Dracophyllum fiordense, the Fiordland grass tree, is a tree or shrub endemic to the South Island of New Zealand. A heath, it is 1.5–5.0 metres (5–16 feet) tall and has tufts of distinctive long leaves at the ends of its branches. It has pyramidal flower spikes hidden under each clump of leaves, with over 100 pink flowers on each spike that later produce reddish-brown fruit. It inhabits shrubland, forests, and tussock grassland. Its range is mainly within Fiordland, Aoraki / Mount Cook and Westland Tai Poutini National Parks. D. fiordense was first described by the New Zealand naturalist Walter Oliver in 1928 and placed by him in the subgenus Dracophyllum, in a group with D. menziesii, which genetic sequencing later confirmed. In 2017, it was classed as a declining species. The kākāpō, a flightless bird, feeds on the bases of the leaves by making incisions in new shoots. D. fiordense is likely pollinated by insects and its seeds are dispersed by the wind.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracophyllum_fiordense

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1675:

King Philip's War: The colonial militia of New England and their Pequot allies attacked a Narragansett fort in Rhode Island, killing many warriors and hundreds of non-combatants. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Swamp_Fight

1956:

British physician and suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams was arrested in connection with the death of Edith Alice Morrell. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bodkin_Adams

1985:

Aeroflot Flight 101/435 was hijacked by the co-pilot and landed in a rice field in China, where he was apprehended. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroflot_Flight_101/435

2016:

Andrei Karlov, Russia's ambassador to Turkey, was assassinated at an art gallery in Ankara. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Andrei_Karlov

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

scut: 1. (obsolete) A hare; (hunting, also figuratively) a hare as the game in a hunt. 2. A short, erect tail, as of a hare, rabbit, or deer. 3. (by extension) The buttocks or rump; also, the female pudenda, the vulva. […] 4. (chiefly Ireland, colloquial) A contemptible person. […] 5. (also attributively) Distasteful work; drudgery; specifically (medicine, slang) some menial procedure left for a doctor or medical student to complete, sometimes for training purposes. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scut

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Show me a prison, show me a jail Show me a pris'ner whose face has grown pale And I'll show you a young man With many reasons why There but for fortune, go you or I.   --Phil Ochs https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Phil_Ochs