Red is a colour ranging from pink (purple-red) to orange (yellow-red). Red is traditionally associated with danger, stop, blood, warnings, prohibition. Red can evoke images of blood, and hence of murder, of ghoulishness and of horror. Red is associated with energy, activity, anger, fertility and is associated with the planetMars and with war.
Apple - Almost any shade of red you wish. A purely poetic term, though more usually applied to a pale green.
Auburn - A reddish-brown colour, the colour of an orang-utan's hair. Auburn is usually used to describe the colour of hair.
Burgundy - A dark, purplish-red colour of Burgundywine.
Crimson - A deep rich-red inclining towards purple.
Ruddle - A deep orange-red ochre-based pigment used for marking sheep.
Ruddy - Tinged with red. Reddish. Implying a colour of blood.
Rusty - Reddish-brown or brownish-orange colour of iron oxide (rust). Rusty implies decay, age, weathering.
Rufous - Rust-coloured. Rufous implies more organic than mineral, an animal may be described as being rufous in colour, while a weathered piece of iron is more likely rusty.
Russet - Reddish-brown. Russet is more usually applied to flora, such as apples or potatoes, while rufous may describe an animal and rusty a mineral or metal item.
Rubicund - Tinged with red. Rubicund is used to describe a person's complexion, and implies the appearance that occurs as a result of excessive good living. The ruddy complexion one might achieve from plenty of alcoholconsumption, for example.
Sanguine - A rather archaic term for the red colour of blood, implying blood.
Alpine Plants is the name given to those plants whose habitat is in the neighbourhood of the snow, on mountains partly covered with it all the year round. As the height of the snow-line varies according to the latitude and local conditions, so also does the height at which these plants grow. The mean height for the alpine plants of Central Europe is about 6000 feet; but it rises in parts of the Alps and in the Pyrenees to 9000, or even more. The high grounds clear of snow among these mountainspresent a very well marked flora, the general characters of the plants being a low dwarfish habit, a tendency to form thick turfs, stems partly or wholly woody, and large brilliantly-coloured and often very sweet-smelling flowers. They are also often closely covered with woolly hairs. In the Alps of Middle Europe the eye is at once attracted by gentians, saxifrages, rhododendrons, primroses of different kinds, etc. Ferns and mosses of many kinds also characterize these regions. Some alpine plants are found only in one locality. Considerable success has attended the attempt to grow alpine plants in gardens. Research Alpine Plants
Argemone is a small genus of ornamental American plants of the poppy order. From the seeds of Argemone mexicana is obtained an oil very useful to painters. The handsomest species is Argemone grandi flora, which has large flowers of a pure white colour. Research Argemone
Fauna (from the Latin faun), is a collective word signifying all the animals of a certain region, and also the description of them, corresponding to the word flora in respect to plants. Research Fauna
Wallaces' Line is a biological dividing line passing north-north-east between the East Indian islands of Bali and Lombok and Borneo and Celebes, to the west of which the flora and fauna are distinctly Asian in character, while to the east and south the Australian elements begin to be marked, and very soon become predominant. It was named after the biologist Wallace who clearly defines it in his book 'Island Life' published in 1880. Research Wallace's Line
Asa Gray was an American botanist. He was born in 1810 at New York and died in 1888. He was appointed Fisher professor of natural history in Harvard University in 1842, and held the chair until 1873, when he retired from its more active duties. His works include Elements of Botany (published in 1836), A Manual of Botany (1848), and other botanical textbooks; also portions of works on the flora of North America and the Genera Boreali-Americana, a Free Examination of Darwin's Treatise (1861), a volume entitled Darwiniana (1876), etc. Research Asa Gray
The Farnese were an illustrious Italian family of Italy, whose descent may be traced from about the middle of the 13th century, and which gave to the church and the Republic of Florence many eminent names. The line became extinct with Antonio Farnese in 1731. The name of the Farnese is associated with several famous buildings and works of art. The Farnese Palace, at Rome, was built for Pope Paul III while he was cardinal, by Sangallo and Michael Angelo. Its sculpturegallery was formerly very celebrated, but the best pieces have been removed to Naples, including the following: The Farnese Bull, a celebrated ancient sculpture representing the punishment of Dirce, discovered in the 16th century in the Baths of Caracalla at Home; Farnese Hercules, a celebrated ancient statue of Hercules by Glycon, found in the Baths of Caracalla in 1540; Farnese Flora, a colossal statue of great merit, found in the Baths of Caracalla; Farnese Cup, an antiqueonyxcup, highly ornamented with figures in relief. Research Farnese
Flora Annie Steel was an English novelist and an ardentadvocate of female suffrage. She was born in 1847 at Harrow and died in 1929. In 1867 she married an official in the Bengal civil service and subsequently lived for many years in India where she gained the knowledge of the country which she put into her novels, the most famous of which was the 1896 'On The Face of the Waters' about the Indian Mutiny. Her autobiography, 'The Garden of Fidelity', was published in 1929. Research Flora Steel
George Bentham was an English botanist. The nephew of Jeremy Bentham he was born in 1800 and died 1884. He was privately educated, early attached himself to botany, and having resided in Southern France (where his father had an estate) in 1814 to 1826 he published in French a work on The Plants of the Pyrenees and Lower Languedoc.
Having returned to England he studied law, and on this subject, as well as logic, he developed original views. Finally, however, he devoted himself almost entirely to botany, was long connected with the Horticultural Society and the Linnaean Society, and from 1861 onwards was in almost daily attendance at Kew (except for a few weeks occasionally), working at descriptive botany from ten to four o'clock as a labour of love. Along with Sir J D Hooker he produced the great work of descriptive botany, Genera Plantarum; another great work of his was the Flora Australiensis published in seven volumes. His Handbook of the British Flora was formerly well known. Research George Bentham
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
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