Banksia grossa is a species of shrub in the plant family Proteaceae
endemic to Southwest Australia. It is one of fourteen species of banksia
of the series Abietinae, all of which bear predominantly round or oval
inflorescences. Collected in 1965, it was described in 1981 by Alex
George. Its thick leaves and large seeds distinguish it from other
members of the Abietinae, and are the basis of its species name. Found
in sand or sand over laterite among heath between Eneabba and
Badgingarra in Western Australia, it grows as a many-stemmed shrub to
1 m (3 ft) high with narrow leaves and oval brownish flower spikes up
to 10 cm (4 in) high, composed of hundreds of individual flowers.
Flowering occurs throughout the cooler months of March to September. Old
flower spikes develop woody follicles which bear the seeds. The plant
takes 5 to 7 years to reach maturity and begin flowering. After
bushfire, Banksia grossa regenerates from its woody lignotuber;
bushfires also stimulate the release of seeds, which germinate after
disturbance. Visitors to (and likely pollinators of) inflorescences
include insects and a nocturnal mammal, the white-tailed dunnart.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banksia_grossa>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
65:
The freedman Milichus betrayed Gaius Calpurnius Piso's plot to
kill the Emperor Nero and all the conspirators were arrested.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pisonian_conspiracy>
1809:
War of the Fifth Coalition: The French won a hard-fought
victory over Austria in Lower Bavaria when their opponents withdrew from
the field of battle that evening.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Teugen-Hausen>
1960:
Students in South Korea held a nationwide pro-democracy protest
against President Syngman Rhee, eventually forcing him to resign.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Revolution>
1984:
Scottish-born composer Peter Dodds McCormick's "Advance
Australia Fair", a patriotic song that was first performed in 1878,
officially replaced "God Save the Queen" as Australia's national anthem.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance_Australia_Fair>
1993:
The 51-day siege of the Mount Carmel Center, the home of the
Branch Davidian religious sect outside Waco, Texas, ended when a fire
broke out, killing over 70 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waco_siege>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
debauch:
1. (transitive) To morally corrupt (someone); to seduce.
2. (transitive) To debase (something); to lower the value of (something).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/debauch>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
 There is a beauty in discovery. There is mathematics in
music, a kinship of science and poetry in the description of nature, and
exquisite form in a molecule. Attempts to place different disciplines in
different camps are revealed as artificial in the face of the unity of
knowledge. All literate men are sustained by the philosopher, the
historian, the political analyst, the economist, the scientist, the
poet, the artisan and the musician.
--Glenn T. Seaborg
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Glenn_T._Seaborg>