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

_______________________________ 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

_____________________________ 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

___________________________ 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