Banksia telmatiaea, the swamp fox banksia, is a shrub that grows in
marshes and swamps along the lower west coast of Australia. It is an
upright bush up to 2 m (7 ft) tall, with narrow leaves and a pale
brown flower spike, which can produce profuse quantities of nectar. The
leaves have a green upper surface and white hairy undersurface. First
collected in the 1840s, it was not published as a separate species until
1981; as with several other similar species it was previously included
in B. sphaerocarpa (fox banksia). The shrub grows amongst scrubland in
seasonally wet lowland areas of the coastal sandplain between
Badgingarra and Serpentine in Western Australia. Reports suggest that
it is pollinated by a variety of birds and small mammals, but not much
is known of the ecology or conservation biology of this little-studied
species. Like many members of the series Abietinae, it has not been
considered to have much horticultural potential and is rarely
cultivated.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banksia_telmatiaea>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1883:
The last known quagga (example pictured), a subspecies of the
plains zebra, died at the Natura Artis Magistra zoo in Amsterdam.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quagga>
1914:
World War I: Despite the Belgian victory in the Battle of
Halen, they were ultimately unable to stop the German invasion of
Belgium.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Halen>
1948:
About 600 unarmed Pashtuns in the North-West Frontier Province
of Pakistan, protesting the arrests of the leaders of the Khudai
Khidmatgar movement, were massacred by police and militia forces.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babrra_massacre>
1990:
American paleontologist Sue Hendrickson found the most complete
skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex ever discovered near Faith, South
Dakota, U.S.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sue_%28dinosaur%29>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
juvenile:
1. A prepubescent child.
2. A person younger than the age of majority; a minor.
3. (criminal law) A person younger than the age of full criminal
responsibility, such that the person either cannot be held criminally
liable or is subject to less severe forms of punishment.
4. (literature) A publication for young adult readers.
5. (theater) An actor playing a child's role.
6. (zoology) A sexually immature animal.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/juvenile>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I learned at a very early age that what kind of social system or
political system prevails is very important. Not just for your well-
being, but for your very survival. Because, you know, I could have been
killed by the Nazis. I could have wasted my life under the Communists.
So, that's what led me to this idea of an open society. And that is the
idea that is motivating me.
--George Soros
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Soros>
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