Pinguicula moranensis is a perennial rosette-forming insectivorous herb
native to Mexico and Guatemala. A species of butterwort, it forms summer
rosettes of flat, succulent leaves up to 10 centimeters (4 in) long,
which are covered in mucilaginous (sticky) glands that attract, trap,
and digest arthropod prey. Nutrients derived from the prey are used to
supplement the nutrient-poor substrate in which the plant grows. In the
winter the plant forms a non-carnivorous rosette of small, fleshy leaves
that conserves energy while food and moisture supplies are low. Single
pink, purple, or violet flowers appear twice a year on upright stalks up
to 25 centimeters (10 in) long. The species was first collected by
Humboldt and Bonpland on the outskirts of Mina de Morán in the Sierra
de Pachuca of the modern-day Mexican state of Hidalgo on their Latin
American expedition of 1799–1804. Based on these collections,
Humboldt, Bonpland and Carl Sigismund Kunth described this species in
Nova Genera et Species Plantarum in 1817. It remains the most common and
most widely distributed member of the Section Orcheosanthus, and has
long been cultivated for its carnivorous nature and attractive flowers.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinguicula_moranensis>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1576:
Portuguese explorer Paulo Dias de Novais founded the settlement
of São Paulo da Assumpção de Loanda on the western coast of Africa,
now known as Luanda.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luanda>
1704:
English colonists from the Province of Carolina and their
native allies began a series of brutal raids against a largely pacific
population of Apalachee in Spanish Florida.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apalachee_massacre>
1949:
The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences presented the first
Emmy Awards to honor excellence in the American television industry.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmy_Award>
1993:
Five people were shot outside the Central Intelligence Agency
headquarters in Langley, Virginia, resulting in two deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_shootings_at_CIA_Headquarters>
2010:
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409, en route to Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia, crashed into the Mediterranean Sea shortly after takeoff from
Beirut, Lebanon, killing all 90 people aboard.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_Airlines_Flight_409>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
lose face:
(idiomatic) To lose the respect of others; to be humiliated or
experience public disgrace.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lose_face>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Ye see yon birkie, ca'd a lord, Wha struts, an' stares, an' a' that;
Tho' hundreds worship at his word, He's but a coof for a' that: For a'
that, an' a' that, His ribband, star, an' a' that: The man o'
independent mind He looks an' laughs at a' that. A prince can mak a
belted knight, A marquis, duke, an' a' that; But an honest man's abon
his might, Gude faith, he maunna fa' that! For a' that, an' a' that,
Their dignities an' a' that; The pith o' sense, an' pride o' worth,
Are
higher rank than a' that. Then let us pray that come it may, (As come it
will for a' that,) That Sense and Worth, o'er a' the earth, Shall bear
the gree, an' a' that. For a' that, an' a' that, It's coming yet
for a'
that, That Man to Man, the world o'er, Shall brothers be for a' that.
--Robert Burns
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Burns>