Brachychiton rupestris in the family Malvaceae, commonly known as the
Queensland bottle tree, is native to Queensland, Australia. Discovered
and described by Sir Thomas Mitchell and John Lindley in 1848, it gained
its name from its bulbous trunk, which can be up to 3.5 metres (11 ft)
diameter at breast height. Reaching 10–25 metres (33–82 ft) high,
the tree is deciduous, losing its leaves between September and December.
Cream flowers appear from September to November, followed by woody boat-
shaped follicles that ripen from November to May. It is an emergent tree
in the endangered central semi-evergreen vine thickets of the Brigalow
Belt. Remnant trees are often left by farmers on cleared land to provide
shade and fodder. As a drought-deciduous succulent tree, the bottle tree
adapts readily to cultivation and is tolerant of a range of soils and
temperatures. It is found planted in streets, parks, and gardens and on
farms. An avenue in Roma, Queensland, was planted between 1918 and 1920,
each tree representing one of 93 local men killed in World War I. The
species is also cultivated as an indoor plant and a bonsai subject.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brachychiton_rupestris>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1724:
Philip V, the first Bourbon ruler of Spain, abdicated in favor
of his eldest son Louis.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_V_of_Spain>
1814:
Sweden and Denmark–Norway signed the Treaty of Kiel, whereby
Frederick VI of Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden in return for the Swedish
holdings in Pomerania.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Kiel>
1943:
Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Charles de Gaulle,
and Henri Giraud (all pictured) met in Casablanca to plan the Allied
European strategy for the next phase of World War II.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casablanca_Conference>
1960:
The Reserve Bank of Australia, the country's central bank and
banknote-issuing authority, was established.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reserve_Bank_of_Australia>
1978:
Austrian logician Kurt Gödel, who suffered from an obsessive
fear of being poisoned, died of starvation after his wife was
hospitalized and unable to cook for him.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_G%C3%B6del>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
scale:
1. Part of an overlapping arrangement of many small, flat and hard pieces
of keratin covering the skin of an animal, particularly a fish or
reptile.
2. A small piece of pigmented chitin, many of which coat the wings of a
butterfly or moth to give them their color.
3. A flake of skin of an animal afflicted with dermatitis.
4. A pine nut of a pinecone.
5. The flaky material sloughed off heated metal.
6. Scale mail (as opposed to chain mail).
7. Limescale.
8. A scale insect.
9. The thin metallic side plate of the handle of a pocketknife. […]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scale>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Let me give you a definition of ethics: It is good to maintain and
further life — it is bad to damage and destroy life. And this ethic,
profound and universal, has the significance of a religion. It is
religion.
--Albert Schweitzer
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Schweitzer>