15" SLOTH PLANTER plaster garden statue sculpture adorable flowerpot aged cement

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Seller: sidewaysstairsco ✉️ (1,180) 100%, Location: Santa Ana, California, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 203867944757 15" SLOTH PLANTER plaster garden statue sculpture adorable flowerpot aged cement. Check out my other new & used items>>>>>>HERE! (click me) FOR SALE: A unique garden statue/planter 15-1/4" PLASTER SLOTH PLANTER DETAILS: Dimensions & Weight: Height: approx. 13 inches Length: approx. 15.25 in. Width: approx. 8 in. Rim Inner Diameter: approx. 5.5 in. Weight: 6 lbs. How cute!?! It's a sloth-shaped planter! Your favorite adorable tree-hanging mammal is now in medium flowerpot form. The artist who made the original mold for this sloth sculpture put the mammal in a familiar position - hanging from a branch by its toes and claws. In it's normal habitat a sloth, for the most part, stays up in cecropia trees (AKA sloth tree) where they even eat, sleep, and give birth while hanging from branches. The 15" sloth planter's overall size fits in the large category but its actual planting space is suited for smaller or medium flowers and/or plants. Made of plaster and painted to have an aged cement sculpture appearance. Hole at bottom for draining. CONDITION: In very good, pre-owned condition. This planter was never used, it just sat around in storage for some time. Left side of head has a thin chip (see photo #8) that can be easily touched up with some paint, if you choose. Please see photos.  *To ensure safe delivery all items are carefully packaged before shipping out.*  THANK YOU FOR LOOKING. QUESTIONS? JUST ASK. *ALL PHOTOS AND TEXT ARE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF SIDEWAYS STAIRS CO. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.* "Sloths are a group of arboreal Neotropical xenarthran mammals, constituting the suborder Folivora. Noted for their slowness of movement, they spend most of their lives hanging upside down in the trees of the tropical rainforests of South America and Central America. They are considered to be most closely related to anteaters, together making up the xenarthran order Pilosa. There are six extant sloth species in two genera – Bradypus (three–toed sloths) and Choloepus (two–toed sloths). Despite this traditional naming, all sloths actually have three toes on each rear limb, although two-toed sloths have only two digits on each forelimb.[3] The two groups of sloths are from different, distantly related families, and are thought to have evolved their morphology via parallel evolution from terrestrial ancestors. Besides the extant species, many species of ground sloths ranging up to the size of elephants (like Megatherium) inhabited both North and South America during the Pleistocene Epoch. However, they became extinct during the Quaternary extinction event around 12,000 years ago, together with most large bodied animals in the New World. The extinction correlates in time with the arrival of humans, but climate change has also been suggested to have contributed. Members of an endemic radiation of Caribbean sloths formerly lived in the Greater Antilles. They included both ground and arboreal forms which became extinct after humans settled the archipelago in the mid-Holocene, around 6,000 years ago. Sloths are so named because of their very low metabolism and deliberate movements. Sloth, related to slow, literally means "laziness," and their common names in several other languages (e.g. French paresseux) also mean "lazy" or similar. Their slowness permits their low-energy diet of leaves and avoids detection by predatory hawks and cats that hunt by sight.[3] Sloths are almost helpless on the ground, but are able to swim.[4] The shaggy coat has grooved hair that is host to symbiotic green algae which camouflage the animal in the trees and provide it nutrients. The algae also nourish sloth moths, some species of which exist solely on sloths.... Taxonomy and evolution Sloths belong to the superorder Xenarthra, a group of placental mammals believed to have evolved in the continent of South America around 60 million years ago.[6] One study found that xenarthrans broke off from other placental mammals around 100 million years ago.[7] Anteaters and armadillos are also included among Xenarthra. The earliest xenarthrans were arboreal herbivores with sturdy vertebral columns, fused pelvises, stubby teeth, and small brains. Sloths are in the taxonomic suborder Folivora[2] of the order Pilosa. These names are from the Latin 'leaf eater' and 'hairy', respectively. Pilosa is one of the smallest of the orders of the mammal class; its only other suborder contains the anteaters. The Folivora are divided into at least eight families, only two of which have living species; the remainder are entirely extinct (†):[8]     †Megalocnidae: the Greater Antilles sloths, a basal group that arose about 32 million years ago and became extinct about 5,000 years ago.[8]     Superfamily Megatherioidea         Bradypodidae, the three-toed sloths, contains four extant species:             The brown-throated three-toed sloth is the most common of the extant species of sloth, which inhabits the Neotropical realm[1][9] in the forests of South and Central America.             The pale-throated three-toed sloth, which inhabits tropical rainforests in northern South America. It is similar in appearance to, and often confused with, the brown-throated three-toed sloth, which has a much wider distribution. Genetic evidence indicates the two species diverged around 6 million years ago.[10]             The maned three-toed sloth, now found only in the Atlantic Forest of southeastern Brazil.             The critically endangered pygmy three-toed sloth which is endemic to the small island of Isla Escudo de Veraguas off the coast of Panama.         †Megalonychidae: ground sloths that existed for about 35 million years and went extinct about 11,000 years ago. This group was formerly thought to include both the two-toed sloths and the extinct Greater Antilles sloths.         †Megatheriidae: ground sloths that existed for about 23 million years and went extinct about 11,000 years ago; this family included the largest sloths.         †Nothrotheriidae: ground sloths that lived from approximately 11.6 million to 11,000 years ago. As well as ground sloths, this family included Thalassocnus, a genus of either semiaquatic or fully aquatic sloths.     Superfamily Mylodontoidea         Choloepodidae, the two-toed sloths, contains two extant species:             Linnaeus's two-toed sloth found in Venezuela, the Guianas, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Brazil north of the Amazon River.             Hoffmann's two-toed sloth which inhabits tropical forests. It has two separate ranges, split by the Andes. One population is found from eastern Honduras[11] in the north to western Ecuador in the south, and the other in eastern Peru, western Brazil, and northern Bolivia.[12]         †Mylodontidae: ground sloths that existed for about 23 million years and went extinct about 11,000 years ago.         †Scelidotheriidae: collagen sequence data indicates this group is more distant from Mylodon than Choloepus is, so it has been elevated back to full family status.[8] Megatherium americanum (Megatheriidae, London) Evolution Nothrotheriops shastensis (Nothrotheriidae, La Brea) The common ancestor of the two existing sloth genera dates to about 28 million years ago,[8] with similarities between the two- and three- toed sloths an example of convergent evolution to an arboreal lifestyle, "one of the most striking examples of convergent evolution known among mammals".[13] The ancient Xenarthra included a much greater variety of species, with a wider distribution, than those of today. Ancient sloths were mostly terrestrial, and some reached sizes that rival those of elephants, as was the case for Megatherium.[4] Megalonyx wheatleyi (Megalonychidae) fossil (AMNH) and restoration Paramylodon harlani (Mylodontidae, San Diego) Sloths arose in South America during its long period of isolation and eventually spread to a number of the Caribbean islands as well as North America. It is thought that swimming led to oceanic dispersal of pilosans to the Greater Antilles by the Oligocene, and that the megalonychid Pliometanastes and the mylodontid Thinobadistes were able to colonise North America about 9 million years ago, well before the formation of the Isthmus of Panama. The latter development, about 3 million years ago, allowed megatheriids and nothrotheriids to also invade North America as part of the Great American Interchange. Additionally, the nothrotheriid Thalassocnus of the west coast of South America became adapted to a semiaquatic and, eventually, perhaps fully aquatic marine lifestyle.[14] In Peru and Chile, Thalassocnus entered the coastal habitat beginning in the late Miocene. Initially they just stood in the water, but over a span of 4 million years they eventually evolved into swimming creatures, becoming specialist bottom feeders of seagrasses, similar to extant marine sirenians.[15] Both types of extant tree sloth tend to occupy the same forests; in most areas, a particular species of the somewhat smaller and generally slower-moving three-toed sloth (Bradypus) and a single species of the two-toed type will jointly predominate. Based on morphological comparisons, it was thought the two-toed sloths nested phylogenetically within one of the divisions of the extinct Greater Antilles sloths.[16] Though data has been collected on over 33 different species of sloths by analyzing bone structures, many of the relationships between clades on a phylogenetic tree were unclear.[17] Much of the morphological evidence collected to support the hypothesis of diphyly has been based on the structure of the inner ear.[18] Recently obtained molecular data from collagen[8] and mitochondrial DNA sequences[19] fall in line with the diphyly (convergent evolution) hypothesis, but have overturned some of the other conclusions obtained from morphology. These investigations consistently place two-toed sloths close to mylodontids and three-toed sloths within Megatherioidea, close to Megalonyx, megatheriids and nothrotheriids. They make the previously recognized family Megalonychidae polyphyletic, with both two-toed sloths and Greater Antilles sloths being moved away from Megalonyx. Greater Antilles sloths are now placed in a separate, basal branch of the sloth evolutionary tree.[8][19] Phylogeny The following sloth family phylogenetic tree is based on collagen and mitochondrial DNA sequence data (see Fig. 4 of Presslee et al., 2019).[8]   Folivora             Megalocnidae (Greater Antilles sloths)                                 Nothrotheriidae         Megatheriidae                 Megalonychidae         Bradypodidae (three-toed sloths)            Megatherioidea               Scelidotheriidae               Choloepodidae (two-toed sloths)         Mylodontidae         Mylodontoidea         Extinctions The marine sloths of South America's Pacific coast became extinct at the end of the Pliocene following the closing of the Central American Seaway; this caused a cooling trend in the coastal waters which killed off much of the area's seagrass (and which would have also made thermoregulation difficult for the sloths, with their slow metabolism).[20] Ground sloths disappeared from both North and South America shortly after the appearance of humans about 11,000 years ago. Evidence suggests human hunting contributed to the extinction of the American megafauna. Ground sloth remains found in both North and South America indicate that they were killed, cooked, and eaten by humans.[4] Climate change that came with the end of the last ice age may have also played a role (although previous similar glacial retreats were not associated with similar extinction rates). Megalocnus and some other Caribbean sloths survived until about 5,000 years ago, long after ground sloths had died out on the mainland, but then went extinct when humans finally colonized the Greater Antilles.[21] Biology Feeding brown-throated three-toed sloth (Bradypus variegatus), Cahuita National Park, Costa Rica Morphology and anatomy Sloths can be 60 to 80 cm (24 to 31 in) long and, depending on the species, weigh from 3.6 to 7.7 kg (7.9 to 17.0 lb). Two-toed sloths are slightly larger.[22] Sloths have long limbs and rounded heads with tiny ears. Three-toed sloths also have stubby tails about 5 to 6 cm (2.0 to 2.4 in) long. Sloths are unusual among mammals in not having seven cervical vertebrae. Two-toed sloths have five to seven, while three-toed sloths have eight or nine. The other mammals not having seven are the manatees, with six.[23] Physiology Sloths have colour vision, but have poor visual acuity. They also have poor hearing. Thus, they rely on their sense of smell and touch to find food.[24] Sloths have very low metabolic rates (less than half of that expected for a mammal of their size), and low body temperatures: 30 to 34 °C (86 to 93 °F) when active, and still lower when resting. Sloths are heterothermic, meaning their body temperature may vary according to the environment, normally ranging from 25 to 35 °C (77 to 95 °F), but able to drop to as low as 20 °C (68 °F), inducing torpor.[24] The outer hairs of sloth fur grow in a direction opposite from that of other mammals. In most mammals, hairs grow toward the extremities, but because sloths spend so much time with their limbs above their bodies, their hairs grow away from the extremities to provide protection from the elements while they hang upside down. In most conditions, the fur hosts symbiotic algae, which provide camouflage[25] from predatory jaguars, ocelots,[26] and harpy eagles.[27] Because of the algae, sloth fur is a small ecosystem of its own, hosting many species of commensal and parasitic arthropods.[28] There are a large number of arthropods associated with sloths. These include biting and blood-sucking flies such as mosquitoes and sandflies, triatomine bugs, lice, ticks and mites. Sloths have a highly specific community of commensal beetles, mites and moths.[29] The species of sloths recorded to host arthropods include[29] the pale-throated three-toed sloth, the brown-throated three-toed sloth, and Linnaeus's two-toed sloth. Sloths benefit from their relationship with moths because the moths are responsible for fertilizing algae on the sloth, which provides them with nutrients.[30] Activity Their limbs are adapted for hanging and grasping, not for supporting their weight. Muscles make up only 25 to 30 percent of their total body weight. Most other mammals have a muscle mass that makes up 40 to 45 percent of their total body weight.[31] Their specialised hands and feet have long, curved claws to allow them to hang upside down from branches without effort,[32] and are used to drag themselves along the ground, since they cannot walk. On three-toed sloths, the arms are 50 percent longer than the legs.[24] Sloths move only when necessary and even then very slowly. They usually move at an average speed of 4 metres (13 ft) per minute, but can move at a marginally higher speed of 4.5 metres (15 ft) per minute if they are in immediate danger from a predator. While they sometimes sit on top of branches, they usually eat, sleep, and even give birth hanging from branches. They sometimes remain hanging from branches even after death. On the ground, the maximum speed of sloths is 3 metres (9.8 ft) per minute. Two-toed sloths are generally better able than three-toed sloths to disperse between clumps of trees on the ground.[33] Sloths are surprisingly strong swimmers and can reach speeds of 13.5 metres (44 ft) per minute.[34] They use their long arms to paddle through the water and can cross rivers and swim between islands.[35] Sloths can reduce their already slow metabolism even further and slow their heart rate to less than a third of normal, allowing them to hold their breath underwater for up to 40 minutes.[36] Wild brown-throated three-toed sloths sleep on average 9.6 hours a day.[37] Two-toed sloths are nocturnal.[38] Three-toed sloths are mostly nocturnal, but can be active in the day. They spend 90 per cent of their time motionless.[24] Behavior Sloths are solitary animals that rarely interact with one another except during breeding season,[39] though female sloths do sometimes congregate, more so than do males.[40] Diet Hoffman's two-toed sloth (Choloepus hoffmanni) feeding in Manuel Antonio National Park in Costa Rica Baby sloths learn what to eat by licking the lips of their mother.[41] All sloths eat the leaves of the cecropia. Two-toed sloths are omnivorous, with a diverse diet of insects, carrion, fruits, leaves and small lizards, ranging over up to 140 hectares (350 acres). Three-toed sloths, on the other hand, are almost entirely herbivorous (plant eaters), with a limited diet of leaves from only a few trees,[39] and no other mammal digests its food as slowly. They have made adaptations to arboreal browsing. Leaves, their main food source, provide very little energy or nutrients, and do not digest easily, so sloths have large, slow-acting, multi-chambered stomachs in which symbiotic bacteria break down the tough leaves.[39] As much as two-thirds of a well-fed sloth's body weight consists of the contents of its stomach, and the digestive process can take a month or more to complete. Three-toed sloths go to the ground to urinate and defecate about once a week, digging a hole and covering it afterwards. They go to the same spot each time and are vulnerable to predation while doing so. Considering the large energy expenditure and dangers involved in the journey to the ground, this behaviour has been described as a mystery.[42][43][44] Recent research shows that moths, which live in the sloth's fur, lay eggs in the sloth's feces. When they hatch, the larvae feed on the feces, and when mature fly up onto the sloth above. These moths may have a symbiotic relationship with sloths, as they live in the fur and promote growth of algae, which the sloths eat.[5] Individual sloths tend to spend the bulk of their time feeding on a single "modal" tree; by burying their excreta near the trunk of that tree, they may also help nourish it.[45] Reproduction The pale- and brown-throated three-toed sloths mate seasonally, while the maned three-toed sloth breeds at any time of the year. The reproduction of pygmy three-toed sloths is unknown. Litters are of one newborn only, after six months' gestation for three-toed, and 12 months' for two-toed. Newborns stay with their mother for about five months. In some cases, young sloths die from a fall indirectly because the mothers prove unwilling to leave the safety of the trees to retrieve the young.[46] Females normally bear one baby every year, but sometimes sloths' low level of movement actually keeps females from finding males for longer than one year.[47] Sloths are not particularly sexually dimorphic and several zoos have received sloths of the wrong sex.[48][49] The average lifespan of two-toed sloths in the wild is currently unknown due to a lack of full-lifespan studies in a natural environment.[50] Median life expectancy in human care is about 16 years, with one individual at the Smithsonian Institution's National Zoo reaching an age of 49 years before her death.[51] Distribution Depiction of a pygmy three-toed sloth (Bradypus pygmaeus) (Thomas Landseer, 1825) Although habitat is limited to the tropical rainforests of Central and South America, in that environment sloths are successful. On Barro Colorado Island in Panama, sloths have been estimated to comprise 70% of the biomass of arboreal mammals.[52] Four of the six living species are presently rated "least concern"; the maned three-toed sloth (Bradypus torquatus), which inhabits Brazil's dwindling Atlantic Forest, is classified as "vulnerable",[53] while the island-dwelling pygmy three-toed sloth (B. pygmaeus) is critically endangered. Sloths' lower metabolism confines them to the tropics and they adopt thermoregulation behaviors of cold-blooded animals such as sunning themselves.[54] Human relations Three-toed sloth in the Dallas World Aquarium The majority of recorded sloth deaths in Costa Rica are due to contact with electrical lines and poachers. Their claws also provide another, unexpected deterrent to human hunters; when hanging upside-down in a tree, they are held in place by the claws themselves and often do not fall down even if shot from below. Sloths are victims of animal trafficking where they are sold as pets. However, they make very poor pets, as they have such a specialized ecology.[55] The founder and director of the Green Heritage Fund Suriname, Monique Pool, has helped rescue and release more than 600 sloths, anteaters, armadillos, and porcupines.[56] The Sloth Institute Costa Rica is known for caring, rehabilitating and releasing sloths back into the wild.[57] Also in Costa Rica, the Aviarios Sloth Sanctuary cares for sloths. It has rehabilitated and released about 130 individuals back into the wild.[58] However, a report in May 2016 featured two former veterinarians from the facility who were intensely critical of the sanctuary's efforts, accusing it of mistreating the animals." (wikipedia.org) "Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally, but others are exclusively arboreal. The habitats pose numerous mechanical challenges to animals moving through them and lead to a variety of anatomical, behavioral and ecological consequences as well as variations throughout different species.[1] Furthermore, many of these same principles may be applied to climbing without trees, such as on rock piles or mountains. The earliest known tetrapod with specializations that adapted it for climbing trees is Ascendonanus, a varanopid from the Early Permian, about 290 million years ago.[2][3] Some animals are exclusively arboreal in habitat, such as the tree snail.... Biomechanics Arboreal habitats pose numerous mechanical challenges to animals moving in them, which have been solved in diverse ways. These challenges include moving on narrow branches, moving up and down inclines, balancing, crossing gaps, and dealing with obstructions.[1] Diameter Moving along narrow surfaces such as a branch of a tree can create special difficulties to animals who are not adapted to deal with balancing on small diameter substrates. During locomotion on the ground the location of the center of mass may swing from side to side. While during arboreal locomotion, this would result in the center of mass moving beyond the edge of the branch. Resulting in a tendency to topple over and fall. Not only do some arboreal animals have to be able to move on branches of varying diameter, but they also have to eat on these branches resulting in the need for the ability to balance while using their hands to feed themselves. This resulted in various types of grasping such as pedal grasping in order to clamp themselves onto small branches for better balance.[4] Incline Branches are frequently oriented at an angle to gravity in arboreal habitats, including being vertical, which poses special problems. As an animal moves up an inclined branch, it must fight the force of gravity to raise its body, making the movement more difficult. To get past this difficulty many animals have to grasp the substrate with all four limbs and increase the frequency of their gait sequence. Conversely, as the animal descends, it must also fight gravity to control its descent and prevent falling. Descent can be particularly problematic for many animals, and highly arboreal species often have specialized methods for controlling their descent. One way animals prevent falling while descending is to increase the amount of contact their limbs are making with the substrate to increase friction and braking power.[5] Balance Gibbons are very good brachiators because their elongated arms enable them to easily swing and grasp on to branches Due to the height of many branches and the potentially disastrous consequences of a fall, balance is of primary importance to arboreal animals. On horizontal and gently sloped branches, the primary problem is tipping to the side due to the narrow base of support. The narrower the branch, the greater the difficulty in balancing a given animal faces. On steep and vertical branches, tipping becomes less of an issue, and pitching backwards or slipping downwards becomes the most likely failure.[1] In this case, large-diameter branches pose a greater challenge since the animal cannot place its forelimbs closer to the center of the branch than its hindlimbs. Crossing gaps While some arboreal animals are living in their environment they need to be able to move from tree to tree in order to find food and shelter. To be able to get from tree to tree animals have evolved adaptations to help them jump the hurdle of going to different trees. In some areas trees are close together and can be crossed by simple Brachiation. While in other areas trees are not close together and animals have to have specific adaptations granting them the ability to jump far distances or glide.[6] Obstructions Arboreal habitats often contain many obstructions, both in the form of branches emerging from the one being moved on and other branches impinging on the space the animal needs to move through. These obstructions may impede locomotion, or may be used as additional contact points to enhance it. While obstructions tend to impede limbed animals,[7][8] they benefit snakes by providing anchor points.[9][10][11] Anatomical specializations Arboreal organisms display many specializations for dealing with the mechanical challenges of moving through their habitats.[1] Limb length See also: Intermembral index Arboreal animals frequently have elongated limbs that help them cross gaps, reach fruit or other resources, test the firmness of support ahead, and in some cases, to brachiate.[1] However, some species of lizard have reduced limb size that helps them avoid limb movement being obstructed by impinging branches. Prehensile tails Many arboreal species, such as tree porcupines, green tree pythons, emerald tree boas, chameleons, silky anteaters, spider monkeys, and possums, use prehensile tails to grasp branches. In the spider monkey and crested gecko, the tip of the tail has either a bare patch or adhesive pad, which provide increased friction.[citation needed] Claws The silky anteater uses its prehensile tail as a third arm for stabilization and balance, while its claws help better grasp and climb onto branches Claws can be used to interact with rough substrates and re-orient the direction of forces the animal applies. This is what allows squirrels to climb tree trunks that are so large as to be essentially flat, from the perspective of such a small animal. However, claws can interfere with an animal's ability to grasp very small branches, as they may wrap too far around and prick the animal's own paw.[citation needed] Adhesion Adhesion is an alternative to claws, which works best on smooth surfaces. Wet adhesion is common in tree frogs and arboreal salamanders, and functions either by suction or by capillary adhesion. Dry adhesion is best typified by the specialized toes of geckos, which use van der Waals forces to adhere to many substrates, even glass.[citation needed] Gripping Frictional gripping is used by primates, relying upon hairless fingertips. Squeezing the branch between the fingertips generates a frictional force that holds the animal's hand to the branch. However, this type of grip depends upon the angle of the frictional force, thus upon the diameter of the branch, with larger branches resulting in reduced gripping ability. Animals other than primates that use gripping in climbing include the chameleon, which has mitten-like grasping feet, and many birds that grip branches in perching or moving about.[citation needed] Reversible feet To control descent, especially down large diameter branches, some arboreal animals such as squirrels have evolved highly mobile ankle joints that permit rotating the foot into a 'reversed' posture. This allows the claws to hook into the rough surface of the bark, opposing the force of gravity.[citation needed] Low center of mass Many arboreal species lower their center of mass to reduce pitching and toppling movement when climbing. This may be accomplished by postural changes, altered body proportions, or smaller size.[citation needed] Small size Small size provides many advantages to arboreal species: such as increasing the relative size of branches to the animal, lower center of mass, increased stability, lower mass (allowing movement on smaller branches), and the ability to move through more cluttered habitat.[1] Size relating to weight affects gliding animals such as the reduced weight per snout-vent length for 'flying' frogs.[12] Hanging under perches The gecko's toes adhere to surfaces via dry adhesion, to allow them to stay firmly attached to a branch or even a flat wall Some species of primate, bat, and all species of sloth achieve passive stability by hanging beneath the branch.[1] Both pitching and tipping become irrelevant, as the only method of failure would be losing their grip. Behavioral specializations Arboreal species have behaviors specialized for moving in their habitats, most prominently in terms of posture and gait. Specifically, arboreal mammals take longer steps, extend their limbs further forwards and backwards during a step, adopt a more 'crouched' posture to lower their center of mass, and use a diagonal sequence gait.[citation needed] Ecological consequences Arboreal locomotion allows animals access to different resources, depending upon their abilities. Larger species may be restricted to larger-diameter branches that can support their weight, while smaller species may avoid competition by moving in the narrower branches.[citation needed] Climbing without trees Lions on a rock at Serengeti National Park, Tanzania Many animals climb in other habitats, such as in rock piles or mountains, and in those habitats, many of the same principles apply due to inclines, narrow ledges, and balance issues. However, less research has been conducted on the specific demands of locomotion in these habitats.[citation needed] Perhaps the most exceptional of the animals that move on steep or even near vertical rock faces by careful balancing and leaping are the various types of mountain dwelling caprid such as the Barbary sheep, markhor, yak, ibex, tahr, rocky mountain goat, and chamois. Their adaptations may include a soft rubbery pad between their hooves for grip, hooves with sharp keratin rims for lodging in small footholds, and prominent dew claws. The snow leopard, being a predator of such mountain caprids, also has spectacular balance and leaping abilities; being able to leap up to ≈17m (~50 ft). Other balancers and leapers include the mountain zebra, mountain tapir, and hyraxes.[citation needed] Brachiation Main article: Brachiation Brachiation is a specialized form of arboreal locomotion, used by primates to move very rapidly while hanging beneath branches.[13] Arguably the epitome of arboreal locomotion, it involves swinging with the arms from one handhold to another. Only a few species are brachiators, and all of these are primates; it is a major means of locomotion among spider monkeys and gibbons, and is occasionally used by female orangutans. Gibbons are the experts of this mode of locomotion, swinging from branch to branch distances of up to 15 m (50 ft), and traveling at speeds of as much as 56 km/h (35 mph).[citation needed] Gliding and parachuting To bridge gaps between trees, many animals such as the flying squirrel have adapted membranes, such as patagia for gliding flight. Some animals can slow their descent in the air using a method known as parachuting, such as Rhacophorus (a "flying frog" species) that has adapted toe membranes allowing it to fall more slowly after leaping from trees.[14] Limbless climbing Many species of snake are highly arboreal, and some have evolved specialized musculature for this habitat.[15] While moving in arboreal habitats, snakes move slowly along bare branches using a specialized form of concertina locomotion,[16] but when secondary branches emerge from the branch being moved on, snakes use lateral undulation, a much faster mode.[17] As a result, snakes perform best on small perches in cluttered environments, while limbed organisms seem to do best on large perches in uncluttered environments.[17] Arboreal animals Arboreal snails use their sticky slime to help in climbing up trees since they lack limbs to do so Many species of animals are arboreal, far too many to list individually. This list is of prominently or predominantly arboreal species and higher taxa.     Primates Cats Fruit bats brushtail possums opossums Sloths Anteaters Treeshrews Goats Colugos Kinkajous Viverrids Tree squirrels and many other rodents Parrots Geckos Chameleons Many other lizards Green tree pythons Emerald tree boas Mambas Brown Tree Snakes Many other snakes Stick insects Many other arthropods Tree snails Koalas Red pandas sloths Evolutionary history The earliest known tetrapod with specializations that adapted it for climbing trees was Ascendonanus, a varanopid from the Chemnitz petrified forest of Germany, dating to the Sakmarian-Artinskian boundary, about 290 million years ago.[2] Another early arboreal tetrapod is Suminia, a anomodont synapsid of the Late Permian, about 260 million years ago " (wikipedia.org) "Xenarthra (/zɛˈnɑːrθrə/; from Ancient Greek ξένος, xénos, “foreign, alien” + ἄρθρον, árthron, “joint”) is a major clade of placental mammals native to the Americas. There are 31 living species: the anteaters, tree sloths, and armadillos.[1] Extinct xenarthrans include the glyptodonts, pampatheres and ground sloths. Xenarthrans originated in South America during the Paleocene about 59 million years ago.[2] They evolved and diversified extensively in South America during the continent's long period of isolation in the early to mid Cenozoic Era. They spread to the Antilles by the early Miocene and, starting about 3 Mya, spread to Central and North America as part of the Great American Interchange.[3] Nearly all of the formerly abundant megafaunal xenarthrans became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene. Xenarthrans share several characteristics not present in other placental mammals, which suggest their ancestors were subterranean diggers for insects. The name Xenarthra derives from the two ancient Greek words ξένος (xénos), meaning "strange, unusual", and ἄρθρον (árthron), meaning "joint",[4][5] and refers to their vertebral joints, which have extra articulations that are unlike other mammals. The ischium of the pelvis is also fused to the sacrum of the spine.[6] Their limb bone structures are unusual, and they have single-color vision. The teeth of Xenarthrans are unique. Xenarthrans are also often considered to be among the most primitive of placental mammals. Females show no clear distinction between the uterus and vagina, and males have internal testicles, which are located between the bladder and the rectum.[7] Xenarthrans have the lowest metabolic rates among therians.[8][9] Xenarthran forms and lifestyles include:     Armadillos: Mostly small and some larger omnivores and insectivores with flexible banded body armor     Glyptodonts: Large herbivores with a rigid semi-spherical carapace     Pampatheres: Large herbivores (and possibly omnivores) with banded body armor     Anteaters: Small to large specialized feeders on social insects     Tree sloths: Medium-sized folivores specialized for life hanging upside-down in trees     Ground sloths: Medium to very large ground-living herbivores (and possibly omnivores)     Aquatic sloths: Thalassocnus, a medium-sized herbivore, is the only known aquatic sloth... Evolutionary relationships Pink fairy armadillo (Chlamyphorus truncatus) Xenarthrans were previously classified alongside the pangolins and aardvarks in the order Edentata (meaning toothless, because the members do not have incisors and lack, or have poorly developed, molars). Subsequently, Edentata was found to be a polyphyletic grouping whose New World and Old World taxa are unrelated, and it was split up to reflect their true phylogeny. Aardvarks and pangolins are now placed in individual orders, and the new order Xenarthra was erected to group the remaining families (which are all related). The morphology of xenarthrans generally suggests that the anteaters and sloths are more closely related to each other than either is to the armadillos, glyptodonts, and pampatheres; this idea is upheld by molecular studies. Since its conception, Xenarthra has increasingly come to be considered to be of a higher rank than 'order'; some authorities consider it to be a cohort, while others consider it to be a superorder. Whatever the rank, Xenarthra is now generally considered to be divided into two orders:     Cingulata (Latin, "the ones with belts/armor"), the armadillos and the extinct glyptodonts and pampatheres     Pilosa (Latin, "the ones with fur"), which is subdivided into:         Vermilingua, the anteaters         Folivora, the sloths (both tree sloths and the extinct ground sloths). Folivora is also called Tardigrada or Phyllophaga.[10] Their relationship to other placental mammals is obscure. Xenarthrans have been defined as most closely related to Afrotheria[11] (in the group Atlantogenata), or to Boreoeutheria (in the group Exafroplacentalia), or to Epitheria[12] (Afrotheria+Boreoeutheria, i.e. as a sister group to all other placental mammals). A comprehensive phylogeny by Goloboff et al.[13] includes xenarthrans as a sister clade of Euarchontoglires within Boreoeutheria (Laurasiatheria+Euarchontoglires). Overall, studies using mitochondrial DNA have tended to group them as a sister clade to Ferrungulata (carnivores+ungulates and cetaceans), while studies using nuclear DNA have identified them as 1) a sister clade to Afrotheria, 2) a sister clade to all placentals except Afrotheria, or 3) a trichotomy (three-way split): Afrotheria, Xenarthra, and everything else (i.e. Boreoeutheria). Among studies that use physical characteristics rather than DNA to look at relationships, a large phenomic analysis of living and fossil mammals suggests placental mammals evolved shortly after the end of the Cretaceous, and first split into Xenarthra and Epitheria (all other placentals).[14] Phylogeny Below is a recent simplified phylogeny of the xenarthran families based on Slater et al. (2016)[15] and Delsuc et al. (2016).[16] The dagger symbol, "†", denotes extinct groups. Xenarthra     Cingulata           Dasypodidae               †Pampatheriidae         Chlamyphoridae       Pilosa     Vermilingua           Cyclopedidae         Myrmecophagidae     Folivora                 †Megatheriidae               †Nothrotheriidae         Bradypodidae                         †Mylodontidae         †Megalonychidae             Classification Screaming hairy armadillo Southern three-banded armadillo Brown-throated three-toed sloth Giant anteater Southern tamandua juvenile XENARTHRA     Order Cingulata         Family Chlamyphoridae: armadillos and glyptodonts             Greater fairy armadillo, Calyptophractus retusus             Pink fairy armadillo, Chlamyphorus truncatus             Northern naked-tailed armadillo, Cabassous centralis             Chacoan naked-tailed armadillo, Cabassous chacoensis             Southern naked-tailed armadillo, Cabassous unicinctus             Greater naked-tailed armadillo, Cabassous tatouay             Screaming hairy armadillo, Chaetophractus vellerosus             Big hairy armadillo, Chaetophractus villosus             Andean hairy armadillo, Chaetophractus nationi             Six-banded armadillo or yellow armadillo, Euphractus sexcinctus             Giant armadillo, Priodontes maximus             Southern three-banded armadillo, Tolypeutes matacus             Brazilian three-banded armadillo, Tolypeutes tricinctus             Pichi or dwarf armadillo, Zaedyus pichiy             Subfamily †Glyptodontinae: glyptodonts         Family Dasypodidae: long-nosed armadillos             Nine-banded armadillo or long-nosed armadillo, Dasypus novemcinctus             Seven-banded armadillo, Dasypus septemcinctus             Southern long-nosed armadillo, Dasypus hybridus             Llanos long-nosed armadillo, Dasypus sabanicola             Great long-nosed armadillo, Dasypus kappleri             Hairy long-nosed armadillo, Dasypus pilosus             Yepes's mulita, Dasypus yepesi         Family †Pampatheriidae: pampatheres     Order Pilosa         Suborder Folivora: sloths             Family Bradypodidae: three-toed sloths                 Pygmy three-toed sloth, Bradypus pygmaeus                 Brown-throated three-toed sloth, Bradypus variegatus                 Pale-throated three-toed sloth, Bradypus tridactylus                 Maned three-toed sloth, Bradypus torquatus             Family †Megalonychidae: megalonychid ground sloths             Family †Megatheriidae: megatheriid ground sloths             Family †Nothrotheriidae: nothrotheriid ground sloths and aquatic sloths             Family Choloepodidae: two-toed sloths                 Hoffman's two-toed sloth, Choloepus hoffmanni                 Linnaeus's two-toed sloth or southern two-toed sloth, Choloepus didactylus             Family †Mylodontidae: mylodontid ground sloths         Suborder Vermilingua: anteaters             Family Cyclopedidae: silky anteaters                 Silky anteater, Cyclopes didactylus             Family Myrmecophagidae: anteaters                 Giant anteater, Myrmecophaga tridactyla                 Northern tamandua, Tamandua mexicana                 Southern tamandua, Tamandua tetradactyla Characteristics Xenarthrans share several characteristics not present in other mammals. Authorities have tended to agree they are a primitive group of placental mammals not very closely related to other orders, without agreeing on how to classify them. George Gaylord Simpson first suggested in 1931 that their combination of unique characteristics shows the group evolved from highly specialized early ancestors that lived underground or were nocturnal and dug with their forelimbs to feed on social insects like ants or termites. Most researchers since then have agreed.[17] These extreme characteristics led to their confusion with unrelated groups that had similar specializations (aardvarks and pangolins), and obscures their relationships with other mammals. Dentition The teeth of xenarthrans differ from all other mammals. The dentition of most species is either significantly reduced and highly modified, or absent.[18] With the single exception of Dasypus armadillos and their ancestral genus Propraopus, xenarthrans do not have a milk dentition. They have a single set of teeth through their lives; these teeth have no functional enamel, and usually there are few or no teeth in the front of the mouth and the rear teeth all look alike. As a result, it is impossible to define Xenarthra as having incisors, canines, premolars, or molars. Since most mammals are classified by their teeth, it has been difficult to determine their relationships to other mammals. Xenarthrans may have evolved from ancestors that had already lost basic mammalian dental features like tooth enamel and a crown with cusps; reduced, highly simplified teeth are usually found in mammals that feed by licking up social insects. Several groups of xenarthrans did evolve cheek teeth to chew plants, but since they lacked enamel, patterns of harder and softer dentine created grinding surfaces. Dentine is less resistant to wear than the enamel-cusped teeth of other mammals, and xenarthrans developed open-rooted teeth that grow continuously.[19] Currently, no living or extinct xenarthrans have been found to have the standard mammalian dental formula or crown morphology derived from the ancient tribosphenic pattern.[20] Spine The name Xenarthra, which means "strange joints", was chosen because the vertebral joints of members of the group have extra articulations of a type unlike any other mammals. This trait is referred to as "xenarthry." (Tree sloths lost these articulations to increase the flexibility of their spines, but their fossil ancestors had xenarthrous joints.) Additional points of articulation between vertebrae strengthen and stiffen the spine, an adaptation developed in different ways in various groups of mammals that dig for food. Xenarthrans also tend to have different numbers of vertebrae than other mammals; sloths have a reduced number of lumbar vertebrae with either more or fewer cervical vertebrae than most mammals, while cingulates have neck vertebrae fused into a cervical tube, with glyptodonts fusing thoracic and lumbar vertebrae as well.[1] Vision Xenarthrans have been determined to have single-color vision. PCR analysis determined that a mutation in a stem xenarthran led to long-wavelength sensitive-cone (LWS) monochromacy (single color vision), common in nocturnal, aquatic and subterranean mammals.[21] Further losses led to rod monochromancy in a stem cingulate and a stem pilosan, pointing to a subterranean ancestry; the ancestors of Xenarthra had the reduced eyesight characteristic of vertebrates that live underground.[21] Some authorities state that xenarthrans lack a functional pineal gland; pineal activity is related to the perception of light.[22] Metabolism Living xenarthrans have the lowest metabolic rates among therians.[8][23] Paleoburrows have been discovered which are up to 1.5m wide and 40m long, with claw marks from excavation referred to the ground sloths Glossotherium or Scelidotherium. Remains of ground sloths (Mylodon and others) in caves are particularly common in colder parts of their range, suggesting ground sloths may have used burrows and caves to help regulate their body temperature. Analysis of the fossil South American Lujan fauna suggests far more large herbivorous mammals were present than similar contemporary environments can support. As most large Lujan herbivores were xenarthrans, low metabolic rate may be a feature of the entire clade, allowing relatively low-resource scrublands to support large numbers of huge animals. Faunal analysis also shows far fewer large predators in pre-GABI South American faunas than would be expected based on current faunas in similar environments. This suggests other factors than predation controlled the numbers of xenarthrans. South America had no placental predatory mammals until the Pleistocene, and xenarthran large-mammal faunas may have been vulnerable to many factors including a rise in numbers of mammalian predators, resource use by spreading North American herbivores with faster metabolisms and higher food requirements, and climate change." (wikipedia.org) "A flowerpot, flower pot, planter, planterette, or alternatively plant pot is a container in which flowers and other plants are cultivated and displayed. Historically, and still to a significant extent today, they are made from plain terracotta with no ceramic glaze, with a round shape, tapering inwards. Flowerpots are now often also made from plastic, metal, wood, stone, or sometimes biodegradable material. An example of biodegradable pots are ones made of heavy brown paper, cardboard, or peat moss in which young plants for transplanting are grown. For seedling starting in commercial greenhouses or polytunnels, pots usually take the form of trays with cells, each cell acting as one small pot. These trays are often called flats. There are usually holes in the bottom of pots, to allow excess water to flow out,[1] sometimes to a saucer that is placed under the flowerpot. The plant can use this water with its roots, as needed. Recently, some flowerpots have been made with an automatic watering system, using a reservoir.... Purpose Flowerpots have a number of uses such as transporting plants to new locations, starting seeds, patio and indoor cultivation of plants, and the growing of tender plants in colder regions indoors.[2] Through the centuries, the use of flowerpots has influenced the horticultural use of plants, and the Egyptians were among the first to use pots to move plants from one location to another. The Romans brought potted plants inside during cold weather. In the 18th century, pots were used to ship breadfruit seedlings from Tahiti to the West Indies. Also Orchids, African violets and Pelargonium geraniums were shipped in pots from other parts of the world, including Africa, to North America and Europe.[3] In the 18th century, Josiah Wedgwood's flowerpots or cachepots, were very popular; they were often highly decorative and used as table centrepieces.[4] In Athens, earthenware flowerpots were thrown into the sea during the festival of the Gardens of Adonis. Theophrastus, c. 371 – c. 287 BC, mentions that a plant called southern-wood was raised and propagated in pots because it was difficult to grow.[5] The top of the flowerpot underneath the rim is commonly known as the shoulder or collar and can aid handling. Classification Flower pots were traditionally[when?] made from terracotta. They were made and sold by the cast, which is the number of pots produced from a given quantity of clay. The traditional sizes[6] were as follows, although others existed: Name     No. to cast     Top diameter (inches)     Depth (inches) Ones     1     20     18 Twos     2     18     14 Fours     4     15     13 Sixes     6     13     12 Eights     8     12     11 Twelves     12     11.5     10 Sixteens     16     9.5     9 Twenty-fours     24     8.5     8 Thirty-twos     32     6     6 Forty-eights     48     4.5     5 Sixties     60     3     3.5 Seventy-twos or thimbles     72     2.5     Thumbs     80     2.5     2.5 Nineties or thumbs     90     1     Other sources give different values, and sometimes names, for the smaller pots, for example The Gardener's Everyday Log Book while agreeing on "twos" to "thirty-twos" has two different types of "sixties" and disagrees on "thumbs" and "thimbles":[7] Name     Top diameter (inches)     Depth (inches) Large sixties     4     3.5 Small sixties     3     3 Thumbs     2.5     2.5 Thimbles     2     2 A taller and thinner shape of pot, suitable for deep-rooting plants, was known as a long tom, a term still used. The traditional size for a long tom used for auriculas was 3 in diameter by 3.75 to 4 in depth.[8] Nursery In the nursery business, plants are generally grown in round or square plastic pots. Some organisations (such as the Royal Horticultural Society) encourage the reuse of (plastic) plant pots and trays across their retail centres.[9] In some garden centres (i.e. Edibleculture), this is done by not letting the plastic growing pots leave the garden centre, and simply place the plant inside a cardboard (or newspaper[10]) sleeve for transportation. Peat pots and paper pots are also being used,[11][12] and have the advantage of facilitating transplanting[13] as they do not need to be pulled out of a container for planting purposes (rather, the whole of container and plant is directly planted). Also, for sale purposes, there is no need to recover the container as it is biodegradable and can not and does not need to be reused or recycled. Some types exist focusing on vegetables,[14] whereas other paper pot systems exist that focus on larger plants (i.e. trees, sugar cane, ...) United States The sizes of plastic pots have been assigned an ANSI standard by the American Nursery and Landscape Association.[15] Pots designated #1–#100 nominally have the volume of that many gallons, but in fact a #1 pot has a capacity of 0.625 gallons (a "trade gallon"). There is also a Small Plant series: SP1, 6.5–8.0 in3; SP2, 13.0–15.0 in3; SP3, 20.0–30.0 in3; SP4, 51–63 in3; SP5, 93–136 in3. An SP4 pot is commonly called a "4-inch" or "quart" container.[16] Europe Plastic pots come in a number of standard sizes, with a code indicating the approximate dimensions of the diameter at the top. Code     Diameter     Height     Volume     Approx. Imperial equivalent 6F     6 cm     6 cm         2.25" 8F     8 cm     7.5 cm         3" 9F     9 cm     9 cm         3.5" 10F     10 cm     9.5 cm     0.5 l     4" 13F/14A     13 cm     12 cm     0.9 l     5.5" 15F     15 cm     14 cm         6" Size The effect of pot size on the growth of maize. The size of the pot will in part determine the size of the plants. Generally, plants planted in bigger pots will end up being larger; on average plants increase 40-45% in biomass for a doubling in pot volume.[17] This will in part be due to a higher availability of nutrients and water in larger pots, but also because roots will get less pot-bound. This does not mean that all plants will thrive better in bigger pots. Especially for succulents it is important that the soil does not stay wet for a long time, as this may cause their roots to rot. The smaller those plants are relative to the soil volume, the longer they take to use all pot water. Bonsai plants are also purposely planted in small pots, not only for aesthetics but also because the low supply of nutrients keeps the leaves smaller and the growth down. Because they are often not as drought resistant as succulents, this implies they have to be watered often. Shape Water in the soil of high pots is more easily pulled down by gravitational forces than in low pots, and hence the soil does not remain wet for a long time [18] This is relevant as plant roots of most species do not only need water, but also air (oxygen). If the potting soil is too wet plants may suffer from a lack of oxygen around the roots. Material Peat pots that are biodegradable and may be planted directly into the soil The soil in black pots exposed to sunlight will warm up more quickly than soil in white pots. Clay pots are permeable for water and therefore water from inside the pot soil can evaporate through the walls out of the pot. Pots that are glazed or made from plastic lose less water through evaporation. If they have no holes at the bottom either, plants may suffer from remaining too wet. Gallery     A flowerpot with straw, constructed to attract and house dermaptera species     Giant flowerpot     Flowerpots with the words "Trust" and "Love" on them     Torenia flowers in a flowerpot     Creeping groundsel in a clay pot     Picture of an artificial potted plant with red flowers - Item from IKEA     Victorian decorative flowerpots at Kindrogan House, Enochdu, Scotland     A large, angel-clade ornamental planter in front of an NYC apartment building" (wikipedia.org) "Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements.[1] In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "render" commonly refers to external applications.[2] Another imprecise term used for the material is stucco, which is also often used for plasterwork that is worked in some way to produce relief decoration, rather than flat surfaces. The most common types of plaster mainly contain either gypsum, lime, or cement,[3] but all work in a similar way. The plaster is manufactured as a dry powder and is mixed with water to form a stiff but workable paste immediately before it is applied to the surface. The reaction with water liberates heat through crystallization and the hydrated plaster then hardens. Plaster can be relatively easily worked with metal tools or even sandpaper, and can be moulded, either on site or to make pre-formed sections in advance, which are put in place with adhesive. Plaster is not a strong material; it is suitable for finishing, rather than load-bearing, and when thickly applied for decoration may require a hidden supporting framework, usually in metal. Forms of plaster have several other uses. In medicine plaster orthopedic casts are still often used for supporting set broken bones. In dentistry plaster is used to make dental models by pouring the material into dental impressions. Various types of models and moulds are made with plaster. In art, lime plaster is the traditional matrix for fresco painting; the pigments are applied to a thin wet top layer of plaster and fuse with it so that the painting is actually in coloured plaster. In the ancient world, as well as the sort of ornamental designs in plaster relief that are still used, plaster was also widely used to create large figurative reliefs for walls, though few of these have survived. ... Types Clay plaster Clay plaster is a mixture of clay, sand and water with the addition of plant fibers for tensile strength over wood lath. Clay plaster has been used since antiquity. Settlers in the American colonies used clay plaster on the interiors of their houses: “Interior plastering in the form of clay antedated even the building of houses of frame, and must have been visible in the inside of wattle filling in those earliest frame houses in which …wainscot had not been indulged. Clay continued in the use long after the adoption of laths and brick filling for the frame."[4] Where lime was not available or easily accessible it was rationed or substituted with other binders. In Martin E. Weaver’s seminal work he says, “Mud plaster consists of clay or earth which is mixed with water to give a “plastic” or workable consistency. If the clay mixture is too plastic it will shrink, crack and distort on drying. It will also probably drop off the wall. Sand and fine gravels were added to reduce the concentrations of fine clay particles which were the cause of the excessive shrinkage.”[5] Straw or grass was added sometimes with the addition of manure. In the Earliest European settlers’ plasterwork, a mud plaster was used or more usually a mud-lime mixture.[5] McKee [4] writes, of a circa 1675 Massachusetts contract that specified the plasterer, “Is to lath and siele[6] the four rooms of the house betwixt the joists overhead with a coat of lime and haire upon the clay; also to fill the gable ends of the house with ricks and plaister them with clay. 5. To lath and plaster partitions of the house with clay and lime, and to fill, lath, and plaister them with lime and haire besides; and to siele and lath them overhead with lime; also to fill, lath, and plaster the kitchen up to the wall plate on every side. 6. The said Daniel Andrews is to find lime, bricks, clay, stone, haire, together with laborers and workmen… .”[7] Records of the New Haven colony in 1641 mention clay and hay as well as lime and hair also. In German houses of Pennsylvania the use of clay persisted.”[8] Clay plaster base coat on split oak lath held in place with straw and manure, covered with a lime plaster top coat, Old Economy Village, Pennsylvania (1827) Old Economy Village is one such German settlement. The early Nineteenth-Century utopian village in present-day Ambridge, Pennsylvania, used clay plaster substrate exclusively in the brick and wood frame high architecture of the Feast Hall, Great House and other large and commercial structures as well as in the brick, frame and log dwellings of the society members. The use of clay in plaster and in laying brickwork appears to have been a common practice at that time not just in the construction of Economy village when the settlement was founded in 1824. Specifications for the construction of, “Lock keepers houses on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, written about 1828, require stone walls to be laid with clay mortar, excepting 3 inches on the outside of the walls…which (are) to be good lime mortar and well pointed.”[9] The choice of clay was because of its low cost, but also the availability. At Economy, root cellars dug under the houses yielded clay and sand (stone), or the nearby Ohio river yielded washed sand from the sand bars; and lime outcroppings and oyster shell for the lime kiln. Other required building materials were also sourced locally. The surrounding forests of the new village of Economy provided straight grain, old-growth oak trees for lath.[10] Hand split lath starts with a log of straight grained wood of the required length. The log is spit into quarters and then smaller and smaller bolts with wedges and a sledge. When small enough, a froe and mallet were used to split away narrow strips of lath - unattainable with field trees and their many limbs. Farm animals pastured in the fields cleared of trees provided the hair and manure for the float coat of plaster. Fields of wheat and grains provided straw and other grasses for binders for the clay plaster. But there was no uniformity in clay plaster recipes. Straw or grass was added sometimes with the addition of manure providing fiber for tensile strength as well as protein adhesive. Proteins in the manure act as binders. The hydrogen bonds of proteins must stay dry to remain strong, so the mud plaster must be kept dry.[11] With braced timber-framed structures clay plaster was used on interior walls and ceilings as well as exterior walls as the wall cavity and exterior cladding isolated the clay plaster from moisture penetration. Application of clay plaster in brick structures risked water penetration from failed mortar joints on the exterior brick walls. In Economy Village, the rear and middle wythes of brick dwelling walls are laid in a clay and sand mortar with the front wythe bedded in a lime and sand mortar to provide a weather proof seal to protect from water penetration. This allowed a rendering of clay plaster and setting coat of thin lime and fine sand on exterior-walled rooms. Lime setting-coat on clay plaster with straw binder. Applied to hand-split lath over a timber framed wall of a brick family house at Old Economy Village, Pennsylvania Split lath was nailed with square cut lath nails, one into each framing member. With hand split lath the plasterer had the luxury of making lath to fit the cavity being plastered. Lengths of lath two to six foot are not uncommon at Economy Village. Hand split lath is not uniform like sawn lath. The straightness or waviness of the grain affected the thickness or width of each lath, and thus the spacing of the lath. The clay plaster rough coat varied to cover the irregular lath. Window and door trim as well as the mudboard (baseboard) acted as screeds. With the variation of the lath thickness and use of coarse straw and manure, the clay coat of plaster was thick in comparison to later lime-only and gypsum plasters. In Economy Village, the lime top coats are thin veneers often an eighth inch or less attesting to the scarcity of limestone supplies there. Clay plasters with their lack of tensile and compressive strength fell out of favor as industrial mining and technology advances in kiln production led to the exclusive use of lime and then gypsum in plaster applications. However, clay plasters still exist after hundreds of years clinging to split lath on rusty square nails. The wall variations and roughness reveal a hand-made and pleasing textured alternative to machine-made modern substrate finishes. But clay plaster finishes are rare and fleeting. According to Martin Weaver, “Many of North America’s historic building interiors…are all too often…one of the first things to disappear in the frenzy of demolition of interiors which has unfortunately come to be a common companion to “heritage preservation” in the guise of building rehabilitation.”[5] Gypsum plaster (plaster of Paris) Gypsum plaster,[12] also known as plaster of Paris,[13] is a white powder consisting of calcium sulphate hemihydrate. The natural form of the compound is the mineral bassanite.[14][15] Etymology The name "plaster of Paris" came from the fact that it was first of all made by heating gypsum which was mainly found in Paris.[13][16] A large gypsum deposit at Montmartre in Paris led "calcined gypsum" (roasted gypsum or gypsum plaster) to be commonly known as "plaster of Paris".[17] Chemistry Gypsum plaster, gypsum powder, or plaster of Paris, is produced by heating gypsum to about 120–180 °C (248–356 °F) in a kiln:[18][13]     CaSO 4 ⋅ 2 H 2 O + {\displaystyle {\ce {CaSO4.2H2O +}}} {\displaystyle {\ce {CaSO4.2H2O +}}} heat ⟶ {\displaystyle {\ce {->}}} {\displaystyle {\ce {->}}} CaSO 4 ⋅ 1 2 H 2 O + 1 1 2 H 2 O {\displaystyle {\ce {CaSO4.1/2H2O + 1 1/2H2O}}} {\displaystyle {\ce {CaSO4.1/2H2O + 1 1/2H2O}}} (released as steam). Plaster of Paris has a remarkable property of setting into a hard mass on wetting with water. CaSO 4 ⋅ 1 2 H 2 O + 1 1 2 H 2 O ⟶ CaSO 4 ⋅ 2 H 2 O {\displaystyle {\ce {CaSO4.1/2H2O + 1 1/2H2O -> CaSO4.2H2O}}} {\displaystyle {\ce {CaSO4.1/2H2O + 1 1/2H2O -> CaSO4.2H2O}}} Plaster of Paris is stored in moisture-proof containers, because the presence of moisture can cause slow setting of plaster of Paris by bringing about its hydration, which will make it useless after some time.[19] When the dry plaster powder is mixed with water, it rehydrates over time into gypsum. The setting of plaster slurry starts about 10 minutes after mixing and is complete in about 45 minutes. The setting of plaster of Paris is accompanied by a slight expansion of volume due to which it is used in making casts for statues, toys, etc.[19] The initial matrix consists mostly of orthorhombic crystals - the kinetic product. Over the next 72 hours the rhombic crystals give way to an interlocking mass of monoclinic crystal needles and the plaster increases in hardness and gains strength.[20] If plaster or gypsum is heated to between 130 °C, (266 °F) and 180 °C (350°F), hemihydrate is formed, which will also re-form as gypsum if mixed with water.[21][22] On heating to 180 °C (350°F), the nearly water-free form, called γ-anhydrite (CaSO4·nH2O where n = 0 to 0.05) is produced. γ-Anhydrite reacts slowly with water to return to the dihydrate state, a property exploited in some commercial desiccants. On heating above 250 °C (480°F), the completely anhydrous form called β-anhydrite or dead burned plaster is formed.[19][22] Uses of gypsum plaster Further information: Plaster § Applications     for making surfaces like the walls of a house smooth before painting them and for making ornamental designs on the ceilings of houses and other buildings.[19] (see Plaster In decorative architecture)     for making toys, decorative materials, cheap ornaments, cosmetics, black-board, chalk and casts for statue.[19]     a fire-proofing material.[19] (see Plaster in Fire protection)     used in hospitals for setting fractured bones in the right position to ensure correct healing. It keeps the fractured bone straight. This use is based on the fact that when plaster of Paris is mixed with a proper quantity of water and applied around the fractured limbs it sets into a hard mass, In this way it keeps the bone joints in a fixed position. It is also used for making casts in dentistry.[19] (see Plaster in Medicine)     chemistry laboratory for sealing air-gaps in apparatus when air-tight arrangement is required.[19] Lime plaster Main article: Lime plaster Lime plaster is a mixture of calcium hydroxide and sand (or other inert fillers). Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere causes the plaster to set by transforming the calcium hydroxide into calcium carbonate (limestone). Whitewash is based on the same chemistry. To make lime plaster, limestone (calcium carbonate) is heated above approximately 850 °C (1600°F) to produce quicklime (calcium oxide). Water is then added to produce slaked lime (calcium hydroxide), which is sold as a wet putty or a white powder. Additional water is added to form a paste prior to use. The paste may be stored in airtight containers. When exposed to the atmosphere, the calcium hydroxide very slowly turns back into calcium carbonate through reaction with atmospheric carbon dioxide, causing the plaster to increase in strength. Lime plaster was a common building material for wall surfaces in a process known as lath and plaster, whereby a series of wooden strips on a studwork frame was covered with a semi-dry plaster that hardened into a surface. The plaster used in most lath and plaster construction was mainly lime plaster, with a cure time of about a month. To stabilize the lime plaster during curing, small amounts of plaster of Paris were incorporated into the mix. Because plaster of Paris sets quickly, "retardants" were used to slow setting time enough to allow workers to mix large working quantities of lime putty plaster. A modern form of this method uses expanded metal mesh over wood or metal structures, which allows a great freedom of design as it is adaptable to both simple and compound curves. Today this building method has been partly replaced with drywall, also composed mostly of gypsum plaster. In both these methods, a primary advantage of the material is that it is resistant to a fire within a room and so can assist in reducing or eliminating structural damage or destruction provided the fire is promptly extinguished. Lime plaster is used for frescoes, where pigments, diluted in water, are applied to the still wet plaster. USA and Iran are the main plaster producers in the world.[citation needed] Cement plaster See also: Cement render Cement plaster is a mixture of suitable plaster, sand, Portland cement and water which is normally applied to masonry interiors and exteriors to achieve a smooth surface. Interior surfaces sometimes receive a final layer of gypsum plaster. Walls constructed with stock bricks are normally plastered while face brick walls are not plastered. Various cement-based plasters are also used as proprietary spray fireproofing products. These usually use vermiculite as lightweight aggregate. Heavy versions of such plasters are also in use for exterior fireproofing, to protect LPG vessels, pipe bridges and vessel skirts. Cement plaster was first introduced in America around 1909 and was often called by the generic name adamant plaster after a prominent manufacturer of the time. The advantages of cement plaster noted at that time were its strength, hardness, quick setting time and durability.[23] Heat-resistant plaster Heat-resistant plaster is a building material used for coating walls and chimney breasts and for use as a fire barrier in ceilings. Its purpose is to replace conventional gypsum plasters in cases where the temperature can get too high for gypsum plaster to stay on the wall or ceiling.... Applications In decorative architecture Main articles: Stucco and Plasterwork Plaster may also be used to create complex detailing for use in room interiors. These may be geometric (simulating wood or stone) or naturalistic (simulating leaves, vines, and flowers). These are also often used to simulate wood or stone detailing found in more substantial buildings. In modern days this material is also used for False Ceiling. In this, the powder form is converted in a sheet form and the sheet is then attached to the basic ceiling with the help of fasteners. It is done in various designs containing various combinations of lights and colors. The common use of this plaster can be seen in the construction of houses. Post-construction, direct painting is possible (which is commonly seen in French architecture), but elsewhere plaster is used. The walls are painted with the plaster which (in some countries) is nothing but calcium carbonate. After drying the calcium carbonate plaster turns white and then the wall is ready to be painted. Elsewhere in the world, such as the UK, ever finer layers of plaster are added on top of the plasterboard (or sometimes the brick wall directly) to give a smooth brown polished texture ready for painting. Art See also: Plaster cast Example of a stenciled plaster design Mural paintings are commonly painted onto a plaster secondary support. Some, like Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling, are executed in fresco, meaning they are painted on a thin layer of wet plaster, called intonaco; the pigments sink into this layer so that the plaster itself becomes the medium holding them, which accounts for the excellent durability of fresco. Additional work may be added a secco on top of the dry plaster, though this is generally less durable. Plaster (often called stucco in this context) is a far easier material for making reliefs than stone or wood, and was widely used for large interior wall-reliefs in Egypt and the Near East from antiquity into Islamic times (latterly for architectural decoration, as at the Alhambra), Rome, and Europe from at least the Renaissance, as well as probably elsewhere. However, it needs very good conditions to survive long in unmaintained buildings – Roman decorative plasterwork is mainly known from Pompeii and other sites buried by ash from Mount Vesuvius. Plaster may be cast directly into a damp clay mold. In creating this piece molds (molds designed for making multiple copies) or waste molds (for single use) would be made of plaster. This "negative" image, if properly designed, may be used to produce clay productions, which when fired in a kiln become terra cotta building decorations, or these may be used to create cast concrete sculptures. If a plaster positive was desired this would be constructed or cast to form a durable image artwork. As a model for stonecutters this would be sufficient. If intended for producing a bronze casting the plaster positive could be further worked to produce smooth surfaces. An advantage of this plaster image is that it is relatively cheap; should a patron approve of the durable image and be willing to bear further expense, subsequent molds could be made for the creation of a wax image to be used in lost wax casting, a far more expensive process. In lieu of producing a bronze image suitable for outdoor use the plaster image may be painted to resemble a metal image; such sculptures are suitable only for presentation in a weather-protected environment. Plaster expands while hardening then contracts slightly just before hardening completely. This makes plaster excellent for use in molds, and it is often used as an artistic material for casting. Plaster is also commonly spread over an armature (form), made of wire mesh, cloth, or other materials; a process for adding raised details. For these processes, limestone or acrylic based plaster may be employed, known as stucco.[citation needed] Products composed mainly of plaster of Paris and a small amount of Portland cement are used for casting sculptures and other art objects as well as molds. Considerably harder and stronger than straight plaster of Paris, these products are for indoor use only as they rapidly degrade in the rain. Funeral processes Plaster is used by many morticians and funeral home directors to recreate destroyed tissue, reconnect severed limbs to corpses, and to fill wounds sustained during the incident that caused the death. Medicine Plaster is widely used as a support for broken bones; a bandage impregnated with plaster is moistened and then wrapped around the damaged limb, setting into a close-fitting yet easily removed tube, known as an orthopedic cast. Plaster is also used in preparation for radiotherapy when fabricating individualized immobilization shells for patients. Plaster bandages are used to construct an impression of a patient's head and neck, and liquid plaster is used to fill the impression and produce a plaster bust. The transparent material polymethyl methacrylate (Plexiglas, Perspex) is then vacuum formed over this bust to create a clear face mask which will hold the patient's head steady while radiation is being delivered.[citation needed] In dentistry, plaster is used for mounting casts or models of oral tissues. These diagnostic and working models are usually made from dental stone, a stronger, harder and denser derivative of plaster which is manufactured from gypsum under pressure. Plaster is also used to invest and flask wax dentures, the wax being subsequently removed by "burning out," and replaced with flowable denture base material. The typically acrylic denture base then cures in the plaster investment mold. Plaster investments can withstand the high heat and pressure needed to ensure a rigid denture base. Moreover, in dentistry there are 5 types of gypsum products depending on their consistency and uses: 1) impression plaster (type 1), 2) model plaster (type 2), dental stones (types 3, 4 and 5)[citation needed] In orthotics and prosthetics, plaster bandages traditionally were used to create impressions of the patient's limb (or residuum). This negative impression was then, itself, filled with plaster of Paris, to create a positive model of the limb and used in fabricating the final medical device. In addition, dentures (false teeth) are made by first taking a dental impression using a soft, pliable material that can be removed from around the teeth and gums without loss of fidelity and using the impression to creating a wax model of the teeth and gums. The model is used to create a plaster mold (which is heated so the wax melts and flows out) and the denture materials are injected into the mold. After a curing period, the mold is opened and the dentures are cleaned up and polished. Fire protection Himeji Castle, Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan     This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Plasters have been in use in passive fire protection, as fireproofing products, for many decades. The finished plaster releases water vapor when exposed to flame, acting to slow the spread of the fire, for as much as an hour or two depending on thickness. It also provides some insulation to retard heat flow into structural steel elements, that would otherwise lose their strength and collapse in a fire. Early versions of these plasters have used asbestos fibres, which have by now been outlawed in industrialized nations and have caused significant removal and re-coating work. More modern plasters fall into the following categories:     fibrous (including mineral wool and glass fiber)     cement mixtures either with mineral wool or with vermiculite     gypsum plasters, leavened with polystyrene beads, as well as chemical expansion agents to decrease the density of the finished product One differentiates between interior and exterior fireproofing. Interior products are typically less substantial, with lower densities and lower cost. Exterior products have to withstand more extreme fire and other environmental conditions. Exterior products are also more likely to be attractively tooled, whereas their interior cousins are usually merely sprayed in place. A rough surface is typically forgiven inside of buildings as dropped ceilings often hide them. Exterior fireproofing plasters are losing ground to more costly intumescent and endothermic products, simply on technical merit. Trade jurisdiction on unionized construction sites in North America remains with the plasterers, regardless of whether the plaster is decorative in nature or is used in passive fire protection. Cementitious and gypsum based plasters tend to be endothermic. Fireproofing plasters are closely related to firestop mortars. Most firestop mortars can be sprayed and tooled very well, due to the fine detail work that is required of firestopping, which leads their mix designers to utilise concrete admixtures, that enable easier tooling than common mortars. 3D printing Powder bed and inkjet head 3D printing is commonly based on the reaction of gypsum plaster with water, where the water is selectively applied by the inkjet head." (wikipedia.org) "Plasterwork is construction or ornamentation done with plaster, such as a layer of plaster on an interior or exterior wall structure, or plaster decorative moldings on ceilings or walls. This is also sometimes called pargeting. The process of creating plasterwork, called plastering or rendering, has been used in building construction for centuries. For the art history of three-dimensional plaster, see stucco.... History The earliest plasters known to us were lime-based. Around 7500 BC, the people of 'Ain Ghazal in Jordan used lime mixed with unheated crushed limestone to make plaster which was used on a large scale for covering walls, floors, and hearths in their houses. Often, walls and floors were decorated with red, finger-painted patterns and designs. In ancient India and China, renders in clay and gypsum plasters were used to produce a smooth surface over rough stone or mud brick walls, while in early Egyptian tombs, walls were coated with lime and gypsum plaster and the finished surface was often painted or decorated. Modelled stucco was employed throughout the Roman Empire. The Romans used mixtures of lime and sand to build up preparatory layers over which finer applications of gypsum, lime, sand and marble dust were made; pozzolanic materials were sometimes added to produce a more rapid set. Following the fall of the Roman Empire, the addition of marble dust to plaster to allow the production of fine detail and a hard, smooth finish in hand-modelled and moulded decoration was not used until the Renaissance. Around the 4th century BC, the Romans discovered the principles of the hydraulic set of lime, which by the addition of highly reactive forms of silica and alumina, such as volcanic earths, could solidify rapidly even under water. There was little use of hydraulic mortar after the Roman period until the 18th century. Plaster decoration was widely used in Europe in the Middle Ages where, from the mid-13th century, gypsum plaster was used for internal and external plaster. Hair was employed as reinforcement, with additives to assist set or plasticity including malt, urine, beer, milk and eggs. 14th century In the 14th century, decorative plasterwork called pargeting was being used in South-East England to decorate the exterior of timber-framed buildings. This is a form of incised, moulded or modelled ornament, executed in lime putty or mixtures of lime and gypsum plaster. During this same period, terracotta was reintroduced into Europe and was widely used for the production of ornament. 15th century In the mid-15th century, Venetian skilled workers developed a new type of external facing, called marmorino made by applying lime directly onto masonry. 16th century In the 16th century, a new highly decorative type of decorative internal plasterwork, called scagliola, was invented by stuccoists working in Bavaria. This was composed of gypsum plaster, animal glue and pigments, used to imitate coloured marbles and pietre dure ornament. Sand or marble dust, and lime, were sometimes added. In this same century, the sgraffito technique, also known as graffito or scratchwork was introduced into Germany by Italian artists, combining it with modelled stucco decoration. This technique was practised in antiquity and was described by Vasari as being a quick and durable method for decorating building facades. Here, layers of contrasting lime plaster were applied and a design scratched through the upper layer to reveal the colour beneath. 17th century The 17th century saw the introduction of different types of internal plasterwork. Stucco marble was an artificial marble made using gypsum (sometimes with lime), pigments, water and glue. Stucco lustro was another a form of imitation marble (sometimes called stucco lucido) where a thin layer of lime or gypsum plaster was applied over a scored support of lime, with pigments scattered on surface of the wet plaster. 18th century The 18th century gave rise to renewed interest in innovative external plasters. Oil mastics introduced in the UK in this period included a "Composition or stone paste" patented in 1765 by David Wark. This was a lime-based mix and included "oyls of tar, turpentine and linseed" besides many other ingredients. Another "Composition or cement", including drying oil, was patented in 1773 by Rev. John Liardet. A similar product was patented in 1777 by John Johnson. Widely used by the architect Robert Adam who in turn commissioned George Jackson to produce reverse-cut boxwood moulds (many of which to Adam designs). Jackson formed an independent company which still today produces composition pressings and retains a very large boxwood mould collection. In 1774, in France, a mémoire was published on the composition of ancient mortars. This was translated into English as "A Practical Essay on a Cement, and Artificial Stone, justly supposed to be that of the Greeks and Romans" and was published in the same year. Following this, and as a backlash to the disappointment felt due to the repeated failure of oil mastics, in the second half of the 18th century water-based renders gained popularity once more. Mixes for renders were patented, including a "Water Cement, or Stucco" consisting of lime, sand, bone ash and lime-water (Dr Bryan Higgins, 1779). Various experiments mixing different limes with volcanic earths took place in the 18th century. John Smeaton (from 1756) experimented with hydraulic limes and concluded that the best limes were those fired from limestones containing a considerable quantity of clay]ey material. In 1796, Revd James Parker patented Parker's "Roman Cement". This was a hydraulic cement which, when mixed with sand, could be used for stucco. It could also be cast to form mouldings and other ornaments. It was however of an unattractive brown colour, which needed to be disguised by surface finishes. 19th century Natural cements were frequently used in stucco mixes during the 1820s. The popularisation of Portland cement changed the composition of stucco, as well as mortar, to a harder material. The development of artificial cements had started early in the 19th century. In 1811, James Frost took out a patent for an artificial cement obtained by lightly calcining ground chalk and clay together. The French Engineer Louis Vicat in 1812–1813 experimented with calcining synthetic mixtures of limestone and clay, a product he introduced in 1818. In 1822, in the UK, James Frost patented (another?) process, similar to Vicat's, producing what he called "British cement". Portland cement, patented in 1824 by Joseph Aspdin, was called so because it was supposed to resemble Portland stone. Aspdinís son William, and later Isaac Johnson, improved the production process. A product, very similar to modern Portland cement, was available from about 1845, with other improvements taking place in the following years. Thus, after about 1860, most stucco was composed primarily of Portland cement, mixed with some lime. This made it even more versatile and durable. No longer used just as a coating for a substantial material like masonry or log, stucco could now be applied over wood or metal lath attached to a light wood frame. With this increased strength, it ceased to be just a veneer and became a more integral part of the building structure. Early 19th century rendered façades were colour-washed with distemper; oil paint for external walls was introduced around 1840. The 19th century also saw the revival of the use of oil mastics. In the UK, patents were obtained for "compositions" in 1803 (Thomas Fulchner), 1815 (Christopher Dihl) and 1817 (Peter Hamelin). These oil mastics, as the ones before them, also proved to be short-lived. Moulded or cast masonry substitutes, such as cast stone and poured concrete, became popular in place of quarried stone during the 19th century. However, this was not the first time "artificial stone" had been widely used. Coade Stone, a brand name for a cast stone made from fired clay, had been developed and manufactured in England from 1769 to 1843 and was used for decorative architectural elements. Following the closure of the factory in South London, Coade stone stopped being produced, and the formula was lost. By the mid 19th century manufacturing centres were preparing cast stones based on cement for use in buildings. These were made primarily with a cement mix often incorporating fine and coarse aggregates for texture, pigments or dyes to imitate colouring and veining of natural stones, as well as other additives. Also in the 19th century, various mixtures of modified gypsum plasters, such as Keene's cement, appeared. These materials were developed for use as internal wall plasters, increasing the usefulness of simple plaster of Paris as they set more slowly and were thus easier to use. A plasterer covering a wall, using a hawk (in his left hand) and trowel (in his right hand) Tools and materials Tools and materials include trowels, floats, hammers, screeds, hawk, scratching tools, utility knives, laths, lath nails, lime, sand, hair, plaster of Paris, a variety of cements, and various ingredients to form color washes. While most tools have remained unchanged over the centuries, developments in modern materials have led to some changes. Trowels, originally constructed from steel, are now available in a polycarbonate material that allows the application of certain new, acrylic-based materials without staining the finish. Floats, traditionally made of timber (ideally straight-grained, knot-free, yellow pine), are often finished with a layer of sponge or expanded polystyrene. " (wikipedia.org) "Cuteness is a subjective term describing a type of attractiveness commonly associated with youth and appearance, as well as a scientific concept and analytical model in ethology, first introduced by Konrad Lorenz.[2] Lorenz proposed the concept of baby schema (Kindchenschema), a set of facial and body features, that make a creature appear "cute" and activate ("release") in others the motivation to care for it.[3] Cuteness may be ascribed to people as well as things that are regarded as attractive or charming.... Juvenile traits Change of head proportions (especially the relative size of the maxilla and mandible) as a function of age Example of two cute Baroque angels from southern Germany, from the mid-18th century, made of lindenwood, gilded and with original polychromy, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City) Doug Jones, a visiting scholar in anthropology at Cornell University, said that the proportions of facial features change with age due to changes in hard tissue and soft tissue, and Jones said that these "age-related changes" cause juvenile animals to have the "characteristic 'cute' appearance" of proportionately smaller snouts, higher foreheads and larger eyes than their adult counterparts. In terms of hard tissue, Jones said that the neurocranium grows a lot in juveniles while the bones for the nose and the parts of the skull involved in chewing food only reach maximum growth later. In terms of soft tissue, Jones said that the cartilaginous tissues of the ears and nose continue to grow throughout a person's lifetime, starting at age twenty-five the eyebrows descend on the "supraorbital rim" from a position above the supraorbital rim to a position below it, the "lateral aspect of the eyebrows" sags with age, making the eyes appear smaller, and the red part of the lips gets thinner with age due to loss of connective tissue.[5] A study found that the faces of "attractive" Northern Italian Caucasian children have "characteristics of babyness" such as a "larger forehead", a smaller jaw, "a proportionately larger and more prominent maxilla", a wider face, a flatter face and larger "anteroposterior" facial dimensions than the Northern Italian Caucasian children used as a reference.[6] Biological function Konrad Lorenz argued in 1949 that infantile features triggered nurturing responses in adults and that this was an evolutionary adaptation which helped ensure that adults cared for their children, ultimately securing the survival of the species. Some later scientific studies have provided further evidence for Lorenz's theory. For example, it has been shown that human adults react positively to infants who are stereotypically cute. Studies have also shown that responses to cuteness—and to facial attractiveness in general—seem to be similar across and within cultures.[7] In a study conducted by Stephan Hamann of Emory University, he found using an fMRI, that cute pictures increased brain activity in the orbital frontal cortex.[8] Growth pattern of children Desmond Collins, who was an Extension Lecturer of Archaeology at London University,[9] said that the lengthened youth period of humans is part of neoteny.[10] Physical anthropologist Barry Bogin said that the pattern of children's growth may intentionally increase the duration of their cuteness. Bogin said that the human brain reaches adult size when the body is only 40 percent complete, when "dental maturation is only 58 percent complete" and when "reproductive maturation is only 10 percent complete". Bogin said that this allometry of human growth allows children to have a "superficially infantile" appearance (large skull, small face, small body and sexual underdevelopment) longer than in other "mammalian species". Bogin said that this cute appearance causes a "nurturing" and "care-giving" response in "older individuals".[11] Kindchenschema - Mensch.jpg Neoteny in humans is characterized by attributes of a large cranium, large eyes, small face, and small body Gender differences The perceived cuteness of an infant is influenced by the gender and behavior of the infant.[12][13] In the Koyama et al. (2006) research, female infants are seen as cute for the physical attraction that female infants display more than male infants;[12] whereas research by Karraker (1990) demonstrates that a caregiver's attention and involvement in the male infant's protection could be solely based on the perception of happiness and attractiveness of the child.[13] The gender of an observer can determine their perception of the difference in cuteness. In a study by Sprengelmeyer et al. (2009) it was suggested that women were more sensitive to small differences in cuteness than the same aged men. This suggests that reproductive hormones in women are important for determining cuteness.[14] This finding has also been demonstrated in a study conducted by T.R. Alley in which he had 25 undergraduate students (consisting of 7 men and 18 women) rate cuteness of infants depending on different characteristics such as age, behavioral traits, and physical characteristics such as head shape, and facial feature configuration.[15] Preference in young children Borgi et al. stated that young children demonstrate a preference for faces with a more "infantile facial" arrangement i.e. a rounder face, a higher forehead, bigger eyes, a smaller nose and a smaller mouth. In a study that used three- to six-year-old children, Borgi et al. (2014) asserted that the children showed a viewing time preference toward the eyes of "high infantile" faces of dogs, cats and humans as opposed to "low infantile" faces of those three species.[16] Hormones and cuteness variation There are suggestions that hormone levels can affect a person's perception of cuteness. Konrad Lorenz suggests that "caretaking behaviour and affective orientation" towards infants as an innate mechanism, and this is triggered by cute characteristics such as "chubby cheeks" and large eyes. The Sprengelmeyer et al. (2009) study expands on this claim by manipulating baby pictures to test groups on their ability to detect differences in cuteness. The studies show that premenopausal women detected cuteness better than same aged postmenopausal women. Furthermore, to support this claim, women taking birth control pills that raise levels of reproductive hormones detect cuteness better than same aged women not taking the pill.[14] Sprengelmeyer gathered 24 young women, 24 young men, and 24 older women to participate in his study. He ran three studies in which images of white European babies were shown, and the participants were asked to rate them on a cuteness scale of one to seven. The study found differences among the groups in cuteness discrimination, which ruled out cohort and social influences on perceived cuteness. In the second study it was found that premenopausal women discriminated cuteness at a higher level than their postmenopausal female peers. This finding suggested a biological factor, which was then investigated further in the third study. Here, Sprengelmeyer compared cuteness sensitivity between premenopausal women who were, and were not taking oral contraceptives. The study concluded that post-perceptual processes were impacted by hormone levels (progesterone and estrogen specifically) in females, and thus impacted sensitivity to cuteness.[14] Caregiving correlates A study by Konrad Lorenz in the early 1940s found that the shape of an infant's head positively correlated with adult caregiving and an increased perception of "cute". However a study by Thomas Alley found no such correlation and pointed out faulty procedures in that study. Alley's study found that cephalic head shape of an infant did induce a positive response from adults, and these children were considered to be more "cute". In his study, Alley had 25 undergraduate students rate line drawings of an infant's face. The same drawing was used each time, however the cephalic head shape was changed using a cardioidal transformation (a transformation that models cephalic growth in relation to ageing process) to adjust the perceived age; other features of the face were not changed. The study concluded that a large head shape increased perceived cuteness, which then elicited a positive response in adult caretaking. The study also noted that perceived cuteness was also dependent on other physical and behavioural characteristics of the child, including age.[15] In a study by McCabe (1984) of children whose ages ranged from toddlers to teenagers, the children with more "adult-like" facial proportions were more likely to have experienced physical abuse than children of the same age who had less "adult-like" facial proportions.[17] A study by Karraker (1990) suggested that "an adult's beliefs about the personality and expected behavior of an infant can influence the adult's interaction with the infant", and gave evidence that in this way "basic cuteness effects may occasionally be obscured in particular infants".[13] Koyama (2006) said that an adult caregiver's perception of an infant's cuteness can motivate the amount of care and protection the caregiver provides, and the admiration demonstrated toward the infant, and concluded that "the adults' protective feeling for children appeared to be a more important criterion for the judgment of a boy's cuteness."[12] Melanie Glocker (2009) provided experimental evidence that infants' cuteness motivates caretaking in adults, even if they are not related to the infant.[18] Glocker asked individuals to rate the level of cuteness of pictured infants and noted the motivation that these participants had to care for the infants. The research suggested that individuals' rating of the perceived cuteness of an infant corresponded to the level of motivation an individual had to care for this infant.[18] Glocker and colleagues then used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), to demonstrate that baby faces with higher content of baby schema features, generated more activation in the nucleus accumbens, a small brain area central to motivation and reward.[3] This work elucidated the neural mechanism through which baby schema (Kindchenschema) may motivate ("release") caretaking behavior. Furthermore, cute infants were more likely to be adopted and rated as more "likeable, friendly, healthy and competent" than infants who were less cute. There is an implication that baby schema response is crucial to human development because it lays the foundation for care giving and the relationship between child and caretaker.[18] Sherman, Haidt, & Coan (2009), in two experiments, found that exposure to high cuteness stimuli increased performance when playing the Operation game, a task that requires extreme carefulness. The study said that the shift in behavior toward greater carefulness is consistent with the viewpoint that cuteness is something that releases the human caregiving system. The study said that the shift in behavior toward greater carefulness also makes sense as an adaptation for caring for small children.[19] Cultural significance Doug Jones, a visiting scholar in anthropology at Cornell University, said that the faces of monkeys, dogs, birds and even the fronts of cars can be made to appear cuter by morphing them with a "cardioidal" (heart-shaped) mathematical transformation. Jones said that negative cardioidal strain results in faces appearing less mature and cuter by causing facial features at the top of the face to expand outward and upward while causing features at the bottom of the face to contract inward and upward.[5] Stephen Jay Gould said that over time Mickey Mouse had been drawn to resemble a juvenile more with a relatively larger head, larger eyes, a larger and more bulging cranium, a less sloping and more rounded forehead, shorter, thicker and "pudgier" legs, thicker arms and a thicker snout which gave the appearance of being less protrusive. Gould suggested that this change in Mickey's image was intended to increase his popularity by making him appear cuter and "inoffensive". Gould said that the neotenous changes to Mickey's form were similar to the neotenous changes that occurred in human evolution.[1] Nancy Etcoff, Ph.D. in psychology from Boston University, said "cartoonists capitalize on our innate preferences for juvenile features", and she mentioned Mickey Mouse and Bambi as examples of this trend. She said Mickey Mouse's bodily proportions "aged in reverse" since his inception, because "[h]is eyes and head kept getting bigger while his limbs kept getting shorter and thicker", culminating in him resembling a "human infant". She further mentioned the "exaggerated high forehead" and the "doe eyes" of Bambi as another example of this trend.[20] Mark J. Estren, Ph.D. in psychology from the University at Buffalo,[21] said cute animals get more public attention and scientific study due to having physical characteristics that would be considered neotenous from the perspective of human development. Estren said that humans should be mindful of their bias for cute animals, so animals that would not be considered cute are also valued in addition to cute animals.[22] The perception of cuteness is culturally diverse. The differences across cultures can be significantly associated to the need to be socially accepted.[23] Cute animals Sherman, Haidt, & Coan (2009) used images of puppies and kittens for the study's "high cuteness" stimuli in two experiments.[19] William R. Miller, assistant professor of biology at Baker University in Kansas, said that most people, upon seeing tardigrades, say that they are the cutest invertebrates.[24] Kenta Takada (2016) said that Miyanoshita (2008) said that the design of chocolates made to look like rhinoceros beetle larvae is a design that is both cute and disgusting.[25][26] Evolutionary biologists suspect that "puppy dog eyes", a trait absent from wild wolves, were unintentionally selected for by humans during the domestication of dogs.[27] In order to obtain pets with particularly cute faces, some breeds of dogs have been bred with increasingly severe cranial deformities called brachycephaly, for example, the French bulldog who consequently suffer from Brachycephalic airway obstructive syndrome." (wikipedia.org) "Kawaii (Japanese: かわいい or 可愛い, IPA: [kawaiꜜi]; 'lovely', 'loveable', 'cute', or 'adorable')[1] is the culture of cuteness in Japan.[2][3][4] It can refer to items, humans and non-humans that are charming, vulnerable, shy and childlike.[2] Examples include cute handwriting, certain genres of manga, and characters including Hello Kitty and Pikachu.[5][6] The cuteness culture, or kawaii aesthetic, has become a prominent aspect of Japanese popular culture, entertainment, clothing, food, toys, personal appearance, and mannerisms.... Etymology The word kawaii originally derives from the phrase 顔映し kao hayushi, which literally means "(one's) face (is) aglow," commonly used to refer to flushing or blushing of the face. The second morpheme is cognate with -bayu in mabayui (眩い, 目映い, or 目映ゆい) "dazzling, glaring, blinding, too bright; dazzlingly beautiful" (ma- is from 目 me "eye") and -hayu in omohayui (面映い or 面映ゆい) "embarrassed/embarrassing, awkward, feeling self-conscious/making one feel self-conscious" (omo- is from 面 omo, an archaic word for "face, looks, features; surface; image, semblance, vestige"). Over time, the meaning changed into the modern meaning of "cute" or "shine" , and the pronunciation changed to かわゆい kawayui and then to the modern かわいい kawaii.[8][9][10] It is commonly written in hiragana, かわいい, but the ateji, 可愛い, has also been used. The kanji in the ateji literally translates to "able to love/be loved, can/may love, lovable." History Original definition Kogal girl, identified by her shortened skirt. The soft bag and teddy bear that she carries are part of kawaii. The original definition of kawaii came from Lady Murasaki's 11th century novel The Tale of Genji, where it referred to pitiable qualities.[11] During the Shogunate period[when?] under the ideology of neo-Confucianism, women came to be included under the term kawaii as the perception of women being animalistic was replaced with the conception of women as docile.[11] However, the earlier meaning survives into the modern Standard Japanese adjectival noun かわいそう kawaisō (often written with ateji as 可哀相 or 可哀想) "piteous, pitiable, arousing compassion, poor, sad, sorry" (etymologically from 顔映様 "face / projecting, reflecting, or transmitting light, flushing, blushing / seeming, appearance"). Forms of kawaii and its derivatives kawaisō and kawairashii (with the suffix -rashii "-like, -ly") are used in modern dialects to mean "embarrassing/embarrassed, shameful/ashamed" or "good, nice, fine, excellent, superb, splendid, admirable" in addition to the standard meanings of "adorable" and "pitiable." Cute handwriting In the 1970s, the popularity of the kawaii aesthetic inspired a style of writing.[12] Many teenage girls participated in this style; the handwriting was made by writing laterally, often while using mechanical pencils.[12] These pencils produced very fine lines, as opposed to traditional Japanese writing that varied in thickness and was vertical.[12] The girls would also write in big, round characters and they added little pictures to their writing, such as hearts, stars, emoticon faces, and letters of the Latin alphabet.[12] These pictures made the writing very difficult to read.[12] As a result, this writing style caused a lot of controversy and was banned in many schools.[12] During the 1980s, however, this new "cute" writing was adopted by magazines and comics and was often put onto packaging and advertising[12] of products, especially toys for children or “cute accessories”. From 1984 to 1986, Kazuma Yamane (山根一眞, Yamane Kazuma) studied the development of the cute handwriting (which he called Anomalous Female Teenage Handwriting) in depth.[12] This type of cute Japanese handwriting has also been called: marui ji (丸い字), meaning "round writing", koneko ji (小猫字), meaning "kitten writing", manga ji (漫画字), meaning "comic writing", and burikko ji (鰤子字), meaning "fake-child writing".[13] Although it was commonly thought that the writing style was something that teenagers had picked up from comics, Kazuma found that teenagers had come up with the style themselves, spontaneously, as an ‘underground trend’. His conclusion was based on an observation that cute handwriting predates the availability of technical means for producing rounded writing in comics.[12] Cute merchandise Tomoyuki Sugiyama (杉山奉文, Sugiyama Tomoyuki), author of Cool Japan, says cute fashion in Japan can be traced back to the Edo period with the popularity of netsuke.[14] Illustrator Rune Naito, who produced illustrations of "large-headed" (nitōshin) baby-faced girls and cartoon animals for Japanese girls' magazines from the 1950s to the 1970s, is credited with pioneering what would become the culture and aesthetic of kawaii.[15] Because of this growing trend, companies such as Sanrio came out with merchandise like Hello Kitty. Hello Kitty was an immediate success and the obsession with cute continued to progress in other areas as well. More recently, Sanrio has released kawaii characters with deeper personalities that appeal to an older audience, such as Gudetama and Aggretsuko. These characters have enjoyed strong popularity as fans are drawn to their unique quirks in addition to their cute aesthetics.[16] The 1980s also saw the rise of cute idols, such as Seiko Matsuda, who is largely credited with popularizing the trend. Women began to emulate Seiko Matsuda and her cute fashion style and mannerisms, which emphasized the helplessness and innocence of young girls.[17] The market for cute merchandise in Japan used to be driven by Japanese girls between 15 and 18 years old.[18] Aesthetics Kawaii is also a commonly used word: この犬は可愛すぎる! kono inu wa kawaisugiru! "This dog is too cute!" Toy Poodle wearing clothes in Tokyo Ueno Park Soichi Masubuchi (増淵宗一, Masubuchi Sōichi), in his work Kawaii Syndrome, claims "cute" and "neat" have taken precedence over the former Japanese aesthetics of "beautiful" and "refined".[11] As a cultural phenomenon, cuteness is increasingly accepted in Japan as a part of Japanese culture and national identity. Tomoyuki Sugiyama (杉山奉文, Sugiyama Tomoyuki), author of Cool Japan, believes that "cuteness" is rooted in Japan's harmony-loving culture, and Nobuyoshi Kurita (栗田経惟, Kurita Nobuyoshi), a sociology professor at Musashi University in Tokyo, has stated that "cute" is a "magic term" that encompasses everything that is acceptable and desirable in Japan.[19] Gender performance Japanese women who feign kawaii behaviors (e.g., high-pitched voice, squealing giggles[20]) that could be viewed as forced or inauthentic are called burikko and this is considered a gender performance.[21] The neologism developed in the 1980s, perhaps originated by comedian Kuniko Yamada (山田邦子, Yamada Kuniko).[21] Physical attractiveness In Japan, being cute is acceptable for both men and women. A trend existed of men shaving their legs to mimic the neotenic look. Japanese women often try to act cute to attract men.[22] A study by Kanebo, a cosmetic company, found that Japanese women in their 20s and 30s favored the "cute look" with a "childish round face".[14] Women also employ a look of innocence in order to further play out this idea of cuteness. Having large eyes is one aspect that exemplifies innocence; therefore many Japanese women attempt to alter the size of their eyes. To create this illusion, women may wear large contact lenses, false eyelashes, dramatic eye makeup, and even have an East Asian blepharoplasty, commonly known as double eyelid surgery.[23] Idols See also: Junior idol Momoiro Clover Z performing at Japan Expo Japanese idols (アイドル, aidoru) are media personalities in their teens and twenties who are considered particularly attractive or cute and who will, for a period ranging from several months to a few years, regularly appear in the mass media, e.g. as singers for pop groups, bit-part actors, TV personalities (tarento), models in photo spreads published in magazines, advertisements, etc. (But not every young celebrity is considered an idol. Young celebrities who wish to cultivate a rebellious image, such as many rock musicians, reject the "idol" label.) Speed, Morning Musume, AKB48, and Momoiro Clover Z are examples of popular idol groups in Japan during the 2000s & 2010s.[24] Cute fashion Lolita Sweet Lolita fashion in Japan Lolita fashion is a very well-known and recognizable style in Japan. Based on Victorian fashion and the Rococo period, girls mix in their own elements along with gothic style to achieve the porcelain-doll look.[25] The girls who dress in Lolita fashion try to look cute, innocent, and beautiful.[25] This look is achieved with lace, ribbons, bows, ruffles, bloomers, aprons, and ruffled petticoats. Parasols, chunky Mary Jane heels, and Bo Peep collars are also very popular.[26] Sweet Lolita is a subset of Lolita fashion that includes even more ribbons, bows, and lace, and is often fabricated out of pastels and other light colors. Head-dresses such as giant bows or bonnets are also very common, while lighter make-up is sometimes used to achieve a more natural look. Curled hair extensions, sometimes accompanied by eyelash extensions, are also popular in helping with the baby doll look.[27] Another subset of Lolita fashion related to "sweet Lolita" is Fairy Kei. Themes such as fruits, flowers and sweets are often used as patterns on the fabrics used for dresses. Purses often go with the themes and are shaped as hearts, strawberries, or stuffed animals. Baby, the Stars Shine Bright is one of the more popular clothing stores for this style and often carries themes. Mannerisms are also important to many Sweet Lolitas. Sweet Lolita is sometimes not only a fashion, but also a lifestyle.[27] This is evident in the 2004 film Kamikaze Girls where the main Lolita character, Momoko, drinks only tea and eats only sweets.[28] Gothic Lolita, Kuro Lolita, Shiro Lolita, and Military Lolita are all subtypes, also, in the US Anime Convention scene Casual Lolita. Decora Example of Decora fashion Decora is a style that is characterized by wearing many "decorations" on oneself. It is considered to be self-decoration. The goal of this fashion is to become as vibrant and characterized as possible. People who take part in this fashion trend wear accessories such as multicolor hair pins, bracelets, rings, necklaces, etc. By adding on multiple layers of accessories on an outfit, the fashion trend tends to have a childlike appearance. It also includes toys and multicolor clothes. Decora and Fairy Kei have some crossover. Kawaii men Although typically a female-dominated fashion, some men partake in the kawaii trend. They transform themselves into women—specifically kawaii women—by wearing wigs, false eyelashes, applying makeup, and wearing kawaii female clothing.[29] This is seen predominately in male entertainers, such as Torideta-san, a DJ who transforms himself into a kawaii woman when working at his nightclub.[29] Japanese pop stars and actors often have longer hair, such as Takuya Kimura of SMAP. Men are also noted as often aspiring to a neotenic look. While it doesn't quite fit the exact specifications of what cuteness means for females, men are certainly influenced by the same societal mores - to be attractive in a specific sort of way that the society finds acceptable.[30] In this way both Japanese men and women conform to the expectations of Kawaii in some way or another. Products The concept of kawaii has had an influence on a variety of products, including candy, such as Hi-Chew, Koala's March and Hello Panda. Cuteness can be added to products by adding cute features, such as hearts, flowers, stars and rainbows. Cute elements can be found almost everywhere in Japan, from big business to corner markets and national government, ward, and town offices.[22][31] Many companies, large and small, use cute mascots to present their wares and services to the public. For example: All Nippon Airways Boeing 747 with a Pokémon livery JNR Class C11 locomotive repainted as Thomas the Tank Engine, Japan, 2014     Pikachu, a character from Pokémon, adorns the side of ten ANA passenger jets, the Pokémon Jets.     Asahi Bank used Miffy (Nijntje), a character from a Dutch series of children's picture books, on some of its ATM and credit cards.     The prefectures of Japan, as well as many cities and cultural institutions, have cute mascot characters known as yuru-chara to promote tourism. Kumamon, the Kumamoto Prefecture mascot, and Hikonyan, the city of Hikone mascot, are among the most popular.[32]     The Japan Post "Yū-Pack" mascot is a stylized mailbox;[33] they also use other cute mascot characters to promote their various services (among them the Postal Savings Bank) and have used many such on postage stamps.     Some police forces in Japan have their own moe mascots, which sometimes adorn the front of kōban (police boxes).     NHK, the public broadcaster, has its own cute mascots. Domokun, the unique-looking and widely recognized NHK mascot, was introduced in 1998 and quickly took on a life of its own, appearing in Internet memes and fan art around the world.     Sanrio, the company behind Hello Kitty and other similarly cute characters, runs the Sanrio Puroland theme park in Tokyo, and painted on some EVA Air Airbus A330 jets as well. Sanrio’s line of more than 50 characters takes in more than $1 billion a year and it remains the most successful company to capitalize on the cute trend.[31] Cute can be also used to describe a specific fashion sense[34][35] of an individual, and generally includes clothing that appears to be made for young children, apart from the size, or clothing that accentuates the cuteness of the individual wearing the clothing. Ruffles and pastel colors are commonly (but not always) featured, and accessories often include toys or bags featuring anime characters.[31] Non-kawaii imports Kawaii goods outlet in 100 yen shop There have been occasions on which popular Western products failed to meet the expectations of kawaii, and thus did not do well in the Japanese market. For example, Cabbage Patch Kids dolls did not sell well in Japan, because the Japanese considered their facial features to be "ugly" and "grotesque" compared to the flatter and almost featureless faces of characters such as Hello Kitty.[11] Also, the doll Barbie, portraying an adult woman, did not become successful in Japan compared to Takara's Licca, a doll that was modeled after an 11-year-old girl.[11] Industry Kawaii has gradually gone from a small subculture in Japan to an important part of Japanese modern culture as a whole. An overwhelming number of modern items feature kawaii themes, not only in Japan but also worldwide.[36] And characters associated with kawaii are astoundingly popular. "Global cuteness" is reflected in such billion-dollar sellers as Pokémon and Hello Kitty.[37] "Fueled by Internet subcultures, Hello Kitty alone has hundreds of entries on eBay, and is selling in more than 30 countries, including Argentina, Bahrain, and Taiwan."[37] Japan has become a powerhouse in the kawaii industry and images of Doraemon, Hello Kitty, Pikachu, Sailor Moon and Hamtaro are popular in mobile phone accessories. However, Professor Tian Shenliang says that Japan's future is dependent on how much of an impact kawaii brings to humanity.[38] The Japanese Foreign Ministry has also recognized the power of cute merchandise and has sent three 18-year-old women overseas in the hopes of spreading Japanese culture around the world. The women dress in uniforms and maid costumes that are commonplace in Japan.[39] Kawaii manga and magazines have brought tremendous profit to the Japanese press industry.[citation needed] Moreover, the worldwide revenue from the computer game and its merchandising peripherals are closing in on $5 billion, according to a Nintendo press release titled "It's a Pokémon Planet".[37] Influence upon other cultures Kawaii keychain accessory attached to a pink western (early model) smartphone In recent years, Kawaii products have gained popularity beyond the borders of Japan in other East and Southeast Asian countries, and are additionally becoming more popular in the US among anime and manga fans as well as others influenced by Japanese culture. Cute merchandise and products are especially popular in other parts of East Asia, such as mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and South Korea, as well as Southeast Asian countries including the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.[31][40] Sebastian Masuda, owner of 6%DOKIDOKI and a global advocate for kawaii influence, takes the quality from Harajuku to Western markets in his stores and artwork. The underlying belief of this Japanese designer is that "kawaii" actually saves the world.[41] The infusion of kawaii into other world markets and cultures is achieved by introducing kawaii via modern art; audio, visual, and written media; and the fashion trends of Japanese youth, especially in high school girls.[42] Japanese kawaii seemingly operates as a center of global popularity due to its association with making cultural productions and consumer products "cute". This mindset pursues a global market,[43] giving rise to numerous applications and interpretations in other cultures. The dissemination of Japanese youth fashion and "kawaii culture" is usually associated with the Western society and trends set by designers borrowed or taken from Japan.[42] With the emergence of China, South Korea and Singapore as global economic centers, the Kawaii merchandise and product popularity has shifted back to the East. In these East Asian and Southeast Asian markets, the kawaii concept takes on various forms and different types of presentation depending on the target audience. In East Asia and Southeast Asia EVA Air Airbus A330 with a Hello Kitty livery Taiwanese culture, the government in particular, has embraced and elevated kawaii to a new level of social consciousness. The introduction of the A-Bian doll was seen as the development of a symbol to advance democracy and assist in constructing a collective imagination and national identity for Taiwanese people. The A-Bian dolls are kawaii likeness of sports figure, famous individuals, and now political figures that use kawaii images as a means of self-promotion and potential votes.[44] The creation of the A-Bian doll has allowed Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian staffers to create a new culture where the "kawaii" image of a politician can be used to mobilize support and gain election votes.[45] Japanese popular "kawaii culture" has had an effect on Singaporean youth. The emergence of Japanese culture can be traced back to the mid-1980s when Japan became one of the economic powers in the world. Kawaii has developed from a few children's television shows to an Internet sensation.[46] Japanese media is used so abundantly in Singapore that youths are more likely to imitate the fashion of their Japanese idols, learn the Japanese language, and continue purchasing Japanese oriented merchandise.[47] The East Asian countries of mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea, as well as the Southeast Asian country of Thailand either produce kawaii items for international consumption or have websites that cater for kawaii as part of the youth culture in their country. Kawaii has taken on a life of its own, spawning the formation of kawaii websites, kawaii home pages, kawaii browser themes and finally, kawaii social networking pages. While Japan is the origin and Mecca of all things kawaii, artists and businesses around the world are imitating the kawaii theme.[48] Kawaii has truly become "greater" than itself. The interconnectedness of today's world via the Internet has taken kawaii to new heights of exposure and acceptance, producing a kawaii "movement".[48] The Kawaii concept has become something of a global phenomenon. The aesthetic cuteness of Japan is very appealing to people globally. The wide popularity of Japanese kawaii is often credited with it being "culturally odorless". The elimination of exoticism and national branding has helped kawaii to reach numerous target audiences and span every culture, class, and gender group.[49] The palatable characteristics of kawaii have made it a global hit, resulting in Japan's global image shifting from being known for austere rock gardens to being known for "cute-worship".[14] In 2014, the Collins English Dictionary in the United Kingdom entered "kawaii" into its then latest edition, defining it as a "Japanese artistic and cultural style that emphasizes the quality of cuteness, using bright colours and characters with a childlike appearance"." (wikipedia.org) "The predominant garden types in the ancient world were domestic gardens and sacred gardens. Sculpture of gods and kings were placed in temple compounds, along with sacred lakes and sacred groves. It is not known whether statues were placed in Greek domestic gardens but the Romans transported a great many statues to Italy and placed them in gardens for ornamental reasons. When the Roman Empire became Christian these statues were regarded as pagan and removed from sight. During the Renaissance these same statues were excavated and re-placed in gardens. Sculpture then became an aspect of art and gardens have been a favoured location for displaying outdoor works of art." (wikipedia.org) "Garden design is the art and process of designing and creating plans for layout and planting of gardens and landscapes. Garden design may be done by the garden owner themselves, or by professionals of varying levels of experience and expertise. Most professional garden designers have some training in horticulture and the principles of design. Some are also landscape architects, a more formal level of training that usually requires an advanced degree and often a state license. Amateur gardeners may also attain a high level of experience from extensive hours working in their own gardens, through casual study, serious study in Master gardener programs, or by joining gardening clubs.... Elements Whether gardens are designed by a professional or an amateur, certain principles form the basis of effective garden design, resulting in the creation of gardens to meet the needs, goals, and desires of the users or owners of the gardens. Curved garden paths are a common form of hardscaping Elements of garden design include the layout of hardscape such as paths, walls, water features, sitting areas and decking, and the softscape, that is, the plants themselves, with consideration for their horticultural requirements, their season-to-season appearance, lifespan, growth habit, size, speed of growth, and combinations with other plants and landscape features. Consideration is also given to the maintenance needs of the garden, including the time or funds available for regular maintenance, which can affect the choice of plants in terms of speed of growth, spreading or self-seeding of the plants, whether annual or perennial, bloom-time, and many other characteristics. Important considerations in the garden design include how the garden will be used, the desired stylistic genre (formal or informal, modern or traditional, etc.), and the way the garden space will connect to the home or other structures in the surrounding areas. All of these considerations are subject to the limitations of the prescribed budget. Location A garden's location can have a substantial influence on its design. Topographical landscape features such as steep slopes, vistas, hills, and outcrops may suggest or determine aspects of design such as layout and can be used and augmented to create a particular impression.[1] The soils of the site will affect what types of plant may be grown, as will the garden's climate zone and various microclimates. The locational context of the garden can also influence its design. For example, an urban setting may require a different design style in contrast to a rural one. Similarly, a windy coastal location may necessitate a different treatment compared to a sheltered inland site.[2] Soil The quality of a garden's soil can have a significant influence on a garden's design and its subsequent success. Soil influences the availability of water and nutrients, the activity of soil micro-organisms, and temperature within the root zone, and thus may have a determining effect on the types of plants which will grow successfully in the garden. However, soils may be replaced or improved to make them more suitable. Alignment of several compost piles on a composting facility in France Traditionally, garden soil is improved by amendment, the process of adding beneficial materials to the native subsoil and particularly the topsoil. The added materials, which may consist of compost, peat, sand, mineral dust, or manure, among others, are mixed with the soil to the preferred depth. The amount and type of amendment may depend on many factors, including the amount of existing soil humus, the soil structure (clay, silt, sand, loam, etc.), the soil acidity/alkalinity, and the choice of plants to be grown. One source states that, "conditioning the soil thoroughly before planting enables the plants to establish themselves quickly and so play their part in the design."[3] However, not all gardens are, or should be, amended in this manner, since many plants prefer an impoverished soil. In this case, poor soil is better than a rich soil that has been artificially enriched.[4][5] Boundaries Further information: Hortus conclusus and Walled garden The design of a garden can be affected by the nature of its boundaries, both external and internal, and in turn the design can influence the boundaries, including via creation of new ones. Planting can be used to modify an existing boundary line by softening or widening it. Introducing internal boundaries can help divide or break up a garden into smaller areas. The main types of boundary within a garden are hedges, walls and fences. A hedge may be evergreen or deciduous, formal or informal, short or tall, depending on the style of the garden and purpose of the boundary. A wall has a strong foundation beneath it at all points,[6] and is usually – but not always – built from brick, stone or concrete blocks. A fence differs from a wall in that it is anchored only at intervals, and is usually constructed using wood or metal (such as iron or wire mesh). Boundaries may be constructed for several reasons: to keep out livestock or intruders, to provide privacy, to create shelter from strong winds and provide micro-climates, to screen unattractive structures or views, and to create an element of surprise. Surfaces In temperate western gardens, a smooth expanse of lawn is often considered essential to a garden. However, garden designers may use other surfaces, for example those "made up of loose gravel, small pebbles, or wood chips" to create a different appearance and feel.[7] Designers may also use the contrast in texture and color between different surfaces to create an overall pattern in the design. Surfaces for paths and access points are chosen for practical as well as aesthetic reasons. Issues such as safety, maintenance and durability may need to be considered by the designer. Gardens designed for public access need to cope with heavier foot traffic and hence may use surfaces – such as resin-bonded gravel – that are rarely used in private gardens. Naturalistic planting design Planting design Planting design requires design talent and aesthetic judgement combined with a good level of horticultural, ecological and cultural knowledge. It includes two major traditions: formal rectilinear planting design (Persia and Europe); and formal asymmetrical (Asia) and naturalistic planting design. History Persian gardens are credited with originating aesthetic and diverse planting design. A correct Persian garden will be divided into four sectors with water being very important for both irrigation and aesthetics. The four sectors symbolize the Zoroastrian elements of sky, earth, water and plants.[8] Planting in ancient and Medieval European gardens was often a mix of herbs for medicinal use, vegetables for consumption, and flowers for decoration. Purely aesthetic planting layouts developed after the Medieval period in Renaissance gardens, as are shown in late-Renaissance paintings and plans. The designs of the Italian Renaissance garden were geometrical and plants were used to form spaces and patterns. The gardens of the French Renaissance and Baroque jardin à la française era continued the formal garden planting aesthetic. In Asia the asymmetrical traditions of planting design in Chinese gardens and Japanese gardens originated in the Jin Dynasty (266–420) of China. The gardens' plantings have a controlled but naturalistic aesthetic. In Europe the arrangement of plants in informal groups developed as part of the English Landscape Garden style, and subsequently the French landscape garden, and was strongly influenced by the picturesque art movement. Application A planting plan gives specific instructions, often for a contractor about how the soil is to be prepared, what species are to be planted, what size and spacing is to be used and what maintenance operations are to be carried out under the contract. Owners of private gardens may also use planting plans, not for contractual purposes, as an aid to thinking about a design and as a record of what has been planted. A planting strategy is a long term strategy for the design, establishment and management of different types of vegetation in a landscape or garden. Planting can be established by directly employed gardeners and horticulturalists or it can be established by a landscape contractor (also known as a landscape gardener). Landscape contractors work to drawings and specifications prepared by garden designers or landscape architects. Garden chairs in Rosenneuheitengarten Beutig in Baden-Baden, Germany Garden furniture Main article: Garden furniture Garden furniture may range from a patio set consisting of a table, four or six chairs and a parasol, through benches, swings, various lighting, to stunning artifacts in brutal concrete or weathered oak.[9] Patio heaters, that run on bottled butane or propane, are often used to enable people to sit outside at night or in cold weather. A picnic table is used for the purpose of eating a meal outdoors such as in a garden room. The materials used to manufacture modern patio furniture include stones, metals, vinyl, plastics, resins, glass, and treated woods. Lighting Garden lighting in Kampala, Uganda Garden lighting can be an important aspect of garden design. In most cases, various types of lighting techniques may be classified and defined by heights: safety lighting, uplighting, and downlighting. Safety lighting is the most practical application. However, it is more important to determine the type of lamps and fittings needed to create the desired effects. Light regulates three major plant processes: photosynthesis, phototropism, and photoperiodism. Photosynthesis provides the energy required to produce the energy source of plants. Phototropism is the effect of light on plant growth that causes the plant to grow toward or away from the light.[10] Photoperiodism is a plant's response or capacity to respond to photoperiod, a recurring cycle of light and dark periods of constant length.[11] Sunlight See also: Shade garden While sunlight is not always easily controlled by the gardener, it is an important element of garden design. The amount of available light is a critical factor in determining what plants may be grown. Sunlight will, therefore, have a substantial influence on the character of the garden. For example, a rose garden is generally not successful in full shade, while a garden of hostas may not thrive in hot sun. As another example, a vegetable garden may need to be placed in a sunny location, and if that location is not ideal for the overall garden design goals, the designer may need to change other aspects of the garden. In some cases, the amount of available sunlight can be influenced by the gardener. The location of trees, other shade plants, garden structures, or, when designing an entire property, even buildings, might be selected or changed based on their influence in increasing or reducing the amount of sunlight provided to various areas of the property. In other cases, the amount of sunlight is not under the gardener's control. Nearby buildings, plants on other properties, or simply the climate of the local area, may limit the available sunlight. Or, substantial changes in the light conditions of the garden may not be within the gardener's means. In this case, it is important to plan a garden that is compatible with the existing light conditions. Notable garden designers     Chris Beardshaw     Adam Frost     Diarmuid Gavin     Dominique Girard     Geoffrey Jellicoe         Lawrence Johnston     William Martin     Shunmyō Masuno     Russell Page     Dan Pearson     James Russell         Diego Suarez     Hirofumi Suga     Joe Swift     Roger Turner     Andrew Wilson Types of gardens Islamic gardens Main article: Islamic garden Garden design and the Islamic garden tradition began with creating the Paradise garden in Ancient Persia, in Western Asia. It evolved over the centuries, and in the different cultures Islamic dynasties came to rule in Asia, the Near East, North Africa, and the Iberian Peninsula. Examples The Shalamar Gardens, Lahore, Pakistan Inspired by Islamic/Moorish gardens, the Patio de la Acequia (Courtyard of the Canal), Generalife, Granada, Spain Some styles and examples include:     Persian gardens         Eram Garden         Fin Garden     Mughal gardens         Nishat Bagh         Shalimar Gardens (Lahore)         Yadavindra Gardens (Pinjore)     Charbagh         Taj Mahal         Tomb of Humayun gardens     Bagh (garden)         Bagh-e Babur         Shalimar Bagh (Srinagar)     Al-Andalus—Moorish architecture and gardens         Alcázar of Seville         Alhambra         Generalife Andalusian Patio of Córdoba, Spain Mediterranean gardens Garden design history and precedents from the Mediterranean region include:     Ancient Greek and Hellenistic gardens     Ancient Roman gardens         Peristyle gardens – evolved into Monastic gardens         House of the Vettii – in Pompeii         Horti Sallustiani     Byzantine gardens     Spanish gardens         Andalusian patio Renaissance formal gardens Jardin de Saxe (Plan of the Saxon Garden) A plan of a formal garden for a country estate in Wales, 1765 A formal garden in the Persian and European garden design traditions is rectilinear and axial in design. The equally formal garden, without axial symmetry (asymmetrical) or other geometries, is the garden design tradition of Chinese and Japanese gardens. The Zen garden of rocks, moss and raked gravel is an example. The Western model is an ordered garden laid out in carefully planned geometric and often symmetrical lines. Lawns and hedges in a formal garden need to be kept neatly clipped for maximum effect. Trees, shrubs, subshrubs and other foliage are carefully arranged, shaped and continually maintained. French formal garden and parterre at Château de Villandry in the Loire Valley A French formal garden or jardin à la française, is a specific kind of formal garden, laid out in the manner of André Le Nôtre; it is centered on the façade of a building, with radiating avenues and paths of gravel, lawns, parterres and pools (bassins) of reflective water enclosed in geometric shapes by stone coping, with fountains and sculpture. The French formal garden style has origins in fifteenth-century Italian Renaissance garden, such as the Villa d'Este, Boboli Gardens, and Villa Lante in Italy. The style was brought to France and expressed in the gardens of the French Renaissance. Some of the earliest formal parterres of clipped evergreens were those laid out at Anet by Claude Mollet, the founder of a dynasty of nurserymen-designers that lasted deep into the 18th century. The Gardens of Versailles are an ultimate example of jardin à la française, composed of many different distinct gardens, and designed by André Le Nôtre. English Renaissance gardens in a rectilinear formal design were a feature of the stately homes. The introduction of the parterre was at Wilton House in the 1630s. In the early eighteenth century, the publication of Dezallier d'Argenville, La théorie et la pratique du jardinage (1709) was translated into English and German, and was the central document for the later formal gardens of Continental Europe. Traditional formal Spanish garden design evolved with Persian garden and European Renaissance garden influences. The internationally renowned Alhambra and Generalife in Granada, built in the Moorish Al-Andalus era, have influenced design for centuries. The Ibero-American Exposition of 1929 World's Fair in Seville, Spain was located in the celebrated Maria Luisa Park (Parque de Maria Luisa) designed by Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier.[12] Formal gardening in the Italian and French manners was reintroduced at the turn of the twentieth century. Beatrix Farrand's formal Italian garden areas at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C., and Achille Duchêne's restored French water parterre at Blenheim Palace in England are examples of the modern formal garden. The Conservatory Garden in Central Park of New York City features a formal garden, as do many other parks and estates such as Filoli in California. The simplest formal garden would be a box-trimmed hedge lining or enclosing a carefully laid out flowerbed or garden bed of simple geometric shape, such as a knot garden. The more developed and elaborate formal gardens contain statuary and fountains. Features in a formal garden may include:     Avenue     Bosquet     Broderie     Eyecatchers     Garden sculpture         Hedge maze     Jeux d'eau     Orangery     Parterre     Pavilion         Pergola     Reflecting pool     Sylvan theater     Terrace     Topiary     Trellis English Landscape and Naturalistic gardens Main article: English landscape garden See also: List of landscape gardens The English landscape garden style practically swept away the geometries of earlier English and European Renaissance formal gardens. William Kent and Lancelot "Capability" Brown were leading proponents, among many other designers. The naturalistic English garden style (French: Jardin anglais, Italian: Giardino all'inglese, German: Englischer Landschaftsgarten) of the 1730s and on transformed private and civic garden design across Europe. The French landscape garden subsequently continued the style's development on the Continent. Roses, clematis, a thatched roof: a cottage garden in Brittany Cottage gardens Main article: Cottage garden A cottage garden uses an informal design, traditional materials, dense plantings, and a mixture of ornamental and edible plants. Cottage gardens go back many centuries, but their popularity grew in 1870s England in response to the more structured Victorian English estate gardens that used restrained designs with massed beds of brilliantly colored greenhouse annuals. They are more casual by design, depending on grace and charm rather than grandeur and formal structure.[13] The influential British garden authors and designers, William Robinson at Gravetye Manor in Sussex, and Gertrude Jekyll at Munstead Wood in Surrey, both wrote and gardened in England. Jekyll's series of thematic gardening books emphasized the importance and value of natural plantings were an influence in Europe and the United States. Also influential half a century later was Margery Fish, whose surviving garden at East Lambrook Manor emphasizes, among other things, native plant life and the natural patterns produced by self-spreading and self-seeding. The earliest cottage gardens were far more practical than modern versions—with an emphasis on vegetables and herbs, along with fruit trees, beehives, and even livestock if land allowed. Flowers were used to fill any spaces in between. Over time, flowers became more dominant.[14] Modern day cottage gardens include countless regional and personal variations of the more traditional English cottage garden.[15] Kitchen garden or potager Main article: Kitchen garden Formal potager at Villandry, France An illustration from Walter Crane's 1906 book,Flowers from Shakespeare's Garden: a Posy from the Plays The traditional kitchen garden, also known as a potager, is a seasonally used space separate from the rest of the residential garden – the ornamental plants and lawn areas. Most vegetable gardens are still miniature versions of old family farm plots with square or rectangular beds, but the kitchen garden is different not only in its history, but also its design. The kitchen garden may be a landscape design feature that can be the central feature of an ornamental, all-season landscape, but can be little more than a humble vegetable plot. It is a source of herbs, vegetables, fruits, and flowers, but it is also a structured garden space, a design based on repetitive geometric patterns. The kitchen garden has year-round visual appeal and can incorporate permanent perennials or woody plantings around (or among) the annual plants. Shakespeare garden Main article: Shakespeare garden A Shakespeare garden is a themed garden that cultivates 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. Signs near the plants usually provide relevant quotations. A Shakespeare garden usually includes several dozen species, either in herbaceous profusion or in a geometric layout with boxwood dividers. Typical amenities are walkways and benches and a weather-resistant bust of Shakespeare. Shakespeare gardens may accompany reproductions of Elizabethan architecture. Some Shakespeare gardens also grow species typical of the Elizabethan period but not mentioned in Shakespeare's plays or poetry. Rock garden Main article: Rock garden A rock garden, also known as rockery or alpine garden, is a type of garden that features extensive use of rocks and stones, along with plants native to rocky or alpine environments. Rock garden plants tend to be small, both because many of the species are naturally small, and so as not to cover up the rocks. They may be grown in troughs (containers), or in the ground. The plants will usually be types that prefer well-drained soil and less water. A rock garden in Seiganji, Maibara, Shiga prefecture, Japan The usual form of a rock garden is a pile of rocks, large and small, aesthetically arranged and with small gaps between, where the plants are rooted. Some rock gardens are designed and built to look like natural outcrops of bedrock. Stones are aligned to suggest a bedding plane and plants are used to conceal the joints between the stones. This type of rock garden was popular in Victorian times, often designed and built by professional landscape architects. The same approach is sometimes used in modern campus or commercial landscaping, but can also be applied in smaller private gardens. The Japanese rock garden, in the west often referred to as "Zen garden", is a special kind of rock garden which contains few plants. Some rock gardens incorporate bonsai. Rock gardens have become increasingly popular as landscape features in tropical countries such as Thailand.[16] The combination of wet weather and heavy shade trees, along with the use of heavy weed mats to stop unwanted plant growth,[17] has made this type of arrangement ideal for both residential and commercial gardens due to its easier maintenance and drainage.[18] Native garden Main article: Natural landscaping Natural landscaping, also called native gardening, is the use of native plants, including trees, shrubs, groundcover, and grasses which are indigenous to the geographic area of the garden. Banksia spinulosa, a Sydney local plant which attracts wildlife Natural landscaping is adapted to the climate, geography and hydrology and should require no pesticides, fertilizers and watering to maintain, given that native plants have adapted and evolved to local conditions over thousands of years. However, these applications may be necessary for some preventive care of trees and other vegetation in areas of degraded or weedy landscapes. Native plants suit today's interest in low-maintenance gardening and landscaping, with many species vigorous and hardy and able to survive winter cold and summer heat. Once established, they can flourish without irrigation or fertilization, and are resistant to most pests and diseases. Many municipalities have quickly recognized the benefits of natural landscaping due to municipal budget constraints and reductions and the general public is now benefiting from the implementation of natural landscaping techniques to save water and create more personal time. Native plants provide suitable habitat for native species of butterflies, birds, pollinators, and other wildlife. They provide more variety in gardens by offering myriad alternatives to the often planted introduced species, cultivars, and invasive species. The indigenous plants have co-evolved with animals, fungi and microbes, to form a complex network of relationships. They are the foundation of their native habitats and ecosystems, or natural communities.[19] Such gardens often benefit from the plants being evolved and habituated to the local climate, pests and herbivores, and soil conditions, and so may require fewer to no soil amendments, irrigation, pesticides, and herbicides for a lower maintenance, more sustainable landscape. Contemporary garden Contemporary garden The contemporary style garden has gained popularity in the UK in the last ten years. This is partly due to the increase of modern housing with small gardens as well as the cultural shift towards contemporary design. This style of garden can be defined by the use "clean" design lines, with focus on hard landscaping materials like stone, hardwood, rendered walls. Contemporary water feature Planting style is bold but simple with the use of drifts of one or two plants that repeat throughout the design. Grasses are a very popular choice for this style of design. Garden lighting plays an integral role in modern garden design. Subtle lighting effects can be achieved with the use of carefully placed low voltage LED lights incorporated into paving and walls. With the combination of increasing demand for more efficient lighting, increasing availability of sustainable designs, light pollution considerations, and aesthetic and safety concerns, the methods and equipment of outdoor illumination have been evolving. The increasing use of LEDs, solar power, low voltage fixtures, energy efficient lamps, and energy-saving lighting design are examples of innovation in the field.[20] Residential gardens See also: Front garden and Back garden A residential or private domestic garden such as the front garden or back garden is the most common form of garden. The front garden may be a formal and semi-public space and so subject to the constraints of convention and local laws. While typically found in the yard of the residence, a garden may also be established on a roof, in an atrium or courtyard, on a balcony, in windowboxes, or on a patio. Residential gardens are typically designed at human scale, as they are most often intended for private use. However, the garden of a great house or a large estate may be larger than a public park, and may contain specialized gardens (such as those for exhibiting one particular type of plant) and eyecatchers. Some early residential gardens include the Donnell Garden in Sonoma, California. The garden was designed by landscape architect, Thomas Church, with Lawrence Halprin and architect, George T. Rockrise, which was completed in 1948. The garden is currently regarded as a modernist icon and has been applauded for its well maintained garden of its time. The garden was recognized for its unique and organic forms that represented a modern style of California. The garden is on top of a hillside overlooking the northern area of San Francisco Bay. East Asian gardens Main articles: Chinese garden, Japanese garden, Japanese rock garden, Roji, and Korean garden Japanese and Korean gardens, originally influenced by Chinese gardens, can be found at private homes, in neighbourhood or city parks, and at historical landmarks such as Buddhist temples. Some of the Japanese gardens most famous in the Western world and Japan are Japanese gardens in the karesansui tradition. The Ryōan-ji temple garden is a well-known example. There are Japanese gardens of various styles, with plantings often evoking wabi-sabi simplicity. In Japanese culture, garden-making is a high art, intimately linked to the arts of calligraphy and ink painting." (wikipedia.org) "A flower garden or floral garden is any garden or part of a garden where plants that flower are grown and displayed. This normally refers mostly to herbacious plants, rather than flowering woody plants, which dominate in the shrubbery and woodland garden, although both these types may be part of the planting in any area of the garden. Most herbacious flowering plants, especially annuals, grow best in a flowerbed, with soil that is regularly dug over and supplemented with organic matter and fertilizer. Because flowers bloom at varying times of the year, and some plants are annuals, dying each winter, the design of flower gardens usually needs to take into consideration maintaining a sequence of bloom and consistent color combinations through varying seasons. Besides organizing the flowers in bedding-out schemes limited to annual and perennial flower beds, careful design also takes the labour time, and the color pattern of the flowers into account. Flower color is another important feature of both the herbaceous border and the mixed border that includes shrubs as well as herbaceous plants. Flower gardens are sometimes tied in function to other kinds of gardens, like knot gardens or herb gardens, many herbs also having decorative function, and some decorative flowers being edible. ... History     This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Many, if not most, plants considered decorative flowers originated as weeds, which if attractive enough would sometimes be tolerated by farmers because of their appeal. This led to an artificial selection process, producing ever-prettier (to humans) flowers. This is thought to have occurred for the entire history of agriculture, perhaps even slightly earlier, when people tended to favor naturally occurring food-gathering spots. This may also explain why many flowers function as companion plants to more useful agricultural plants; they had evolved that symbiotic relationship with the food plants before either was domesticated, and therefore was found in the same area, convenient to be selected as an attractive plant. Once domesticated, though, most flowers were grown either separately or as part of gardens having some other primary function. In the West, the idea of parts of gardens dedicated to flowers perhaps did not become common until the 16th century. Flower gardens are, indeed, a key factor in modern landscape design and even architecture, especially for large businesses, some of which pay to have large flower gardens torn out and replaced entirely each season, in order to keep the color patterns consistent. The labour time can be decreased by using techniques such as mulching. In flower meadows, grass growth can be moderated by planting parasitic plants such as Rhinanthus.[1][2][3] Cutting garden See also: Cut flowers A functional garden used to grow flowers for indoor use rather than outdoor display is known as a cutting garden. It is usually only a feature of large residences.[4] The cutting garden is typically placed in a fertile and sunlight position out of public view and is not artistically arranged, as it contains flowers for cutting. Very often flowers for cutting are grown in greenhouses, to protect them from severe weather, and control their time of flowering. The cutting garden may also include a herb garden and ornamental vegetables as well. Modern alternatives A simpler alternative to the designed flower garden is the "wildflower" seed mix, with assortments of seeds which will create a bed that contains flowers of various blooming seasons, so that some portion of them should always be in bloom. The best mixtures even include combinations of perennial and biennials, which may not bloom until the following year, and also annuals that are "self-seeding", so they will return, creating a permanent flowerbed. Another, even more recent trend is the "flower garden in a box", where the entire design of a flower garden is pre-packaged, with separate packets of each kind of flower, and a careful layout to be followed to create the proposed pattern of color in the garden-to-be. " (wikipedia.org) "A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is control. The garden can incorporate both natural and artificial materials.[1] Gardens often have design features including statuary, follies, pergolas, trellises, stumperies, dry creek beds, and water features such as fountains, ponds (with or without fish), waterfalls or creeks. Some gardens are for ornamental purposes only, while others also produce food crops, sometimes in separate areas, or sometimes intermixed with the ornamental plants. Food-producing gardens are distinguished from farms by their smaller scale, more labor-intensive methods, and their purpose (enjoyment of a hobby or self-sustenance rather than producing for sale, as in a market garden). Flower gardens combine plants of different heights, colors, textures, and fragrances to create interest and delight the senses. The most common form today is a residential or public garden, but the term garden has traditionally been a more general one. Zoos, which display wild animals in simulated natural habitats, were formerly called zoological gardens.[2][3] Western gardens are almost universally based on plants, with garden, which etymologically implies enclosure, often signifying a shortened form of botanical garden. Some traditional types of eastern gardens, such as Zen gardens, however, use plants sparsely or not at all. Landscape gardens, on the other hand, such as the English landscape gardens first developed in the 18th century, may omit flowers altogether. Landscape architecture is a related professional activity with landscape architects tending to engage in design at many scales and working on both public and private projects. ... Etymology The etymology of the word gardening refers to enclosure: it is from Middle English gardin, from Anglo-French gardin, jardin, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German gard, gart, an enclosure or compound, as in Stuttgart. See Grad (Slavic settlement) for more complete etymology.[4] The words yard, court, and Latin hortus (meaning "garden", hence horticulture and orchard), are cognates—all referring to an enclosed space.[5] The term "garden" in British English refers to a small enclosed area of land, usually adjoining a building.[6] This would be referred to as a yard in American English. History Main article: History of gardening The culture of gardening reaches deep into antiquity, when Alexander the Great was reportedly awestruck by the magnificence of Babylon's gardens. Homer tells of the Garden of Alcinous, its fertility and symmetry of form. Reconstruction of the garden at the House of the Vettii in Pompeii The Romans were known for planting their gardens with the riches of Asia.[7] Gardening was not recognized as an art form in Europe until the mid 16th century when it entered the political discourse, as a symbol of the concept of the "ideal republic". Evoking utopian imagery of the Garden of Eden, a time of abundance and plenty where humans didn't know hunger or the conflicts that arose from property disputes. John Evelyn wrote in the early 17th century, "there is not a more laborious life then is that of a good Gard'ners; but a labour full of tranquility and satisfaction; Natural and Instructive, and such as (if any) contributes to Piety and Contemplation."[8] During the era of Enclosures, the agrarian collectivism of the feudal age was idealized in literary "fantasies of liberating regression to garden and wilderness".[9] Before the Grand Manner era, what few significant gardens could be found in Britain had developed under influence from the continent. Britain's homegrown domestic gardening traditions were mostly practical in purpose, rather than aesthetic, unlike the grand gardens found mostly on castle grounds, and less commonly at universities. Tudor gardens emphasized contrast rather than transitions, distinguished by color and illusion. They were not intended as a complement to home or architecture, but conceived as independent spaces, arranged to grow and display flowers and ornamental plants. Gardeners demonstrated their artistry in knot gardens, with complex arrangements most commonly included interwoven box hedges, and less commonly fragrant herbs like rosemary. Sanded paths run between the hedgings of open knots whereas closed knots were filled with single colored flowers. The knot and parterre gardens were always placed on level ground, and elevated areas reserved for terraces from which the intricacy of the gardens could be viewed.[10] Jacobean gardens were described as "a delightful confusion" by Henry Wotton in 1624. Under the influence of the Italian Renaissance, Caroline gardens began to shed some of the chaos of earlier designs, marking the beginning of a trends towards symmetrical unified designs that took the building architecture into account, and featuring an elevated terrace from which home and garden could be viewed. The only surviving Caroline garden is located at Bolsover Castle in Derbyshire, but is too simple to attract much interest.[10] By the mid-17th century axial symmetry had ascended to prominence in the French gardening traditions of Andre Mollet and Jacques Boyceau, the latter who wrote: "All things, however beautiful they may be chosen, will be defective if they are not ordered and placed in proper symmetry." During the reign of Charles II, many new Baroque style country houses were built, while in England Thomas Cromwell sought to destroy many Tudor, Jacobean and Caroline style gardens.[10] Design Naturalistic design of a Chinese garden incorporated into the landscape, including a pavilion Main article: Garden design Garden design is the process of creating plans for the layout and planting of gardens and landscapes. Gardens may be designed by garden owners themselves, or by professionals. Professional garden designers tend to be trained in principles of design and horticulture, and have a knowledge and experience of using plants. Some professional garden designers are also landscape architects, a more formal level of training that usually requires an advanced degree and often a state license. Elements of garden design include the layout of hard landscape, such as paths, rockeries, walls, water features, sitting areas and decking, as well as the plants themselves, with consideration for their horticultural requirements, their season-to-season appearance, lifespan, growth habit, size, speed of growth, and combinations with other plants and landscape features. Most gardens consist of a mix of natural and constructed elements, although even very 'natural' gardens are always an inherently artificial creation. Natural elements present in a garden principally comprise flora (such as trees and weeds), fauna (such as arthropods and birds), soil, water, air and light. Constructed elements include paths, patios, decking, sculptures, drainage systems, lights and buildings (such as sheds, gazebos, pergolas and follies), but also living constructions such as flower beds, ponds and lawns. Consideration is also given to the maintenance needs of the garden. Including the time or funds available for regular maintenance, (this can affect the choices of plants regarding speed of growth) spreading or self-seeding of the plants (annual or perennial), bloom-time, and many other characteristics. Garden design can be roughly divided into two groups, formal and naturalistic gardens. The most important consideration in any garden design is how the garden will be used, followed closely by the desired stylistic genres, and the way the garden space will connect to the home or other structures in the surrounding areas. All of these considerations are subject to the limitations of the budget. Budget limitations can be addressed by a simpler garden style with fewer plants and less costly hard landscape materials, seeds rather than sod for lawns, and plants that grow quickly; alternatively, garden owners may choose to create their garden over time, area by area.... Uses Partial view from the Botanical Garden of Curitiba (Southern Brazil): parterres, flowers, fountains, sculptures, greenhouses and tracks composes the place used for recreation and to study and protect the flora. A garden can have aesthetic, functional, and recreational uses:     Cooperation with nature         Plant cultivation         Garden-based learning     Observation of nature         Bird- and insect-watching         Reflection on the changing seasons     Relaxation         Family dinners on the terrace         Children playing in the garden         Reading and relaxing in a hammock         Maintaining the flowerbeds         Pottering in the shed         Cottaging in the bushes         Basking in warm sunshine         Escaping oppressive sunlight and heat     Growing useful produce         Flowers to cut and bring inside for indoor beauty         Fresh herbs and vegetables for cooking Types Main article: List of garden types Parc de Bagatelle, a rose garden in Paris A typical Italian garden at Villa Garzoni, near Pistoia Zen garden, Ryōan-ji French formal garden in the Loire Valley A kaiyu-shiki or strolling Japanese garden Gardens may feature a particular plant or plant type(s):     Alpine garden     Bog garden     Cactus garden     Fernery     Flower garden     Kitchen garden     Orchard     Physic garden     Pollinator garden     Rose garden     Shade garden     Terrarium     Walled garden     Water garden     Wildlife garden Gardens may feature a particular style or aesthetic:     Bonsai     Chinese garden     Color garden     Dutch garden     English landscape garden     French formal garden     French landscape garden     Gardens of the French Renaissance     Garden room     German garden     Greek gardens     Italian Renaissance garden     Japanese garden     Knot garden     Korean garden     Mary garden     Monastic garden     Mughal garden     Natural landscaping     Paradise garden     Persian garden     Philosophical garden     Pleasure garden     Roman gardens     Sacred garden     Sensory garden     Shakespeare garden     Spanish garden     Tea garden     Therapeutic garden     Trial garden     Tropical garden     Xeriscaping     Zen garden Other types:     Back garden     Botanical garden     Bottle garden     Butterfly garden     Butterfly zoo     Chinampa     Cold frame garden     Community garden     Container garden     Cottage garden     Cutting garden     Forest garden     Front yard     Greenhouse     Green wall     Hanging garden     Hydroponic garden     Market garden     Pekarangan     Rain garden     Raised bed gardening     Residential garden     Rock garden     Roof garden     School garden     Sculpture garden     Square foot garden     Trial garden     Victory garden     Walled garden     Zoological garden Other similar spaces Hatanpää Arboretum in Hatanpää, Tampere, Finland Other outdoor spaces that are similar to gardens include:     A landscape is an outdoor space of a larger scale, natural or designed, usually unenclosed and considered from a distance.     A park is a planned outdoor space, usually enclosed ('imparked') and of a larger size. Public parks are for public use.     An arboretum is a planned outdoor space, usually large, for the display and study of trees.     A farm or orchard is for the production of food stuff.     A botanical garden is a type of garden where plants are grown both for scientific purposes and for the enjoyment and education of visitors.     A zoological garden, or zoo for short, is a place where wild animals are cared for and exhibited to the public.     A Kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children and in the very sense of the word should have access or be part of a garden.     A Männergarten is a temporary day-care and activities space for men in German-speaking countries while their wives or girlfriends go shopping. Historically, the expression has also been used for gender-specific sections in lunatic asylums, monasteries and clinics.[12] Gardens and the environment Main articles: Sustainable gardening and Sustainable landscaping Gardeners may cause environmental damage by the way they garden, or they may enhance their local environment. Damage by gardeners can include direct destruction of natural habitats when houses and gardens are created; indirect habitat destruction and damage to provide garden materials such as peat, rock for rock gardens, and by the use of tapwater to irrigate gardens; the death of living beings in the garden itself, such as the killing not only of slugs and snails but also their predators such as hedgehogs and song thrushes by metaldehyde slug killer; the death of living beings outside the garden, such as local species extinction by indiscriminate plant collectors; and climate change caused by greenhouse gases produced by gardening. Climate change Climate change will have many impacts on gardens; some studies suggest most of them will be negative.[13] Gardens also contribute to climate change. Greenhouse gases can be produced by gardeners in many ways. The three main greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. Gardeners produce carbon dioxide directly by overcultivating soil and destroying soil carbon, by burning garden waste on bonfires, by using power tools which burn fossil fuel or use electricity generated by fossil fuels, and by using peat. Gardeners produce methane by compacting the soil and making it anaerobic, and by allowing their compost heaps to become compacted and anaerobic. Gardeners produce nitrous oxide by applying excess nitrogen fertiliser when plants are not actively growing so that the nitrogen in the fertiliser is converted by soil bacteria to nitrous oxide. Gardeners can help to prevent climate change in many ways, including the use of trees, shrubs, ground cover plants and other perennial plants in their gardens, turning garden waste into soil organic matter instead of burning it, keeping soil and compost heaps aerated, avoiding peat, switching from power tools to hand tools or changing their garden design so that power tools are not needed, and using nitrogen-fixing plants instead of nitrogen fertiliser.[14] Irrigation Further information: Rain garden Some gardeners manage their gardens without using any water from outside the garden. Examples in Britain include Ventnor Botanic Garden on the Isle of Wight, and parts of Beth Chatto's garden in Essex, Sticky Wicket garden in Dorset, and the Royal Horticultural Society's gardens at Harlow Carr and Hyde Hall. Rain gardens absorb rainfall falling onto nearby hard surfaces, rather than sending it into stormwater drains.[15] For irrigation, see rainwater, sprinkler system, drip irrigation, tap water, greywater, hand pump and watering can" (wikipedia.org) "Lawn ornaments are decorative objects placed in the grassy area of a property.... Common lawn ornaments Animal forms: animal statues such as frogs, turtles, rabbits, deer, flamingoes and ducks are cast in plastic or cement. Bathtub Madonna: a statue of Mary the mother of Jesus is placed in a bathtub half buried under the ground. Statues of Mary are most often made of white concrete, but are sometimes painted with a blue garment. Bird bath: a structure designed to hold water for birds to bathe in or drink, generally supported upon a pedestal, is known as a bird bath. Bird feeder: a container for foods such as bird seeds is often designed to look like a miniature house or barn, and may be mounted on a stake, post, or column. Concrete Aboriginal, a lawn ornament once common in Australia. Concrete goose, a popular lawn ornament in the United States. Found object art: items such as bowling balls, toilet planters, and antique farm equipment may be repurposed as lawn ornaments. Francis of Assisi: a saint often associated with nature and animals may be cast in plaster or cement. Garden gnome: a small, generally colorful gnome statuette. Human form: a depiction of a human being. Human form lawn ornaments can be two-dimensional, generally vertically supported by being thrust in the ground, or three-dimensional. Examples of human form lawn ornaments include the concrete Aboriginal, lawn jockey and groomsman. Examples of two-dimensional human form lawn ornaments include renditions of Amish and Pennsylvania Dutch people. A variation of the Pennsylvania Dutch human form is a depiction of an older female bending over as in gardening, thus revealing her undergarments. Jigglers: plastic or metal flowers, birds and insects fitted on spring-loaded stakes so that they jiggle when the wind blows on them. Lawn jockey, or Jocko, or Groomsmen: an often diminutive statuette of a black horse attendant dressed in slave clothing, also called a Jocko. Groomsmen were often used as hitching posts. The origin of the groomsman is disputed, but it is accepted that they originated in the U.S. South. No longer as common since the civil rights movement. The "Cavalier" variation typically depicts a white figure. One legend has it that the first Groomsman was created at the commission of George Washington. Lighthouses: small-scale representations of local lighthouses are popular in coastal areas. Nest box/bird house: a small house for a bird normally made of wood and on a stake. Plastic flamingo: a generally lifesize replica of a pink flamingo. According to some, the origin of the plastic flamingo was in 1946 with the company Union Products in its "Plastics for the Lawn" product line. Their collection included dog, ducks, frogs, and a flamingo. Spinners: usually shaped like flowers with petals that spin in the wind. Variations include birds or insects with spinning wings. Statuary and outdoor sculpture Topiary specimens Whirligig: an often animalistic sculpture generally supported vertically by being pushed in the ground characterized by at least one rotating member often designed to appear as a bodypart of the sculpture. Windmill: a disconnected but free-spinning miniature, typically in the American Aermotor style having about a dozen metal vanes, or the traditional Dutch style having four wood vanes. Yard globe: a light-reflective sphere, as large as 12" in diameter or more and generally displayed on top of a support structure. Also called gazing globes or gazing balls." (wikipedia.org) "Cecropia is a Neotropical genus consisting of 61 recognized species with a highly distinctive lineage of dioecious trees.[1] The genus consists of pioneer trees in the more or less humid parts of the Neotropics, with the majority of the species being myrmecophytic.[2] Berg and Rosselli state that the genus is characterized by some unusual traits: spathes fully enclosing the flower-bearing parts of the inflorescences until anthesis, patches of dense indumentums (trichilia) producing Mullerian (food) at the base of the petiole, and anthers becoming detached at anthesis.[2] Cecropia is most studied for its ecological role and association with ants.[2] Its classification is controversial; in the past, it has been placed in the Cecropiaceae, Moraceae (the mulberry family), or Urticaceae (the nettle family).[3] The modern Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system places the "cecropiacean" group in the Urticaceae. The genus is native to the American tropics, where it is one of the most recognizable components of the rainforest. The genus is named after Cecrops I, the mythical first king of Athens. Common local names include yarumo or yagrumo, or more specifically yagrumo hembra ("female yagrumo") to distinguish them from the similar-looking but unrelated Schefflera (which are called yagrumo macho, "male yagrumo"). In English, these trees are occasionally called pumpwoods (though this may also refer to C. schreberiana specifically) or simply Cecropias. Spanish-speaking countries in Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean, Colombia, and Ecuador commonly use the vernacular name, guarumo.... Classification     This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) The classification can be subjective; many different views exist on how to classify Cecropia due to the many changes over the years. The following are two examples, with the second generally more accepted. Classification 1 This version of the classification system is considered the “outdated” version, but is still cited in some sources.     Kingdom: Plantae – plants     Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – vascular plants     Superdivision: Spermatophyta – seed plants     Division: Magnoliophyta – flowering plants     Class: Magnoliopsida – dicotyledons     Subclass: Hamamelididae     Order: Urticales     Family: Cecropiaceae – Cecropia family     Genus: Cecropia Loefl. - pumpwood Classification 2 This version of the classification system is considered the newer version and more widely accepted.     Kingdom: Plantae – plants     Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – vascular plants     Superdivision: Spermatophyta – seed plants     Division: Angiospermae     Class: Eudicotyledoneae     Unranked clade: Rosidae     Order: Rosales     Family: Urticaceae     Genus: Cecropia Loefl. –pumpwood Taxonomic history Cecropia was first recognized and accounted for by Marcgrave (1648) and Piso (1658), the latter including an illustration with characteristic features.[2] Loefling (1758) coined the generic name Cecropia.[2] In 1759, Linnaeus described Cecropia peltata which he applied to many species.[2] Willdenow (1806) created C. palmate, which was also applied to a various species.[2] Over the next decade, additional species were added by Bertoloni (1840), Martius (1841), and Liebmann (1851).[2] Mixing of specimens was very common and a problem arose, which continues today, with many collections of Cecropia. Many species were also described by Hemsley (1883), Richter (1897), Donnell Smith (1899), Rusby (1907, 1910), Huber (1910), Robinson (1912), Pittier (1917), Bailey (1922), and the most extensive number by Snethlage (1923, 1924).[2] Additional species were recognized by Burret (1924), Mildbread (1925, 1933), Standly (1929, 1940), Macbride (1937), Diels (1941), Standley & Steyermark (1944), and Stadley & Williems (1952).[2] Hans Melchior (1964) placed Cecropia in the Urticales and Moraceae (Concephaleideae) because of its woody bark.[4] Later based on the floral characters, most notably the basal ovule and gynoecium, which appears to be formed from a single carpel, Thorne (1976) moved it to the Malvanae- Urticales, family Urticaceae.[5] Berg (1978), however, placed it in its own family Cercropiaceae. When phylogenetic data became available, Cecropia was then moved back into the Urticaceae.[6] Description The genus is easily identified by its large, circular, palmately lobed leaves, about 30–40 cm in diameter and deeply divided into 7–11 lobes. The trees consist of very few branches, usually with candelabrum-like branching system.[2] In Costa Rica, three-toed sloths are often spotted easily in Cecropia trees because of their open, leafless branches compared to other trees. Berg and Roselli state, “Branch development is often initiated in seedlings, even in the axils of the first formed (opposite) leaves; prophylls are formed, and often the development of the first leaf begins but is arrested (if the seedling is not decapitated). In the axils of the leaves formed during later development, the axillary branch primordia do not produce more than one or two prophylls and a bud.” [2]: 5  The branches of C. garciae and C. hispidissima occur at a height of 0.6 to 1 m and the branches depart at acute angles.[2] In most species of Cecropia, the branches depart at obtuse angles and the crown has a distinct umbrella shape.[2] High variation is seen in the morphology of Cecropia species, but most form small to medium-sized trees, 5–15 m tall.[2] Although some species (C. distachya, C. herthae, C. insignis, and C. sciadophylla) grow much taller, as large as 40 m, and some (C. ulei) rarely surpass 5 m.[2] The high degree of variation can be attributed to regional habitat differences and longevity.[2] The family Cecropiaceae is characterized by having adventitious roots, and in Cecropia, they become stilt-roots, which are a common feature of large trees, especially living near rivers or marshes.[2] Cecropia spp. are usually full of vines, but not normally overgrown by them.[2] Most species have internodes that are hollow and contain whitish pith.[2] These internodes provide a nesting area for the Azteca ants that inhabit the trees.[2] When the branches are cut, they release a watery, often mucilaginous sap, which turns black when it is exposed to the air.[2] To prevent inhabitation by ants and occupation and damage by herbivorous insect larvae, the terminal buds and upper internodes are filled with mucilage.[2] Several species’ leafy twigs are covered by a waxy layer, making them bluish.[2] Berg and Rosselli describe in detail six types of trichomes that can be recognized on Cecropia and more information on each can be found in their paper.[2] They are: thick unicellular hairs, thin unicellular hairs, pluricellular trichomes, cystolith hairs, pearl glands (or pearl bodies), and Müllerian bodies. Parts of the Cecropia such as the stipules, the spathes, and the main veins of the lamina have red-coloring substances.[2] The concentration of the substances varies, even within species, and some parts can be green, bluish, pale pink, dark red, dark purple, and even blackish.[2] The color may fade with age, and can be deposited equally or in patterns such as longitudinal stripes.[2] The leaves of adult Cecropia species are large and peltate, almost circular in circumference.[2] The lamina is attached to the petiole, the venation is radiate, and the lamina is radially incised between the radiating main veins.[2] Variation is high in the number of lobes or leaf segments, ranging from five to more than 20.[2] Similar species Pourouma bicolor is very similar in appearance to the Cecropia, with its umbrella-shaped leaves, stilt roots, large leaves with wide lobes, and whitish color on the underside.[2] The distinctions between the two, however, are: the petiole attaches at the base of the leaf rather than at the center of the leaf like Cecropia and Pourouma has leaf lobes that are triangular and pointed at the tip, whereas most Cecropia are rounded.[2] Habitat and distribution Between 40 and 50% of the 61 species of Cecropia are montane or submontane Andean, with the majority of species in the northern part of the Andes, in Colombia and Ecuador.[2] The Andean region is regarded as the center of species richness and speciation because of the additional 25% of lowland taxa that reach the eastern or western foothills of the Andes. Therefore, only about 25% of the species occur outside of the Andean region. A map of the distribution of Cecropia can be found in the article written by Berg and Rosselli, 2005.[2] Most species of Cecropia are lowland humid/rainforest species occurring from sea level to 1,300 m in altitude, while submontane species occupy an altitudinal range from 1,300-2,000 m, and montane species are found in cloud forest from 2,000-2,600 m.[7] Many species have a narrow altitudinal and ecological niche, with certain species specializing in specific habitats, such as seasonally inundated habitats, rocky slopes, swamps, natural or man-made clearings, etc. Species in the genus Cecropia are some of the most abundant pioneer tree species in natural tree-fall gaps inside primary forests. Its geographic distribution extends along the Pacific and Atlantic Mexican coasts and in Central and South American forests, and are found over an elevation range of 0 to 2,600 m. Cecropia species are among the most abundant pioneers of other neotropical forests.[8] It is native to the Neotropics and occurs as an introduced exotic plant elsewhere. In most low-elevation, wet regions of the Neotropics, Cecropia trees are ubiquitous and important invaders of man-made clearings. The species C. pachystachya and C. peltata are invasive species in Old World localities including Singapore, Cameroon, Java, Malaysia, Ivory Coast, French Polynesia, and Hawaii. C. peltata has been nominated as one of the “100 of the World’s Worst Invasive Alien Species” by the Global Invasive Species Database.[7] C. peltata was introduced to the Singapore Botanic Gardens in 1902 and has spread widely throughout Singapore along with C. pachystachya, which was introduced in the 1960s.[7] The species is successful as an invasive species because of its ability to pollinate without the need for pollinators, the possible preferential liking for its fruits by frugivorous birds, and its lack of natural predators. Reproduction Cecropia species have staminate and pistillate flowers on separate trees, more commonly referred to as a dioecious species. The fruits are achenes enveloped by a fleshy perianths, oblongoid, elliptic, (sub)obovoid or (sub)ovoid.[2] The pericarp is tuberculate in most species, although it is smooth in some species.[2] Seeds can be viable for more than five years and germinate when triggered by full sunlight and changing temperatures.[2] Full-grown Cecropia trees can produce up to a million seeds, and this regular presence of fruits allows this genus to play a major role in the ecosystem. It is often the keystone food supply for frugivorous animals, such as birds, fruit bats, monkeys, opossums, and even fish.[7] Pollination and dispersal Traits of the staminate flowers and inflorescences are adapted to wind pollination- either by pendulous spikes, which can be moved by the wind to shed the pollen or by the special adaptation of detachment of anthers, and their secondary attachment allowing the shedding of pollen by motion of anthers.[2] The dryness and its easy release by movement make it ideal for wind pollination. Wind pollination is the dominant form, but insects, small beetles, and flies can be pollinators. In the Neotropics, toucans and other birds help disperse the seeds of species with short infructescences, while bats are associated with species with long peduncles and spikes. Species growing near rivers, though, are usually dispersed by water.[7] Conservation Cecropia spp. are generally not endangered; so no major conservation efforts are in place. Their abundance increases temporarily with the clearing of forest or creation of gaps.[2] Ecology Young Cecropia sp., Kourou, French Guiana Cecropia species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, including the arctiid moth Hypercompe icasia; the Cecropia moth (Hyalophora cecropia) is a North American species, however, thus allopatric with the plant genus. The leaves and buds are also eaten by sloths as their main source of food,[9] but many herbivores avoid these plants; most Cecropia spp. are myrmecophytes, housing dolichoderine ants of the genus Azteca, which vigorously defend their host plants against getting eaten. This symbiosis has been studied extensively by biologists such as Daniel Janzen. Cecropia fruit, known as snake fingers, are a popular food of diverse animals, including bats like the common fruit bat (Artibeus jamaicensis) and short-tailed fruit bat, the Central American squirrel monkey (Saimiri oerstedii), and birds such as the green aracari (Pteroglossus viridis), the keel-billed toucan (Ramphastos sulfuratus), the peach-fronted conure (Eupsittula aurea), the bare-throated bellbird (Procnias nudicollis)[10] and particularly nine-primaried oscines. The seeds are not normally digested, so these animals are important in distributing the trees. Some birds – e.g. the common potoo (Nyctibius griseus) – nest in Cecropia trees. The elfin-woods warbler (Setophaga angelae) is notable for using Cecropia leaves as nesting material, which no other New World warbler (family Parulidae) seems to do. Pioneer species Cecropia is a major pioneer tree genus in regions of the Neotropics with wet lowland and montane forest.[2] These trees are characteristic features of many American tropical rainforest ecosystems and may be among the dominant tree species in some places. Being aggressive, rapid-growth trees, whose succulent fruits are readily sought by various animals, they tend to be among the first pioneer species to occupy former forest areas cleared for pasture or altered by human activity.[9] C. hololeuca, known in Brazil as "silver cecropia", has broad, silver-hued leaves that make it desirable as an ornamental plant for landscaping projects, as is the case with the similar species C. pachystachya.[11] Greenhouse experiments have been performed with some species of Cecropia indicating them as “gap” and “pioneer” species under different light regimens and nutrient treatments.[2] Some species (C. maxima, C. tacuna, C. teleabla, and C. telenitida) do not show the traits of pioneer species, though, as they occur evenly in the forest.[2] The pioneer Cecropia species have a higher demand for light, occur in open habitats, relatively rapid growth rates, and short-lived leaves.[2] According to McKey’s theory, these pioneer species tend to invest more heavily in pearl bodies and less heavily in Mullerian bodies than more shade-tolerant species with slower intrinsic growth rates and longer leaf lifespans.[2] In the small light gaps (which are more shaded than normal), the most distinctive myrmecophytic Cecropia spp, are found.[2] Myrmecophytism Species of Cecropia often display myrmecophytism as a form of biotic defense. D.W. Davidson said,     “In all the world, the genus Cecropia is unrivaled for the number of myrmecophytes, or true “ant-plants” counted among its species. Based on the proportion of Cecropia species producing Mullerian bodies in at least some parts of their distribution, myrmecophytes comprise the vast majority (80%) of species in the genus; most nonmyrmecophytes occur at higher elevations and on islands, where their ants are missing.” (Berg, Rosselli and Davidson, 2005: page 214) [2] Myrmecophytism is a mutualistic relationship formed with ant colonies, where the ants protect the tree from herbivory and the trees provide shelter and food for the ants. Along with protection against herbivory, the ants also prevent the Cecropia from encroaching vines and other plants. This may vary between or within species and over geographical locations. The main ants found living in Cecropia are different species of Azteca ants, although all ants belong to the same family, the Formicidae.[12] The genus Azteca is endemic to the New World and its greatest abundance is in the lowland tropics. In the article written by Davidson, 2005 [2] on page 221, Table 1 contains known obligate Cecropia-ants listed by species and geographic distribution. Ants and Cecropia have coadapted to each other, meaning that each species has evolved one or more traits in response to selective pressures exerted by the other. An example is the recognition and use of both prostomata and Mullerian bodies by queens and worker ants.[2] Use The wood from Cecropia trees is used by local people mainly to make musical instruments and tool handles. Flutes and guitars are commonly made of Cecropia wood.[2] In addition, the wood is used for production of matches and cheap boxes. An attempt was made to use the wood to produce paper, but the wood pulp was too high in resin and it was not suitable. The fibers of the bark can be twisted into rope and the ropes are manufactured for bowstrings and hammocks.[2] The leaves can also be burned and the ashes mixed in with roasted and powdered coca leaves to be placed between the cheek and gum under the tongue as “dip”.[2] The main human use of Cecropia trees is planting them in soil erosion-prone areas. The trees make few demands on the soil and grow very quickly. The trees are used in clear-cut areas because they retain the soil, create new biomass, and allow other types of plants to settle in the area. Berg and Rosselli stated that decoctions of leaves are made to stimulate the cardiac system, to treat asthma and pneumonia, to treat diabetes and as a diuretic. Powder of leaves is used for control of Parkinson’s disease and extract of roots is used to heal wounds or eczema.[2] Red Cecropia (C. glaziovii) shows antidepressant-like activity in rats.[13] Native peoples use Cecropia for food, firewood, and in herbalism; some species also have cultural significance. In Trinidad and Tobago, C. peltata root is chewed and given to dogs that have been bitten by venomous snakes as an emergency remedy (although there is no strong scientific evidence that this is useful). Cecropia leaves can be used as a substitute for sandpaper.[9] In western South America, Cecropia leaf ash is used in the traditional preparation of ypadu, a mild coca-based stimulant. Cecropia bark can be used in rope making and in tannery.[9] Cecropia wood is used in the manufacture of boxes, toys, aeromodeling models, and rafts." (wikipedia.org)
  • Condition: Used
  • Condition: In very good, pre-owned condition. Please see photos and description.
  • Pattern: No Pattern
  • Shape: Sloth
  • Size: Medium
  • Area of Use: Garden, Balcony, Lawn, Porch
  • Color: Gray
  • Indoor/Outdoor: Outdoor
  • Material: Plaster
  • Item Length: 15.25
  • Subject: Sloth
  • Brand: Unbranded
  • Type: Planter
  • Item Height: 13 in
  • Theme: Animals
  • Style: Contemporary
  • Country/Region of Manufacture: Unknown
  • Item Width: 8 in
  • Item Weight: 6 lb

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