Mythology.

Childhood.

Paris was a child of Priam and Hecuba (see the List of children of Priam). Just before his birth, his mother dreamed that she gave birth to a flaming torch. This dream was interpreted by the seer Aesacus as a foretelling of the downfall of Troy, and he declared that the child would be the ruin of his homeland. On the day of Paris's birth, it was further announced by Aesacus that the child born of a royal Trojan that day would have to be killed to spare the kingdom, being the child that would bring about the prophecy. Though Paris was indeed born before nightfall, he was spared by Priam. Hecuba was also unable to kill the child, despite the urging of the priestess of Apollo, one Herophile. Instead, Paris's father prevailed upon his chief herdsman, Agelaus, to remove the child and kill him. The herdsman, unable to use a weapon against the infant, left him exposed on Mount Ida, hoping he would perish there (cf. Oedipus). He was, however, suckled by a she-bear. Returning after nine days, Agelaus was astonished to find the child still alive and brought him home in a backpack (Greek "pḗra", hence by folk etymology Paris’s name) to rear as his own. He returned to Priam bearing a dog's tongue as evidence of the deed's completion.  Paris's noble birth was betrayed by his outstanding beauty and intelligence. While still a child, he routed a gang of cattle-thieves and restored the animals they had stolen to the herd, thereby earning the surname Alexander ("protector of men"). It was at this time that Oenone became Paris's first lover. She was a nymph from Mount Ida in Phrygia. Her father was Cebren, a river-god or, according to other sources, she was the daughter of Oeneus. She was skilled in the arts of prophecy and medicine, which she had been taught by Rhea and Apollo, respectively. When Paris later left her for Helen, she told him that if he ever was wounded, he should come to her, for she could heal any injury, even the most serious wounds.  Paris's chief distraction at this time was to pit Agelaus's bulls against one another. One bull began to win these bouts consistently. Paris began to set it against rival herdsmen's own prize bulls and it defeated them all. Finally, Paris offered a golden crown to any bull that could defeat his champion. Ares responded to this challenge by transforming himself into a bull and easily winning the contest. Paris gave the crown to Ares without hesitation. It was this apparent honesty in judgment that prompted the gods of Olympus to have Paris arbitrate the divine contest between Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena.

Judgment of Paris.

In celebration of the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, Lord Zeus, father of the Greek pantheon, hosted a banquet on Mount Olympus. Every deity and demi-god had been invited, except Eris, the goddess of strife (no one wanted a troublemaker at a wedding). For revenge, Eris threw the golden Apple of Discord inscribed with "tēi kallistēi" – "For the most beautiful" – into the party, provoking a squabble among the attendant goddesses over for whom it had been meant.  The goddesses thought to be the most beautiful were Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite, and each one claimed the apple. They started a quarrel so they asked Zeus to choose one of them. Knowing that choosing any of them would bring him the hatred of the other two, Zeus did not want to take part in the decision. He thus appointed Paris to select the most beautiful.  Escorted by Hermes, the three goddesses bathed in the spring of Mount Ida and approached Paris as he herded his cattle. Having been given permission by Zeus to set any conditions he saw fit, Paris required that the goddesses undress before him (alternatively, the goddesses themselves chose to disrobe to show all their beauty). Still, Paris could not decide, as all three were ideally beautiful, so the goddesses attempted to bribe him to choose among them. Hera offered ownership of all of Europe and Asia. Athena offered skill in battle, wisdom and the abilities of the greatest warriors. Aphrodite offered the love of the most beautiful woman on Earth: Helen of Sparta. Paris chose Aphrodite and therefore Helen.  Helen was already married to King Menelaus of Sparta (a fact Aphrodite neglected to mention), so Paris had to raid Menelaus's house to steal Helen from him - according to some accounts, she fell in love with Paris and left willingly.  The Greeks' expedition to retrieve Helen from Paris in Troy is the mythological basis of the Trojan War. This triggered the war because Helen was famous for her beauty throughout Achaea (ancient Greece), and had many suitors of extraordinary ability. Therefore, following Odysseus's advice, her father Tyndareus made all suitors promise to defend Helen's marriage to the man he chose for her. When Paris took her to Troy, Menelaus invoked this oath. Helen's other suitors – who between them represented the lion's share of Achaea's strength, wealth and military prowess – were obliged to help bring her back. Thus, the whole of Greece moved against Troy in force and the Trojan War began.

Trojan War.

Homer's "Iliad" casts Paris as unskilled and cowardly. Although Paris readily admits his shortcomings in battle, his brother Hector scolds and belittles him after he runs away from a duel with Menelaus that was to determine the end of the war. His preference for bow and arrow emphasizes this, since he does not follow the code of honor shared by the other heroes.  Early in the epic, Paris and Menelaus duel in an attempt to end the war without further bloodshed. Menelaus easily defeats Paris, though Aphrodite spirits him away before Menelaus can finish the duel. Paris is returned to his bedchambers, where Aphrodite forces Helen to be with him.  Paris's second attempt at combat is equally fated: rather than engage the Greek hero Diomedes in hand-to-hand combat, Paris wounds Diomedes with an arrow through the foot.  Later, after slaying Hector and other heroes, Achilles dies by an arrow of Paris with Apollo's help. According to Hyginus (Fabulae, 107) Apollo disguised himself as Paris.  Later in the war, after Philoctetes mortally wounds Paris, Helen makes her way to Mount Ida where she begs Paris's first wife, the nymph Oenone, to heal him. Still bitter that Paris had spurned her for his birthright in the city and then forgotten her for Helen, Oenone refuses. Helen returns alone to Troy, where Paris dies later the same day. In another version, Paris himself, in great pain, visits Oenone to plead for healing but is refused and dies on the mountainside. When Oenone hears of his funeral, she runs to his funeral pyre and throws herself in its fire.  After Paris's death, his brother Deiphobus married Helen and was then killed by Menelaus in the sack of Troy.

Paris (), also known as Alexander (, "Aléxandros"), the son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy, appears in a number of Greek legends. Of these appearances, probably the best known was the elopement with Helen, queen of Sparta, this being one of the immediate causes of the Trojan War. Later in the war, he fatally wounds Achilles in the heel with an arrow as foretold by Achilles's mother, Thetis. The name "Paris" is probably of Luwian origin, and comparable to "Pari-zitis", attested as a Hittite scribe's name. The name Paris is etymologically unrelated to the name of the French city of Paris, which derives its name from a Gaulish tribe called the Parisii.


Life and work.

Of Phidias' life little is known apart from his works. Although no original works exist that can be attributed to him with certainty, numerous Roman copies of varying degrees of fidelity are known to exist. This is not uncommon. Almost all classical Greek paintings and sculptures have been destroyed, and only Roman copies or notes of them exist, like the passages of Plato that ascribe Phidias' works to him. The ancient Romans frequently copied and further developed Greek art.  The earliest of Phidias' works were dedications in memory of Marathon, celebrating the Greek victory. His first commission was a group of national heroes with Miltiades as a central figure. At Delphi he created a great group in bronze including the figures of Greek gods Apollo and Athena, several Attic heroes, and General Miltiades the Younger. On the Acropolis of Athens, Phidias constructed a colossal bronze statue of Athena, the "Athena Promachos", which was visible far out at sea. Athena was the goddess of wisdom and warriors and the protector of Athens. At Pellene in Achaea, and at Plataea, Phidias made two other statues of Athena, as well as a statue of the goddess Aphrodite in ivory and gold for the people of Elis.  In antiquity, Phidias was celebrated for his statues in bronze and his chryselephantine works (statues made of gold and ivory). In the "Hippias Major", Plato claims that Phidias seldom, if ever, executed works in marble, though many of the sculptures of his time were executed in marble. Plutarch writes that he superintended the great works ordered by Greek statesman Pericles on the Acropolis. Ancient critics take a very high view of the merits of Phidias. What they especially praise is the ethos or permanent moral level of his works as compared with those of the later so called "pathetic" school. Both Pausanias and Plutarch mention works of his depicting the warlike Athena Areia. Demetrius calls his statues sublime, and at the same time precise.  In 447 BCE, Pericles commissioned several sculptures for Athens from Phidias to celebrate the Greek victory against the Persians at the Battle of Marathon during the Greco-Persian Wars (490 BCE). Pericles used some of the money from the maritime League of Delos, to rebuild and decorate Athens to celebrate this victory. Inscriptions prove that the marble blocks intended for the pedimental statues of the Parthenon were not brought to Athens until 434BCE. It is therefore possible that most of sculptural decoration of the Parthenon was the work of Phidias' workshop including pupils of Phidias, such as Alcamenes and Agoracritus.  According to geographer Pausanias (1.28.2), the original bronze "Athena Lemnia" was created by Phidias ( 450–440BCE) for Athenians living on Lemnos. He described it as "the best of all Pheidias's works to see". Adolf Furtwängler suggested that he found a copy of the "Athena Lemnia" in a statue of which the head is located in Bologna and the body is at Dresden. Some 5th-centuryBCE torsos of Athena have been found at Athens. The torso of Athena in the École des Beaux-Arts at Paris, which has lost its head, gives some idea of what the original statue may have looked like.  For the ancient Greeks, two works of Phidias far outshone all others: the colossal chryselephantine Statue of Zeus ( 432BCE) which was erected in the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, Greece, and the "Athena Parthenos" (lit. "Athena the Virgin"), a sculpture of the Greek virgin goddess Athena, which was housed in the Parthenon in Athens. Both sculptures belong to about the middle of the 5th century BCE. A number of replicas and works inspired by it, both ancient and modern, have been made.  Upon completing the "Athena Parthenos", Phidias was accused of embezzlement. Specifically, he was charged with shortchanging the amount of gold that was supposed to be used for the statue and keeping the extra for himself. It seems that the charge was politically motivated a result of his friendship with Pericles, who had many enemies in Athens. Phidias supposedly weighed the gold robe of the "Athena Parthenos" to prove his innocence, but was then accused of impiously portraying himself and Pericles on the shield of the statue, which was apparently true. Plutarch records that Phidias was imprisoned and died in jail. Aristophanes' play "Peace" () mentions an unfortunate incident involving Phidias, but little context is provided.  According to Philochorus, as quoted by a scholiast on Aristophanes, Phidias was put to death by the Eleans after he completed the Statue of Zeus at Olympia for them. From the late 5th century BCE, small copies of the statue of Zeus were found on coins from Elis, which give a general notion of the pose and the character of the head. The god was seated on a throne, every part of which was used for sculptural decoration. His body was of ivory, his robe of gold. His head was of a somewhat archaic type; the bust of Zeus found at Otricoli, which used to be regarded as a copy of the head of the Olympian statue, is certainly more than a century later in style.

Archaeological discovery and legacy.

A significant advancement in the knowledge of Phidias' working methodology came during 1954–58 with the excavation of the workshop at Olympia where Phidias created the Statue of Zeus at Olympia. Tools, terracotta molds and a cup inscribed on the bottom "Φειδίου εἰμί" (Pheidíou eimí) – "I belong to Phidias"; literally: "of Phidias I am", were found here, just where Pausanias said the statue was constructed. The discovery has enabled archaeologists to re-create the techniques used to make the statue and confirm its date.  By 1910, mathematician Mark Barr began using the Greek letter Phi (φ) as a symbol for the golden ratio after Phidias. However, Barr later wrote that he thought it unlikely that Phidias actually used the golden ratio.

References.

Footnotes Citations

Phidias or Pheidias (;, "Pheidias"; 480 – 430 BCE) was a Greek sculptor, painter, and architect. His Statue of Zeus at Olympia was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Phidias also designed the statues of the goddess Athena on the Athenian Acropolis, namely the "Athena Parthenos" inside the Parthenon, and the "Athena Promachos", a colossal bronze which stood between it and the Propylaea, a monumental gateway that served as the entrance to the Acropolis in Athens. Phidias was the son of Charmides of Athens. The ancients believed that his masters were Hegias and Ageladas.


History.

Origin.

The city of Pilsen began brewing in 1295, but until the mid-1840s, most Bohemian beers were top-fermented. The taste and standards of quality often varied widely, and in 1838, consumers dumped whole barrels to show their dissatisfaction. The officials of Pilsen founded a city-owned brewery in 1839, called (, – now Pilsner Urquell), which was to brew beer in the pioneering Bavarian style. Brewers had begun aging beer made with cool fermenting yeasts in caves (lager, i.e., [stored]), which improved the beer's clarity and shelf-life. Part of this research benefited from the knowledge already expounded on in a book (printed in German in 1794, in Czech in 1799), written by Czech brewer () (1753–1805) from Brno.  The Pilsen brewery recruited the Bavarian brewer Josef Groll (1813–1887) who, using the specifics of local ingredients and paler malts, presented his first batch of pale lager on 5 October 1842. The combination of Pilsen's remarkably soft water, local Saaz noble hops from nearby Žatec, brighter malt prepared by British technology, and Bavarian-style lagering (bottom-fermented beer termed at the time) produced a clear, golden beer. The recipe was regarded as a sensation and took hold very quickly.  Groll's contract with the brewery ended in 1845, he returned to Vilshofen and later inherited his father's brewery. The Groll brewery no longer exists. Parts of the brewery, however, were acquired by Wolferstetter, another brewery from Vilshofen, which still produces a Josef Groll Pils. Emergence of efficient glass manufacturing in Europe around the same time, lowered glass prices. This allowed the general population to purchase glass drinking vessels for the first time. These former luxury items showcased the visually pleasing golden clarity of the beer, further influencing the Pilsner's rapid dissemination.  In 1853, the beer was available in 35 pubs in Prague. In 1856, it came to Vienna and in 1862 to Paris. Improving transport and communications also meant that this new beer was soon available throughout Europe, and the "Pilsner" style of brewing was soon widely imitated. In 1859, was registered as a brand name at the Chamber of Commerce and Trade in Pilsen. In 1898, the Pilsner Urquell trademark was created to put emphasis on being the original brewery ("Urquell," meaning 'original well', the English equivalent would probably be 'prototype Pilsener beer').  Some beers are labeled "Urtyp Pilsener" (UP) meaning they are brewed according to the original process, although many breweries use this accolade for their top beer.

Modern developments.

The introduction to Germany of modern refrigeration by Carl von Linde in the late 19th century eliminated the need for caves for beer storage, enabling the brewing of cool fermenting beer in many new locations. Until 1993 the Pilsner Urquell brewery fermented its beer using open barrels in the cellars beneath their brewery. This changed in 1993 with the use of large cylindrical tanks. Small samples are still brewed in a traditional way for taste comparisons.  A modern pale lager termed a "Pilsner" may have a very light, clear colour from pale to golden yellow, with varying levels of hop aroma and flavour. The alcohol strength of beers termed Pilsner vary but are typically around 4.5%–5% (by volume). There are categories such as "European-Style Pilsner" at beer competitions such as the World Beer Cup. Pilsen style lagers are marketed internationally by numerous small brewers and larger conglomerates.

Styles.

A study utilizing blind taste-testing has found that several common mass-produced lagers have indistinguishable tastes to the average consumer.

Non-alcoholic substitute.

In Iceland, due to the restriction of alcohol sales to government-owned liquor stores, a beverage is sold at grocery stores that is colloquially known as, and sometimes labelled, as "pilsner" but is a Low-alcohol beer, legally below the 2.5% allowed for sale outside of the government monopoly, restaurants, and bars.

Pilsner (also pilsener or simply pils) is a type of pale lager. It takes its name from the Czech city of Pilsen, where it was first produced in 1842 by Bavarian brewer Josef Groll. The world's first blond lager, the original Pilsner Urquell, is still produced there today.


Etymology and meaning.

The English word "orthography" dates from the 15th century. It comes from the French "orthographie", from Latin "orthographia", which derives from Greek ὀρθός "orthós", "correct", and γράφειν "gráphein", "to write".  Orthography is largely concerned with matters of spelling, and in particular the relationship between phonemes and graphemes in a language. Other elements that may be considered part of orthography include hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation. Orthography thus describes or defines the set of symbols used in writing a language, and the rules regarding how to use those symbols.  Most natural languages developed as oral languages, and writing systems have usually been crafted or adapted as ways of representing the spoken language. The rules for doing this tend to become standardized for a given language, leading to the development of an orthography that is generally considered "correct". In linguistics the term "orthography" is often used to refer to any method of writing a language, without judgment as to right and wrong, with a scientific understanding that orthographic standardization exists on a spectrum of strength of convention. The original sense of the word, though, implies a dichotomy of correct and incorrect, and the word is still most often used to refer specifically to a thoroughly standardized, prescriptively correct, way of writing a language. A distinction may be made here between "etic" and "emic" viewpoints: the purely descriptive (etic) approach, which simply considers any system that is actually used—and the emic view, which takes account of language users' perceptions of correctness.

Units and notation.

Orthographic units, such as letters of an alphabet, are technically called graphemes. These are a type of abstraction, analogous to the phonemes of spoken languages; different physical forms of written symbols are considered to represent the same grapheme if the differences between them are not significant for meaning. For example, different forms of the letter "b" are all considered to represent a single grapheme in the orthography of, say, English. Graphemes or sequences of them are sometimes placed between angle brackets, as in or. This distinguishes them from phonemic transcription, which is placed between slashes (, ), and from phonetic transcription, which is placed between square brackets (, ).

Types.

The writing systems on which orthographies are based can be divided into a number of types, depending on what type of unit each symbol serves to represent. The principal types are "logographic" (with symbols representing words or morphemes), "syllabic" (with symbols representing syllables), and "alphabetic" (with symbols roughly representing phonemes). Many writing systems combine features of more than one of these types, and a number of detailed classifications have been proposed. Japanese is an example of a writing system that can be written using a combination of logographic kanji characters and syllabic hiragana and katakana characters; as with many non-alphabetic languages, alphabetic romaji characters may also be used as needed.

Correspondence with pronunciation.

Orthographies that use alphabets and syllabaries are based on the principle that the written symbols (graphemes) correspond to units of sound of the spoken language: phonemes in the former case, and syllables in the latter. However, in virtually all cases, this correspondence is not exact. Different languages' orthographies offer different degrees of correspondence between spelling and pronunciation. English orthography, French orthography and Danish orthography, for example, are highly irregular, whereas the orthographies of languages such as Russian, German and Spanish represent pronunciation much more faithfully, although the correspondence between letters and phonemes is still not exact. Finnish, Turkish and Serbo-Croatian orthographies are remarkably consistent: approximation of the principle "one letter per sound".  An orthography in which the correspondences between spelling and pronunciation are highly complex or inconsistent is called a "deep orthography" (or less formally, the language is said to have "irregular spelling"). An orthography with relatively simple and consistent correspondences is called "shallow" (and the language has "regular spelling").  One of the main reasons for which spelling and pronunciation deviate is that sound changes taking place in the spoken language are not always reflected in the orthography, and hence spellings correspond to historical rather than present-day pronunciation. One consequence of this is that many spellings come to reflect a word's morphophonemic structure rather than its purely phonemic structure (for example, the English regular past tense morpheme is consistently spelled "-ed" in spite of its different pronunciations in various words). This is discussed further at.  The syllabary systems of Japanese (hiragana and katakana) are examples of almost perfectly shallow orthographies—the kana correspond with almost perfect consistency to the spoken syllables, although with a few exceptions where symbols reflect historical or morphophonemic features: notably the use of ぢ "ji" and づ "zu" (rather than じ "ji" and ず "zu", their pronunciation in standard Tokyo dialect) when the character is a voicing of an underlying ち or つ (see rendaku), and the use of は, を, and へ to represent the sounds わ, お, and え, as relics of historical kana usage.  The Korean "hangul" system was also originally an extremely shallow orthography, but as a representation of the modern language it frequently also reflects morphophonemic features.  For full discussion of degrees of correspondence between spelling and pronunciation in alphabetic orthographies, including reasons why such correspondence may break down, see Phonemic orthography.

Defective orthographies.

An orthography based on the principle that symbols correspond to phonemes may, in some cases, lack characters to represent all the phonemes or all the phonemic distinctions in the language. This is called a defective orthography. An example in English is the lack of any indication of stress. Another is the digraph "th", which represents two different phonemes (as in "then" and "thin"). A more systematic example is that of abjads like the Arabic and Hebrew alphabets, in which the short vowels are normally left unwritten and must be inferred by the reader.  When an alphabet is borrowed from its original language for use with a new language—as has been done with the Latin alphabet for many languages, or Japanese Katakana for non-Japanese words—it often proves defective in representing the new language's phonemes. Sometimes this problem is addressed by the use of such devices as digraphs (such as "sh" and "ch" in English, where pairs of letters represent single sounds), diacritics (like the caron on the letters "š" and "č", which represent those same sounds in Czech), or the addition of completely new symbols (as some languages have introduced the letter "w" to the Latin alphabet) or of symbols from another alphabet, such as the rune "þ" in Icelandic.  After the classical period, Greek developed a lowercase letter system that introduced diacritic marks to enable foreigners to learn pronunciation and in some cases, grammatical features. However, as pronunciation of letters changed over time, the diacritic marks were reduced to representing the stressed syllable. In Modern Greek typesetting, this system has been simplified to only have a single accent to indicate which syllable is stressed.

An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language. It includes norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation.


Description.

Rosemary is an aromatic evergreen shrub with leaves similar to hemlock needles. It is native to the Mediterranean and Asia, but is reasonably hardy in cool climates. It can withstand droughts, surviving a severe lack of water for lengthy periods. In some parts of the world, it is considered a potentially invasive species. The seeds are often difficult to start, with a low germination rate and relatively slow growth, but the plant can live as long as 30 years.  Forms range from upright to trailing; the upright forms can reach tall, rarely. The leaves are evergreen, long and 2–5 mm broad, green above, and white below, with dense, short, woolly hair.  The plant flowers in spring and summer in temperate climates, but the plants can be in constant bloom in warm climates; flowers are white, pink, purple or deep blue. Rosemary also has a tendency to flower outside its normal flowering season; it has been known to flower as late as early December, and as early as mid-February (in the northern hemisphere).

Taxonomy.

"Salvia rosmarinus" is now considered one of many hundreds of species in the genus "Salvia". Formerly it was placed in a much smaller genus, "Rosmarinus", which contained only two to four species including "R. officinalis", which is now considered a synonym of "S. rosmarinus". The other species most often recognized is the closely related, "Salvia jordanii" (formerly "Rosmarinus eriocalyx"), of the Maghreb of Africa and Iberia.  The name of "ros marinus" is the plant's ancient name in classical Latin. Elizabeth Kent noted in her "Flora Domestica" (1823), "The botanical name of this plant is compounded of two Latin words, signifying Sea-dew; and indeed Rosemary thrives best by the sea." Both the original and current genus names of the species were applied by the 18th-century naturalist and founding taxonomist Carl Linnaeus.

History.

The first mention of rosemary is found on cuneiform stone tablets as early as 5000 BC. After that not much is known, except that Egyptians used it in their burial rituals. There is no further mention of rosemary until the ancient Greeks and Romans. Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) wrote about it in "The Natural History", as did Pedanius Dioscorides (c. 40 to c. 90), a Greek botanist (amongst other things). He talked about rosemary in his most famous writing, "De Materia Medica", one of the most influential herbal books in history.  The herb then made its way east to China and was naturalized there as early as 220 AD, during the late Han Dynasty.  Rosemary came to England at an unknown date; the Romans probably brought it when they invaded in the first century, but there are no viable records about rosemary arriving in Britain until the 8th century. This was credited to Charlemagne, who promoted herbs in general, and ordered rosemary to be grown in monastic gardens and farms.  Furthermore, there are also no records of rosemary being properly naturalized in Britain until 1338, when cuttings were sent by The Countess of Hainault, Jeanne of Valois (1294–1342) to Queen Phillippa (1311–1369), wife of Edward III. It included a letter that described the virtues of rosemary and other herbs that accompanied the gift. The original manuscript can be found in the British Museum. The gift was then planted in the garden of the old palace of Westminster. After this, rosemary is found in most English herbal texts, and is widely used for medicinal and culinary purposes.  Rosemary finally arrived in the Americas with early European settlers in the beginning of the 17th century. It soon was spread to South America and global distribution.

Usage.

Upon cultivation, the leaves, twigs, and flowering apices are extracted for use. Rosemary is used as a decorative plant in gardens where it may have pest control effects. The leaves are used to flavor various foods, such as stuffing and roast meats.

Cultivation.

Since it is attractive and drought-tolerant, rosemary is used as an ornamental plant in gardens and for xeriscape landscaping, especially in regions of Mediterranean climate. It is considered easy to grow and pest-resistant. Rosemary can grow quite large and retain attractiveness for many years, can be pruned into formal shapes and low hedges, and has been used for topiary. It is easily grown in pots. The groundcover cultivars spread widely, with a dense and durable texture.  Rosemary grows on loam soil with good drainage in an open, sunny position. It will not withstand waterlogging and some varieties are susceptible to frost. It grows best in neutral to alkaline conditions (pH 7–7.8) with average fertility. It can be propagated from an existing plant by clipping a shoot (from a soft new growth) long, stripping a few leaves from the bottom, and planting it directly into soil.

Cultivars.

Numerous cultivars have been selected for garden use.  The following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:

Culinary use.

Rosemary leaves are used as a flavoring in foods, such as stuffing and roast lamb, pork, chicken, and turkey. Fresh or dried leaves are used in traditional Mediterranean cuisine. They have a bitter, astringent taste and a characteristic aroma which complements many cooked foods. Herbal tea can be made from the leaves. When roasted with meats or vegetables, the leaves impart a mustard-like aroma with an additional fragrance of charred wood that goes well with barbecued foods.  In amounts typically used to flavor foods, such as one teaspoon (1 gram), rosemary provides no nutritional value. Rosemary extract has been shown to improve the shelf life and heat stability of omega 3–rich oils which are prone to rancidity.

Fragrance.

Rosemary oil is used for purposes of fragrant bodily perfumes or to emit an aroma into a room. It is also burnt as incense, and used in shampoos and cleaning products.

Phytochemicals.

Rosemary contains a number of phytochemicals, including rosmarinic acid, camphor, caffeic acid, ursolic acid, betulinic acid, carnosic acid, and carnosol. Rosemary essential oil contains 10–20% camphor.

Folklore and customs.

The plant or its oil have been used in folk medicine in the belief it may have medicinal effects, although there is little scientific evidence it has such properties. Rosemary was considered sacred to ancient Egyptians, Romans, and Greeks. In "Don Quixote" (Part One, Chapter XVII), the fictional hero uses rosemary in his recipe for balm of fierabras.  The plant has been used as a symbol for remembrance during war commemorations and funerals in Europe and Australia. Mourners would throw it into graves as a symbol of remembrance for the dead. In Australia, sprigs of rosemary are worn on ANZAC Day and sometimes Remembrance Day to signify remembrance; the herb grows wild on the Gallipoli Peninsula, where many Australians died during World War I.  In Shakespeare's "Hamlet", Ophelia says, "There's rosemary, that's for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember." It can also be found in Shakespeare's "Winter's Tale" in Act 4 Scene 4, where Perdita talks about "Rosemary and Rue".

Salvia rosmarinus, commonly known as rosemary, is a woody, perennial herb with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple, or blue flowers, native to the Mediterranean region. Until 2017, it was known by the scientific name Rosmarinus officinalis, now a synonym.


History.

Rice has been grown in southern Italy since the 14th century, and its cultivation eventually reached Milan in the north. While, according to a legend, a young glassblower's apprentice from Flanders, who used to use saffron as a pigment, added it to a rice dish at a wedding feast, the first recipe identifiable as risotto dates from 1809. It includes rice sautéed in butter, sausages, bone marrow, onions with hot broth with saffron gradually added. There is a recipe for a dish named as a risotto in the 1854 "Trattato di cucina" ('Treatise on Cooking') by Giovanni Vialardi, assistant chief chef to kings. However, the question of who invented the risotto in Milan remains unanswered today.  The rice varieties now associated with risotto were developed in the 20th century, starting with Maratelli in 1914.

Rice varieties.

A high-starch (amylopectin), low-amylose round medium- or short- grain white rice is usually used for making risotto. Such rices have the ability to absorb liquids and to release starch and so they are stickier than the long grain varieties. The principal varieties used in Italy are Arborio, Baldo, Carnaroli, Maratelli, Padano, Roma, and Vialone Nano. Carnaroli, Maratelli (historical Italian variety) and Vialone Nano are considered to be the best (and most expensive) varieties, with different users preferring one over another. They have slightly different properties. For example, Carnaroli is less likely than Vialone Nano to get overcooked, but the latter, being smaller, cooks faster and absorbs condiments better. Other varieties such as Baldo, Originario, Ribe and Roma may be used but will not have the creaminess of the traditional dish; these varieties are considered better for soups and other non-risotto rice dishes, and sweet rice desserts. Rice designations of superfino, semifino and fino refer to the size and shape (specifically the length and the narrowness) of the grains, and not the quality.

Basic preparation.

There are many different risotto recipes with different ingredients, but they are all based on rice of an appropriate variety, cooked in a standard procedure. Risotto, unlike other rice dishes, requires constant care and attention. The rice is not to be pre-rinsed, boiled, or drained, as washing would remove much of the starch required for a creamy texture.  The rice is first cooked briefly in a "soffritto" of onion and butter or olive oil, to coat each grain in a film of fat, called "tostatura"; white wine is added and must be absorbed by the grains. When it has been absorbed the heat is raised to medium high, and boiling stock is gradually added in small amounts, while stirring constantly. The constant stirring, with only a small amount of liquid present, forces the grains to rub against each other and release the starch from the outside of the grains into the surrounding liquid, creating a smooth creamy-textured mass. When the rice is cooked the pot is taken off the heat for "mantecatura", vigorously beating in refrigerated balls of grated parmesan cheese and butter, to make the texture as creamy and smooth as possible. It may be removed from the heat a few minutes earlier and left to cook with its residual heat.  Properly cooked risotto is rich and creamy even if no cream is added, due to the starch in the grains. It has some resistance or bite ("al dente") and separate grains. The traditional texture is fairly fluid, or "all'onda" ("wavy, or flowing in waves"). It is served on flat dishes and should easily spread out but not have excess watery liquid around the perimeter. It must be eaten at once, as it continues to cook in its own heat, making the grains absorb all the liquid and become soft and dry.

Italian regional variations.

Many variations have their own names:

Risotto (,, from meaning "rice") is a northern Italian rice dish cooked with broth until it reaches a creamy consistency. The broth can be derived from meat, fish, or vegetables. Many types of risotto contain butter, onion, white wine, and parmesan cheese. It is one of the most common ways of cooking rice in Italy. Saffron was originally used for flavour and its signature yellow colour.


Distribution.

The Rosaceae have a cosmopolitan distribution (found nearly everywhere except for Antarctica), but are primarily concentrated in the Northern Hemisphere in regions that are not desert or tropical rainforest.

Historical taxonomy.

The family was traditionally divided into six subfamilies: Rosoideae, Spiraeoideae, Maloideae (Pomoideae), Amygdaloideae (Prunoideae), Neuradoideae, and Chrysobalanoideae, and most of these were treated as families by various authors. More recently (1971), Chrysobalanoideae was placed in Malpighiales in molecular analyses and Neuradoideae has been assigned to Malvales. Schulze-Menz, in Engler's Syllabus edited by Melchior (1964) recognized Rosoideae, Dryadoideae, Lyonothamnoideae, Spireoideae, Amygdaloideae, and Maloideae. They were primarily diagnosed by the structure of the fruits. More recent work has identified that not all of these groups were monophyletic. Hutchinson (1964) and Kalkman (2004) recognized only tribes (17 and 21, respectively). Takhtajan (1997) delimited 21 tribes in 10 subfamilies: Filipenduloideae, Rosoideae, Ruboideae, Potentilloideae, Coleogynoideae, Kerroideae, Amygdaloideae (Prunoideae), Spireoideae, Maloideae (Pyroideae), Dichotomanthoideae. A more modern model comprises three subfamilies, one of which (Rosoideae) has largely remained the same.  While the boundaries of the Rosaceae are not disputed, there is not general agreement as to how many genera it contains. Areas of divergent opinion include the treatment of "Potentilla s.l." and "Sorbus s.l.". Compounding the problem is that apomixis is common in several genera. This results in an uncertainty in the number of species contained in each of these genera, due to the difficulty of dividing apomictic complexes into species. For example, "Cotoneaster" contains between 70 and 300 species, "Rosa" around 100 (including the taxonomically complex dog roses), "Sorbus" 100 to 200 species, "Crataegus" between 200 and 1,000, "Alchemilla" around 300 species, "Potentilla" roughly 500, and "Rubus" hundreds, or possibly even thousands of species.

Phylogeny.

The phylogenetic relationships between the three subfamilies within Rosaceae are unresolved. There are three competing hypotheses:

Amygdaloideae basal.

Amygdaloideae has been identified as the earliest branching subfamily by Chin "et al". (2014), Li "et al". (2015), Li "et al". (2016), and Sun "et al". (2016). Most recently Zhang "et al". (2017) recovered these relationships using whole plastid genomes:  The sister relationship between Dryadoideae and Rosoideae is supported by the following shared morphological characters not found in Amygdaloideae: presence of stipules, separation of the hypanthium from the ovary, and the fruits are usually achenes.

Dryadoideae basal.

Dryadoideae has been identified as the earliest branching subfamily by Evans "et al". (2002) and Potter (2003). Most recently Xiang "et al". (2017) recovered these relationships using nuclear transcriptomes:

Rosoideae basal.

Rosoideae has been identified as the earliest branching subfamily by Morgan "et al". (1994), Evans (1999), Potter "et al". (2002), Potter "et al". (2007), Töpel "et al". (2012), and Chen "et al". (2016). The following is taken from Potter "et al". (2007):  The sister relationship between Amygdaloideae and Dryadoideae is supported by the following shared biochemical characters not found in Rosoideae: production of cyanogenic glycosides and production of sorbitol.

Characteristics.

Rosaceae can be trees, shrubs, or herbaceous plants. The herbs are mostly perennials, but some annuals also exist.

Leaves.

The leaves are generally arranged spirally, but have an opposite arrangement in some species. They can be simple or pinnately compound (either odd- or even-pinnate). Compound leaves appear in around 30 genera. The leaf margin is most often serrate. Paired stipules are generally present, and are a primitive feature within the family, independently lost in many groups of Amygdaloideae (previously called Spiraeoideae). The stipules are sometimes adnate (attached surface to surface) to the petiole. Glands or extrafloral nectaries may be present on leaf margins or petioles. Spines may be present on the midrib of leaflets and the rachis of compound leaves.

Flowers.

Flowers of plants in the rose family are generally described as "showy". They are actinomorphic (i.e. radially symmetrical) and almost always hermaphroditic. Rosaceae generally have five sepals, five petals, and many spirally arranged stamens. The bases of the sepals, petals, and stamens are fused together to form a characteristic cup-like structure called a hypanthium. They can be arranged in racemes, spikes, or heads; solitary flowers are rare.

Fruits and seeds.

The fruits occur in many varieties and were once considered the main characters for the definition of subfamilies amongst Rosaceae, giving rise to a fundamentally artificial subdivision. They can be follicles, capsules, nuts, achenes, drupes ("Prunus"), and accessory fruits, like the pome of an apple, or the hip of a rose. Many fruits of the family are edible, but their seeds often contain amygdalin, which can release cyanide during digestion if the seed is damaged.

Genera.

Identified clades include:

Economic importance.

The rose family is arguably one of the six most economically important crop plant families, and includes apples, pears, quinces, medlars, loquats, almonds, peaches, apricots, plums, cherries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, sloes, and roses among the crop plants belonging to the family.  Many genera are also highly valued ornamental plants. These include trees and shrubs ("Cotoneaster", "Chaenomeles", "Crataegus", "Dasiphora", "Exochorda", "Kerria", "Photinia", "Physocarpus", "Prunus", "Pyracantha", "Rhodotypos", "Rosa", "Sorbus", "Spiraea"), herbaceous perennials ("Alchemilla", "Aruncus", "Filipendula", "Geum", "Potentilla", "Sanguisorba"), alpine plants ("Dryas", "Geum", "Potentilla") and climbers ("Rosa").  However, several genera are also introduced noxious weeds in some parts of the world, costing money to be controlled. These invasive plants can have negative impacts on the diversity of local ecosystems once established. Such naturalised pests include "Acaena", "Cotoneaster", "Crataegus", "Pyracantha", and "Rosa".

Gallery.

The family Rosaceae covers a wide range of trees, bushes and plants.

Rosaceae, the rose family, is a medium-sized family of flowering plants, including 4,828 known species in 91 genera. The name is derived from the type genus "Rosa". Among the most species-rich genera are "Alchemilla" (270), "Sorbus" (260), "Crataegus" (260), "Cotoneaster" (260), "Rubus" (250), and "Prunus" (plums, cherries, peaches, apricots, and almonds) with about 200 species. However, all of these numbers should be seen as estimates – much taxonomic work remains.


Ecology.

It is generally rare, listed as an endangered species in Switzerland and Austria, and uncommon in Spain. In the UK, one very old tree that existed in the Wyre Forest before being destroyed by fire in 1862 used to be considered native, but it is now generally considered to be more likely of cultivated origin, probably from a mediaeval monastery orchard planting. More recently, a small population of genuinely wild specimens was found growing as stunted shrubs on cliffs in south Wales (Glamorgan) and nearby southwest England (Gloucestershire). It is a very rare species in Britain, occurring at only a handful of sites. Its largest English population is within the Horseshoe Bend Site of Special Scientific Interest at Shirehampton, near Bristol.  A further population has been discovered growing wild in Cornwall on a cliff in the upper Camel Estuary.  It is a long-lived tree, with ages of 300–400 years estimated for some in Britain.  The largest and perhaps one of the oldest known specimens in Europe is on an educational trail near the town of Strážnice in the province of Moravia, Czech Republic. Its trunk measures in circumference, with a crown high and across. It is estimated to be around 450 years old.

Cultivation and uses.

The fruit is a component of a cider-like drink which is still made in parts of Europe. Picked straight off the tree, it is highly astringent and gritty; however, when left to blet (overripen) it sweetens and becomes pleasant to eat. In the Moravian Slovakia region of the Czech Republic, there is a community run museum with an educational trail and festival for this tree, with products like jam, juice and brandy made from its fruit.  The sorb tree is cited in the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Ketubot page 79a. The example refers to a purchase of Abba Zardasa, in a translation by Rashi, an early Medieval scholar, as a forest of trees called Zardasa, that was used for lumber, because the fruit was not commercially important. The Aramaic word 'zardasa' may be the origin of the English word'sorb'.  In Ancient Greece the fruit was cut in half and pickled, which Plato in the Symposium (190d7-8) lets Aristophanes use as a metaphor for the cutting in half of the original spherical humans by Zeus.  Service Tree wood was often used for manufacturing wooden planes of all types used for working wood, because Service Tree wood is fairly dense and holds a profile well.

Etymology and other names.

The English name comes from Middle English "serves", plural of "serve", from Old English "syrfe", borrowed from the Latin name "sorbus"; it is unrelated to the verb "serve". Other English names include sorb, sorb tree, and whitty pear—"whitty" because the leaves are similar to rowan (i.e. pinnate), and "pear" due to the nature of the fruit.

Sorbus domestica, with the common name service tree or sorb tree (because of its fruit), is a species of "Sorbus" native to western, central and southern Europe, northwest Africa (Atlas Mountains), and southwest Asia (east to the Caucasus). It may be called true service tree, to distinguish it from wild service tree "Sorbus torminalis". It is a deciduous tree growing to 15–20 m (rarely to 30 m) tall with a trunk up to 1 m diameter, though it can also be a shrub 2–3 m tall on exposed sites. The bark is brown, smooth on young trees, becoming fissured and flaky on old trees. The winter buds are green, with a sticky resinous coating. The leaves are 15–25 cm long, pinnate with 13-21 leaflets 3–6 cm long and 1 cm broad, with a bluntly acute apex, and a serrated margin on the outer half or two thirds of the leaflet. The flowers are 13–18 mm diameter, with five white petals and 20 creamy-white stamens; they are produced in corymbs 10–14 cm diameter in late spring, and are hermaphrodite and insect pollinated. The fruit is a pome 2–3 cm long, greenish-brown, often tinged red on the side exposed to sunlight; it can be either apple-shaped (f. "pomifera" (Hayne) Rehder) or pear-shaped (f. "pyrifera" (Hayne) Rehder).


Ecology.

White willows are fast-growing, but relatively short-lived, being susceptible to several diseases, including watermark disease caused by the bacterium "Brenneria salicis" (named because of the characteristic 'watermark' staining in the wood; syn. "Erwinia salicis") and willow anthracnose, caused by the fungus "Marssonina salicicola". These diseases can be a serious problem on trees grown for timber or ornament.  It readily forms natural hybrids with crack willow "Salix fragilis", the hybrid being named "Salix "×" rubens" Schrank.

Varieties, cultivars and hybrids.

A number of cultivars and hybrids have been selected for forestry and horticultural use:

Uses.

The wood is tough, strong, and light in weight, but has minimal resistance to decay. The stems (withies) from coppiced and pollarded plants are used for basket-making. Charcoal made from the wood was important for gunpowder manufacture. The bark tannin was used in the past for tanning leather. The wood is used to make cricket bats. "S. alba" wood has a low density and a lower transverse compressive strength. This allows the wood to bend, which is why it can be used to make baskets. Willow bark contains indole-3-butyric acid, which is a plant hormone stimulating root growth; willow trimmings are sometimes used to clone rootstock in place of commercially synthesized root stimulator. It is also used for ritual purposes by Jews on the holiday of Sukkot.

Medicinal uses.

Hippocrates, Galen, Pliny the Elder and others believed willow bark could ease aches and pains and reduce fevers. It has long been used in Europe and China for the attempted treatment of these conditions. This remedy is also mentioned in texts from ancient Egypt, Sumer, and Assyria. The first "clinical trial" was reported by Reverend Edward Stone, a vicar from Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire, England, in 1763 with a successful treatment of malarial fever with the willow bark. The bark is often macerated in ethanol to produce a tincture.  The active extract of the bark, called salicin, after the Latin name "Salix", was isolated to its crystalline form in 1828 by Henri Leroux, a French pharmacist, and Raffaele Piria, an Italian chemist, who then succeeded in separating out the acid in its pure state. Salicylic acid, like aspirin, is a chemical derivative of salicin.

Salix alba, the white willow, is a species of willow native to Europe and western and central Asia. The name derives from the white tone to the undersides of the leaves.


Description.

Chives are a bulb-forming herbaceous perennial plant, growing to tall. The bulbs are slender, conical, long and broad, and grow in dense clusters from the roots. The scapes (or stems) are hollow and tubular, up to long and across, with a soft texture, although, prior to the emergence of a flower, they may appear stiffer than usual. The grass-like leaves, which are shorter than the scapes, are also hollow and tubular, or terete, (round in cross-section) which distinguishes it at a glance from garlic chives ("Allium tuberosum"). The flowers are pale purple, and star-shaped with six petals, wide, and produced in a dense inflorescence of 10-30 together; before opening, the inflorescence is surrounded by a papery bract. The seeds are produced in a small, three-valved capsule, maturing in summer. The herb flowers from April to May in the southern parts of its habitat zones and in June in the northern parts.  Chives are the only species of "Allium" native to both the New and the Old Worlds. Sometimes, the plants found in North America are classified as "A. schoenoprasum" var. "sibiricum", although this is disputed. Differences between specimens are significant. One example was found in northern Maine growing solitary, instead of in clumps, also exhibiting dingy grey flowers.  Although chives are repulsive to insects in general, due to their sulfur compounds, their flowers attract bees, and they are at times kept to increase desired insect life.

Taxonomy.

It was formally described by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in his seminal publication "Species Plantarum" in 1753.  The name of the species derives from the Greek σχοίνος, "skhoínos" (sedge or rush) and πράσον, "práson" (leek). Its English name, chives, derives from the French word "cive", from "cepa", the Latin word for onion. In the Middle Ages, it was known as 'rush leek'.  It has two known subspecies; "Allium schoenoprasum" subsp. "gredense" and "Allium schoenoprasum" subsp. "latiorifolium"

Distribution and habitat.

Chives are native to temperate areas of Europe, Asia and North America.

Range.

It is found in Asia within the Caucasus (in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia), also in China, Iran, Iraq, Japan (within the provinces of Hokkaido and Honshu), Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Russian Federation (within the provinces of Kamchatka, Khabarovsk, and Primorye) Siberia and Turkey.  In middle Europe, it is found within Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Switzerland. In northern Europe, in Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. In southeastern Europe, within Bulgaria, Greece, Italy and Romania. It is also found in southwestern Europe, in France, Portugal and Spain.  In North America, it is found in Canada (within the provinces and territories of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nunavut, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Yukon), and the United States (within the states of Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming).

Uses.

Culinary arts.

Chives are grown for their scapes and leaves, which are used for culinary purposes as a flavoring herb, and provide a somewhat milder onion-like flavor than those of other "Allium" species.  Chives have a wide variety of culinary uses, such as in traditional dishes in France, Sweden, and elsewhere. In his 1806 book "Attempt at a Flora" ("Försök til en flora"), Retzius describes how chives are used with pancakes, soups, fish, and sandwiches. They are also an ingredient of the "gräddfil" sauce with the traditional herring dish served at Swedish midsummer celebrations. The flowers may also be used to garnish dishes. In Poland and Germany, chives are served with quark. Chives are one of the "fines herbes" of French cuisine, the others being tarragon, chervil and parsley. Chives can be found fresh at most markets year-round, making them readily available; they can also be dry-frozen without much impairment to the taste, giving home growers the opportunity to store large quantities harvested from their own gardens.

Uses in plant cultivation.

Retzius also describes how farmers would plant chives between the rocks making up the borders of their flowerbeds, to keep the plants free from pests (such as Japanese beetles). The growing plant repels unwanted insect life, and the juice of the leaves can be used for the same purpose, as well as fighting fungal infections, mildew, and scab.

Cultivation.

Chives are cultivated both for their culinary uses and their ornamental value; the violet flowers are often used in ornamental dry bouquets. The flowers are also edible and are used in salads, or used to make Blossom vinegars.  Chives thrive in well-drained soil, rich in organic matter, with a pH of 6-7 and full sun. They can be grown from seed and mature in summer, or early the following spring. Typically, chives need to be germinated at a temperature of 15 to 20 °C (60-70 °F) and kept moist. They can also be planted under a cloche or germinated indoors in cooler climates, then planted out later. After at least four weeks, the young shoots should be ready to be planted out. They are also easily propagated by division.  In cold regions, chives die back to the underground bulbs in winter, with the new leaves appearing in early spring. Chives starting to look old can be cut back to about 2–5 cm. When harvesting, the needed number of stalks should be cut to the base. During the growing season, the plant continually regrows leaves, allowing for a continuous harvest.  Chives are susceptible to damage by leek moth larvae, which bore into the leaves or bulbs of the plant.

History and cultural importance.

Chives have been cultivated in Europe since the Middle Ages (fifth until the 15th centuries), although their usage dates back 5000 years. They were sometimes referred to as "rush leeks".  It was mentioned in 80 A.D. by Marcus Valerius Martialis in his "Epigrams". The Romans believed chives could relieve the pain from sunburn or a sore throat. They believed eating chives could increase blood pressure and act as a diuretic.  Romani have used chives in fortune telling. Bunches of dried chives hung around a house were believed to ward off disease and evil.  In the 19th century, Dutch farmers fed cattle on the herb to give a different taste to milk.

Chives, scientific name Allium schoenoprasum, is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaryllidaceae that produces edible leaves and flowers. Their close relatives include the common onions, garlic, shallot, leek, scallion, and Chinese onion.


Description.

It is a deciduous shrub or small tree, reaching a height of, rarely to 13 m.  The leaves are 3–12 cm long and from 2–8 cm wide, broader than most other willows.  The flowers are soft silky, and silvery 3-7-cm-long catkins are produced in early spring before the new leaves appear; the male and female catkins are on different plants (dioecious). The male catkins mature yellow at pollen release, the female catkins mature pale green.  The fruit is a small capsule 5–10 mm long containing numerous minute seeds embedded in fine, cottony hairs. The seeds are very small (about 0.2 mm) with the fine hairs aiding dispersal; they require bare soil to germinate.  The two varieties are:  The scientific name, and the common name goat willow, probably derive from the first known illustration of the species in Hieronymus Bock's 1546 "Herbal", where the plant is shown being browsed by a goat. The species was historically also widely used as a browse for goats, to which Bock's illustration may refer.

Ecology.

"S. caprea" occurs both in wet/damp environments, such as riverbanks and lake shores, and in drier sites, wherever bare soil becomes available due to ground disturbance.  Hybrids with several other willow species are common, notably with "Salix cinerea" ("S. × reichardtii"), "Salix aurita" ("S. × multinervis"), "Salix viminalis" ("S. × smithiana"), and "Salix purpurea" ("S. × sordida"). Populations of "S. caprea" often show hybrid introgression.  Unlike almost all other willows, pure specimens do not take root readily from cuttings; if a willow resembling the species does root easily, it is probably a hybrid with another species of willow.  The leaves are used as a food resource by several species of Lepidoptera, and are also commonly eaten by browsing mammals. Willows are very susceptible to gall inducers, and the midge "Rhabdophaga rosaria" forms the camellia gall on "S. caprea".

Cultivation and uses.

A small number of cultivars have been selected for garden use. The most common is "S. caprea" 'Kilmarnock', discovered by James Smith, with stiffly pendulous shoots forming a mop-head; it is a male clone. A similar female clone is "S. caprea" 'Weeping Sally'. As they do not form a leader, they are grafted on erect stems of other willows; the height of these cultivars is determined by the height at which the graft is made. Plants can also be grown from greenwood cuttings, which make attractive creeping mounds. Hardwood cuttings are often difficult to root.  Both tannin and salicin can be extracted from goat willow bark. The tree is not considered a good source of timber, as its wood is both brittle and known to crackle violently if burned.  As with the closely related "Salix discolor" (American pussy willow), it is also often grown for cut flowers. See Pussy willow for further cultural information, which apply to both species.  In Scandinavia it has been fairly common to make willow flutes from goat willow cuttings.  In Germany, Hungary, north of Slovakia, Poland and Ukraine, the just opened catkins, are used like the olive branches on Palm Sunday.

Salix caprea, known as goat willow, pussy willow or great sallow, is a common species of willow native to Europe and western and central Asia.


Anatomy.

Skeleton.

The skeleton is cartilaginous. The notochord is gradually replaced by a vertebral column during development, except in Holocephali, where the notochord stays intact. In some deepwater sharks, the column is reduced.  As they do not have bone marrow, red blood cells are produced in the spleen and the epigonal organ (special tissue around the gonads, which is also thought to play a role in the immune system). They are also produced in the Leydig's organ, which is only found in certain cartilaginous fishes. The subclass Holocephali, which is a very specialized group, lacks both the Leydig's and epigonal organs.

Appendages.

Apart from electric rays, which have a thick and flabby body, with soft, loose skin, chondrichthyans have tough skin covered with dermal teeth (again, Holocephali is an exception, as the teeth are lost in adults, only kept on the clasping organ seen on the caudal ventral surface of the male), also called placoid scales (or "dermal denticles"), making it feel like sandpaper. In most species, all dermal denticles are oriented in one direction, making the skin feel very smooth if rubbed in one direction and very rough if rubbed in the other.  Originally, the pectoral and pelvic girdles, which do not contain any dermal elements, did not connect. In later forms, each pair of fins became ventrally connected in the middle when scapulocoracoid and puboischiadic bars evolved. In rays, the pectoral fins are connected to the head and are very flexible.  One of the primary characteristics present in most sharks is the heterocercal tail, which aids in locomotion.

Body covering.

Chondrichthyans have toothlike scales called dermal denticles or placoid scales. Denticles usually provide protection, and in most cases, streamlining. Mucous glands exist in some species, as well.  It is assumed that their oral teeth evolved from dermal denticles that migrated into the mouth, but it could be the other way around, as the teleost bony fish "Denticeps clupeoides" has most of its head covered by dermal teeth (as does, probably, "Atherion elymus", another bony fish). This is most likely a secondary evolved characteristic, which means there is not necessarily a connection between the teeth and the original dermal scales.  The old placoderms did not have teeth at all, but had sharp bony plates in their mouth. Thus, it is unknown whether the dermal or oral teeth evolved first. It has even been suggested that the original bony plates of "all" vertebrates are now gone and that the present scales are just modified teeth, even if both the teeth and body armor had a common origin a long time ago. However, there is currently no evidence of this.

Respiratory system.

All chondrichthyans breathe through five to seven pairs of gills, depending on the species. In general, pelagic species must keep swimming to keep oxygenated water moving through their gills, whilst demersal species can actively pump water in through their spiracles and out through their gills. However, this is only a general rule and many species differ.  A spiracle is a small hole found behind each eye. These can be tiny and circular, such as found on the nurse shark ("Ginglymostoma cirratum"), to extended and slit-like, such as found on the wobbegongs (Orectolobidae). Many larger, pelagic species, such as the mackerel sharks (Lamnidae) and the thresher sharks (Alopiidae), no longer possess them.

Nervous system.

Chondrichthyes nervous system is composed of a small brain, 8-10 pairs of cranial nerves, and a spinal chord with spinal nerves. They have several sensory organs which provide information to be processed. Ampullae of Lorenzini are a network of small jelly filled pores called electroreceptors which help the fish sense electric fields in water. This aids in finding prey, navigation, and sensing temperature. The Lateral line system has modified epithelial cells located externally which sense motion, vibration, and pressure in the water around them. Most species have large well-developed eyes. Also, they have very powerful nostrils and olfactory organs. Their inner ears consist of 3 large semicircular canals which aid in balance and orientation. Their sound detecting apparatus has limited range and is typically more powerful at lower frequencies. Some species have electric organs which can be used for defense and predation. They have relatively simple brains with the forebrain not greatly enlarged. The structure and formation of myelin in their nervous systems are nearly identical to that of tetrapods, which has led evolutionary biologists to believe that Chondrichthyes were a cornerstone group in the evolutionary timeline of myelin development.

Immune system.

Like all other jawed vertebrates, members of Chondrichthyes have an adaptive immune system.

Reproduction.

Fertilization is internal. Development is usually live birth (ovoviviparous species) but can be through eggs (oviparous). Some rare species are viviparous. There is no parental care after birth; however, some chondrichthyans do guard their eggs.  Capture-induced premature birth and abortion (collectively called capture-induced parturition) occurs frequently in sharks/rays when fished. Capture-induced parturition is often mistaken for natural birth by recreational fishers and is rarely considered in commercial fisheries management despite being shown to occur in at least 12% of live bearing sharks and rays (88 species to date).

Classification.

The class Chondrichthyes has two subclasses: the subclass Elasmobranchii (sharks, rays, skates, and sawfish) and the subclass Holocephali (chimaeras). To see the full list of the species, click here.

Evolution.

Cartilaginous fish are considered to have evolved from acanthodians. Originally assumed to be closely related to bony fish or a polyphyletic assemblage leading to both groups, the discovery of "Entelognathus" and several examinations of acanthodian characteristics indicate that bony fish evolved directly from placoderm like ancestors, while acanthodians represent a paraphyletic assemblage leading to Chondrichthyes. Some characteristics previously thought to be exclusive to acanthodians are also present in basal cartilaginous fish. In particular, new phylogenetic studies find cartilaginous fish to be well nested among acanthodians, with "Doliodus" and "Tamiobatis" being the closest relatives to Chondrichthyes. Recent studies vindicate this, as "Doliodus" had a mosaic of chondrichthyian and acanthodiian traits.  Dating back to the Middle and Late Ordovician Period, many isolated scales, made of dentine and bone, have a structure and growth form that is chondrichthyan-like. They may be the remains of stem-chondrichthyans, but their classification remains uncertain.  The earliest unequivocal fossils of cartilaginous fishes first appeared in the fossil record by about 430 million years ago, during the middle Wenlock Epoch of the Silurian period. The radiation of elasmobranches in the chart on the right is divided into the taxa: "Cladoselache", Eugeneodontiformes, Symmoriida, Xenacanthiformes, Ctenacanthiformes, Hybodontiformes, Galeomorphi, Squaliformes and Batoidea.  By the start of the Early Devonian, 419 million years ago, jawed fishes had divided into three distinct groups: the now extinct placoderms (a paraphyletic assemblage of ancient armoured fishes), the bony fishes, and the clade that includes spiny sharks and early cartilaginous fish. The modern bony fishes, class Osteichthyes, appeared in the late Silurian or early Devonian, about 416 million years ago. The first abundant genus of shark, "Cladoselache", appeared in the oceans during the Devonian Period. The first Cartilaginous fishes evolved from "Doliodus"-like spiny shark ancestors.  A Bayesian analysis of molecular data suggests that the Holocephali and Elasmoblanchii diverged in the Silurian () and that the sharks and rays/skates split in the Carboniferous ().

Taxonomy.

Subphylum Vertebrata

Chondrichthyes (; from Greek χονδρ- "chondr-" 'cartilage', ἰχθύς "ichthys" 'fish') is a class that contains the cartilaginous fishes: they are jawed vertebrates with paired fins, paired nares, scales, a heart with its chambers in series, and skeletons made of cartilage rather than bone. The class is divided into two subclasses: Elasmobranchii (sharks, rays, skates, and sawfish) and Holocephali (chimaeras, sometimes called ghost sharks, which are sometimes separated into their own class).


History.

The Wuppertaler Schwebebahn had a forerunner: in 1824, Henry Robinson Palmer of Britain presented a railway system which differed from all previous constructions. It was a low single-rail suspension railway on which the carriages were drawn by horses. Friedrich Harkort, a Prussian industrial entrepreneur and politician, loved the idea. He saw big advantages for the transportation of coal to the early industrialised region in and around the Wupper valley. Harkort had his own steel mill in Elberfeld; he built a demonstration segment of the Palmer system and set it up in 1826 on the grounds of what is today the Wuppertal tax office. He tried to attract public attention to his railway plans.  On 9 September 1826, the town councillors of Elberfeld met to discuss the use of a "Palmer's Railway" from the Ruhr region, Hinsbeck or Langenberg, to the Wupper valley, Elberfeld, connecting Harkort's factories. Friedrich Harkort inspected the projected route with a surveyor and a member of the town council. The plans never went ahead because of protests from the transport branch and owners of mills that were not on the routes.  In 1887 the cities of Elberfeld and Barmen formed a commission for the construction of an elevated railway or '. In 1894 they chose the system of the engineer Eugen Langen of Cologne, and in 1896 the order was licensed by the City of Düsseldorf. In 2003, the Rhine Heritage Office (' or LVR) announced the discovery of an original section of the test route of the Schwebebahn.  Construction on the actual Schwebebahn began in 1898, overseen by the government's master builder, Wilhelm Feldmann. On 24 October 1900, Emperor Wilhelm II participated in a monorail trial run.  In 1901 the railway came into operation. It opened in sections: the line from Kluse to Zoo/Stadion opened on 1 March, the line to the western terminus at Vohwinkel opened on 24 May, while the line to the eastern terminus at Oberbarmen did not open until 27 June 1903. Around of steel were used to produce the supporting frame and the stations. The construction cost 16 million gold marks. The railway was closed owing to severe damage during World War II, but reopened as early as 1946.

Modernization.

The Schwebebahn nowadays carries approximately 80,000 passengers through the city per weekday. Since 1997, the supporting frame has been largely modernized, and many stations have been reconstructed and brought up to date technically. Kluse station, at the theatre in Elberfeld, had been destroyed during the Second World War. This was also reconstructed during the modernization-phase. Work was planned to be completed in 2001; however a serious accident took place in 1999 which left five people dead and 47 injured. This, along with delivery problems, delayed completion. By 2004, the cost of the reconstruction work had increased from €380 million to €480 million.  On 15 December 2009, the Schwebebahn suspended its operations for safety concerns; several of the older support structures needed to be renewed, a process that was completed on 19 April 2010.  In 2012, the Schwebebahn was closed for significant periods to upgrade the line. The closing times were 7 to 21 July, 6 August to 22 October and weekends in September (15/16) and November (10/11). The modernization was completed and the line fully reopened on 19 August 2013.

Post 2015 trains replacement.

On 10 November 2011, "" signed a contract with Vossloh Kiepe to supply a new fleet of Generation 15 or GTW 15 trains to gradually replace the ageing GTW 72 fleet. The 31 new articulated cars were assembled by Vossloh España in Valencia, Spain, featuring a light blue livery and having cushioned seating, air conditioning, information displays, LED lights, improved disabled access and induction motors with energy recovery during braking. The first new train was commissioned by WSW in 2015 and entered regular passenger service on 18 December 2016, at which point the line's power supply voltage was raised from 600 to 750 V.  The GTW 72 stock was gradually withdrawn from service as the new trains were introduced, the last of which operated immediately prior to the line's shutdown in November 2018. WSW announced it would not scrap any of the GTW 72 stock, but instead offer 21 of the vehicles for sale and three for free, as long as they remained in the city of Wuppertal.

Technology.

The cars are suspended from a single rail built underneath a supporting steel frame. The cars hang on wheels which are driven by multiple electric motors operating at 750 volts DC, fed from a live rail below the running rail.  Until August 2019, the Schwebebahn used block signalling like other light- and heavy rail systems. Signals with red, green and yellow lights, present at every station, signalled the driver if the next block, usually continuing until the next station, was free or not. The yellow aspect was mostly used to warn about construction work ahead, while a blinking red light warned about more severe problems.  Today, the Schwebebahn uses the European Train Control System, allowing for shorter distances between trains.  The supporting frame and tracks are made out of 486 pillars and bridgework sections. When the line was originally built, Anton Rieppel, head of MAN-Werk Gustavsburg, designed the structural system, which he patented. At each end of the line is a servicing depot, including a loop of track to allow the trains to be turned around.  The current fleet consists of 31 articulated cars. The cars are 24 metres long and have 4 doors. One carriage can seat 48 with approximately 130 standing passengers. The top speed is and the average speed is.  The "" (Emperor's car), the original train used by Emperor Wilhelm II during a test ride on 24 October 1900, is still operated on scheduled excursion services, special occasions and for charter events.

In popular culture.

Literature.

The Schwebebahn is alluded to in Theodor Herzl's 1902 utopian novel "" ("The Old New Land"). For Herzl, the Schwebebahn was the ideal form of urban transport, and he imagined a large monorail built in its style in Haifa.

Film.

A sequence in Lyrical Nitrate, using film from between 1905 and 1915, features the Schwebebahn. Rüdiger Vogler and Yella Rottländer use images of the Schwebebahn in Wim Wenders's 1974 movie "Alice in the Cities" ('). It also appears in the 1992 Dutch movie "The Sunday Child" ("De Zondagsjongen") by Pieter Verhoeff, in Tom Tykwer's 2000 film "The Princess and the Warrior" (') and as a background and to a number of outdoor dance choreographies in another Wim Wenders film – 2011's "Pina", and some dances are set inside the cars.  The Schwebebahn is both subject and title of video work by the Turner Prize-nominated artist Darren Almond. Produced in 1995, Schwebebahn is the first of three videos that constitute his Train Trilogy.

Other fiction.

Some of the events in, a Belgian in the "Yoko Tsuno" series, take place in the "".  The denouement of the episode of the 1972 ITC TV series "The Adventurer" called "I'll Get There Sometime" takes place on the railway.

The Wuppertaler Schwebebahn ("Wuppertal Suspension Railway") is a suspension railway in Wuppertal, Germany. Its full name is "Anlage einer elektrischen Hochbahn (Schwebebahn), System Eugen Langen" ("Electric Elevated Railway (Suspension Railway) Installation, Eugen Langen System"). It is the oldest electric elevated railway with hanging cars in the world and is a unique system.


Unit symbol.

There is no single internationally agreed symbol, with several symbols in use.

History.

The word mile is from the Latin word for a thousand paces: mille passus. Navigation at sea was done by eye until around 1500 when navigational instruments were developed and cartographers began using a coordinate system with parallels of latitude and meridians of longitude.  By the late 16th century, Englishmen knew that the ratio of distances at sea to degrees were constant along any great circle such as the equator or any meridian, assuming that Earth was a sphere. Robert Hues wrote in 1594 that the distance along a great circle was 60 miles per degree, that is, one nautical mile per arcminute. Edmund Gunter wrote in 1623 that the distance along a great circle was 20 leagues per degree. Thus, Hues explicitly used nautical miles while Gunter did not.  Since the Earth is not a perfect sphere but is an oblate spheroid with slightly flattened poles, a minute of latitude is not constant, but about 1861 metres at the poles and 1843 metres at the Equator. France and other metric countries state that in principle a nautical mile is an arcminute of a meridian at a latitude of 45°, but that is a modern justification for a more mundane calculation that was developed a century earlier. By the mid 19th century France had defined a nautical mile via the original 1791 definition of the metre, one ten-millionth of a quarter meridian. Thus became the metric length for a nautical mile. France made it legal for the French Navy in 1906, and many metric countries voted to sanction it for international use at the 1929 International Hydrographic Conference.  Both the United States and the United Kingdom used an average arcminute, specifically, a minute of arc of a great circle of a sphere having the same surface area as the Clarke 1866 ellipsoid. The "authalic" (equal area) radius of the Clarke 1866 ellipsoid is. The resulting arcminute is. The United States chose five significant digits for its nautical mile, 6080.2 feet, whereas the United Kingdom chose four significant digits for its Admiralty mile, 6080 feet.  In 1929, the international nautical mile was defined by the First International Extraordinary Hydrographic Conference in Monaco as exactly 1,852 metres. The United States did not adopt the international nautical mile until 1954. Britain adopted it in 1970, but legal references to the obsolete unit are now converted to 1853 metres.

Similar definitions.

The metre was originally defined as of the length of the meridian arc from the North pole to the equator, thus one kilometre of distance corresponds to one centigrad of latitude. The Earth's circumference is therefore approximately 40,000 km. The equatorial circumference is slightly longer than the polar circumference – the measurement based on this ( = 1855.3 metres) is known as the geographical mile.

A nautical mile is a unit of measurement used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as one minute ( of a degree) of latitude along any line of longitude. Today the international nautical mile is defined as exactly 1852 metres (about 1.15 miles). The derived unit of speed is the knot, one nautical mile per hour.


Life.

Silvio Gesell's mother was Walloon and his father was German, originally from Aachen, who worked as a clerk in the then-Prussian district of Malmedy, now part of Belgium. Silvio was the seventh of nine children.  After visiting the public Bürgerschule in Sankt Vith, he attended Gymnasium in Malmedy. Being forced to pay for his living expenses from an early age, he decided against attending a university and worked for the "Deutsche Reichspost", the postal system of the German Empire. Dissatisfied, he began an apprenticeship to his merchant brother in Berlin. Then he lived in Málaga, Spain for two years, working as a correspondent. He then returned to Berlin involuntarily to complete his military service. After this, he worked as a merchant in Brunswick and Hamburg.  In 1887, Gesell relocated to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he opened a franchise of his brother's business. The 1890 depression in Argentina, which hurt his business considerably, caused him to think about the structural problems caused by the monetary system. In 1891, he released his first writing on this topic: "Die Reformation des Münzwesens als Brücke zum sozialen Staat" ("The Reformation of the Monetary System as a Bridge to a Social State"). He then wrote "Nervus Rerum" and "The Nationalization of Money". He gave his business to his brother and returned to Europe in 1892.  After a stay in Germany, Gesell relocated to Les Hauts-Geneveys in the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel. He farmed in order to support himself while continuing his economic studies. In 1900, he created the magazine "Geld- und Bodenreform" ("Monetary and Land Reform"), but it failed in 1903 for financial reasons.  From 1907 to 1911, Gesell was in Argentina again, then he returned to Germany and lived in the vegetarian commune "Obstbausiedlung Eden", which was founded by Franz Oppenheimer in Oranienburg, north of Berlin. There, he founded the magazine "Der Physiokrat" together with Georg Blumenthal. It folded in 1914 due to censorship as World War I began.  In 1915, Gesell left Germany to return to his farm in Les Hauts-Geneveys. In 1919, he was asked to join the Bavarian Soviet Republic by Ernst Niekisch. The republic offered him a seat on the Socialization Commission and then appointed him the People's Representative for Finances. Gesell chose the Swiss mathematician Theophil Christen and the economist Ernst Polenske as his assistants and immediately wrote a law for the creation of Freigeld, a currency system he had developed. His term of office lasted only seven days. After the violent end of the Bavarian Soviet Republic, Gesell was detained for several months until being acquitted of treason by a Munich court. Because of his participation with the Soviet Republic, Switzerland denied him return to his farm in Neuchâtel.  Gesell then relocated first to Nuthetal, Potsdam-Mittelmark, then back to Oranienburg. After another brief stay in Argentina during 1924, he returned to Oranienburg in 1927. There, he died of pneumonia on 11 March 1930.  He promoted his ideas in German and in Spanish.  Villa Gesell, a seaside town in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina was founded by his son, Don Carlos Idaho Gesell, who named it after his father.

Economic philosophy.

Gesell considered himself a world citizen and was inspired by Henry George to believe that the earth should belong to all people, regardless of race, gender, class, wealth, religion, or age and that borders should be made obsolete. But his land reform proposal was different from Georgism. He believed that taxes could not solve the problem of rent on land, as taxes could be transferred to tenants. He thought we must abolish the private ownership of land and put free-land reform, a sort of public lease of land, into effect.  According to Silvio Gesell, it is not effective to establish welfare systems without abolishing private ownership of land because the proceeds of the labor of workers are determined by the proceeds of labor that they can obtain on free land. The benefits gained by the welfare system are not to increase the proceeds of labor that workers can obtain on free land, but rather to increase the proceeds of labor that they can obtain on the lands of landowners. Private ownership of land converts all the advantages of using one's land into cash and it belongs to the landowner. In order not to cancel the effects of welfare policies, Silvio Gesell's Free-Land reform is needed.  Gesell based his economic thought on the self-interest of individuals, which he saw as a "natural" and healthy motive, in satisfying their needs and being productive. Gesell believed that an economic system must do justice to individual proclivities; otherwise the system would fail. He believed that this stance put him in opposition to Marxism, which, Gesell considered, proposed an economic system that was against human nature.  Believing that the talent and selfishness of individuals must be taken into account, Gesell called for free, fair business competition, with equal chances for all. This included the removal of all legal and inherited privilege. Everyone should rely only on their abilities to make a living. In the "natural economic order" which Gesell recommended, the most talented people would have the greatest income, without distortion by interest and rent charges. The economic status of the less-talented would improve because they would not be forced to pay interest and rent charges. According to Gesell, this would result in less difference between the poor and the rich. Furthermore, greater average incomes would mean that the poor would have a greater chance of escaping poverty, in part because other poor people would have greater disposable income and spending power.  Some regard Gesell's idea as a negative interest rate policy. The difference between them is that, with the free-money reforms of Gesell, hoarding money becomes impossible because the face-value of money is depreciated regularly. This forces the circulation of money. With negative interest, on the contrary, there is the possibility of hoarding money because the face value of money is constant and people can use their money as a means of saving. For example, Japan's negative interest rates are driving up the sales of safes and strongboxes.  Gesell denied value theory in economics. He thought that value theory is useless and prevents economics from becoming science and that a currency administration guided by value theory is doomed to sterility and inactivity.

Opinions of Gesell.

Some opinions about Gesell:

Silvio Gesell (; 17 March 1862 – 11 March 1930) was a German merchant, theoretical economist, social activist, Georgist, anarchist, libertarian socialist, and founder of Freiwirtschaft. In 1900 he founded the magazine "Geld-und Bodenreform" ("Monetary and Land Reform"), but it soon closed for financial reasons. During one of his stays in Argentina, where he lived in a vegetarian commune, Gesell started the magazine "Der Physiokrat" together with Georg Blumenthal. In 1914, it closed due to censorship.


Description.

Geraniaceae are herbs or subshrubs. The "Sarcocaulon" are succulent, but other members of the family generally are not.  Leaves are usually lobed or otherwise divided, sometimes peltate, opposite or alternate and usually have stipules.  The flowers are generally regular, or symmetrical. They are hermaphroditic, actinomorphic (radially symmetrical, like in "Geranium") or slightly zygomorphic (with a bilateral symmetry, like in "Pelargonium"). The calyx and the corolla are both pentamerous (with five lobes), petals are free while sepals are connate or united at the base. The androecium consists in two whorls of five stamens each, some of which can be unfertile; the pistil consists of five (less commonly three) merged carpels. The linear stigmas are free, and the ovary is superior. The nectaries are localised at the bases of the antesepalous stamens and are formed by the receptacle. "Pelargonium" has only one nectary gland on the adaxial side of the flower. It is hidden in a tube-like cavity which is formed by the receptacle. Flower morphology is conserved within Geraniaceae, but there is a large diversity in floral architecture. Flowers are usually grouped in cymes (e.g. in "Geranium"), umbels (e.g. in "Pelargonium") or, more rarely, spikes.  "Geraniaceae" are normally pollinated by insects, but self-pollination is not uncommon.  The fruit is a unique schizocarp made of five (or three) achenes, in the lower part the achenes are inside the calyx, while the upper part (the stylar beak) is the style of the flower, looking like a kind of long beak over the achenes. When the fruit is mature the style breaks into five (or three) hygroscopically active (ready to absorb water) bristles that curl, causing the achenes to be released.

Differences between the genera.

"California" lacks filaments without anthers (called staminodes), but the lower half of the five fertile stamens is made much wider by a wing with a rounded top on each side of the narrow higher part of the filament that carries an anther. "Geranium" only has ten fertile stamens without wings and lacks staminodes, except for "G. pusillum" that only has five stamens. "Monsonia" only has fifteen fertile stamens, which are merged at their base into a ring or merged at their base in trios with the middle filament longer than the others, except for "M. brevirostrata" with only five stamens. "Erodium" has five staminodes and five fertile stamens, without wings. "Pelargonium" has ten filaments without wings, between two and seven of which are topped by anthers, while the remaining three to eight are staminodes lacking anthers, but it can easily be distinguished by having only one narrow tube-like nectary inside what looks like the flowerstalk.

Taxonomy.

Geraniaceae and Francoaceae are the two families included in the order Geraniales under the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) classification (APG IV). There has been some uncertainty in the number of genera to be included. Stevens gives seven genera listed here, while Christenhusz and Byng state five genera.  Stevens also lists four synonyms of "Geranium": "Geraniopsis" "Neurophyllodes" "Robertianum" "Robertiella"  "Hypseocharis", with between one and three species, which comes from the south-west Andean region of South America, is considered the sister to the rest of the family. Some authors separate "Hyspeocharis" as a monogeneric family Hypseocharitaceae, while older sources placed it in the Oxalidaceae. The genus "Rhynchotheca" has also been separated into the Vivianiaceae.  The Geraniaceae have a number of genetic features unique amongst angiosperms, including highly rearranged plastid genomes differing in gene content, order and expansion of the inverted repeat.

Phylogeny.

Recent comparison of DNA-fragments resulted in the following phylogenetic tree.

Distribution and habitat.

Most species are found in temperate or warm temperate regions, though some are tropical. "Pelargonium" has its centre for diversity in the Cape region in South Africa, where there is a striking vegetative and floral variation.

Geraniaceae is a family of flowering plants placed in the order Geraniales. The family name is derived from the genus "Geranium". The family includes both the genus "Geranium" (the cranesbills, or true geraniums) and the garden plants called geraniums, which modern botany classifies as genus "Pelargonium", along with other related genera.


History.

A precursor to the canal boat lift, able to move full-sized canal boats, was the tub boat lift used in mining, able to raise and lower the 2.5 ton tub boats then in use. An experimental system was in use on the Churprinz mining canal in Halsbrücke near Dresden. It lifted boats using a moveable hoist rather than caissons. The lift operated between 1789 and 1868, and for a period of time after its opening engineer James Green reporting that five had been built between 1796 and 1830. He credited the invention to Dr James Anderson of Edinburgh.  The idea of a boat lift for canals can be traced back to a design based on balanced water-filled caissons in Erasmus Darwin's Commonplace Book (page 58-59) dated 1777–1778  In 1796 an experimental balance lock was designed by James Fussell and constructed at Mells on the Dorset and Somerset Canal, though this project was never completed. A similar design was used for lifts on the tub boat section of the Grand Western Canal entered into operation in 1835 becoming the first non experimental boat lifts in Britain. and pre-dating the Anderton Boat Lift by 40 years.  In 1904 the Peterborough Lift Lock designed by Richard Birdsall Rogers opened in Canada. This high lift system is operated by gravity alone, with the upper bay of the two bay system loaded with an additional of water as to give it greater weight.  Before the construction of the Three Gorges Dam Ship Lift, the highest boat lift, with a height difference and European Class IV (1350 tonne) capacity, was the Strépy-Thieu boat lift in Belgium opened in 2002.  The ship lift at the Three Gorges Dam, completed in January 2016, is high and able to lift vessels of up to 3,000 tons displacement.  The boat lift at Longtan is reported to be even higher in total with a maximum vertical lift of in two stages when completed.

A boat lift, ship lift, or lift lock is a machine for transporting boats between water at two different elevations, and is an alternative to the canal lock and the canal inclined plane.


History.

Early years.

Schwerin is enclosed by lakes. The largest of these lakes, the "Schweriner See", has an area of 60 km. In the middle part of these lakes there was a settlement of the Slavic Obotrite (dated back to the 11th century). The area was called "Zuarin" (Polabian "Zwierzyn"), and the name "Schwerin" is derived from that designation. In 1160, Henry the Lion defeated the Obotrites and captured Schwerin. The town was later expanded into a powerful regional centre. A castle was built on this site, and expanded to become a ducal palace. It is supposedly haunted by the small, impious ghost, called Petermännchen (""Peterman"").  In 1358, Schwerin became a part of the Duchy of Mecklenburg, making it the seat of the duchy from then on. About 1500, the construction of the Schwerin Palace began, as a residence for the dukes. After the division of Mecklenburg (1621), Schwerin became the capital of the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Between 1765 and 1837, the town of Ludwigslust served as the capital, until Schwerin was reinstated.

Recent times.

In the mid-1800s, many residents from Schwerin moved to the United States, many to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Today Milwaukee and Schwerin are sister cities. After 1918, and during the German Revolution, resulting in the fall of all the German monarchies, the Grand Duke abdicated. Schwerin became capital of the Free State of Mecklenburg-Schwerin thereafter.  At the end of World War II, on 2 May 1945, Schwerin was taken by United States troops. It was turned over to the British on 1 June 1945, and one month later, on 1 July 1945, it was handed over to the Soviet forces, as the British and American forces pulled back from the line of contact to the predesignated occupation zones.  Schwerin was then in the Soviet Occupation Zone which was to become the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Initially, it was the capital of the State of Mecklenburg which at that time included the western part of Pomerania (Vorpommern). After the states were dissolved in the GDR, in 1952, Schwerin served as the capital of the Schwerin district (Bezirk Schwerin). After reunification in 1990, the former state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern was recreated as one of the "Bundesländer". Rostock was a serious contender for state capital but the decision went in favour of Schwerin.

Geography.

The urban area of Schwerin is divided into 18 local districts, each with a local council. The districts consist of one or more districts. The local councilors have between 5 and 15 members depending on the number of inhabitants.  They are determined by the city council for the duration of the election period of the city council after each municipal election. The local councilors are to hear important matters concerning the district and have a right of initiative. However, the final decisions are made by the city council of the city as a whole.  The eighteen current districts are the following:  District 1: Schelfstadt, Werdervorstadt, Schelfwerder  District 2: Altstadt (Old Town), Feldstadt, Paulsstadt, Lewenberg  District 3: Grosser Dreesch (former Dreesch I)  District 4: Neu Zippendorf (former Dreesch II)  District 5: Mueßer Holz (former Dreesch III)  District 6: Gartenstadt, Ostorf (formerly Haselholz, Ostorf)  District 7: Lankow  District 8: Weststadt  District 9: Krebsförden  District 10: Wüstmark, Göhrener Tannen  District 11: Görries  District 12: Friedrichsthal  District 13: Neumühle, Sacktannen  District 14: Warnitz  District 15: Wickendorf  Locality 16: Medewege  Locality 17: Zippendorf  Locality 18: Mueß

Twin towns - sister cities.

Schwerin is twinned with:

Transport.

City buses and trams are run by NVS (Nahverkehr Schwerin).  Schwerin Hauptbahnhof (central station) is connected by rail to Berlin, Hamburg and Rostock.

Crime rate.

According to the official 2007 Crime Report for Germany, Schwerin was the only German city with a crime rate over 17,000 total offenses committed per 100,000 inhabitants; thus being 1st in the list of Germany's most dangerous cities. The larger cities, such as Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, or Bremen, all have crime rates ranging from 14,000 to 16,000 total offenses committed per 100,000 people. However, Schwerin is the only city where riding a bus (or tram) without a ticket and social security fraud is counted towards the crime rate, significantly boosting the numbers.

Schwerin (; Mecklenburgian: "Swerin") is the capital and second-largest city of the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It has a population of about 100,000.