Ginkgo biloba
The oldest known living fossil, more than 5,000 years old is native to China. Ginkgo, maidenhair tree, has an average life span of 1,000 years. The oldest trees are serving in the temples of the Chinese's and Japanese Buddhist monks. These trees are considered to be very sacred to their way of life. One of the traditions is the leaves and fruits have been used as a herbal medicine for over a thousand years. The female tree's fruit is a delicacy in food preparation also. Another reason for their stature in civilization is their ability to withstand many outside influences of nature. A tree in Hiroshima survived the atomic bomb of World War II in 1945 on the 6th of August. A 1 km distance from the center of explosion, it was the first to bud in September of the same year. The tree is now known as the "bearer of hope" for the people of Hiroshima. The temple was built around this mighty tree. The front stairs are divided in half to surround and protect the tree. "Engraved on it "No more Hiroshima" and people's prayers for peace." (1) Also in Japan, a shimenawa (cord of rice straw) is tied around the trunk of the tree to keep off evil spirits, showing how sacred these trees are to their civilization.
Ginkgoaceae is dated back to the Paleozoic era. That is over 200 million years ago. The highest diversity of gymnosperms took place during the Cretaceous. The ginkgo was at one point found in numerous places in the world. Fossil records show a decline in the trees around the Tertiary. This is thought to be because of the extinction of dinosaurs, which were the main distributors of the seeds. The first mention in Chinese herbal medicine was during the Ming dynasty in 1436. Ginkgo is recorded as being introduced to the U.S. in 1784. It is considered to be the sole living link between the ferns and conifers. However two species, Ginkgoites and Baiera, of the genera ginkgo are extinct. Ginkgo biloba is the only living species. Although, one of the species thought extinct was found in Vantage, Washington near the Columbia River Gorge. The ginkgo beckii, after George Beck, lives in the Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park.
Structure
Ginkgo can grow to be 20 to 30 meters in height and 9 meters wide with a trunk size up to 4 meters.
... The oil within the nut was highly valued because it burns extremely well and the nut itself would be used as candle. This is why the kukui tree is known as the candlenut tree (White). This plant has such an extensive range of uses that must have made it very valuable to the native Hawaiians.
remember our sacred connections, to transform that hollow tree into the sacred tree it was
Symbolism plays a key role in the novella in allowing the author to relay his political ideals. In The King of Trees, Cheng uses many elements of nature to represent both revolutionary and counter-revolutionary ideas. The king of trees - and trees in general - throughout the novella is a symbol of counter-revolutionary ideals, and the older Chinese customs. Li Li, and in turn, the followers of Mao Zedong/the Red Guard, believe that “In practical terms, old things must be destroyed” (Cheng 43). This is shown through the felling of the trees – getting rid of the Old Chinese cus...
The American chestnut was not only an important food source for almost all living organisms of the Eastern, North America, but it was very important in providing housing and furniture and numerous other wooden necessities. The tree possessed rot resistant properties and strait grained wood which were valuable in buildings and many other applications. Its enormous trunk rose one-hundred feet into the canopy of the forest. Diameters of five feet have been recorded and many photos of the tree show greater trunk girths. The tree was able to produce its eatable fruit within seven years of germination. It was said to be truly treasured by early Americans.
...l life. By planting the sequoia it allows a memory to life forever even when things around it continue to die.
Twenty years after the invasion, Britain was feeling oppressed by the Roman Empire, none more so than the Iceni tribe. Their late king, Prasutagus, had left the Icenian land to the Romans in his will, but on certain conditions. Upon his death, the Romans took over without abiding by any of these conditions, treating the land as if it was theirs by right of conquest. There was looting and tyranny, the king’s family was abused and the Romans savagely ruled over the Iceni. Another factor in aggravating the Britons was that the occupiers began to recall large loans which had been forced upon unwilling Britons. Some Britons were conscripted into the army, the Roman procurators wanted to extract as much wealth as could be had from the latest addition to the empire.
“They will take him outside Umofia, as is the custom, and kill him there. But I want you to have nothing to do with it. He calls you his father. (57)” This quote explains that Ogbuefi expresses concern for Okonkwo, because the Oracle explains how it would be wrongful of Okonkwo to kill Ikemefuna. “Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak. (61)” This quote portrays that Okonkwo completely disregarded what Ogbuefi and the Oracle cautioned him about, because he was too concerned about his status of what others thought of him. “At last the man was named and people sighed “E-u-u, Ezeudu is dead.” A cold shiver ran down Okonkwo’s back as he remembered the last time the old man had visited him. (121)” At this point in the story, it appears that Okonkwo is starting to realize his wrongdoings, primarily because he takes religion and his spiritual life very seriously, in regards towards the Oracle. Okonkwo begins to lose trust within his family, especially with Nwoye. (As mentioned in the previous paragraph.) In the beginning of the book, Okonkwo relied on Ikemefuna to help Nwoye become more masculine and tough. After Ogbuefi warns Okonkwo about taking part in the murder, Okonkwo thinks about what could happen to him once the gods find out. Once again, Okonkwo lets his emotions
Growing from its humble beginnings as an ash dump in the late 1800's, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden has come to represent today the very best in urban gardening and horticultural display. The Brooklyn Botanical Garden blooms in the middle of one of the largest cities in the world. Each year more than 750,000 people visit the well-manicured formal and informal gardens that are a testament to nature's vitality amidst urban brick and concrete. More than 12,000 kinds of plants from around the globe are displayed on 52 acres and in the acclaimed Steinhardt Conservatory. There's always something new to see. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden offers a variety of public programs all year long. Tours, concerts, dance performances and symposia are always on the roster, as well as special one-time events that feature elements of the Garden at their peak. Each spring the Brooklyn Botanic Garden celebrates the flowering of the Japanese Cherry Trees with our annual Sakura Matsuri (Cherry Blossom Festival), and each fall is spiced up with our multicultural Chili Pepper FiestaA few of the "Many Gardens within a Garden" include the Children's Garden, tended each year by about 450 kids, ages 3 through 18; The Cranford Rose Garden, exhibiting more than 5,000 bushes of nearly 1,200 varieties; The Herb Garden, with more than 300 varieties -- "herbing" is apparently taking the country by storm as people rediscover medicinal, culinary, and other uses; and The Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden, a beautiful creation featuring a Viewing Pavilion, Waiting House, Torri, shrines, bridges, stone lanterns, waterfalls, pond, and miniaturized landscape.
To begin with, Aristotle tells us his meaning of virtues and vices. They are not just any habits that we experience, but the outcome of what we feel as pleasure or pain. A virtuous person feels pleasure at the most beautiful action. A person who is not virtuous will feel their pleasure misleading. the definition of virtue is a behavior showing high moral standards or good characteristics. Virtues comes as a consequence of following the right habits. There are two different types of virtues: Intellectual and moral. To have virtues you have to have intellectual morals. This means you ethically do things on your own, you comprehend what doing, and realizing why you doing it. Aristotle says we can describe virtu...
Okonkwo has a very harsh personality where things need to be done the way he likes it. Okonkwos’s temper has been shown in the novel to get the better of him sometimes and it ends up getting him into trouble. Also Okonkwo has a masculinity complex that makes him feel the need to do anything that doesn’t make him seem feminine, even if that may be to kill somebody like Ikemefuna. The last lines of Ikemefuna in the novel were “My Father, they have killed me!”(Achebe 61) before Okonkwo drew his machete and took Ikemefuna’s life. Okonkwo said that he did this because he didn’t want to seem weak and feminine. Okonkwo was also warned by Ogbuefi Ezeudu not to take part in Ikemefuna’s death but he does it anyway. Okonkwo was also exiled because of an accidental murder of Ogbuefi Ezeudu’s daughter because Okonkwo’s gun went off without him actually shooting it. He had to leave Umofia for seven years and according to Okonkwo, when he left the clan became weak and eventually fell to the Christian...
Life as we know it is full of wonder and mystery. Questions are essential in order for us to discover the world around us and especially understand where we stand in the world. Many philosophers find their inspiration in Aristotle’s work. His work is legendary and his name is known throughout the world. As a philosopher, Aristotle questioned life around him in order to better understand the world and how humans work. One of those various questions included, “What makes a good person?” This question resolves around the theory of virtue ethics. This theory stresses how character and virtue play a major part in moral philosophy. According to Aristotle, someone who has excellent attributes is defined as being virtuous. Both Plato and Aristotle are known as the founding fathers of this theory of virtue. Aristotle is credited more with this theory than Plato. Around the 19th century virtue ethics declined, but resurfaced in the late 1950’s in Anglo-American philosophy. Virtue ethics has risen to prominence once again because of its focus on the virtuous character traits of individuals that help
Unoka, his father, was a man of many debts and was far too lazy to have ambition to one day pay them back. As soon as Okonkwo was of age, he moved away and created a title for himself. He became a great warrior of Umuofia, and gained a seat with the elders. “Okonkwo’s prosperity was visible in his household. He had a large compound… Each of his three wives had her own hut… and long stacks of yam stood out prosperously in it” (Achebe 14). Okonkwo was a man of great fortune, and he stood very proud of this. After returning from his banishment of several years, Okonkwo believed his people would have been thrilled and had a large feast prepared, but they took little notice, as their tribe had been burdened with the white men. Many converted over to Christianity, and one day a convert killed an egwugwu of Umuofia. An egwugwu was seen as an ancestral spirit represented through a man’s
wonderful looking animals are not as large as one might think. Their size range between
Using the measurements from the sassafras tree that were collected outside of lab, two bar graphs were made using this data. The first bar graph (Figure 3) shows the length that each individual branch grew in each year. The second bar graph (Figure 4) shows the cumulative growth of each branch from four years ago to now. The trend in both graphs show an increase from 3 years ago to 2, and then a decrease to the present date.