The Canary Islands is a Spanish archipelago and the southernmost autonomous community of Spain located in the Atlantic Ocean, 100 kilometres west of Morocco at the closest point. The Canary Islands, which are also known informally as the Canaries, are among the outermost regions (OMR) of the European Union proper. It is also one of the eight regions with special consideration of historical nationality recognized as such by the Spanish Government. The Canary Islands belong to the African Plate like the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla, the two on the African mainland.
The Atlantic canary, known worldwide simply as the wild canary and also called the island canary, canary, or common canary, is a small passerine bird belonging to the genus Serinus in the finch family, Fringillidae. It is native to the Canary Islands, the Azores, and Madeira. Wild birds are mostly yellow-green, with brownish streaking on the back. The species is common in captivity and a number of colour varieties have been bred.
The Boletales are an order of Agaricomycetes containing over 1300 species with a diverse array of fruiting body types. The boletes are the best known members of this group, and until recently, the Boletales were thought to only contain boletes. The Boletales are now known to contain distinct groups of agarics, gasteromycetes, and other fruiting-body types.
Lanzarote is a Spanish island, the northernmost and easternmost of the autonomous Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. It is located approximately 125 kilometres off the north coast of Africa and 1,000 kilometres from the Iberian Peninsula. Covering 845.94 square kilometres, Lanzarote is the fourth-largest of the islands in the archipelago. With 149,183 inhabitants, it is the third most populous Canary Island, after Tenerife and Gran Canaria. Located in the centre-west of the island is Timanfaya National Park, one of its main attractions. The island was declared a biosphere reserve by UNESCO in 1993. The island's capital is Arrecife.
Macaronesia is a collection of four archipelagos in the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the continents of Europe and Africa. Each archipelago is made up of a number of Atlantic oceanic islands formed by seamounts on the ocean floor with peaks above the ocean's surface. The Macaronesian islands belong to three countries: Portugal, Spain, and Cape Verde. Politically, the islands belonging to Portugal and Spain are part of the European Union. Geologically, Macaronesia is part of the African Plate, including the Azores, which mark its edge at the meeting point with the Eurasian and American Plates.
Ceropegia is a genus of plants within the family Apocynaceae, native to Africa, southern Asia, and Australia. It was named by Carl Linnaeus, who first described this genus in volume 1 of his Species plantarum, which appeared in 1753. Linnaeus thought that the flowers looked like a fountain of wax. From this the scientific name was derived: ‘keros’ meaning wax and ‘pege’ meaning fountain. They have many common names including lantern flower, parasol flower, parachute flower, bushman’s pipe, string of hearts, snake creeper, wine-glass vine, rosary vine, and necklace vine.
Limonium is a genus of 120 flowering plant species. Members are also known as sea-lavender, statice, caspia or marsh-rosemary. Despite their common names, species are not related to the lavenders or to rosemary. They are instead in Plumbaginaceae, the plumbago or leadwort family. The generic name is from the Latin līmōnion, used by Pliny for a wild plant and is ultimately derived from the Ancient Greek leimon.
Grosbeak is a form taxon containing various species of seed-eating passerine birds with large beaks. Although they all belong to the superfamily Passeroidea, these birds are not part of a natural group but rather a polyphyletic assemblage of distantly related songbirds. Some are cardueline finches in the family Fringillidae, while others are cardinals in the family Cardinalidae; one is a member of the weaver family Ploceidae. The word "grosbeak", first applied in the late 1670s, is a partial translation of the French grosbec, where gros means "large" and bec means "beak".
The São Tomé grosbeak is the largest member of the canary genus Crithagra, 50% heavier than the next largest canary species, and possesses a massive bill for a member of that genus. It is endemic to the island of São Tomé.
Carl Ernst Otto Kuntze was a German botanist.
Asteriscus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae.
The Gibraltar Botanic Gardens or La Alameda Gardens are a botanical garden in Gibraltar, spanning around 6 hectares. The Rock Hotel lies above the park.
The Albatrellaceae are a family of fungi in the order Russulales. The family contains 9 genera and more than 45 species.
Lysurus mokusin, commonly known as the lantern stinkhorn, the small lizard's claw, or the ribbed lizard claw, is a saprobic species of fungus in the family Phallaceae. The fruit body consists of a reddish, cylindrical fluted stipe that is capped with several "arms". The arms can approach or even close in on each other to form a spire. The gleba—an olive-green slimy spore mass—is carried on the outer surface of the arms. The fruit body, which has an odor comparable to "fresh dog feces", "rotting flesh", or "sewage" when mature, is edible in its immature "egg" stage. The fungus is native to Asia, and is also found in Australia, Europe and North America, where it is probably an introduced species. It has been used medicinally in China as an ulcer remedy.
Clitocybula is a genus of mushroom-forming fungi in the family Marasmiaceae. The genus was circumscribed by Georges Métrod in 1952. Species in the genus are commonly known as "coincaps".
Hydnophlebia is a genus of five species of toothed crust fungi in the family Meruliaceae. All species are wood-decay fungi that cause a white rot.
Laurobasidium is a genus of fungi in the Exobasidiaceae family. The genus contains two species. One is Laurobasidium lauri, found in Europe and described by W. Jülich in 1982, and another is L. hachijoense, found in Hachijō-jima, Japan and described in 1985.
Destuntzia is a genus of truffle-like fungi in the family Gomphaceae. The genus contains five species found in North America. It is named after late American mycologist Daniel Elliot Stuntz.
Fogel Grip was a Swedish sailing ship originally built in the Netherlands in the early 17th century. She was used on the first Swedish expedition in 1638 together with Kalmar Nyckel to establish the colony of New Sweden.
Rose Marie Dähncke is a German mycologist, and popular author of books on foraging and cooking with foraged foods. She is known for studying the mushrooms of La Palma. She has described at least 14 species of fungi, including several in the genera Cystoderma and Lyophyllum. The standard author abbreviation Dähncke is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.
