Lettuce is an annual plant of the family Asteraceae mostly grown as a leaf vegetable. The leaves are most often used raw in green salads, although lettuce is also seen in other kinds of food, such as sandwiches, wraps and soups; it can also be grilled. Its stem and seeds are sometimes used; celtuce is one variety grown for its stems, which are eaten either raw or cooked. In addition to its main use as a leafy green, it has also gathered religious and medicinal significance over centuries of human consumption. Europe and North America originally dominated the market for lettuce, but by the late 20th century the consumption of lettuce had spread throughout the world. As of 2021, world production of lettuce was 27 million tonnes, 53 percent of which came from China.
Tilia is a genus of about 30 species of trees or bushes, native throughout most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The tree is known as linden for the European species, and basswood for North American species. In Great Britain and Ireland they are commonly called lime trees, although they are not related to the citrus lime. The genus occurs in Europe and eastern North America, but the greatest species diversity is found in Asia. Under the Cronquist classification system, this genus was placed in the family Tiliaceae, but genetic research summarised by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group has resulted in the incorporation of this genus, and of most of the previous family, into the Fabaceae.
Tilia platyphyllos, the large-leaved lime or large-leaved linden, is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae (Tiliaceae). It is a deciduous tree, native to much of continental Europe as well as southwestern Great Britain, growing on lime-rich soils. The common names largeleaf linden and large-leaved linden are in standard use throughout the English-speaking world except in the British Isles, where it is known as large-leaved lime. The name "lime", possibly a corruption of "line" originally from "lind", has been in use for centuries and also attaches to other species of Tilia. It is not, however, closely related to the lime fruit tree, a species of citrus.
Cytisus scoparius, the common broom or Scotch broom, is a deciduous leguminous shrub native to western and central Europe. In Great Britain and Ireland, the standard name is broom; this name is also used for other members of the Genisteae tribe, such as French broom or Spanish broom; and the term common broom is sometimes used for clarification. In other English-speaking countries, the most common name is "Scotch broom" ; however, it is known as English broom in Australia.
The heart and dart is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. A familiar moth to many, it is considered one of the most common of the European region. It occurs throughout the Palearctic realm from Ireland to Japan.
Viburnum opulus, the guelder-rose or guelder rose is a species of flowering plant in the family Adoxaceae native to Europe, northern Africa and central Asia.
A Shakespeare garden is a themed garden that cultivates some or all of the 175 plants mentioned in the works of William Shakespeare. In English-speaking countries, particularly the United States, these are often public gardens associated with parks, universities, and Shakespeare festivals. Shakespeare gardens are sites of cultural, educational, and romantic interest and can be locations for outdoor weddings.
Seasonal food refers to the times of the year when the harvest or the flavour of a given type of food is at its peak. This is usually the time when the item is harvested, with some exceptions; an example being sweet potatoes which are best eaten several weeks after harvest. Seasonal food reduces the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from food consumption and is integral in a low carbon diet. Macrobiotic diets emphasize eating locally grown foods that are in season.
Verticillium wilt is a wilt disease affecting over 350 species of eudicot plants. It is caused by six species of Verticillium fungi: V. dahliae, V. albo-atrum, V. longisporum, V. nubilum, V. theobromae and V. tricorpus. Many economically important plants are susceptible including cotton, tomatoes, potatoes, oilseed rape, eggplants, peppers and ornamentals, as well as others in natural vegetation communities. Many eudicot species and cultivars are resistant to the disease and all monocots, gymnosperms and ferns are immune.
Campanula rapunculus, common name rampion bellflower, rampion, rover bellflower, or rapunzel, is a species of bellflower (Campanula) in the family Campanulaceae.
Rosa'KORbin' is a white floribunda rose cultivar bred by Kordes in Germany in 1958. It is also known as Iceberg, Fée des Neiges and Schneewittchen. 'KORbin' is among the world's best known roses.
The surname Scales has more than one possible origin.
Akehurst is an old English name derived from "ake," meaning oak, and "hurst," meaning "a grove of trees." The name likely comes from the modern town of Oakhurst, once called "Acersc." The name is primarily found in the Sussex area of England.
The Rose and the Amaranth is one of Aesop's Fables, numbered 369 in the Perry Index. It stands in contrast to those plant fables like The Oak and the Reed and The Trees and the Bramble in which the protagonists arrogantly debate with each other. But in this story, the lowly amaranth praises the rose for its beauty and reputation and is answered, equally humbly, that a rose's life is brief while the amaranth is everlasting.
A toponymic surname or habitational surname or byname is a surname or byname derived from a place name, which included names of specific locations, such as the individual's place of origin, residence, or lands that they held, or, more generically, names that were derived from regional topographic features. Surnames derived from landscape/topographic features are also called topographic surnames, e.g., de Montibus, de Ponte/Da Ponte/Dupont, de Castello, de Valle/del Valle, de Porta, de Vinea.
Yaxley is an English toponymic surname, which along with dialectal variants, Yexley, Yoakley, Yockley, and Yokley, may derive from any of the English places that bore this name, including Yaxley, Cambridgeshire and Yaxley, Suffolk. "Yacksley" is a variant form.
Theophrastus's Enquiry into Plants or Historia Plantarum was, along with his mentor Aristotle's History of Animals, Pliny the Elder's Natural History and Dioscorides's De materia medica, one of the most important books of natural history written in ancient times, and like them it was influential in the Renaissance. Theophrastus looks at plant structure, reproduction and growth; the varieties of plant around the world; wood; wild and cultivated plants; and their uses. Book 9 in particular, on the medicinal uses of plants, is one of the first herbals, describing juices, gums and resins extracted from plants, and how to gather them.
An animal epithet is a name used to label a person or group, by association with some perceived quality of an animal. Epithets may be formulated as similes, explicitly comparing people with the named animal, as in "he is as sly as a fox", or as metaphors, directly naming people as animals, as in "he is a [sly] fox". Animal epithets may be pejorative, of negative character, or positive, indicating praise.
On 14 October 2022, the British tabloid newspaper the Daily Star began a livestream of an iceberg lettuce next to a framed photograph of Liz Truss, who was appointed prime minister of the United Kingdom the previous month. This act followed an opinion piece in The Economist that compared the expected brevity of Truss's premiership to the shelf life of a head of lettuce, with the October 2022 United Kingdom government crisis occurring weeks into her tenure and leading many political commentators to opine that Truss's resignation was imminent. She announced her resignation as prime minister on 20 October 2022, before the lettuce had wilted; the Daily Star subsequently declared the lettuce "victorious" over Truss.
