It is popularly grown as an ornamental tree in temperate regions all across the world because of the aesthetic appeal of its flowers, leaves and seed pods. Several cultivars have been selected for garden planting, including 'Fastigiata' with a narrow crown, and 'September Gold', flowering in late summer.
In the UK the cultivar ‘Coral Sun’ has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
In some areas, notably the eastern United States and particularly in Florida, it is considered an invasive species.


Krameria bicolor is a perennial shrub or subshrub of the family Krameriaceae, the rhatanies. It is commonly known as white rhatany, crimson-beak, and chacate in Spanish (cosahui in the state of Sonora). It is found in drier environments of the southwestern United States from California to Texas, and in northern Mexico.
It is a low lying, densely branched shrub, commonly up to 2 feet (1 m), but exceptionally to beyond 5.0 feet (2 m). The branches are spiny in form but not sharp nor firm at the tips. The leaves are grey-green to greenish, finely-haired, narrow and only one half to three quarters of an inch long.
The color of the plant and branches is grayish-green to gray, or whitish-gray, to dull browns or tinged with red. The flowers are often sparse and sometimes inconspicuous, but plants in some locales can bloom prolifically in red flowers. The plant is used for dyes in the basketry of Seri people in Mexico.
The shrub is adapted to dry, desert environments, but it can take advantage of high soil moisture. The plant is partially parasitic, for example on creosote bush, Larrea tridentata.


Krameria lanceolata, commonly called  trailing krameria, is a flowering plant in the rhatany family (Krameriaceae). It is native to North America, where it is found in the southwestern and south-central United States, and the state states of Chihuahua and Coahuila in Mexico. It has populations disjunct eastward in the U.S. states of Florida and Georgia on the Coastal Plain. Its natural habitat is in sandy or rocky calcareous grasslands.
Krameria lanceolata is an herbaceous perennial that grows decumbent along the ground. It produces purple-red flowers in late spring through the summer.


Krigia biflora, also known as two-flower cynthia or two-flower dwarf dandelion, is a species of plant in the family Asteraceae. It is native to North America, where it is found in central Canada (Manitoba and Ontario) and in the eastern, central, and southwestern United States.  This species is rare in Connecticut, and it is listed as a species of special concern.
Krigia biflora is an erect perennial growing 450–800 mm (18–31 in) tall. One plant can have 20 or more flower heads, very often two per flower stalk, each head with 25–60 yellow to orange-yellow ray flowers about 25–40 mm (1–1+1⁄2 in) across. There are no disc flowers. It can be an aggressively spreading plant.  It grows in a variety of habitats and soils and blooms in late spring to late summer.  The name of the plant consists of two words: Krigia for David Krieg, the German physician who first collected this plant in Maryland; and biflora, meaning two-flowered. Its habitats include streams, meadows, and moist prairies.


Laburnum anagyroides (syn. Cytisus laburnum), the common laburnum, golden chain or golden rain, is a species of flowering plant in the subfamily Faboideae, and genus Laburnum. Laburnum alpinum is closely related. It is native to Central and Southern Europe.
The plant grows and flowers in damp and mild habitats, especially in the calcareous soils of Southern Europe.


The plant is a small deciduous tree or large shrub up to 7 metres (23 ft) tall. It has smooth bark, dark green spreading branches and pendulous and pubescent twigs. The leaves are generally trifoliate and oval with long petioles, smooth on the upperside and hairy on the underside. It flowers during May and June.
Laburnum anagyroides blooms in late spring with pea-like, yellow flowers densely packed in pendulous racemes 10–25 cm (4–10 in) long. The flowers are golden yellow, sweet scented, and typically bloom in May.
The seeds are legumes with large numbers of black seeds that contain cytisine, an alkaloid somewhat poisonous to humans as well as goats and horses, especially when not ripe. However, some wild animals such as hares and deer can feed on them without any problems, and because of this the plant is believed to have magic properties in some regions.


The wood is hard and heavy, of a yellow/brown colour, ideal for making posts, for woodturning and as fuel. In the past (and today on historic re-enactments) it was used for making bows.
The tree is also known as false ebony since the wood from very old specimens could be used in place of ebony.


Laburnum anagyroides is cultivated as an ornamental tree. The most common ornamental plant in the genus is a hybrid between this species and Laburnum alpinum — Laburnum × watereri.


Lachnanthes is a genus of monocotyledonous plants in the bloodwort family containing only one species, i.e., Lachnanthes caroliniana, commonly known as Carolina redroot or bloodroot. The plant is native to eastern North America, from southeastern Nova Scotia (especially the Molega Lake area) and Massachusetts in the north, south to Florida and Cuba, and west along the Gulf of Mexico to Louisiana. It has also been reported from an island in the western Caribbean off the coast of Honduras. It prefers wet, acidic, usually sandy soils, restricting it to various wetland habitats such as bogs, pinelands, hammocks and pocosins, among others.
The plant's common name is based on its red roots and rhizomes. Its flowers, consisting of six pale yellow tepals, emerge from mid to late summer. The plant is sometimes a significant weed in commercial cranberry bogs.


The generic name "Lachnanthes" is a conserved name in botany. This means that the name has been granted a special exemption to the ordinary priority rules, allowing a newer name to be used instead of an older one. Three names are relevant here:
Heritiera Aiton, Hortus Kewensis 3: 546. 1789.
Heritiera J.F. Gmelin,  Systema Naturae, ed. 13 2: 113. 1791.
Lachnanthes S. Elliott, Sketch of the Botany of South-Carolina and Georgia 1: 47. 1816.
The first is a different plant, a tropical tree. This makes the second name an illegitimate homonym, unusable. The conservation decree allows the third name to be used in place of the second to refer to the plant now called Lachnanthes caroliniana.


Comparison of homologous DNA has increased the insight in the phylogenetic relationships between the genera in the Haemodoroideae subfamily. The following trees represent those insights.


Lactuca canadensis is a species of wild lettuce known by the common names Canada lettuce, Canada wild lettuce, tall lettuce, and Florida blue lettuce. Its true native range is not clear, but it is considered to be a native of the eastern and central parts of North America. It naturalized in the western part of the continent as well as in Eurasia.
Generally, Lactuca canadensis is a biennial herb in the daisy family growing from a taproot to maximum heights of 50–200 cm (19.5–78.5 in) or more. The leaves are deeply lobed and occasionally toothed. The top of the stem bears an inflorescence with many flower heads, each up to 1 cm (0.5 in) wide when open. The heads have many pale yellow ray florets, but no disc florets. The fruit is a dark-colored achene about half a centimeter (0.2 inches) long with a white pappus.


Annual biennial dicot that may appear to be a weedy plant, but is variable in appearance. Typically it is 7.6 cm-20.3 cm tall, but may be found up to 25.4 cm and 7.6 cm across with an oblong shape, wider at bases, and come to point at tip. Stem is glabrous and often glaucous, with light or reddish green color. Leaves are alternate mostly with deep pinnate lobes, however, small leaves have shallow lobes or none at all. Leaf surface color ranges from shiny to dull in light to dark green pigments that sometimes may appear in purple or yellow shear cast. Leaves are slightly toothed along margins with small hairs along underside of leaf vein.
Flower heads appear dandelion-like, attach at the apex of the stem, and are 8mm across. The florets are yellowish or slightly red to orange in color, consisting of 12-25 per plant. The base of the flower head has several floral bracts that appear light green and glabrous. Flowers bloom in late summer or early fall for approximately 3–4 weeks. The flower does not seem to emit noticeable scent. After the blooming period, flowers are replaced by dark achenes with tufts of white hair. Its achene has a longitudinal ridge, may have black spots on either side, and are distributed by the wind. They are ovoid; slightly flattened, but curved in shape. A plant may have buds, flowers, and achenes simultaneously. Roots are a thick deep taproots that contain a white latex that is apparent when cut.


Canada lettus is in the genus Lactuca, a group of flowering plants in the daisy family (Asteraceae), that are commonly is referred to as "lettuces". The genus contains at least 50 species worldwide. Lactuca canadensis was first formally described by Carl Linnaeus in 1759.
It has been seen to hybridize wildly with Lactuca ludoviciana, and it is difficult to differentiate between the two species.


It occurs across the continental United States, except for Nevada and Arizona, and across most provinces in Canada. It is found commonly in all counties in Illinois.
It grows in moist to dry habitats in a variety of soil types, include black soil, clay, and gravel prairies. Lactuca canadensis can be found in woodlands, thickets, savannas, borders of lakes and rivers, limestone glades, fence rows, pastures, abandoned fields, powerline clearances, road and railroad sides, vacant lots, and waste areas. It is most common in degraded and disturbed habitats, but also may be found in rich and diverse, high-quality habitats.


Grazing by deer in the Cedar Creek Natural History Area in Minnesota has affected the height and vertical growth of Lactuca canadensis, which is not able to compensate and replenish itself from the damage resulting from the deer grazing. Eastern Goldfinch occasionally eat seeds, limiting dispersal. Mammalian herbivores browse on foliage despite the bitter latex. Cottontail Rabbit eats leaves of young plants. Horses, cattle, and sheep have also been seen to graze on the plant.


Lactuca floridana, the woodland lettuce, is a North American species of wild lettuce. It is widespread across much of central Canada and the eastern and central United States from Ontario and Manitoba south as far as Texas, Louisiana, and Florida.
Lactuca floridana is an annual biennial herb in the dandelion tribe within the daisy family growing from a taproot a height of up to 200 cm (79 in; 6.6 ft). The top of the stem bears a multibranched inflorescence with many flower heads. Each head contains 10–20 blue or white ray florets but no disc florets. The fruit is a brown achene.
Lactuca floridana was found to contain 11β,13-Dihydro-lactucin-8-O-acetate hemihydrate.


The blue corporal (Ladona deplanata), also known as little corporal, is a dragonfly in the Libellulidae, or skimmer family. First described as Libellula deplanata by Jules Pierre Rambur in 1842, it is common across much of the eastern United States.


When Jules Pierre Rambur first described the blue corporal in 1842, he assigned it to the large skimmer genus Libellula. There it remained until 1897, when James George Needham established the genus Ladona, and transferred the blue corporal (and several other species) to it. Taxonomists have disagreed since as to which genus the dragonfly should be assigned to, with some subsuming members of the genus Ladona into Libellula, and others maintaining the two genera. However, recent molecular DNA studies strongly suggest that Ladona is a monophyletic group which is a sister taxon to Libellula. The blue corporal has, in the past, been considered to be a subspecies of the closely related white corporal.
The etymology of the genus name Ladona is unknown, but the specific name deplanata, meaning "flattened" or "expanded", probably refers to the shape of the blue corporal's abdomen. The word "blue" in its common name refers to the male's coloration, while the word "corporal" refers to two lines on the dragonfly's thorax; in the US military, those with the rank of corporal wear two stripes on their uniforms.


The blue corporal is a small, thickset dragonfly, measuring 29–40 mm (1.1–1.6 in) in length. The male has a dark brown thorax with two wide, bluish, pruinose stripes on the front and a pruinose blue abdomen. His face is black, and his eyes dark brown. The female is brown, with a narrow, pale stripe and an equally narrow black strip on each side of the thorax, and a black dorsal stripe down the center of her abdomen, broadening toward the posterior. Her face and eyes are brown. Both sexes have clear wings with short black streaks at the base, often with a smaller amber streak between them.


The chalk-fronted corporal is larger, and shows a basal spot on the hindwing, rather than the streaks shown by the blue corporal; the adult male chalk-fronted corporal has a white (rather than black) face. The male eastern pondhawk has completely clear wings (with no basal streaks) and green eyes, while the male blue dasher is slimmer, with green eyes and a white face. The male little blue dragonlet is smaller, with clear wings and white cerci.


The blue corporal is common and widespread throughout the eastern United States. Its range extends from Oklahoma to New Hampshire in the north, south to Texas and Florida. It favors the still, infertile waters of sandy-bottomed ponds, lakes and pits, and breeds less frequently in streams than its close relatives do.


Unlike most skimmers—and indeed most dragonflies—the blue corporal typically perches on the ground, though it will sometimes cling vertically to sunlit trees during the late afternoon. Males spend much of their time patrolling the edges of ponds and lakes, resting on banks, low vegetation or floating debris between flights. Unless they are mating or laying eggs, females spend little time near the water. The blue corporal's flight is low and fluttering, occasionally interrupted by hovering.
Like all odonates, the blue corporal is predatory. As larval instars, they prey primarily on midge and mayfly larvae; they are also known to take ostracods and cladocerans, though these make up only a very small percentage of their diet. As adults, they hunt flying insects, taking primarily small flies, beetles and leafhoppers. They are "sally hunters", making quick, short flights after prey from a perch on or near the ground.
The blue corporal has a single brood per year. It mates on the wing. The female, guarded by the male, who hovers above her, deposits her eggs immediately after mating, dipping her abdomen into the water to do so. She spreads her eggs out, spacing them several meters apart around the perimeter of a pond; overall, she lays few eggs in any one site. The young develop synchronously, which increases the amount of intraspecific competition between them. The blue corporal overwinters as a final instar nymph, and the entire population of an area emerges over a one-month period in early spring. The flight period varies with latitude. For example, it flies from November to May in Florida, while in Louisiana it flies from February to May. Further north, it emerges later. In South Carolina, it flies from late March until early May, while in Kansas it flies from April to May. In Ohio and Kentucky, it flies from April to June, and in New Jersey, it flies from April to July.


The International Union for Conservation of Nature has not officially assessed the blue corporal's status, but the dragonfly is said to be common across its range. Like all dragonflies, it faces a variety of threats. As instars, blue corporals are preyed upon by fish; studies have shown that, in response, they tend to use cover more. Larval mortality ranges from 90–97% annually.


The chalk-fronted corporal (Ladona julia) is a skimmer dragonfly found in the northern United States and southern Canada.
Juveniles of both sexes are light reddish brown, with white shoulder stripes and a black stripe down the middle of the abdomen.  As they mature, males develop a white pruinescence on the top of the thorax and at the base of the abdomen, while the rest of the abdomen turns black.  Females become almost uniformly dark brown, with a dusting of gray pruinescence near the base of the abdomen; a few develop the same color pattern as the males.
Chalk-fronted corporals often perch horizontally on the ground or on floating objects in the water, flying up to take prey from the air.  They are gregarious for dragonflies, and are commonly seen perching in groups.  They readily approach humans to feed on the mosquitoes and biting flies that humans attract.


Lagerstroemia indica, the crape myrtle (also crepe myrtle, crêpe myrtle, or crepeflower) is a species of flowering plant in the genus Lagerstroemia of the family Lythraceae. It is native to the Indian Subcontinent (hence the species epithet indica), and also to Southeast Asia, China, Korea and Japan. The genus name honors Swedish botanist Magnus von Lagerström. It is an often multi-stemmed, deciduous tree with a wide spreading, flat topped, rounded, or even spike shaped open habit. The tree is a popular nesting shrub for songbirds and wrens.
In the United Kingdom, Lagerstroemia indica has gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit.


The bark is thin and about 2mm. thick, smooth, pinkish-gray and mottled, shedding each year. Leaves also shed each winter, after spectacular color display, and bare branches re-leaf early in the spring; leaves are small, smooth-edged, circular or oval-shaped, and dark green changing to yellow and orange and red in autumn.
Flowers, on different trees, are white, pink, mauve, purple or carmine with crimped petals, in panicles up to 9 cm (3+1⁄2 in). Flowers give way to 6-capsuled, brown dehiscent fruits.


In the United States, Lagerstroemia indica is a very popular flowering shrub/small tree in mild-winter states (USDA Zones 6–9). Low maintenance needs make it a common municipal planting in parks, along sidewalks, highway medians and in parking lots. Like the southern magnolia, the crape myrtle has come to symbolize the American South because of its extensive planting and ability to thrive in hot, humid summer climates with regular precipitation. It is one of only a few trees/shrubs to offer brilliant color in late summer through autumn, at a time when many flowering plants have exhausted their blooms. In arid climates, it requires supplemental watering and some shade in the very hottest areas. The plant must have hot summers in order to flower successfully, otherwise it will show weak bloom and is more vulnerable to fungal diseases.
Frequently L. indica is root hardy to Zone 5 (-10 °F/-23 °C), meaning it will be killed back during harsh winters but regrow from the roots and flower in summer. As such Northern gardeners treat it more like a perennial than a tree or shrub. Too much watering and over-fertilizing can decrease the cold hardiness because it stimulates new growth late in the season that does not have time to harden off.
Lagerstroemia indica is frost tolerant, prefers full sun and will grow to 6 m (20 ft) with a spread of 6 m (20 ft). The plant is not picky about soil type but does require good drainage to thrive. Once established it is also quite drought hardy, though it benefits from the occasional deep watering during the summer months.
15 hybrid cultivars have been developed between L. indica and L. fauriei by the US National Arboretum for increased cold-hardiness and resistance to disease, all given the names of Native American tribes. There are also dwarf cultivars of indica × fauriei cross-breeds and regular L. indica species, which grow 2–5 ft (0.61–1.52 m).


Lagerstroemia is a common planting in South Atlantic States and is becoming an increasingly common shrub in Mid-Atlantic states all the way up through the coastal areas of Massachusetts. Lagerstroemia also thrives in the Mediterranean and Desert climates of Southern California, Arizona and Nevada, and also in Australia as a street plant.


In the Southern U.S. mildew and fungal diseases have traditionally posed problems for L. indica. This was a major motivation for developing the L. indica × L. fauriei hybrids, which show increased resistance to powdery mildew and fungus. The fungal pathogen Cercospora lythracearum can infest the plant in summer during hot, rainy weather and cause premature leaf drop. Gardeners plant resistant hybrid varieties or use fungicide sprays to help control this.
Insect problems with Lagestroemia indica include the crape myrtle aphid, Tinocallis kahawaluokalani, which can cause yellow spots and black mold, Japanese beetles, and the flea beetle. None of these insects are fatal to the plant and other predator insects are usually enough to resolve infestations; however applications of insecticidal soap can also be helpful.


In 1983, Hinako Sugiura started a manga series titled Sarusuberi, after the Japanese name of the plant.
Sugiura compared the flowering season of L. indica, that keeps blooming and dropping flowers at the same time, with the vigor of ukiyo-e art, the setting of the manga.


The willow ptarmigan (/ˈtɑːrmɪɡən/) (Lagopus lagopus) is a bird in the grouse subfamily Tetraoninae of the pheasant family Phasianidae. It is also known as the willow grouse and in Ireland and Britain, where the subspecies L. l. scotica was previously considered to be a separate species, as the red grouse. It breeds in birch and other forests and moorlands in northern Europe, the tundra of Scandinavia, Siberia, Alaska and Canada, in particular in the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec. It is the state bird of Alaska. In the summer the birds are largely brown, with dappled plumage, but in the winter they are white with some black feathers in their tails (British populations do not adopt a winter plumage). The species has remained little changed from the bird that roamed the tundra during the Pleistocene. Nesting takes place in the spring when clutches of four to ten eggs are laid in a scrape on the ground. The chicks are precocial and soon leave the nest. While they are young, both parents play a part in caring for them. The chicks eat insects and young plant growth while the adults are completely herbivorous, eating leaves, flowers, buds, seeds and berries during the summer and largely subsisting on the buds and twigs of willow and other dwarf shrubs and trees during the winter.


The willow ptarmigan is a medium to large ground-dwelling bird and is the most numerous of the three species of ptarmigan. Males and females are about the same size, the adult length varying between 35 and 44 centimetres (14 and 17 in) with a wingspan ranging from 60 and 65 centimetres (24 and 26 in). The weight is 430 to 810 grams (15 to 29 oz). It is deep-chested and has a fairly long neck, a broad bill, short feathered legs and a moderately short rounded tail. In the summer, the male's plumage is marbled brown, with a reddish hue to the neck and breast, a black tail and white wings and underparts. It has a red semicircular comb above each eye, which become red and prominent in the breeding season. The female is similar in appearance but with much smaller eye combs and has brown feathers scattered among the white feathers on her belly. During winter, the body plumage and two central tail feathers of both sexes becomes completely white, except for the black outer rectrices. Their wing feathers remain white all year round. Immature birds resemble the adults.
The willow ptarmigan can be distinguished from the closely related rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) by its larger size and thicker bill and by the fact that it is not generally found above the tree line while the rock ptarmigan prefers more elevated, barren habitat. The summer plumage is browner and in the winter, the male willow ptarmigan lacks the rock ptarmigan's black stripe between the eyes and bill. The white-tailed ptarmigan (Lagopus leucura) in North America is smaller, has a white tail and finely-barred greyer plumage and lives permanently above the tree line. The distinctive British Isles subspecies L. l. scoticus (red grouse) was once considered a separate true British species but is now classified as a sub-species. This moorland bird is reddish brown all over, except for its white feet.
The voice is low-pitched and guttural and includes chuckles, repeated clucking sounds, expostulations. When displaying, the male makes rattles and barking noises.


The willow ptarmigan's scientific name, Lagopus lagopus is derived from Ancient Greek lagos (λαγως) 'hare' + pous (πους) 'foot', in reference to the bird's feathered feet which allow it to negotiate frozen ground.


The willow ptarmigan has a circum-boreal distribution. It is native to Canada and the United States, China, Mongolia, the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, the Czech Republic, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, the United Kingdom and Ireland. It primarily occupies subalpine and subarctic habitats such as sparse pine and birch forests, thickets with willow and alder trees, heather moors, tundra and mountain slopes. In the winter, females and sub-adults may move to lower altitudes and seek shelter in valleys or in more densely vegetated areas, but adult males usually remain in the subalpine region. The red grouse is common on heather-clad moorland across the north and west of Great Britain and in localised areas of Ireland.


Widespread and not uncommon in its remote habitat, the willow ptarmigan is classified as a species of "Least Concern" by the IUCN. This is because, even if, as is suspected, numbers are declining slightly, it has a very wide range with a total population estimated at forty million individuals.


The species name hirta comes from the Latin hirtus meaning rough hair or rough wool, referring to the coarse, fuzzy appearance of the beetle.


This species is present in Europe, in North Africa (Algeria, Morocco), in Russia (Western and Eastern Siberia), in Israel, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.


It prefers areas with sandy soils. It can be found in open woods, in deciduous forests, in forest clearings, forest edges, in grasslands and wet meadows, but also in dry valleys and wet areas.


Lagria hirta can reach a length of 7–8 millimetres (0.28–0.31 in). These beetles have a soft and elongated body and a head and thorax brown or shiny black. The relatively elongated elytra are yellowish-brown and covered by dense fine light yellowish-brown hairs. The rest of the body is also hairy, but they are less clearly visible. Antennae, underside of body and legs are black. The eyes are remarkably large and round. Antennae are composed with eleven segments.
The elytra of the females are more extended backward than in the males and the female's abdomen looks from above wider than in the males. The male, in addition to its slimmer body, is distinguished from the females by their larger eyes and by the length of the last segment of the antennae, which is nearly twice the corresponding segment in the female. The hind wings are transparent.


The fully formed beetles can be seen from late May to September. The adult beetles feed on nectar and pollen. Females lay the eggs in the soil  where they hatch after about eight days. The larvae live in the humus where they feed on decaying vegetables. After having overwintered larvae pupate in early summer of the next year and a new generation of beetles will then developed.


Lamarckia is a Eurasian and African plant in the grass family.
Species
The only known species is Lamarckia aurea, the golden dog's-tail or goldentop grass It is an annual plant, typically 30-45 centimetres in height, with clusters of golden flowers in a panicle 5–8 cm long and 2–2.5 cm broad. The species is native to the Mediterranean Basin and neighboring regions from Portugal to the Canary Islands east to Ethiopia and northern India. It is also naturalized in parts of Australia and the Americas, considered an invasive weed in some areas.
Formerly included
see Aegopogon
Lamarckia tenella - Aegopogon tenellus


Lambdina fiscellaria, the mournful thorn or hemlock looper, is a moth of the  family Geometridae. It is found in North America, from the Pacific to the Atlantic coast and from Canada south to Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and California.
The adult is grey to cream coloured with scalloped wing borders and resembles the oak besma. Darker line across forewings and hindwings, a second line across forewings. Area between lines may be shaded or unshaded.
The wingspan is about 35 mm. The moth flies from August to early October depending on the location.
The larvae feed on hemlock, balsam fir, white spruce, oak and other hardwoods.


Lamium album, commonly called white nettle or white dead-nettle, is a flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae. It is native throughout Europe and Asia, growing in a variety of habitats from open grassland to woodland, generally on moist, fertile soils.


L. album is an herbaceous perennial plant growing to 50–100 cm (20–39 in) tall, with green, four-angled stems. The leaves are 3–8 cm (1.2–3.1 in) long and 2–5 cm (0.79–1.97 in) broad, triangular with a rounded base, softly hairy, and with a serrated margin and a petiole up to 5 cm (2.0 in) long; like many other members of the Lamiaceae, they appear superficially similar to those of the stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) but do not sting, hence the common name "dead-nettle". The flowers are white, produced in whorls ('verticillasters') on the upper part of the stem, the individual flowers 1.5–2.5 cm (0.59–0.98 in) long. The flowers are visited by many types of insects, but mostly by long-tongued insects, like bees.


L. album  is native to Eurasia, from Ireland in the West to Japan in the East. It occurs as two subspecies, subsp. album in the western range and subsp. barbatum in the far east of mainland Asia and in Japan.  It is common in England, rare in the west, and in north Scotland and introduced in eastern Ireland.
L. album  was introduced to North America, where it is widely naturalized.


The young leaves are edible, and can be used in salads or cooked as a vegetable.
Bees, especially bumble bees are attracted to the flowers which are a good source of early nectar and pollen, hence the plant is sometimes called the bee nettle.


In the British Isles L. album  is found on roadsides, around hedges, and in waste-places.


Two phenylpropanoid glycosides, lamalboside (2R-galactosylacteoside) and acteoside, the flavonol p-coumaroylglucoside, tiliroside, 5-caffeoylquinic acid (chlorogenic acid), along with rutoside and quercetin and kaempferol 3-O-glucosides can be isolated from the flowers of L. album. The plant also contains the iridoid glycosides lamalbid, alboside A and B, and caryoptoside as well as the hemiterpene glucoside hemialboside.
L.album was a favorite source of chlorophyll and other plant pigments for Mikhail Tsvet, the inventor of adsorption chromatography.


A distillation of the flowers is reputed "to make the heart merry, to make a good colour in the face, and to make the vital spirits more fresh and lively."


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Hackney, P. (Ed) 1992. Stewart and Corry's Flora of the North-east of Ireland. Institute of Irish Studies and The Queen's University of Belfast. ISBN 0-85389-446-9
Phenylpropanoid esters from Lamium album flowers. Jaromir Budzianowski and Lutoslawa Skrzypczak, Phytochemistry, March 1995, Volume 38, Issue 4, Pages 997–1001, doi:10.1016/0031-9422(94)00727-B
Iridoid glucosides from Lamium album. Søren Damtoft, Phytochemistry, January 1992, Volume 31, Issue 1, Pages 175–178, doi:10.1016/0031-9422(91)83030-O
Hemialboside, a hemiterpene glucoside from Lamium album. Søren Damtoft and Søren Rosendal Jensen, Phytochemistry, July 1995, Volume 39, Issue 4, Pages 923–924, doi:10.1016/0031-9422(95)00085-L
Source book in chemistry 1900-1950, edited by Henry Leicester, p.23.
Mrs M. Grieve (1931). "NETTLE, WHITE DEAD". A Modern Herbal. Botanical.com.


Lamium maculatum (also known as spotted dead-nettle, spotted henbit and purple dragon) is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae, native throughout Europe and temperate Asia (Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, western China).


Lamium maculatum is a prostrate, spreading herbaceous perennial.
This species is very variable in terms of leaf size and shape, hairiness and flower colours.  It reaches on average 20–80 centimetres (7.9–31.5 in) in height. It has erect, hollow and pubescent stems, branched at the base only. The soft hairy leaf blades are about 2–10 centimetres (0.79–3.94 in) long. They are sometimes spotted (hence the Latin name maculatum), toothed with long petioles, about 2–4 centimetres (0.79–1.57 in) long. Their shape varies from ovate-triangular to heart-shaped. The inflorescence bears about two to eight hermaphrodite flowers about 20–30 millimetres (0.79–1.18 in) long. The flowers of the plant are formed in the leaf axils of the upper leaf pairs.  The upper lips of the flowers are helmet-shaped, usually pink or purplish, while the bilobate lower ones are whitish with purple dots. The stamens are located in the upper lip and have orange pollen. The flowering period extends from April through November.
It tends to grow higher in spring while during the colder weather it is much flatter to the ground. If subjected to light frost, L. maculatum will recover in spring as it enters its growth cycle.


It grows in a variety of habitats from open grassland to woodland, generally on moist, fertile soils at an altitude of 0–1,200 metres (0–3,937 ft) above sea level.


Lamium maculatum is valued as groundcover in moist, shady areas.  It will rapidly colonise an area, and may become invasive given suitable growing conditions. Numerous cultivars have been developed, mainly for their coloured and varigated leaves, including:-
'Album' (white form)
'Anne Greenaway'(leaves marbled with light and dark green, chartreuse and silver, flowers mauve-pink).
'Aureum' (yellow-leaved)
'Beacon Silver' (silver leaves)
'Cannon's Gold' (gold leaves)
'Chequers' (vigorous, silver-striped leaves)
'Purple Dragon' has unusually purple snapdragon-type flowers several times a year, over bright silver foliage with a green edge: it grows 4–8 in (102–203 mm) tall in shaded or partially shaded areas.
'Red Nancy' (silver leaves with green margins)
'Roseum' (leaves with a central silver stripe)
'Sterling Silver' (silver leaves)
'White Nancy'


Lamium purpureum, known as red dead-nettle, purple dead-nettle, or purple archangel, is an annual herbaceous flowering plant native to Europe and Asia.
Varieties:
Lamium purpureum var. hybridum (Vill.) Vill. (synonym: Lamium hybridum Vill.)


Lamium purpureum grows with square stems to 5–20 cm
(rarely 30 cm) in height. The leaves have fine hairs, are green at the bottom and shade to purplish at the top; they are 2–4 cm long and broad, with a 1–2 cm petiole (leaf stalk), and wavy to serrated margins.
The zygomorphic flowers are bright red-purple, with a top hood-like petal, two lower lip petal lobes and minute fang-like lobes between. The corolla shows a line of hairs near the base of the tube. They may be produced throughout the year, including mild weather in winter. This allows bees to gather its nectar for food when few other nectar sources are available.  It is also a prominent source of pollen for bees in March/April (in UK), when bees need the pollen as protein to build up their nest.
It is often found alongside Henbit Dead-nettle (Lamium amplexicaule), which is easily mistaken for it since they both have similar looking leaves and similar bright purple flowers; they can be distinguished by the stalked leaves of Red Dead-nettle on the flower stem, compared to the unstalked leaves of Henbit Dead-nettle.
Though superficially similar to species of Urtica (true nettles) in appearance, it is not related and does not sting, hence the name "dead-nettle".


Young plants have edible tops and leaves, used in salads or in stir-fry as a spring vegetable. If finely chopped it can also be used in sauces.
Undyed, the pollen itself is a red colour and is very noticeable on the heads of bees that frequent its flowers.
Folk herbalists use purple dead nettle in many herbal remedies.  One of these is purple dead nettle salve that can be used on irritated, itchy, or sore skin.


Frequent in meadows, forest edges, roadsides and gardens.


Lamium purpureum is a common weed in the western United States, Canada, Ireland, and the British Isles.


The essential oil is characterized by its high contents of germacrene D. The seed oil contains 16% of an acid characterized as (−)-octadeca-5,6-trans-16-trienoic acid (trivial name `lamenallenic acid'). Other unsaturated esters identified by their cleavage products are oleate, linoleate and linolenate.
The plant contains phenylethanoid glycosides named lamiusides A, B, C, D and E. It possesses a flavonol 3-O-glucoside-6″-O-malonyltransferase.


Lampides boeticus, the pea blue, or long-tailed blue, is a small butterfly that belongs to the lycaenids or gossamer-winged family.


The Latin species name boeticus refers to Baetica, a province of the Roman Empire in the Iberian Peninsula . Its common name refers to the long streamers on its hind wings, the male's bright iridescent blue colour, and peas, which is the typical host plant of the butterfly.


This species can be  found in Europe, Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and Australia.
Also found in the Hawaiian islands.


This species inhabits the edge of forests, mountain meadows and hot flowery places at an elevation up to 2,700 metres (8,900 ft) above sea level.


The wingspan is 24–32 mm for males and 24–34 mm for females. In these small butterflies (although unusually large for their family) the males have a mainly blue violet upper face of the wings with the brown edges, while the females have only a small amount of blue colour in the centre of the wings (sexual dimorphism). Both sexes have a thin, long tail in the hindwings and two black spots in the anal angle. The underface of the wings is ocher and adorned with white markings and with a larger white submarginal streak. The underface of each hindwing shows a pair of small black eye-spots beside each tail, with an orange marginal spots at the anal angle. This species is rather similar and it can be confused with Leptotes pirithous and Cacyreus marshalli although the pea-blue is significantly larger than both species.
Male. Upperside violet-blue, with hair-like, whitish scales dispersed over the entire surface of both wings. Forewing with costal and outermarginal brown line, the latter often with a little inward brown suffusion, Hindwing with a similar marginal line, a rather large round black subterminal spot in interspace 2, a smaller spot in interspace 1, each spot ringed, sometimes with pale blue, sometimes with pale orange-ochreous. Cilia white, with a brown basal band; tail black, tipped with white. Underside grey with a slight ochreous tinge, markings brownish. Forewing with a pair of bars across the middle of the cell, and a pair across the end, a pair in the disc, from near the costa to vein 3, continued a little inwards to the hinder margin in two pieces, all with white inside the pairs. Hindwing with eight or nine more or less sinuous brown fasciae at even distances apart, all the brown lines with white marks between them; both wings with brown terminal line, white subterminal line, then a series of white lunules, followed by white marks, more or less in echelon on the forewing, formed into a white narrow band on the hindwing, the whole surface of both wings having these markings at even distances apart; and there are small jet black subterminal spots, containing metallic, blue-green scales, broadly surrounded by orange, in interspaces 1 and 2.
Female. Upperside with some slight brownish suffusion, some shining blue scales at the base of both wings and in the interior portion of the forewing; on the hindwing there are two spots in interspaces 1 and 2 as in the male, and some pale brown spots in continuation up the wing, all outwardly edged by a fine white subterminal line, and across the disc there is a narrow white band, divided by the veins. Underside as in the male. Antennae black, ringed with white ; head and body blackish-brown above with blue pubescence, white beneath.
— Charles Swinhoe, Lepidoptera Indica. Vol. VIII


This species may have three generations a year. Adults fly from February to early November and are strong migrants.  Eggs are white with a greenish tinge and have a disc-shaped form. They can reach a diameter of 0.5 mm. They are laid singly on the flower buds of the host plants.
Old caterpillars are green or reddish-brown, with dark dorsal stripe. They reach a length of 14-15 mm. Pupae reach  a length of 9-10 mm.  They are light grayish-brown with medium-sized dark spots and dark dorsal stripe.
The larvae feed on flowers, seeds and pods of many Fabaceae species, including Medicago, Crotalaria, Polygala, Sutherlandia, Dolichos, Cytisus, Spartium and Lathyrus species. It has also been recorded on Crotolaria pallida.
In Australia, the larvae are occasionally attended by ants in the genera Froggattella, Iridomyrmex or Camponotus.


Lamprocapnos spectabilis, bleeding heart, fallopian buds or Asian bleeding-heart,  is a species of flowering plant belonging to the fumitory subfamily (fumarioideae) of the poppy family Papaveraceae, and is native to Siberia, northern China, Korea, and Japan. It is the sole species in the monotypic genus Lamprocapnos, but is still widely referenced under its old name Dicentra spectabilis (now listed as a synonym), not to be confused with the North American native bleeding heart plants also classified under Dicentra. It is valued in gardens and in floristry for its heart-shaped pink and white flowers, borne in spring.
Other common names include lyre flower, heart flower, and lady-in-a-bath.


The Asian bleeding-heart grows to 120 cm (47 in) tall by 45 cm (18 in) wide. It is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial with 3-lobed compound leaves on fleshy green to pink stems. The arching horizontal racemes of up to 20 pendent flowers are borne in spring and early summer. The outer petals are bright fuchsia-pink, while the inner ones are white. The flowers strikingly resemble the conventional heart shape, with a droplet beneath – hence the common name.
The plant sometimes behaves as a spring ephemeral, becoming dormant in summer.


In Korea L. spectabilis behaves as a shade-loving chasmophyte, growing in rock crevices at low altitudes in the mountains of the central and southern parts of the country.


The following have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:-
Lamprocapnos spectabilis (pink and white)
'Alba' (white)
"Valentine" ('Hordival') (red and white)
'Gold Heart', introduced from Hadspen Garden, England, in 1997, has yellow leaves.


In Traditional Chinese medicine the root is employed for detoxification, to improve blood circulation, and as an analgesic. It is recorded in the "Lingnan Medicine Collection" (1949) that Lamprocapnos root can disperse blood, eliminate sores, eliminate "wind" (风; fēng), and "harmonize the blood". The medicinal qualities are described as pungent, bitter and warm, and are believed to replenish jing in the liver. Oral administration is used to treat sores and abdominal pain, while topical application is used to treat bruises and swellings.
Caution is, however urged regarding overdose: the juice of the plant can cause tingling paresthesias after contact with exposed skin and oral overdose can give rise to vomiting, diarrhea and, in serious cases of poisoning, even respiratory failure, and cardiac paralysis.


The Korean common name for the plant, 금낭화 (geum nang hwa) "gold bag flower",
makes the same comparison between the shape of the flower and that of an old-fashioned drawstring purse as does the Chinese.
Japanese common names for the plant include ケマンソウ (kemansō, derived from the Japanese common name for Corydalis, which is keman) and the quaint and evocative タイツリソウ (taitsurisō i.e. "sea  bream fishing rod") given in recognition of the similarity in appearance  of the inflorescence to a number of little fish (specifically the much-loved Japanese food fish, tai a.k.a. madai) hanging by their tails from a rod, while clasping yet smaller fish in their jaws. Both the Chinese and Korean purse and the Japanese sea bream referenced in names for Lamprocapnos are not only considered auspicious, but also associated specifically with the New Year celebrations of their respective countries.


Jeong et al. reported a case of (non-fatal) poisoning in Korea in 2015: a party of four dining out at a local restaurant suffered symptoms of varying severity after consuming a dish of crucian carp and radish greens to which a (possibly) careless or inexperienced chef had added leaves of L. spectabilis, which he may have mistaken for radish leaves, while gathering pot-herbs to cook with the fish. They note that the severity of poisoning could be correlated with the amount of the poisoned dish consumed; the only individual with symptoms requiring hospitalisation being a middle-aged man, already in poor health, who had eaten the most. All those poisoned complained of lethargy, dizziness, palpitation, and dry mouth half an hour after consuming the meal.
The authors conclude that the clinical manifestations in this poisoning case suggest anticholinergic syndrome and speculate that the mental changes in the victims were attributable to the effects on the CNS of the alkaloids scoulerine (which can act as a GABAA receptor agonist) and corydine which can evoke narcotic effects. They note also that the neurologic effects of the alkaloid protopine are qualitatively comparable to those of the well-known delirient tropane alkaloid atropine.
The A 45-year-old male admitted to A&E suffering from Lamprocapnos poisoning had a history of hypertension and chronic kidney disease and presented with a confused mental state, elevated blood pressure, tachycardia, mild fever, dry mouth and facial flushing. Neurological examination revealed his confusion to be intermittent and associated with irritability, and an inability to comprehend and obey commands. His motor function, however was normal and he showed no abnormal reflexes. Furthermore, his pupils were not anisochoric (i.e. were of the same size) and (as would not be so in a case of atropine poisoning) were responsive to light. The patient’s mental state began to return to normal 19 hours after admission to A&E, although his intermittent confusion persisted. He finally regained alert (normal) mentation 28 hours after admission.


In regard to the poisoning case described above, the chef involved may have been neither careless nor inexperienced, but simply preparing a traditional namul, since at least one work on the edible wild plants of Korea maintains Lamprocapnos spectabilis to be edible, provided that it has first been subjected to certain treatments. Lee stipulates that the young leaves should be blanched slightly and then placed in cold water which is then brought to the boil; after which treatment they may be eaten with other vegetables or used in the preparation of miso soup. He further states that the flowers may be dried in the shade and used as tea. It is clear that, in the light of the findings of Jeong et. al. regarding the restaurant poisoning incident, the plant is alkaloidal and, at best, a suspect foodstuff requiring pre-treatment in order to render it safe for human consumption (compare preparation of poke sallet from Phytolacca americana). Other factors influencing potential toxicity include variations in alkaloid content depending on the strain of plant involved, the stage of development/time of year at which the leaves were gathered and the pre-existing state of health of the consumer.


Lampyris noctiluca, the common glow-worm of Europe (see also "glowworm"), is the type species of beetle in the genus Lampyris and the family Lampyridae.
Lampyris noctiluca presents a conspicuous sexual dimorphism. The males are winged, with brown elytra, a clearer pronotum and a large brown spot in the middle, while females are larviforme, wings are missing and they are often twice the size of the males (up to 25 millimetres or 1 inch in length).
These beetles use their bioluminescence to attract mates. The adult females are mostly famed for their glow, although all stages of their life cycle are capable of glowing.
In Britain, this species is fairly common compared to its cousin Phosphaenus hemipterus – the lesser glow worm – which is very rare.


The range of this beetle stretches from Portugal and Ireland in the west, right across Europe, Africa and Asia to China in the east. It also survives further north than any other firefly, almost reaching the Arctic Circle. It is not found in North America, South America, South Asia, Australia and Antarctica.


Light production is vital for Lampyris noctiluca. With it they have greater chances of mating, so there is a complex process involved.
They emit yellowish-green light from the translucent underside of their last three abdominal segments to attract the smaller males, which are winged. They will glow for two hours and then retreat back into their hiding place until the next night, or stop glowing as soon as they find a mate. The females can survive for at least 10 consecutive nights doing this.
The light can be seen by males up to 50 yards away. The light is emitted continuously, although they will wave their abdomens from side to side, which gives the impression of it brightening and dimming. Larvae are sometimes seen to glow, although they seem able to turn off their light more easily than the female, especially when disturbed.
The insect can regulate its light production by controlling the oxygen supply to the light emitting membranes containing luciferin. The chemical reaction producing the light from luciferin is catalysed by luciferase, the exact chemical structure of which is determined by the glow worms' individual genetic structure, which in turn determines subtle differences in the light produced from individual to individual. Virtually all of the energy produced is light; only 2% is heat.
The brightness of the glow is used by the males as an indicator of female fecundity. Males are more likely to fly to a brighter female, because it is larger and has more eggs. Due to this, females compete against each other for matings.
The males are sometimes attracted to man-made light fixtures.
The peak glowing period is evenings in June and July.


They are found in old-growth grassland, especially on chalk and limestone soils. They are also found in verges, hedgebanks, and on heaths. The larvae live in sheltered places – under rocks and wood, but do crawl over different terrains.


Once the females have attracted the males with their glow, they mate, lay eggs, and die.
Typically, 50–100 are laid over three days, with the adult not surviving to see them hatch.  They are laid in fairly moist places, e.g. stem of grass or under moss.
The eggs are pale yellow, 1 mm across. They may glow faintly yellow and take between 27 and 45 days to hatch depending on the weather (colder=longer).
The eggs hatch after two or three weeks.  Larvae and adult females look similar, but larvae have bright spots on each of 12 segments, whereas adult females have a completely black back.
The predatory larvae feed for two or three years on slugs and snails which they inject with a brown, toxic, digestive fluid, delivered by a series of nips and bites. The poison takes a while to work, and the larva has to be careful not to become stuck to any protective mucus that its prey may secrete. The prey is gradually paralysed and the digestive fluid turns part of it into a brown broth that the larva can lap up. The prey remains alive, and some partially eaten victims have been known to crawl away after the meal.
The slugs and snails are often 200 times the weight of the beetle larva. The larvae are nocturnal, and are most active during moist conditions, when their prey are most active.
The larvae may moult four to five times in their lifetimes. They spend their winters under logs, stones, wood holes, or leaf litter, their bodies drawn in like concertinas, hibernating as their food source becomes increasingly hard to find.  They wake up in spring, and the cycle is repeated for one more year, or possibly two.
They become adults from May to July or sometimes later, surviving on food reserves built up during time as a larva, and dying after reproducing.


Threats include habitat destruction, habitat fragmentation, pesticide use, pollution, distraction by artificial lights, insufficient grazing and climate change.


The southern boubou (Laniarius ferrugineus) ('ferrugineus' - rust-coloured) is a bushshrike. Though these passerine birds and their relations were once included with true shrikes in the Laniidae, they are not closely related to that family.
This species is found in southeastern Africa, mainly in southeastern Zimbabwe, eastern Botswana, Mozambique and southern and eastern  South Africa.  It frequents dense thickets in forests, mangroves, scrub and gardens. In drier regions, it is found in riverside woodland.


The male southern boubou is a fairly distinctive 20–22 cm long bird with black upperparts extending from the top of the head down to the tail, a striking white wing stripe, and a relatively long black tail with white outer feathers. The underparts are white shading to rufous on the lower belly, undertail and flanks. The bill, eyes and legs are black.
The female is similar to the male, but dark grey above and with a rufous wash to the breast. Young birds are like the female, but mottled buff-brown above, have a buff wash to the wing bar, and are barred below.
The rufous on the underparts, which gives this species its scientific name, distinguishes it from the tropical and swamp boubous. It superficially resembles the southern fiscal, Lanius collaris, but is shorter tailed, has more white in the wing, and is much less conspicuous in its habits.


Unlike the true shrikes, which perch conspicuously in the open, the southern boubou prefers to forage in dense vegetation close to the ground, a habit which has led to its being called shy and skulking. The food is mainly insects, taken from the ground or picked off vegetation as the bird creeps low in bushes. It will also take small rodents, lizards snails and fruits.
The southern boubou has a duetted call, with a ooo-whee-ooo, followed by a whistled ooo-ooo-wheee or wheee-wheee followed by ooo-whee-ooo. The duet has many variations and the liquid ooo-whee-ooo call may be mistaken for that of a black-headed oriole. Its alarm call is a muted cluck.


The nest, built mainly by the female, is a shallow cup in a creeper or dense bush into which the usually two brown-blotched greenish-white eggs are laid. Both sexes incubate for 16–17 days to hatching, and both bring food to the chicks. Fledging takes place in about another 16 days. About 2% of nests are parasitised by the black cuckoo.


The northern shrike (Lanius borealis) is a large songbird species in the shrike family (Laniidae) native to North America and Siberia. Long considered a subspecies of the great grey shrike, it was classified as a distinct species in 2017. Six subspecies are recognised.


The northern shrike was formally described by the French ornithologist Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot in 1808 under its present binomial name Lanius borealis. In the 19th century, North American ornithologists considered it as a separate species from the great grey shrike, while European authorities held them to be the same species. American ornithologist Alden H. Miller investigated differences between the Siberian and Alaskan populations in 1930 and could find no consistent differences, hence he recommended the sinking of the two into Lanius excubitor.
In North America, this and the related loggerhead shrike are commonly known as butcherbirds for their habit of impaling prey on thorns or spikes. A folk name from Michigan is winter butcherbird. The Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation people of Old Crow, Yukon call it Tzi kwut go katshi lyi.
A 2010 study of mitochondrial DNA found that the northern shrike was most closely related to the Iberian grey shrike (Lanius meridionalis), the steppe grey shrike (Lanius pallidirostris), and the two formed a clade along with the Chinese grey shrike and loggerhead shrike.


East Eurasian group
Lanius borealis sibiricus – eastern Siberia to northern Mongolia
Browner above than excubitor, distinct but delicate banding below. Some white on primary bases only.
Lanius borealis bianchii – Sakhalin and possibly southern Kuril Islands
Smaller and paler than sibiricus, banding below pale and indistinct. Some white on primary bases only.
Lanius borealis mollis – Russian Altai Mountains, north western Mongolia
Browner than sibiricus above, banding below well-developed. Little white on primary bases.
Lanius borealis funereus – Tian Shan and western China
Large; quite dark and brownish, below bluish-grey with almost black banding. Little white on primary bases.
North American group
Lanius borealis borealis – Hudson Bay region of Ontario and Quebec
Similar to excubitor, but darker with faint barring below. John James Audubon called this subspecies the great American shrike in his book Birds of America.
Lanius borealis invictus – northern Alberta west to northern Alaska, perhaps also Chukchi Peninsula region in extreme north east Siberia
Larger and paler than borealis, paralleling homeyeri compared to excubitor.


The loggerhead shrike can be distinguished from the northern shrike by its smaller size, darker grey plumage and larger black face mask that covers the eye completely. It also has a shorter bill with less prominent hook. Their calls are similar.
Measurements:
Length: 9.1–9.4 in (23–24 cm)
Weight: 2.0–2.8 oz (57–79 g)
Wingspan: 11.8–13.8 in (30–35 cm)


Observations of wintering habitats in Idaho suggest suitable wintering territories are in demand, as northern shrikes that died in a particular area were quickly replaced.


Northern shrikes often sit on tall poles and branches surveying for food. They prey on arthropods such as spiders, beetles, bugs, and grasshoppers, and small vertebrates. Prey identified include passerine birds such as horned lark, black-capped chickadee, common starling, brewer's sparrow, white-crowned sparrow, dark-eyed junco, pine siskin, house sparrow, small mammals such as the vagrant shrew, western harvest mouse, deer mouse, long-tailed vole, meadow vole and house mouse, and reptiles such as spiny lizards. They have been observed hunting finches and house sparrows at bird feeders.


The red-backed shrike (Lanius collurio) is a carnivorous passerine bird and member of the shrike family Laniidae. Its breeding range stretches from Western Europe east to central Russia. It is migratory and winters in the eastern areas of tropical Africa and southern Africa.


The red-backed shrike was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under its current binomial name Lanius collurio.  The genus name, Lanius, is derived from the Latin word for "butcher", and some shrikes are also known as "butcher birds" because of their feeding habits. The specific collurio is from  Ancient Greek kollurion, a bird mentioned by Aristotle. The common English name "shrike" is from Old English scríc, "shriek", referring to the shrill call.


This 16–18 cm (approx. 6.3–7.1 inches) long migratory bird eats large insects, small birds, frogs, rodents and lizards. Like other shrikes it hunts from prominent perches, and impales corpses on thorns or barbed wire as a "larder." This practice has earned it the nickname of "butcher bird."
The general colour of the male's upper parts is reddish. It has a grey head and a typical shrike black stripe through the eye. Underparts are tinged pink, and the tail has a black and white pattern similar to that of a wheatear. In the female and young birds the upperparts are brown and vermiculated. Underparts are buff and also vermiculated.


This bird breeds in most of Europe and western Asia and winters in tropical Africa. The bird is listed as a "least concern" (LC) species on a global scale, but some parts of its range have seen a steep decline in numbers, so locally its status can be less secure.


The woodchat shrike (Lanius senator) is a member of the shrike family Laniidae. It can be identified by its red-brown crown and nape. It is mainly insectivorous and favours open wooded areas with scattered trees such as orchards, particularly when there is bare or sandy ground. The woodchat shrike breeds in southern Europe, the Middle East and northwest Africa, and winters in tropical Africa.


The woodchat shrike was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Lanius senator. Linnaeus based his description on the "red headed butcher-bird" that had been described and illustrated in 1734 by the English naturalist Eleazar Albin in the second volume of his A Natural History of Birds. Linnaeus mistakenly specified the type locality as "Indiis". This was corrected to the River Rhine in Germany by Ernst Hartert in 1907. The genus name, Lanius, is derived from the Latin word for "butcher", and some shrikes are also known as "butcher birds" because of their feeding habits. The specific senator is Latin for "senator", so-named because its chestnut cap recalled the colour of the stripe on the toga of a Roman senator. The common name "woodchat" is an Anglicisation of German waldkatze, literally "woodcat", and  "shrike" is from Old English scríc, "shriek", referring to the shrill call.
A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2019 found that within the genus Lanius the woodchat shrike was sister to the lesser grey shrike (Lanius minor), a migratory species which breeds in the Mediterranean and steppe regions of the southern Palearctic. The two species diverged from each other around 3.9–5.0 million years ago.
Three subspecies are recognised:
L. s. senator Linnaeus, 1758 – central, south Europe and north Africa
L. s. badius Hartlaub, 1854 – west Mediterranean Islands
L. s. niloticus (Bonaparte, 1853) – Cyprus and south Turkey to Iran


The woodchat shrike is 17–19 cm (6.7–7.5 in) in overall length which is slightly larger than a red-backed shrike. The male is a striking bird with black and white upper parts, a chestnut crown and pure white underparts. The race L. s. badius of the western Mediterranean lacks the large white wing patches.  In the female and young birds, the upperparts are brown and white and vermiculated. Underparts are buff and also vermiculated.


The breeding range of the woodchat shrike is in southern Europe, northern Africa and the Middle East. The range extends from Portugal to Greece, Turkey, Iraq and Iran, and in the Arabian Peninsula including Bahrain and Kuwait, and from Mauritania and Western Sahara in northern Africa to Libya. This bird overwinters in tropical central Africa, its winter range extending from Senegal to Sudan and Ethiopia in the east and southwards to Gabon. This species often overshoots its breeding range on spring migration, and is a rare, but annual, visitor to Great Britain. The Balearic race badius has occurred in Britain around four times as a vagrant, and has also been recorded once in Ireland.


Eggs are laid from early May to mid-July. The nest is built by both sexes and is placed in a tree, usually a fruit or olive tree.  The nest is a strong cup of plant material which is lined with wool, hair, fine roots, cobwebs and lichen. The nest sometimes includes green plant material. The clutch is usually 5–6 eggs which are laid daily. The eggs are glossy and vary in colour: they can be pale olive-green, sandy, greyish-yellow or brown. They have brown to pale olive speckles concentrated at the broader end. For the nominate subspecies the average size is 23 mm × 17 mm (0.91 in × 0.67 in) with a calculated weight of 3.4 g (0.12 oz). After the last egg is laid they are incubated by the female; only very rarely does the male participate. The eggs hatch after 14–15 days. The young are cared for by both parents and fledge after 15–20 days. The parents continue to feed the fledgelings up to 3 to 4 weeks of age.
The longest lived woodchat shrike recorded by ring-recovery data is 5 years and eight months for a bird found dead in Germany.


The woodchat shrike mainly eats insects, particularly beetles, but its diet can include other invertebrates and very occasionally small mammals and small birds. It hunts by perching on an exposed lookout such as on a branch of a tree or on a fence, typically 2–6 m (7–20 ft) above the ground, and then dropping or gliding down to its prey. It also makes sallying flights after flying insects. Small insects are crushed in its bill but large insects are dismembered. Impaling prey on a thorn has been recorded but is unusual. Indigestible material such as chitin, bones and hair is regurgitated as pellets.


Cramp, Stanley; Perrins, C.M., eds. (1993). "Lanius senator Woodchat Shrike". Handbook of the Birds of Europe the Middle East and North Africa. The Birds of the Western Palearctic. Vol. VII: Flycatchers to Strikes. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 523–542. ISBN 978-0-19-857510-8.


Lantana montevidensis is a species of lantana known by many common names, such as: trailing lantana, weeping lantana, creeping lantana, small lantana, purple lantana or trailing shrubverbena.
This lantana  is native to South America.


Lantana montevidensis is a small strongly scented flowering low shrub with oval-shaped green leaves. With support it has a climbing 'vine' form, when on edge a trailing form, and on the flat a groundcover form.
The inflorescence is a circular head of several purple to lavender to white funnel-shaped flowers with lobed corollas each nearly a centimeter wide. Yellow-flowered montevidensis are a case of misidentification and most often relate to the "New Gold" lantana Lantana × hybrida, a hybrid between camara and montevidensis. Occasionally these yellow-flowered plants are misidentified Lantana depressa var. depressa, a Florida endemic taxon more closely related to Lantana camara with smaller, less robust flowers.
The fruit consists of a pair of nutlets surrounded by flesh somewhat like a berry.


Lantana montevidensis  is also cultivated as an ornamental plant for its plentiful colorful lavender to purple flowers and as a drought tolerant groundcover, woody vine,  and trailing plant for containers and in the ground.
In temperate climates there are flowers most of the year, with yellow blooming and variegated leaved cultivars also available.


The plant is present nearly worldwide as an introduced species of garden and landscape plant, and in some areas, such as parts of Australia and Hawaii, now a noxious weed and invasive species. This plant is toxic to livestock.


Laothoe populi, the poplar hawk-moth, is a moth of the family Sphingidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. It is found throughout the Palearctic region and the Near East and is one of the most common members of the family in the region. It is distinctive due to its habit of resting with its hindwings held further forward than (but still half hidden by) the forewings.
Adults may be seen from May to September, and do not feed, not having a functional proboscis, and can vary in colour from grey to yellow. The larva is green, feeds on poplar and some other tree species, and pupates below ground.


Lapsana communis, the common nipplewort, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is native to Europe and southwestern Asia. and widely naturalized in other regions including North America.


Lapsana communis is an annual or perennial herbaceous plant growing to 1–1.2 m (3 ft 3 in – 3 ft 11 in) tall, with erect, hairy branching stems and clear (not milky) sap. The leaves are alternate and spirally arranged; the larger leaves at the base of the flowering stem are often pinnate, with a large oval terminal leaflet and one to four small side leaflets, while smaller leaves higher on the stem are simple oval; all leaves have toothed margins. The flowers are yellow, produced in a capitulum 1–2 cm (0.39–0.79 in) diameter, the capitula being numerous in loose clusters at the top of the stem. The capitulum is surrounded by a whorl of involucral bracts, the outer ones very small and the inner ones erect, narrow and stiff and all the same length. The eight to fifteen florets are all ligulate and pale yellow, shaped like a tongue with a five-toothed tip. Each has five stamens and a gynoecium composed of two fused carpels. The fruit is a cypsela surrounded by the hardened remains of the involucral bracts. The numerous small seeds are retained in the cypsela until the plant is shaken by the wind or a passing animal. Pappus is absent.
Subspecies
Lapsana communis subsp. adenophora (Boiss.) Rech.f. – Southeast Europe
Lapsana communis subsp. alpina (Boiss. & Balansa) P.D.Sell. – Crimea
Lapsana communis subsp. communis – most of Europe, except the southeast
Lapsana communis subsp. grandiflora (M. Bieb.) P.D.Sell. – Southwest Asia
Lapsana communis subsp. intermedia (M. Bieb.) Hayek. – Southwest Asia, southeast Europe
Lapsana communis subsp. pisidica (Boiss. & Heldr.) Rech.f. – Greece


Away from its native area, Lapsana communis is common throughout the British Isles, naturalised, and sometimes considered an invasive species, in many areas around the world, including Australia, Chile, New Zealand, Greenland, and most of Canada and the United States.
Lapsana communis is found growing in arable fields, woods, hedges, roadsides, wasteland, hedgerows, woodland margins and clear-felled areas in forests.


The young leaves are edible, and can be used in salads or cooked like spinach. Because of its tiny hairs, some might prefer it mixed with other vegetables. The scientific name comes from lapsane, an edible herb described by Marcus Terentius Varro of ancient Rome. The English name 'nipplewort' was coined in the 17th century as an equivalent of papillaris (from Latin papilla, meaning a nipple), the name used by German apothecaries, since the plant was used to treat cracked nipples and ulcerated breasts, especially under the doctrine of signatures on account of the flower buds' resemblance to nipples.


Largus succinctus, known generally as Largus bug, is a species of bordered plant bug in the family Largidae. Other common names include the bordered plant bug and red bug. It is found in North America.


Larix decidua, the European larch, is a species of larch native to the mountains of central Europe, in the Alps and Carpathian Mountains as well as the Pyrenees, with disjunct lowland populations in northern Poland and southern Lithuania. It is widely naturalized in Scandinavia. Its life span has been confirmed to be close to 1000 years  (with claims of up to 2000 years) but is more often around 200 years. It is claimed that one of the larches planted by the second Duke of Atholl at Dunkeld in 1738 is still standing.


Larix decidua is a medium-size to large deciduous coniferous tree reaching 25–45 m tall, with a trunk up to 1 m diameter (exceptionally, to 53.8 m tall and 3.5 m diameter). The crown is conic when young, becoming broad with age; the main branches are level to upswept, with the side branches often pendulous. The shoots are dimorphic, with growth divided into long shoots (typically 10–50 cm long) and bearing several buds, and short shoots only 1–2 mm long with only a single bud. The leaves are needle-like, light green, 2–4 cm long which turn bright yellow before they fall in the autumn, leaving the pale yellow-buff shoots bare until the next spring.
The cones are erect, ovoid-conic, 2–6 cm long, with 10-90 erect or slightly incurved (not reflexed) seed scales; they are green variably flushed red when immature, turning brown and opening to release the seeds when mature, 4–6 months after pollination. The old cones commonly remain on the tree for many years, turning dull grey-black.
It is very cold tolerant, able to survive winter temperatures down to at least -50 °C, and is among the tree line trees in the Alps, reaching 2400 m altitude, though most abundant from 1000–2000 m. It only grows on well-drained soils, avoiding waterlogged ground and is not shade tolerant.


It is thought to have been first cultivated in Britain in 1629. John Evelyn encouraged its wider planting and use. Three successive Dukes of Atholl planted it widely and the fourth Duke wrote "Observations on Larch" in 1807 encouraging further its cultivation, which he practiced on a large scale.
European larch is widely cultivated in southern Canada and the northeastern United States. It has been naturalized in Maine, Michigan, New York, Connecticut, New Hampshire,
Vermont, and Rhode Island. In the northern Appalachian Mountains it is often used for the reforestation of surface mines. European larch can grow on drier soils and tolerate warmer climates than the native tamarack, being better suited to non-boreal climates.


The following varieties are accepted:
Larix decidua var. carpatica Domin – the Carpathians
Larix decidua var. decidua – European larch or Alpine larch. Most of the range, except as below. Cones 2.5–6 cm; shoots yellow-buff.
Larix decidua var. polonica (Racib. ex Wóycicki) Ostenf. & Syrach – Polish larch. Disjunct in lowland northern Poland. Cones 2–3 cm; shoots very pale yellow-buff, almost white.


Larix decidua is cultivated as an ornamental tree for planting in gardens and parks.
Wood
The wood is tough and durable, but also flexible in thin strips, and is particularly valued for yacht building; wood used for this must be free of knots, and can only be obtained from old trees that were pruned when young to remove side branches.
Small larch poles are widely used for rustic fencing.
Other
Because of its fast juvenile growth and its pioneer character, larch has found numerous applications in forestry and agroforestry. It is used as a ‘preparatory species’ to afforest open land, abandoned farmland or disturbed land and as a ‘nurse species’ prior to the introduction of more demanding species.


The European larch is a popular bonsai species, with many unique specimens available in European circles, and is popularly used in bonsai forest groups.


The seeds are an important food for some birds, notably siskin, lesser redpoll and citril finch, while the buds and immature cones are eaten by capercaillie.
European larch needles are the only known food for caterpillars of the case-bearer moth Coleophora sibiricella; its cone scales are used as food by the caterpillars of the tortrix moth Cydia illutana.


Larix decidua is classed as a wilding conifer, an invasive species which spreads into the high country of New Zealand. It was planted by the New Zealand Forest Service for erosion control.


Larix laricina, commonly known as the tamarack, hackmatack, eastern larch, black larch, red larch, or American larch, is a species of larch native to Canada, from eastern Yukon and Inuvik, Northwest Territories east to Newfoundland, and also south into the upper northeastern United States from Minnesota to Cranesville Swamp, West Virginia; there is also an isolated population in central Alaska. The word akemantak is an Algonquian name for the species and means "wood used for snowshoes".


Larix laricina is a small to medium-size boreal coniferous and deciduous tree reaching 10–20 m (33–66 ft) tall, with a trunk up to 60 cm (24 in) diameter. Tamaracks and larches (Larix species) are deciduous conifers. The bark is tight and flaky, pink, but under flaking bark it can appear reddish. The leaves are needle-like, 2–3 cm (3⁄4–1+1⁄4 in) short, light blue-green, turning bright yellow before they fall in the autumn, leaving the pale pinkish-brown shoots bare until the next spring. The needles are produced spirally on long shoots and in dense clusters on long woody spur shoots. The cones are the smallest of any larch, only 1–2.3 cm (3⁄8–7⁄8 in) long, with 12-25 seed scales; they are bright red, turning brown and opening to release the seeds when mature, 4 to 6 months after pollination.
Key characteristics:
The needles are normally borne on a short shoot in groups of 10–20 needles.
The larch is deciduous and the needles turn yellow in autumn.
The seed cones are small, less than 2 cm (3⁄4 in) long, with lustrous brown scales.
Larch are commonly found in swamps, fens, bogs, and other low-land areas.


Tamaracks are very cold tolerant, able to survive temperatures down to at least −65 °C (−85 °F), and commonly occurs at the Arctic tree line at the edge of the tundra. Trees in these severe climatic conditions are smaller than farther south, often only 5 m (15 ft) tall. They can tolerate a wide range of soil conditions but grow most commonly in swamps, bogs, or muskegs, in wet to moist organic soils such as sphagnum, peat, and woody peat. They are also found on mineral soils that range from heavy clay to coarse sand; thus texture does not seem to be limiting. Although tamarack can grow well on calcareous soils, it is not abundant on the limestone areas of eastern Ontario.
Tamarack is generally the first forest tree to grow on filled-lake bogs. In the lake states, tamarack may appear first in the sedge mat, sphagnum moss, or not until the bog shrub stage. Farther north, it is the pioneer tree in the bog shrub stage. Tamarack is fairly well adapted to reproduce successfully on burns, so it is one of the common pioneers on sites in the boreal forest immediately after a fire.
The central Alaskan population, separated from the eastern Yukon populations by a gap of about 700 kilometres (430 mi), is treated as a distinct variety Larix laricina var. alaskensis by some botanists, though others argue that it is not sufficiently distinct to be distinguished.


Tamarack forms extensive pure stands in the boreal region of Canada and in northern Minnesota. In the rest of its United States range and in the Maritime Provinces, tamarack is found locally in both pure and mixed stands. It is a major component in the Society of American Foresters (SAF) forest cover types Tamarack and black spruce–tamarack.
Black spruce (Picea mariana) is usually tamarack's main associate in mixed stands on all sites. The other most common associates include balsam fir (Abies balsamea), white spruce (Picea glauca), and quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) in the boreal region. In the better organic soil sites in the northern forest region, the most common associates are the northern white-cedar (Thuja occidentalis), balsam fir, black ash (Fraxinus nigra), and red maple (Acer rubrum). In Alaska, quaking aspen and tamarack are almost never found together. Additional common associates are American elm (Ulmus americana), balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera), jack pine (Pinus banksiana), paper birch (Betula papyrifera), Kenai birch (B. papyrifera var. kenaica), and yellow birch (B. alleghaniensis).
Tamarack stands cast light shade and so usually have a dense undergrowth of shrubs and herbs. Because the tree has an extensive range, a great variety of shrubs is associated with it. Dominant tall shrubs include dwarf and swamp birch (Betula glandulosa and Betula pumila), willows (Salix spp.), speckled alder (Alnus rugosa), and red-osier dogwood (Cornus stolonifera). Low shrubs include bog Labrador tea (Ledum groenlandicum), bog-rosemary (Andromeda glaucophylla), leather leaf (Chamaedaphne calyculata), and small cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos). Characteristically the herbaceous cover includes sedges (Carex spp.), cottongrass (Eriophorum spp.), three-leaved false Solomonseal (Maianthemum trifolium), marsh cinquefoil (Potentilla palustris), marsh-marigold (Caltha palustris), and bogbean (Menyanthes trifoliata). Ground cover is usually composed of sphagnum moss (Sphagnum spp.) and other mosses.


Tamarack is monoecious. Male and female cones are small, either solitary or in groups of 2 or 3, and appear with the needles. Male cones are yellow and are borne mainly on 1- or 2-year-old branchlets. Female cones resemble tiny roses. They are reddish or maroon, have needles at their base which are shorter and bluer than the other needles on the tree. They are borne most commonly on 2 to 4-year-old branchlets, but may also appear on branchlets 5 or more years old. Cones usually are produced on young growth of vigorous trees. On open-grown trees, cones are borne on all parts of the crown. Mature seed cones are brown, oblong-ovoid, and 13 to 19 mm (1⁄2 to 3⁄4 in) long.


The wood is tough and durable, but also flexible in thin strips, and was used by the Algonquian people for making snowshoes and other products where toughness was required. The natural crooks located in the stumps and roots are also preferred for creating knees in wooden boats. Currently, the wood is used principally for pulpwood, but also for posts, poles, rough lumber, and fuelwood; it is not a major commercial timber species. Tamarack wood is also used as kickboards in horse stables.
It is also grown as an ornamental tree in gardens in cold regions. Several dwarf cultivars have been created that are available commercially. Tamarack is commonly used for bonsai.
Tamarack poles were used in corduroy roads because of their resistance to rot. Tamarack posts were used before 1917 in Alberta to mark the northeast corner of sections surveyed within townships. They were used by the surveyors because at that time the very rot-resistant wood was readily available in the bush and was light to carry. Their rot resistance was also why they were often used in early water distribution systems.
The aboriginal peoples of Canada's northwest regions used the inner bark as a poultice to treat cuts, infected wounds, frostbite, boils and hemorrhoids. The outer bark and roots are also said to have been used with another plant as a treatment for arthritis, cold and general aches and pains.
Wildlife use the tree for food and nesting. Porcupines eat the inner bark, snowshoe hares feeds on tamarack seedlings, and red squirrels eat the seeds. Birds that frequent tamaracks during the summer include the white-throated sparrow, song sparrow, veery, common yellowthroat, and Nashville warbler.


Tamarack is very intolerant of shade. Although it can tolerate some shade during the first several years, it must become dominant to survive. When mixed with other species, it must be in the over story. The tree is a good self-pruner, and boles of 25- to 30-year-old trees may be clear for one-half or two-thirds their length.
Because tamarack is very shade-intolerant, it does not become established in its own shade. Consequently, the more tolerant black spruce eventually succeeds tamarack on poor bog sites, whereas northern white-cedar, balsam fir, and swamp hardwoods succeed tamarack on good swamp sites. Recurring sawfly outbreaks throughout the range of tamarack have probably sped the usual succession to black spruce or other associates.
Various tests on planting and natural reproduction indicate that competing vegetation hinders tamarack establishment.
The shade-intolerance of tamarack dictates the use of even-aged management. Some adaptation of clear cutting or seed-tree cutting is generally considered the best silvicultural system because tamarack seeds apparently germinate better in the open, and the seedlings require practically full light to survive and grow well. Tamarack is also usually wind-firm enough for the seed-tree system to succeed. Satisfactory reestablishment of tamarack, however, often requires some kind of site preparation, such as slash disposal and herbicide spraying.


The tamarack has thin bark and is therefore highly susceptible to fire damage, except perhaps in older, upland stands. However, the habitat of tamarack, especially south of the boreal forest, is normally wet enough to protect the tree from fire. The tamarack is also susceptible to high winds. Strong winds can uproot large tamarack trees growing in swamps or other wet-land sites where rooting is shallow. It has also been discovered that abnormally high water levels often kill tamarack stands. Those that survive under such conditions usually grow very slowly. Other effects of high water include dieback and the development of adventitious roots and shoots. Wetland road crossings and beaver damming are the primary causes of flooding.
Many insect species are known to be destructive to tamaracks. The non-indigenous larch sawfly is the most destructive. Epidemics occur periodically across Canada and the northern United States and have caused tremendous losses of merchantable tamarack throughout most of the tree's range. Indications are that radial increment declines markedly after 4 to 6 years of outbreak. After 6 to 9 years of moderate to heavy defoliation, the trees die. In southeastern Manitoba and northern Minnesota, however, imported parasites of the sawfly have become established and should reduce the frequency and duration of future outbreaks. Another serious defoliator is the larch casebearer Coleophora laricella. The larch casebearer attacks tamarack of all ages, and several severe outbreaks have caused extensive mortality in some areas. Outbreak severity has lessened in recent years, however, probably due to imported parasites of the casebearer that have become widely established.
Only a few other insects and related organisms (such as mites) that feed on tamarack are known to sometimes cause serious injury. During an outbreak, the spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana) can severely damage tamarack. The larch-bud moth (Zeiraphera improbana) has had occasional short epidemics, and the spruce spider mite (Oligonychus ununguis) is occasionally found in large numbers on tamarack. The larch-shoot moth (Argyresthia laricella) is widely distributed, but serious injury is unusual. One of the most common bark beetles attacking tamarack is the eastern larch beetle (Dendroctonus simplex), but it feeds mainly on weakened, dying, or dead trees.
Tamarack is a host to many pathogens, but only one cause diseases serious enough to have an economic impact on its culture, the Lachnellula willkommii fungus. It is a relatively new pathogen in Canada, first recorded in 1980 and originating in Europe. The fungus cause large cankers to form and a disease known as larch canker which is particularly harmful to the tamarack larch, killing both young and mature trees. Apart from this, the only common foliage diseases are rusts, such as the leaf rust in eastern and central North America. However, this rust, caused by the fungus Melampsora medusae, and other rusts do little damage to tamarack. The needle-cast fungus Hypodermella laricis has attacked tamarack in Ontario and has the potential for local damage.


Larrea tridentata, called creosote bush and greasewood as a plant, chaparral as a medicinal herb, and gobernadora (Spanish for "governess") in Mexico, due to its ability to secure more water by inhibiting the growth of nearby plants. In Sonora, it is more commonly called hediondilla; Spanish hediondo = "smelly".
It is a flowering plant in the family Zygophyllaceae. The specific name tridentata refers to its three-toothed leaves.


Larrea tridentata is a prominent species in the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan Deserts of western North America, and its range includes those and other regions in portions of southeastern California, Arizona, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah, New Mexico, and Texas in the United States, and Chihuahua, Sonora, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Zacatecas, Durango and San Luis Potosì in Mexico. The species grows as far east as Zapata County, Texas, along the Rio Grande southeast of Laredo near the 99th meridian west.


Larrea tridentata is an evergreen shrub growing to 1 to 3 m (3 to 10 ft) tall, rarely 4 m (13 ft). The stems of the plant bear resinous, dark green leaves with two opposite lanceolate leaflets joined at the base, with a deciduous awn between them, each leaflet 7 to 18 mm (1⁄4 to 11⁄16 in) long and 4 to 8.5 mm (5⁄32 to 11⁄32 in) broad. The flowers are up to 25 mm (1 in) in diameter, with five yellow petals. Galls may form by the activity of the creosote gall midge. The whole plant exhibits a characteristic odor of creosote, from which the common name derives. In the regions where it grows, its smell is often associated with the "smell of rain".


These animals eat creosote bush:
Leaves: Of mammals, only the jackrabbit, and only when it can find no other food, as the leaves are bitter; Desert iguanas, and the chuckwalla.
Seeds: desert woodrats and kangaroo rats
Flowers: 22 species of bees, as pollinators, the Chuckwalla, desert iguanas, etc
Many species of insect
The Arabian camel, brought to the area by the United States Camel Corps, readily ate creosote bush. It is thought that this meeting reestablished a biological relationship that was broken when the American camels became extinct in the Quaternary Extinction Event, making it an evolutionary anachronism.


As the creosote bush grows older, its oldest branches eventually die and its crown splits into separate crowns. This normally happens when the plant is 30 to 90 years old. Eventually, the old crown dies and the new one becomes a clonal colony from the previous plant, composed of many separate stem crowns all from the same seed.


Creosote bush is most common on the well-drained soils of alluvial fans and flats. In parts of its range, it may cover large areas in practically pure stands, though it usually occurs in association with Ambrosia dumosa (burro bush or bur-sage).  Chemicals found in creosote bush roots have been shown to inhibit the growth of burro bush roots, but as of 2013, much of their relationship remains unexplained.
Creosote bush stands tend to display an evenly spaced distribution of plants. Originally, it was assumed that the plant produced a water-soluble inhibitor that prevented the growth of other bushes near mature, healthy bushes. Now, however, it has been shown that the root systems of mature creosote plants are simply so efficient at absorbing water that fallen seeds nearby cannot accumulate enough water to germinate, effectively creating dead zones around every plant.


Owing to the harshness of the germination environment above mature root systems, young creosote bushes are much more susceptible to drought stress than established plants. Germination is quite active during wet periods, but most of the young plants die very quickly unless water conditions are optimal. Ground heat compounds the young plants' susceptibility to water stress, and ground temperatures can reach upwards of 70 °C (160 °F). To become established, the young plant apparently must experience three to five years of abnormally cool and moist weather during and after germination. From this, it can be inferred that all the plants inside a stand are of equal age.
Mature plants, however, can tolerate extreme drought stress. In terms of negative water potential, creosote bushes can operate fully at -50 bars of water potential and have been found living down to -120 bars, although the practical average floor is around -70 bars, where the plant's need for cellular respiration generally exceeds the level that the water-requiring process of photosynthesis can provide. Cell division can occur during these times of water stress, and new cells commonly quickly absorb water after rainfall. This rapid uptake causes branches to grow several centimeters at the end of a wet season.
Water loss is reduced by the resinous waxy coating of the leaves, and by their small size, which prevents them from heating above air temperature (which would increase the vapor pressure deficit between the leaf and the air, thus increasing water loss). Plants drop some leaves heading into summer, but if all leaves are lost, the plant will not recover. Accumulation of fallen leaves, as well as other detritus caught from the passing wind, creates an ecological community specific to the creosote bush canopy, including beetles, millipedes, pocket mice, and kangaroo rats.


Native Americans in the Southwest held beliefs that it treated many maladies, including sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis, chicken pox, dysmenorrhea, and snakebite. The Coahuilla Indians used the plant for intestinal complaints and tuberculosis. The Pima drank a decoction of the leaves as an emetic, and applied the boiled leaves as poultices to wounds or sores. Tohono O'odham Indians prepared it medicinally for stiff limbs, snake bites, and menstrual cramps. The shrub is still widely used as an herbal medicine in Mexico.


Larrea tridentata is often referred to as chaparral when used as a herbal remedy and supplement; however, it does not grow in the synonymous plant community chaparral.  The United States Food and Drug Administration has issued warnings about the health hazards of ingesting chaparral or using it as an internal medicine, and discourages its use. In 2005, Health Canada issued a warning to consumers to avoid using the leaves of Larrea species because of the risk of damage to the liver and kidneys.
Cancer Research UK states: "We don't recommend that you take chaparral to treat or prevent any type of cancer."


Their scientific name is from Latin. Larus appears to have referred to a gull or other large seabird and argentatus means decorated with silver.
The taxonomy of the herring gull/lesser black-backed gull complex is very complicated, with different authorities recognising between two and eight species.
This group has a ring distribution around the Northern Hemisphere. Differences between adjacent forms in this ring are fairly small, but by the time the circuit is completed, the end members, herring gull and lesser black-backed gull, are clearly different species. The terminal forms do not interbreed, though they coexist in the same localities.
The Association of European Rarities Committees recognises six species:
European herring gull, L. argentatus
American herring gull, L. smithsonianus
Caspian gull, L. cachinnans
Yellow-legged gull, L. michahellis
Vega gull, L. vegae
Armenian gull, L. armenicus


L. a. argentatus – Pontoppidan, 1763, the nominate form, sometimes known as the Scandinavian herring gull, breeds in Scandinavia and northwestern Russia. Northern and eastern populations migrate southwest in winter. It is a large, bulky gull with extensive white in the wingtips. The outermost primary, p10 often has a large white spot (called a mirror) that extends to the wingtip. The bill is longer and forehead flatter than argenteus.
L. a. argenteus – Brehm & Schilling, 1822, sometimes known as the Western European herring gull breeds in Western Europe in Iceland, the Faroes, Britain, Ireland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. Many birds are resident while others make short-distance migratory journeys. It is smaller than L. a. argentatus with more black and less white in the wingtips (p10 mirror is distinct from the white wingtip spot) and paler upper parts.
These taxa are classified as subspecies of Larus argentatus by some authorities such as the American Ornithologists' Union and Handbook of the Birds of the World. Others such as the Association of European Rarities Committees, British Ornithologists' Union, and the International Ornithological Union now regard them as one or two separate species.
L. (a.) smithsonianus, the American herring gull, breeds in Alaska, Canada, and the Northeast United States. Many birds migrate southwards in winter, reaching as far as Central America and the West Indies. Immature birds tend to be darker and more uniformly brown than European herring gulls and have a dark tail.
L. (a.) vegae, the Vega gull, breeds in northeastern Siberia. It winters in Japan, Korea, eastern China, and Taiwan.
Several other gulls have been included in this species in the past, but are now normally considered separate, e.g. the yellow-legged gull (L. michahellis), the Caspian gull (L. cachinnans), the Armenian gull (L. armenicus) and Heuglin's gull (L. heuglini).


The male European herring gull is 60–67 cm (24–26 in) long and weighs 1,050–1,525 g (2.315–3.362 lb), while the female is 55–62 cm (22–24 in) and weighs 710–1,100 g (1.57–2.43 lb). The wingspan can range from 125 to 155 cm (49 to 61 in). Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 38 to 48 cm (15 to 19 in), the bill is 4.4 to 6.5 cm (1.7 to 2.6 in) and the tarsus is 5.3 to 7.5 cm (2.1 to 3.0 in). Adults in breeding plumage have a light grey back and upper wings and white head and underparts. The wingtips are black with white spots known as "mirrors". The bill is yellow with a red spot and a ring of bare yellow skin is seen around the pale eye. The legs are normally pink at all ages, but can be yellowish, particularly in the Baltic population, which was formerly regarded as a separate subspecies "L. a. omissus". Non-breeding adults have brown streaks on their heads and necks. Male and female plumage are identical at all stages of development, but adult males are often larger.
Juvenile and first-winter birds are mainly brown with darker streaks and have a dark bill and eyes. Second-winter birds have a whiter head and underparts with less streaking and the back is grey. Third-winter individuals are similar to adults, but retain some of the features of immature birds such as brown feathers in the wings and dark markings on the bill. The European herring gull attains adult plumage and reaches sexual maturity at an average age of four years.


At least in the south-west part of the Baltic Sea and surrounding areas, the European herring gull (L. argentatus) actually can be seen with yellow legs. They are not considered as a subspecies, since they regularly breed with grey/flesh-coloured legged herring gulls. The offspring may get yellow or normal-coloured legs. They must not be confused with the in general yellow-legged gull (L. michahellis), which are more common in the Mediterranean area, but single birds may reach more northern seas.