Telstra has revealed the addition of almost one million new mobile services in the six months to December 2011, but Sensis revenues plummeted 24 percent in 12 months.
Who gets to give trees their names, and why would anyone call a new species the No Parking tree?
Trees have been given some odd common names over the years, from the
Bald Cypress and Cucumber Tree, to the Tree of Heaven and my particular
favourite the Shag Bark Hickory. However, a new species of tree
discovered in rural England has been given the oddest of all.
The tree is a deciduous hybrid which is related to the Rowan, a type of
Devon Whitebeam to be precise, and has found to be common to the
Watersmeet area of North Devon, between the villages of Lynton and
Lynmouth.
First identified as a potential new species by the botanist
Heff-Warburg in the 1930's growing in a small lay-by, the tree has only
just been confirmed as indeed being a completely new species following
biochemical analysis by the University of Wales.
One of 110 trees of the species discovered in the area so far, it has
been given the Latin name of Sorbus admonitor by those who name such
things at the National Museum in Cardiff. This means 'to admonish' I am
reliably informed by people who actually understand Latin.
Of course, most of us are not Latin boffins which is why trees have
common names. In this case the Latin name provides a clue as to why it
has been called the 'No Parking Whitebeam.'
It appears that the very first tree to be identified way back in the 1930's had a no parking sign pinned to it.
As part of the celebrations to mark the 150th year since publication
Charles Darwin's On the Origins of Species, botanists have been busy
discovering no less than 14 new types of tree around the UK.
They are being named either after the person who first discovered them
or the place that they were discovered in. Some are being named because
of the way they look, and this one looked like a no parking sign I
guess.
Dr Tim Rich who is the Head of Vascular Plants at the University of
Wales says that the No Parking Whitebeam is easy to identify as it has
"...much more strongly lobed leaves." That and the traffic wardens
hanging around the roots.
David Bass
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