Sorry, I have been busy with assignment, exams and other stuff. But will be getting some more posts published soon. Hopefully I will be able to do a a whole stack of them so that next time I get bogged down with studies and other stuff I will have a few completed posts all ready and set to go. Then all I will have to do is publish them on a regular basis. I have done that before and it worked just fine.
The thing is doing a proper post takes time since I want to include all the relevant information about the plants and critters I cover. This means looking up the taxonomical data, checking it against the Integrated Taxonomic Information System,which is the one I have decided to use in order to standardize my posts. That is a fairly simple thing if I know the name of the plant, that is either the scientific (binomial) or common (vernacular) name since then I can do a search to find the other names.
That way I can include both the scientific and common names. Since I am multilingual and know that I have readers that speak other languages as well as being interested in etymology, translation and language issues (see my other blog: The Blood of Souls), I also try and find out what the common names are for the plants and animals that I cover.
Plus if the plant has any interesting stories associated with it or has any special properties or uses (medical, culinary or other) then I also try to include this information. When medical or traditional medical use pops up is usually when things get bogged down since I want to check and verify the information against actual scientific journals rather than just repeat stuff (which tends to be the standard practice with far too many people reporting on such things). I also have been including the links and references to my sources.
With the animals I do the same in terms of taxonomy, names and any relevant / interesting information. I guess I should find a way of including the other four kingdoms (Archaebacteria, Eubacteria, Fungi and Protists) in the title somehow since I have covered some of them in posts already in relation to their interaction with either a plant or animal or in relation to medical properties (see my post on Sensitive grass) or their impact on agriculture.
Also I guess I will be posting some more pictures of certain lunatic felonious felines I have had the fortune to know since I still have a lot of photographs I took and have never used. For example I need to dig up the long post I wrote on chimerism and mosaicism in relation to Jasper and Jasmine. That one got bogged down first because of the genetics involved and then because I came across some fascinating cases in humans.
In the meantime I continue to accumulate photos and will probably get even more since I am hoping to visit some botanical gardens as well as some other places to stock up on more photos to use for my blogs (since all the photos I use are my own). This sometimes dictates the nature of the posts while on other occasions it directs the places I go in search of a specific subject I need a photo of in order to be able to include a photo for a post.
For example if I want to get photos of different varieties of a plant or compare different species of the same genus I cannot complete a post until I track down what I need to photograph. This means that I will also be able to do more posts on places to visit in terms of where to go to see certain plants or animals.
I will also be doing some more posts with details on how to grow and or propagate certain plants. These take time to produce since as I use my own photos I need to grow and or propagate them myself since that is the only way I can get photos of the various stages of development. Plus, it is not exactly acceptable to pull up plants in gardens just so you can take a picture of the root system, is it? One that I will soon be able to write up and photograph is two ways of propagating African Violets: By leaf cuttings and by division since my efforts in both cases have been successful. The first by intent and the later by serendipity.
Anyway ... basically I hope to be able to get a whole lot of posts sorted over the next few months as well as gather more photos and material to serve as fodder for future posts.
On the other hand I also still have a lot of editing work to do on the old posts since I still need to check stuff, add references and links as well as reformat the layout of the taxonomical data and basically tidy them all up.
Hopefully I will be able to do most of these but don't worry I will still be catering to the Eye Candy crowd who want photos of beautiful flowers and nice scenery to look at. Oh and a couple of other things. The first is that I finally set up a Deviant Art account in which I have slowly been uploading some of my photos and art work onto the site. These can made into various products from postcards to coasters and art prints via the Deviant Art Portal. These will be supplemental to the postcards and greeting cards I have already had made but which will only be available in Samoa.
Setting up the Deviant Art account was to enable people outside of Samoa who might want some of these to be able to get them too.
I am also hoping to be able to get a book published this year using crowdfunding but still have some preliminary work to do on that.
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| Surinam Cherry (Eugenia uniflora) one of the plants I will be doing a post on. |
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| Madagascar periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus) one plant that I have long been meaning to write a post on |
That way I can include both the scientific and common names. Since I am multilingual and know that I have readers that speak other languages as well as being interested in etymology, translation and language issues (see my other blog: The Blood of Souls), I also try and find out what the common names are for the plants and animals that I cover.
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| Asiatic rhinoceros beetle or coconut rhinoceros beetle ( Oryctes rhinoceros) One of the critetrs I have already done a post on but might do another post on. |
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| A Giant African Snail (Achatina fulica) |
With the animals I do the same in terms of taxonomy, names and any relevant / interesting information. I guess I should find a way of including the other four kingdoms (Archaebacteria, Eubacteria, Fungi and Protists) in the title somehow since I have covered some of them in posts already in relation to their interaction with either a plant or animal or in relation to medical properties (see my post on Sensitive grass) or their impact on agriculture.
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| Jasper and Jasmine two kittens who I have a long outstanding post to complete on who are fascinating due to being examples of chimerism and mosaicism. |
Also I guess I will be posting some more pictures of certain lunatic felonious felines I have had the fortune to know since I still have a lot of photographs I took and have never used. For example I need to dig up the long post I wrote on chimerism and mosaicism in relation to Jasper and Jasmine. That one got bogged down first because of the genetics involved and then because I came across some fascinating cases in humans.
In the meantime I continue to accumulate photos and will probably get even more since I am hoping to visit some botanical gardens as well as some other places to stock up on more photos to use for my blogs (since all the photos I use are my own). This sometimes dictates the nature of the posts while on other occasions it directs the places I go in search of a specific subject I need a photo of in order to be able to include a photo for a post.
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| Two examples of the genus Celosia |
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| Pebble of the Ninja Cat Clan. One of the less salubrious of adorable if the felonious felines |
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| Several examples of African violet cultivars |
On the other hand I also still have a lot of editing work to do on the old posts since I still need to check stuff, add references and links as well as reformat the layout of the taxonomical data and basically tidy them all up.
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| Sharon-fruit or Persimmons ( Diospyros kaki) |
Hopefully I will be able to do most of these but don't worry I will still be catering to the Eye Candy crowd who want photos of beautiful flowers and nice scenery to look at. Oh and a couple of other things. The first is that I finally set up a Deviant Art account in which I have slowly been uploading some of my photos and art work onto the site. These can made into various products from postcards to coasters and art prints via the Deviant Art Portal. These will be supplemental to the postcards and greeting cards I have already had made but which will only be available in Samoa.
Setting up the Deviant Art account was to enable people outside of Samoa who might want some of these to be able to get them too.
I am also hoping to be able to get a book published this year using crowdfunding but still have some preliminary work to do on that.
Notes:
- I am using the taxonomical classification system used by ITIS (Integrated Taxonomic Information System). I have decided to use this system in order to avoid confusion as well as because it offers a comprehensive hierarchy from kingdom right through to subspecies whereas other sources only go as far as order or provide the names of some of the higher taxonomical ranks but only indicate "unclassified" rather than providing the rank.
- When and where possible I will endeavour to include alternatives classifications although I may limit this to occasions where an opportunity arises to discuss the reason for the different classifications.
- Taxonomical data used in this post was retrieved [April 16 2015], from the Integrated Taxonomic Information System on-line database, http://www.itis.gov.
Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters Blog by Vincent Albert Vermeulen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.
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My other blogs
· Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters (on plants, animals as well as gardening, conservation and environmental matters): http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.com/· The Blood of Souls (language, translation and etymology) : http://thebloodofsouls.blogspot.com/
· Whiskers on Kittens (Life with Kittens and Cats in general) : http://whiskersonkittens-vincent.blogspot.com/
