering plants and are used extensively by botanists to establish relationships among plant species. For example, the two subclasses of flowering plants may be distinguished by the number of floral organs in each whorl: dicotyledons typically having 4 or 5 organs (or a multiple of 4 or 5) in each whorl and monocotyledons having three or some multiple of three. The number of carpels in a compound pistil may be only two, or otherwise not related to the above generalization for monocots and dicots. In the majority of species, individual flowers have both pistils and stamens as described above. These flowers are described by botanists as being perfect, bisexual, or hermaphrodite. However, in some species of plants the flowers are imperfect or unisexual: having only either male (stamens) or female (pistil) parts. In the latter case, if an individual plant is either male or female the species is regarded as dioecious. However, where unisexual male and female flowers appear on the same plant, the species is considered monoecious. Some flowers with both stamens and a pistil are capable of self-fertilization, which does increase the chance of producing seeds but limits genetic variation. The extreme case of self-fertilization occurs in flowers that always self-fertilize, such as the common dandelion. Conversely, many species of plants have ways of preventing self-fertilization. Unisexual male and female flowers on the same plant may not appear at the same time, or pollen from the same plant may be incapable of fertilizing its ovules. The latter flower types, which have chemical barriers to their own pollen, are referred to as self-sterile or self-incompatible. (See also: Plant sexuality) Plant sexuality Additional discussions on floral modifications from the basic plan are presented in the articles on each of the basic parts of the flower. In those species that have more than one flower on an axis, the collection of flowers is termed an inflorescence. In this sense, care must be exercised in considering what is a flower. In botanical terminology, a single daisy or sunflower for example, is not a flower but a flower head—an inflorescence comprised of numerous small flowers (sometimes called florets). Each small flower may be anatomically as described above.

Floral formula

A floral formula is a way to represent the structure of a flower using specific letters, numbers, and symbols. Typically, a general formula will be used to represent the flower structure of a plant family rather than a particular species. The following representations are used: Ca = calyx (sepal whorl; e.g. Ca⁵ = 5 sepals)
Co = corolla (petal whorl; e.g., Co^3(x) = petals some multiple of three )
Z = add if zygomorphic (e.g., CoZ⁶ = zygomorphic with 6 petals)
A = androecium (whorl of stamens; e.g., A^∞ = many stamens)
G = gynoecium (carpel or carpels; e.g., G¹ = monocarpous)
x - to represent a "variable number"
∞ - to represent "many"
A floral formula would appear something like this: Ca⁵Co⁵A^{10 - ∞}G¹ Several other symbols are used that will have to await drawings to illustrate here (see [http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/courses/systematics/key.html]).

Flower function

family] The function of a flower is to mediate the union of male and female gametes. The process is termed pollination. Many flowers are dependent upon the wind to move pollen between flowers of the same species. Others rely on animals (especially insects) to accomplish this feat. The period of time during which this process can take place (the flower is fully expanded and functional) is called anthesis. Many flowers in nature have evolved to attract animals to pollinate the flower, the movements of the pollinating agent contributing to the opportunity for genetic recombinations within a dispersed plant population. Flowers that are insect pollinated are called entomophilous (literally "insect loving"). Flowers commonly have nectaries on their various parts that attract these animals. Bees and birds are common pollinators: both have color vision, thus selecting for "colorful" flowers. Some flowers have patterns, called nectar guides, that are evident in the ultraviolet range, visible to bees but not to humans. Flowers also attract pollinators by scent. In any case, pollinators are attracted to the plant, perhaps in search of nectar, which they eat. The arrangement of the stamens ensures that pollen grains are transferred to the bodies of the pollinator. In gathering nectar from many flowers of the same species, the pollinators transfer pollen between all of the flowers it visits. Flower scent is not always pleasant to our sense of smell. Some plants, such as Rafflesia, the titan arum, and the North American pawpaw (Asimina triloba) are pollinated by flies, so produce a scent imitating rotting meat. Other flowers are pollinated by the wind, and the flowers of these species (for example, grasses) have no need to attract pollinators and therefore tend not to be "showy". Wind pollinated flowers are referred to as anemophilous. Whereas the pollen of entomophilous flowers tends to be large grained, sticky, and contain significant protein (another "reward" for pollinators), Anemophilous flower pollen is usually small grained, very light, and of little nutritional value to insects, though it may still be gathered, in times of dearth. Honeybees and bumblebees actively gather anemophilous corn (maize) pollen, though it is of little value to them. There is much confusion about the role of flowers in allergies. For example the showy and entomophilous goldenrod (Solidago) is frequently blamed for respiratory allergies, of which it is innocent, since its pollen cannot be airborne. Instead the allergen is usually the pollen of the contemporary bloom of anemophilous ragweed (Ambrosia) which can drift for many kilometers.

Flowers in gardening and horticulture

Main and related articles at: Gardening, Horticulture, List of flowers, and Flower album Flower album

Flowers in the arts

The great variety of delicate and beautiful flowers has inspired the works of many poets, especially from the Romantic era. Famous examples include William Blake's Ah! Sun-Flower and William Wordsworth's I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud. Ah, Sun-flower weary of time,
Who countest the steps of the Sun,
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the traveller's journey is done:

Where the Youth pined away with desire,
And the pale Virgin shrouded in snow
Arise from their graves, and aspire
Where my Sun-flower wishes to go. :– William Blake, Ah! Sun-Flower The Roman goddess of flowers, gardens, and the season of Spring is Flora. The Greek goddess of spring, flowers and nature is Chloris.

Flowers in everyday life

In modern times, people have sought ways to cultivate, buy, wear, or just be around flowers and blooming plants, partly because of their agreeable smell. Around the world, florists sell flowers for a wide range of events and functions that, cumulatively, encompass one's lifetime:
- For new births or Christenings
- As a corsage or boutonniere to be worn at social functions or for holidays
- For wedding flowers for the bridal party, and decorations for the hall
- As brightening decorations within the home
- As a gift of remembrance for bon voyage parties, welcome home parties, and "thinking of you" gifts
- For funeral flowers and flowers for the grieving Florists depend on an entire network of commercial growers and shippers to support this trade. To get flowers that are out of season in their country, florists contact wholesalers who have direct connections with growers in other countries to provide those flowers.

Flowers as symbols

Many flowers have important symbolic meanings in Western culture. The practice of assigning meanings to flowers is known as floriography. Some of the more common examples include:
- Red roses are given as a symbol of love, beauty, and passion.
- Poppies are a symbol of consolation in time of death. In the UK, Australia and Canada, red poppies are worn to commemorate soldiers who have died in times of war.
- Irises are a symbol of death.
- Daisies are a symbol of innocence. Flowers within art are also representative of the female genitalia, as seen in the works of artists such as Georgia O'Keefe, Imogene Cunningham, and Judy Chicago.

References

- Eames, A. J. 1961. Morphology of the Angiosperms. McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York.

External links

- [http://la.essortment.com/floweranatomy_raxw.htm Flower Anatomy]
- [http://www.flowercouncil.org Flower Council of Holland].
- [http://www.lovetoknow.com/Flowers/flowers.htm Flower Encyclopedia]
- [http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/F/Flowering.html Flowering] in [http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/ Kimball's Biology Pages]
- [http://www.mystiqueflowers.org Flowers] Flower Types & Meanings
- [http://landscaping.about.com/od/galleryoflandscapephotos/a/flower_pictures.htm Flower Pictures]
- [http://www.flower-arrangement.org Flower Arrangement]
- [http://house-flowers.com House Flowers Council].
- [http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/poem160.html William Blake: Ah Sun-Flower]
- [http://develop.consumerium.org/wiki/index.php/Flowers Flowers] at the Development Wiki of Consumerium Project
- [http://www.lib.ksu.edu/wildflower/drawing/simpleflower.jpg flower schematic]
- [http://www.flowerism.com Flowerism]An artist's devotion to painting of flowers
- [http://800florals.com/care/glossary.asp Glossary of Flowers] - Pictures and Names ---- A flower in a cryptic crossword could be pronounced flo-er and refer to a stream or river.
- Category:Plant anatomy Category: plant morphology Category:Reproductive system zh-min-nan:Hoe ko:꽃 ja:花 simple:Flower th:ดอกไม้

Parsley

- P. crispum
- P. neapolitanum Parsley (Petroselinum crispum) is a bright green, biennial herb that is very common in Middle Eastern, European, and American cooking. It is used for its leaf in much the same way as coriander, although it has a milder flavor. Two forms of parsley are used as herbs: curly leaf and Italian or flat leaf. Curly leaf parsley is often used as a garnish. Many people think flat leaf parsley has a stronger flavor, and this opinion is backed by chemical analysis which finds much higher levels of essential oil in the flat-leaved cultivars. One of the compounds of the essential oil is apiol. Another type of parsley is grown as a root vegetable. Parsley is used as a food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Mouse Moth and The Nutmeg. In parts of Europe, and particularly in West Asia, many foods are served with chopped parsley sprinkled on top. The fresh flavor of parsley goes extremely well with fish. Parsley is essential to several West Asian salads, e.g., tabbouleh which is the national dish of Lebanon. In Southern and Central Europe, parsley is part of bouquet garni, a bundle of fresh herbs used to flavor stocks, soups and sauces. Parsley's value as a breath-freshener come from its high concentration of chlorophyll. Adam Blackman, a nutritionist, claims Parsley enhances mental alertness, and affects the immune system.

Cultivation

Parsley grows very well in a deep thin pot on a sunny windowsill along with a lot of water.

Medicinal Uses

Parsley tea is good for kidney problems, painful urination, and kidney stones. Chinese and German herbologists recommend parsley tea to help control high blood pressure, and Cherokee Indians use it as a tonic to strengthen the bladder. It is also often used as an emmenagogue.

External links

- [http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/Petr_cri.html Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages] emmenagogue emmenagogue Category:Apiaceae Category:Herbs Category:Leaf vegetables Category:Root vegetables Category:Lebanese cuisine ja:パセリ

Parsnip

Cultivation

Danger

When picking wild vegetables, poison hemlock (Conium maculatum) can easily be mistaken for parsnip, with deadly results.

External links

- [http://dmoz.org/Home/Cooking/Fruits_and_Vegetables/Parsnips/ Recipes with parsnips]

References

- Dr D.G.Hessayon (2003)"The Vegetable & Herb Expert". Expert Books. ISBN 0-903-50546-0 Category:Root vegetables Category:Apiaceae ja:パースニップ

Alkaloid

An alkaloid is a nitrogenous organic molecule that has a pharmacological effect on humans and animals. The name derives from the word alkaline; originally, the term was used to describe any nitrogen-containing base (an amine in modern terms). Alkaloids are found as secondary metabolites in plants (e.g., in potatoes and tomatoes), animals (e.g., in shellfish) and fungi, and can be extracted from their sources by treatment with acids (usually hydrochloric acid or sulfuric acid, though organic acids such as maleic acid and citric acid are sometimes used). Usually alkaloids are derivatives of amino acids. Even though many alkaloids are poisonous (such as strychnine or coniine), some are used in medicine as analgesics (pain relievers) or anaesthetics, particularly morphine and codeine. Most alkaloids have a very bitter taste. Although formally an alkaloid, the class of pyrazoles contain two nitrogen atoms in the aromatic ring structure and are not found in nature. They must be produced synthetically.

Alkaloid classifications

Alkaloids are usually classified by their common molecular precursors, based on the metabolic pathway used to construct the molecule. When not much was known about the biosynthesis of alkaloids, they were grouped under the names of known compounds, even some non-nitrogenous ones (since those molecules' structures appear in the finished product; the opium alkaloids are sometimes called "phenanthrenes", for example), or by the plants or animals they were isolated from. When more is learned about a certain alkaloid, the grouping is changed to reflect the new knowledge, usually taking the name of a biologically-important amine that stands out in the synthesis process.
- Pyrrolidine group: hygrine, cuscohygrine, nicotine.
- Tropane group: atropine, cocaine, ecgonine, scopolamine.
- Quinoline group: quinine, quinidine, dihydroquinine, dihydroquinidine, strychnine, brucine, veratrine, cevadine
- Isoquinoline group: The opium alkaloids (morphine, codeine, thebaine, heroin, papaverine, narcotine, narceine, hydrastine, berberine)
- Phenethylamine group: MDMA, methamphetamine, mescaline, ephedrine
- Indole group:
- Tryptamines: DMT, NMT, psilocybin, serotonin
- Ergolines: the ergot alkaloids (ergine, ergotamine, lysergic acid, etc.), LSD
- Beta-carbolines: harmine, yohimbine, reserpine, emetine
- Purine group:
- Xanthines: caffeine, theobromine, theophylline
- Terpenoid group:
- Aconite alkaloids: aconitine
- Steroids: solanine, samandarin
- Betaines (quaternary ammonium compounds): muscarine, choline, neurine
- Pyrazole group: pyrazole, fomepizole ? ja:アルカロイド

Coniine

Coniine or (S)-2-propylpiperidine, C₈H₁₇N, is a poisonous alkaloid found in poison hemlock and the Yellow Pitcher Plant, and contributes to hemlock's fetid smell. It is a neurotoxin which disrupts the central nervous system. It is toxic to all classes of livestock and humans; less than 0.2g (0.007oz) is fatal to humans, with death caused by respiratory paralysis. Socrates was put to death by way of this poison in 399 BC. Coniine paralyzes muscles in the same fashion as curare. Symptoms of paralysis occur within a half hour, and death may take several hours. There have been a number of cases of poisoning in certain regions of Italy due to the consumption of larks and chaffinches, which eat the buds of poison hemlock during April and May. Also, the alkaloid appears to have an addictive effect: goats, cows, and pigs have all shown a preference for conium-containing forage (up to the point of eventual death) if they survive initial exposure.

History

Coniine was the first of the alkaloids ever synthesised (by Albert Ladenburg in 1886).

Synthesis

center The original synthesis of this piperidine by Ladenburg started by heating methylpyridinium iodide at 300°C (not shown)to obtain 2-methyl pyridine. 2-methyl pyridine (alpha-Picoline) reacts with Acetaldehyde in presence of a base to 2-Propenylpyridine in a Knoevenagel condensation. This intermediate was reduced with metallic sodium in ethanol to racemic (+-) Coniine (reduction by hydrogen gas is also possible). Enantiopure Coniine was obtained by fractional crystallisation of the diastereoisomers of the salt obtained with (+)-tartaric acid.

External links

- [http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/hemlock/intro.htm Information on hemlock] from the University of Bristol Category:Nitrogen heterocycles Category:Alkaloids ja:コニイン

Central nervous system

The central nervous system (CNS) represents the largest part of the nervous system. Together with the peripheral nervous system, it has a fundamental role in the control of behavior. Since the strong theoretical influence of cybernetics in the fifties, the CNS is conceived as a system devoted to information processing, where an appropriate motor output is computed as a response to a sensory input. Yet, many threads of research suggest that motor activity exists well before the maturation of the sensory systems and then, that the senses only influence behaviour without dictating it. This has brought the conception of the CNS as an autonomous system. The whole CNS originates from the neural plate, a specialised region of the ectoderm, the most external of the three embryonic layers. During embryonic development, the neural plate folds and forms the neural tube. The internal cavity of the neural tube will give rise to the ventricular system. The regions of the neural tube will differentiate progressively into transversal systems. First, the whole neural tube will differentiate into its two major subdivisions: spinal cord (caudal) and brain (rostral). Consecutively, the brain will differentiate into brainstem and prosencephalon. Later, the brainstem will subdivide into rhombencephalon and mesencephalon, and the prosencephalon into diencephalon and telencephalon. In the adult, the CNS is covered by the meninges, the brain is protected by the skull and the spinal cord by the vertebrae. The rhombencephalon gives rise to the pons, the cerebellum and the medulla oblongata, its cavity becomes the fourth ventricle. The mesencephalon gives rise to the tectum, pretectum, cerebral peduncle and its cavity develops into the mesencephalic duct or cerebral aqueduct. The diencephalon gives rise to the subthalamus, hypothalamus, thalamus and epithalamus, its cavity to the third ventricle. Finally, the telencephalon gives rise to the striatum (caudate nucleus and putamen), the hippocampus and the neocortex, its cavity becomes the lateral (first and second) ventricles. The basic pattern of the CNS is highly conserved throughout the different species of vertebrates and during evolution. The major trend that can be observed is towards a progressive telencephalisation: while in the reptilian brain that region is only an appendix to the large olfactory bulb, it represent most of the volume of the mammalian CNS. In the human brain, the telencephalon covers most of the diencephalon and the mesencephalon. Indeed, the allometric study of brain size among different species shows a striking continuity from rats to whales, and allows us to complete the knowledge about the evolution of the CNS obtained through cranial endocasts.

Parts of the CNS

Spinal Cord
Brain	Brainstem	Rhombencephalon	Pons, Cerebellum, Medulla oblongata
		Mesencephalon	Tectum, Cerebral peduncle, Pretectum, Mesencephalic duct
	Prosencephalon	Diencephalon	Epithalamus, Thalamus, Hypothalamus, Subthalamus, Pituitary Gland, Pineal Gland, Third ventricle
		Telencephalon	Basal ganglia, Rhinencephalon, Amygdala, Hippocampus, Neocortex, Lateral ventricles

External links

- [http://www.sylvius.com Sylvius: 400+ structure neuroanatomical visual glossary; used by over half of U.S. medical schools]
- [http://primate-brain.org High-Resolution Cytoarchitectural Primate Brain Atlases]
- [http://www.marymt.edu/~psychol/brain.html Human Brains: A Learning Tool].
- [http://www.humannervoussystem.info Explaining the human nervous system].
- [http://www.backrack.co.uk/nervous_index.shtml Nervous System - Back Pain - Anatomy (info on nerve pairs)].
- Category:Nervous system

Europe

:This article is about the continent. For other meanings, see Europe (disambiguation). Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula or subcontinent, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. It is conventionally considered a continent, which, in this case, is more of a cultural distinction than a geographic one. It is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean and to the south by the Mediterranean and Black Seas and the Caucasus. Europe's boundary to the east is vague, but has traditionally been given as the Ural Mountains and Caspian Sea to the southeast: the Urals are considered by most to be a geographical and tectonic landmark separating Asia from Europe. :See also Continent, Bicontinental country, and Table of European territories and regions. Table of European territories and regions Table of European territories and regions Europe is the world's second-smallest continent in terms of area, covering around 10,790,000 km² (4,170,000 sq mi) or 2.1% of the Earth's surface, and is only larger than Australia. In terms of population, it is the third-largest continent (Asia and Africa are larger) with a population of more than 700,000,000, or about 11% of the world's population.

Etymology

Africa.]] In Greek mythology, Europa was a Phoenician princess who was abducted by Zeus in bull form and taken to the island of Crete, where she gave birth to Minos. For Homer, Europé (Greek: Ευρωπη; see also List of traditional Greek place names) was a mythological queen of Crete, not a geographical designation. Later Europa stood for mainland Greece, and by 500 BC its meaning had been extended to lands to the north. The Greek term Europe has been derived from Greek words meaning broad (eurys) and face (ops) -- broad having been an epitheton of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion; see Prithvi (Plataia). A minority, however, suggest this Greek popular etymology is really based on a Semitic word such as the Akkadian erebu meaning "sunset" (see also Erebus). From the Middle Eastern vantagepoint, the sun does set over Europe, the lands to the west. Likewise, Asia is sometimes thought to have derived from the Akkadian word asu, meaning "sunrise", and is the land to the east from a Mesopotamian perspective.

History

Europe has a long history of cultural and economic achievement, starting as far back as the Palaeolithic, although this is true for the rest of the Old World as well. The recent discovery at Monte Poggiolo, Italy, of thousands of hand-shaped stones, tentatively carbon-dated to 800,000 years ago, may prove to be of particular importance. The origins of Western democratic and individualistic culture are often attributed to Ancient Greece, though numerous other distinct influences, in particular Christianity, can also be credited with the spread of concepts like egalitarianism and universality of law. The Roman Empire divided the continent along the Rhine and Danube for several centuries. Following the decline of the Roman Empire, Europe entered a long period of changes arising from what is known as the Age of Migrations. That period has been known as the "Dark Ages" to Renaissance thinkers. During this time, isolated monastic communities in Ireland and elsewhere carefully safeguarded and compiled written knowledge accumulated previously. The Renaissance and the New Monarchs marked the start of a period of discovery, exploration, and increase in scientific knowledge. In the 15th century Portugal opened the age of discoveries, soon followed by Spain. They were later joined by France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom in building large colonial empires with vast holdings in Africa, the Americas, and Asia. After the age of discovery, the ideas of democracy took hold in Europe. Struggles for independence arose, most notably in France during the period known as the French Revolution. This led to vast upheaval in Europe as these revolutionary ideas propagated across the continent. The rise of democracy led to increased tensions within Europe on top of the tensions already existing due to competition within the New World. The most famous of these conflicts was when Napoleon Bonaparte rose to power and set out on a conquest, forming a new French empire that soon collapsed. After these conquests Europe stabilised, but the old foundations were already beginning to crumble. The Industrial Revolution started in the United Kingdom in the late 18th century, leading to a move away from agriculture, much greater general prosperity and a corresponding increase in population. Many of the states in Europe took their present form in the aftermath of World War I. From the end of World War II through the end of the Cold War, Europe was divided into two major political and economic blocks: Communist nations in Eastern Europe and capitalist countries in Western Europe. Around 1990, with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Eastern bloc disintegrated.

Geography and extent

Eastern bloc Geographically Europe is a part of the larger landmass known as Eurasia. The continent begins at the Ural Mountains in Russia, which define Europe's eastern boundary with Asia. The southeast boundary with Asia isn't universally defined. Most commonly the Ural or, alternatively, the Emba river can serve as possible boundaries. The boundary continues with the Caspian Sea, and then the Araxes river in the Caucasus, and on to the Black Sea; the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles conclude the Asian boundary. The Mediterranean Sea to the south separates Europe from Africa. The western boundary is the Atlantic Ocean, but Iceland, much farther away than the nearest points of Africa and Asia, is also often included in Europe. There is ongoing debate on where the geographical centre of Europe is. At times "Europe" is defined with greater regard to political, economic, and other cultural considerations. This has led to there being several different Europes that are not always identical in size, including or excluding countries according to the definition of Europe used. Almost all European countries are members of the Council of Europe, the exceptions being Belarus, and the Holy See (Vatican City). The idea of the European continent is not held across all cultures. Some non-European geographical texts refer to the continent of Eurasia, or to the European peninsula, given that Europe is not surrounded by sea. In the past concepts such as Christendom were deemed more important. In another usage, Europe is increasingly being used as a short-form for the European Union (EU) and its members, currently consisting of 25 member states. A number of other European countries are negotiating for membership, and several more are expected to begin negotiations in the future (see Enlargement of the European Union).

Physical features

In terms of shape, Europe is a collection of connected peninsulas. The two largest of these are "mainland" Europe and Scandinavia to the north, divided from each other by the Baltic Sea. Three smaller peninsulas (Iberia, Italy and the Balkans) emerge from the southern margin of the mainland into the Mediterranean Sea, which separates Europe from Africa. Eastward, mainland Europe widens much like the mouth of a funnel, until the boundary with Asia is reached at the Ural Mountains. Land relief in Europe shows great variation within relatively small areas. The southern regions, however, are more mountainous, while moving north the terrain descends from the high Alps, Pyrenees and Carpathians, through hilly uplands, into broad, low northern plains, which are vast in the east. This extended lowland is known as the Great European Plain, and at its heart lies the North German Plain. An arc of uplands also exists along the northwestern seaboard, beginning in the western British Isles and continuing along the mountainous, fjord-cut spine of Norway. This description is simplified. Sub-regions such as Iberia and Italy contain their own complex features, as does mainland Europe itself, where the relief contains many plateaus, river valleys and basins that complicate the general trend. Iceland and the British Isles are special cases. The former is a land unto itself in the northern ocean which is counted as part of Europe, while the latter are upland areas that were once joined to the mainland until rising sea levels cut them off. Due to the few generalisations that can be made about the relief of Europe, it is less than surprising that its many separate regions provided homes for many separate nations throughout history.

Biodiversity

Having lived side-by-side with agricultural peoples for millennia, Europe's animals and plants have been profoundly affected by the presence and activities of man. With the exception of Scandinavia and northern Russia, few areas of untouched wilderness are today to be found in Europe, except for different natural parks. The main natural vegetation cover in Europe is forest. The conditions for growth are very favourable. In the north, the Gulf Stream and North Atlantic Drift warm the continent. Southern Europe could be described as having a warm, but mild climate. There are frequent summer droughts in this region. Mountain ridges also affect the conditions. Some of these (Alps, Pyrenees) are oriented east-west and allow the wind to carry large masses of water from the ocean in the interior. Others are oriented south-north (Scandinavian Mountains, Dinarides, Carpathians, Apennines) and because the rain falls primarily on the side of mountains that is oriented towards sea, forests grow well on this side, while on the other side, the conditions are much less favourable. Few corners of mainland Europe have not been grazed by livestock at some point in time, and the cutting down of the pre-agricultural forest habitat caused disruption to the original plant and animal ecosystems. Eighty to ninety per cent of Europe was once covered by forest. It stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to the Arctic Ocean. Though over half of Europe's original forests disappeared through the centuries of colonisation, Europe still has over one quarter of the world's forests - spruce forests of Scandinavia, vast pine forests in Russia, chestnut rainforests of the Caucasus and the cork oak forests in the Mediterranean. During recent times, deforestation has been stopped and many trees were planted. However, in many cases conifers have been preferred over original deciduous trees, because these grow quicker. The plantations and monocultures now cover vast areas of land and this offers very poor habitats for European forest dwelling species. The amount of original forests in Western Europe is just two to three per cent (in the European part of Russia five to ten per cent). The country with the smallest forest-covered area is Ireland (eight per cent), while the most forested country is Finland (72 per cent). In "mainland" Europe, deciduous forest prevails. The most important species are beech, birch and oak. In the north, where taiga grows, a very common tree species is the birch tree. In the Mediterranean, many olive trees have been planted, which are very well adapted to its arid climate. Another common species in Southern Europe is the cypress. Coniferous forests prevail at higher altitudes up to the forest boundary and as one moves north within Russia and Scandinavia, giving way to tundra as the Arctic is approached. The semi-arid Mediterranean region hosts much scrub forest. A narrow east-west tongue of Eurasian grassland—the steppe—extends eastwards from Ukraine and southern Russia and ends in Hungary and traverses into taiga to the north. Glaciation during the most recent ice age and the presence of man affected the distribution of European fauna. As for the animals, in many parts of Europe most large animals and top predator species have been hunted to extinction. The woolly mammoth and aurochs were extinct before the end of the Neolithic period. Today wolves (carnivores) and bears (omnivores) are endangered. Once they were found in most parts of Europe. However, deforestation caused these animals to withdraw further and further. By the Middle Ages the bears' habitats were limited to more or less inaccessible mountains with sufficient forest cover. Today, the brown bear lives primarily in the Balkan peninsula, in the North and in Russia; a small number also persist in other countries across Europe (Austria, Pyrenees etc.), but in these areas brown bear populations are fragmented and marginalised because of the destruction of their habitat. In the far North of Europe, polar bears can also be found. The wolf, the second largest predator in Europe after the brown bear, can be found primarily in Eastern Europe and in the Balkans. Other important European carnivores are Eurasian lynx, European wild cat, foxes (especially the red fox), jackal and different species of martens, hedgehogs, different species of snakes (vipers, grass snake...), different birds (owls, hawks and other birds of prey) Important European herbivores are snails, amphibians, fish, different birds, and mammals, like rodents, deers and roe deers, boars, and living in the mountains, marmots, steinbocks, chamoises among others. Sea creatures are also an important part of European flora and fauna. The sea flora is mainly phytoplankton. Important animals that live in European seas are zooplankton, molluscs, echinoderms, different crayfish, squids and octopuses, fish, dolphins, and whales. Some animals live in caves, for example proteus and bats.

Demographics

Almost all of Europe was possibly settled before or during the last ice age ca. 10,000 years ago. Neanderthal man and modern man coexisted during at least some of this time. Roman road building helped with the interbreeding of the native Europeans' genetics. In contemporary times Europe has one of the lowest inbreeding rates in the world because of an extensive transport network paired with open borders. Europe passed well over 600 million people before the turn of the 20th century, but now is entering a period of population decline, for a variety of social factors.

Territories and divisions

Political divisions

Independent states

interbreeding on this map.]] :See also: Table of European territories and regions The following independent states have territory in Europe: ² Azerbaijan and Georgia lie partly in Europe according to the usual definition which consider the crest of the Caucasus as the boundary with Asia.
³ Kazakhstan's European territory consists of a portion west of the Ural and Emba Rivers.
⁴ The name of this state is a matter of international dispute. See Republic of Macedonia for details.
⁵ Those territories of Russia lying west of the Ural Mountains are considered as part of Europe.
⁶ State union of Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Montenegro.
⁷ European Turkey comprises territory to the west and north of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles straits.
^{2, 3, 5, 7} See Countries in both Europe and Asia for details.

Dependent territories

The European territories listed below are recognised as being culturally and geographically defined. Most have a degree of autonomy. In the list below, each territory is followed by its legal status.
- Faroe Islands (autonomous region of Denmark)
- Gibraltar (UK overseas territory)
- Guernsey (British crown dependency)
- Jersey (British crown dependency)
- Man, Isle of (British crown dependency)
- Svalbard (autonomous region of Norway) Note that this is not a list of all dependencies of all European countries. Dependencies located on other continents are not listed.

Unilaterally seceded territories

Following are breakaway regions of independent states. These regions have declared and de facto achieved independence, but this is not recognised de jure by their home state or by the other independent states.
-