The common persimmon is a generally small to medium sized tree, usually 30 to 80 feet (9 to 24 m) in height, but reaching 115 feet (35 m) west of the southern Mississippi. It has a short, slender trunk and spreading, often pendulous branches, which form a broad or narrow, round-topped canopy. The roots are thick, fleshy and stoloniferous. This species has a shrubby growth form.
This plant has oval entire leaves, and unisexual flowers on short stalks. In the male flowers, which are numerous, the stamens are sixteen in number and arranged in pairs; the female flowers are solitary, with traces of stamens, and a smooth ovary with one ovule in each of the eight cells—the ovary is surmounted by four styles, which are hairy at the base. The fruit-stalk is very short, bearing a subglobose fruit an inch in diameter or a bit larger, of an orange-yellow color, ranging to bluish, and with a sweetish astringent pulp.  It is surrounded at the base by the persistent calyx-lobes, which increase in size as the fruit ripens.  The astringency renders the fruit somewhat unpalatable, but after it has been subjected to the action of frost, or has become partially rotted or "bletted" like a medlar, its flavor is improved.
Bark: Dark brown or dark gray, deeply divided into plates whose surface is scaly.  Branchlets slender, zigzag, with thick pith or large pith cavity; at first light reddish brown and pubescent.  They vary in color from light brown to ashy gray and finally become reddish brown, the bark somewhat broken by longitudinal fissures.  Astringent and bitter.
Wood: Very dark; sapwood yellowish white; heavy, hard, strong and very close grained.  Specific gravity, 0.7908; weight of cubic foot, 49.28 lb (22.35 kg).  The heartwood is a true ebony.  Forestry texts indicate that about a century of growth is required before a tree will produce a commercially viable yield of ebony wood.
Winter buds: Ovate, acute, one-eighth of an inch long, covered with thick reddish or purple scales.  These scales are sometimes persistent at the base of the branchlets.
Leaves: Alternate, simple, four to six inches (152 mm)  long, oval, narrowed or rounded or cordate at base, entire, acute or acuminate.  They come out of the bud revolute, thin, pale, reddish green, downy with ciliate margins, when full grown are thick, dark green, shining above, pale and often pubescent beneath.  In autumn they sometimes turn orange or scarlet, sometimes fall without change of color.  Midrib broad and flat, primary veins opposite and conspicuous.  Petioles stout, pubescent, one-half to an inch in length.
Flowers: May, June, when leaves are half-grown; diœcious or rarely polygamous.  Staminate flowers borne in two to three-flowered cymes; the pedicels downy and bearing two minute bracts.  Pistillate flowers solitary, usually on separate trees, their pedicels short, recurved, and bearing two bractlets.
Calyx: Usually four-lobed, accrescent under the fruit.
Corolla: Greenish yellow or creamy white, tubular, four-lobed; lobes imbricate in bud.
Stamens: Sixteen, inserted on the corolla, in staminate flowers in two rows.  Filaments short, slender, slightly hairy; anthers oblong, introrse, two-celled, cells opening longitudinally.  In pistillate flowers the stamens are eight with aborted anthers, rarely these stamens are perfect.
Pistil: Ovary superior, conical, ultimately eight-celled; styles four, slender, spreading; stigma two-lobed.
Fruit: A juicy berry containing one to eight seeds, crowned with the remnants of the style and seated in the enlarged calyx; depressed-globular, pale orange color, often red-cheeked; with slight bloom, turning yellowish brown after freezing.  Flesh astringent while green, sweet and luscious when ripe.


The tree is very common in the South Atlantic and Gulf states, and attains its largest size in the basin of the Mississippi River. Its habitat is southern, at the turn of the 20th century it appeared along the coast from Connecticut to Florida; west of the Alleghenies it is found in southern Ohio and along through southeastern Iowa and southern Missouri; and in Louisiana, eastern Kansas and Oklahoma, where it grew tallest.
Its fossil remains have been found in Miocene rocks of Greenland and Alaska and in Cretaceous formations in Nebraska.
Diospyros virginiana is considered to be an evolutionary anachronism that was consumed by one or more of the Pleistocene megafauna that roamed the North American continent until 10,000 years ago. A 2015 study found that passage of persimmon seeds through the gut of modern elephants increased the rate of seed germination and decreased time to sprouting, which supports the idea that Pleistocene members of the elephant family were the ghost partner who accomplished seed dispersal prior to extinction of the North American members of the elephant family.


There are two races of American persimmon: the tetraploid (60-chromosome) race is centered in the southern Appalachian region, while the hexaploid (90-chromosome) race generally occupies a range north and west of the tetraploid range.  The boundary between these races has not been well defined except in Kentucky, where hexaploid persimmons were in the majority in Bullitt County but were not present in Barren County to its south nor Franklin County to its east.
It has been observed that the tetraploid trees tend to grow much taller than the hexaploid trees and have smaller fruit, but no formal research has been done into these differences of traits.
The vast majority of named American Persimmon cultivars are hexaploid, with the only known tetraploid cultivars being Ennis Seedless, Weeping, Sugar Bear, and SFES.


The fruit is high in vitamin C, and extremely astringent when unripe. It is eaten by birds, raccoons, skunks, white-tailed deer, semi-wild hogs, flying squirrels, and opossums.
The ripe fruit may be eaten raw by humans, typically once bletted, cooked or dried. The fruit pulp can be made into pie,  pudding, jam, molasses, and candy. An herbal tea can be made from the leaves and the roasted seed is used as a coffee substitute.
The fruit is also fermented with hops, cornmeal or wheat bran into a sort of beer or made into brandy.
The wood is heavy, strong and very close-grained and used in woodturning. Its heartwood, which may take a century before being produced, is a true ebony, extremely close-grained and almost black; it is not harvested commercially.
The seeds were used as buttons during the privation of the American Civil War in the South.


The tree prefers light, sandy, well-drained soil, but will grow in rich southern bottom lands.
The tree is greatly inclined to vary in the character and quality of its fruit, which varies in size from that of a large cherry to a small apple.  Some trees in the south produce fruit that is delicious without the action of the frost, while adjoining trees produce fruit that never becomes edible.
It was brought to England before 1629 and is cultivated, but rarely if ever ripens its fruit.  It is easily raised from seed and can also be propagated from stolons, which are often produced in great quantity.  The tree is hardy in the south of England and in the Channel Islands.
The persimmon rarely develops any  heartwood until it is nearly one hundred years old.
While the common persimmon fruit typically needs frost to ripen and soften, called bletting, some cultivars, such as the early-ripening varieties "pieper" and "NC21"(also known as "supersweet"), easily lose astringency and become completely free of it when slightly soft; these are then very sweet, even in the British climate. On the other hand, some varieties (like the very large fruited "yates", which is a late ripening variety) remain astringent even when the fruit has become completely soft (at least in the British climate).


Diphasiastrum digitatum is known as groundcedar, running cedar or crowsfoot, along with other members of its genus, but the common name fan clubmoss can be used to refer to it specifically.  It is the most common species of Diphasiastrum in North America.  It is a type of plant known as a clubmoss, which is within one of the three main divisions of living vascular plants. It was formerly included in the superspecies Diphasiastrum complanatum.  For many years, this species was known as Lycopodium flabelliforme or Lycopodium digitatum.
Its common name is due to its resemblance to cedar boughs lying on the ground.  Its leaves are scale-like and appressed, like a mature cedar, and it is glossy and evergreen.  It normally grows to a height of about four inches (10 cm), with the spore-bearing strobili held higher.  This plant was once widely harvested and sold as Christmas greenery, and populations were widely depleted for this reason.  However, it has recovered throughout its range, and makes large clonal colonies, carpeting the forest floor.
It prefers disturbed areas and coniferous forests, where it can form dense monocultures. The subterranean, brown gametophytes may live for years in the soil before developing vegetative shoots. Its range is in the higher Appalachian mountains northward, and its range ends in northern Georgia and Alabama, but isolated stands have sprung up elsewhere.
In the Appalachian Mountains of Southwest Virginia, the plant is known locally as "Bear's Paw." This species was also once one of the principal clubmoss species used for collection of lycopodium powder, used as a primitive flashpowder.


Diphasiastrum digitatum is a perennial vascular plant that does not contain a significant amount of wood tissue above or at the ground. They are low-growing, usually measuring less than 30 cm tall. Leaves are evergreen, which appear opposite, and are arranged spirally with four evenly spaced leaves; when viewed from the side it appears as four columns. The branch leaves are green and shiny, the base extends down to the stem (decurrent) and the free portion at the tip is pointed and scale-like. Branches are shaped rectangular in cross-section, flattened on the underside with the associated leaf much smaller than the rest. The largest leaves are lateral, the free portion appressed to spreading, and the leaves on the upper surface are appressed and are more narrow. The stems spread horizontally above ground or just below the surface of the duff layer. The erect shoots each contain two or more branches near the base. Branches are more likely ascending to spreading, forked and tree-like, and mostly are arranged on the same plane, fan-like. Erect shoots can measure from 3 to 20 inches tall, although, vegetative shoots are typically less than 8 inches. Spores develop in cone-like structures referred to as strobili. About 2 to 4 strobili (rarely more) are usually clustered at the tip of a long stalk which is referred to as the peduncle.


The species Diphasiastrum digitatum belongs to the kingdom Plantae. Its subkingdom is Trachaebionta, its division is Lycopodiophyta. It falls in the class Lycopoiosida, order Lycopodiales, family Lycopodiaceae and the genus is Diphasiastrum L.


Diphasiastrum digitatum is present in dry to mesic and usually acid forests and openings. They are located in the eastern part of North America, including parts of Canada such as Ontario and Quebec, and south to Florida and Louisiana. There are a variety of habitats for Diphasiastrum digitatum, but they are usually found in a partially shaded habitat that is moist to dry. Typically habitats are open forest, thickets, and fields. The sporulating season tends to be from July to October. Other habitats include upland woodlands, bluffs, sandstone cliffs, and abandoned sandy fields. They tend to be found in wooded areas where oak trees and conifers can also be found.


Clubmosses or Lycophytes evolved about 410 million years ago as one of the earliest groups of vascular plants.
Diphasiastrum digitatum has uses such as medicinal, pyrotechnic, and decorative purposes. Club moss spores and teas from plant leaves have been used since ancient times in both American Indian and European cultures. Medicinal uses included treating urinary tract problems, diarrhea and other digestive tract problems; relieving headaches and skin ailments; and inducing labor in pregnancy. In some cultures, the spores have been purported to be an aphrodisiac. The spores repel water and have been used as a powder on skin rashes and even on baby bottoms, and to treat wounds. Spores have been used historically as coating for pills, and in the Americas and Europe as fabric dyes. Spores are also highly flammable due to their high content of oil. They have been used culturally for ceremonial purposes when medicine men tossed the spores into a fire for a flash of light. The spores ignite with a bright flash of light and were used in flash photography, in stage productions, in fireworks and in chemistry labs. It is used for mainly bladder disorders, kidney disorders and other conditions, although more evidence is needed regarding effectiveness and safety.


Diphasiastrum digitatum is very difficult to cultivate in the garden. Transplants are rarely successful, and the development of mature plants from spores is very slow (taking perhaps 20 years). They can be grown with frequent application of weak fertilizer solution under bright light, high humidity, and year-round moderate temperatures in greenhouses, growth chambers, and laboratories. During its sexual phase, this species develops underground and requires the presence of appropriate fungi. It prefers a somewhat acidic soil that is sandy or rocky, dappled sunlight to light shade, and well-drained conditions.


Diphasiastrum: From the genus Diphasium and astrum for "incomplete resemblance;" so "false Diphasium".


Diplacodes bipunctata is a species of dragonfly in the family Libellulidae,
known as the wandering percher or red percher dragonfly.


Diplacodes bipunctata is a small to medium-sized dragonfly with a wingspan of about 55 millimeters. The wings are colorless except for a yellowish spot at the base of the hindwing. The male has a bright orange or red abdomen with dark markings along the dorsal line and sides, and the female is yellowish with similar markings. There are two dark spots at the side of the synthorax, one of which is the metastigma.


In Australia it is found throughout the continent except in Tasmania. It is found near a wide variety of freshwater pools, streams and swamps.


This species is an early colonizer of appropriate habitat types in freshwater and brackish waters.


Diplacus aurantiacus, the sticky monkey-flower or orange bush monkey-flower, is a flowering plant that grows in a subshrub form, native to southwestern North America from southwestern Oregon south through most of California. It is a member of the lopseed family, Phrymaceae. It was formerly known as Mimulus aurantiacus.


Diplacus aurantiacus grows up to 1.2 meters (4 feet) tall, has deep green, sticky leaves 3 to 7 centimeters long and up to a centimeter broad and flowering stems that grow vertically. The flowers are tubular at the base and about 2 centimeters long with five broad lobes; they occur in a variety of shades from white to red, the most common color being a light orange. They are honey plants pollinated by bees and hummingbirds.
It grows in many climates and will thrive in many types of soil, wet, dry, sandy, or rocky. It even grows in serpentine, a soil that most plants have difficulty thriving in because of its unique mineral composition.
Diplacus aurantiacus is an important host plant for the larvae of the common buckeye butterfly (Junonia coenia) and the variable checkerspot (Euphydryas chalcedona), despite a phenolic resin in the leaves which deter its feeding. This resin also helps the plant retain water in dry environments.


This bushy evergreen shrub can be short-lived in cultivation. The species and its cultivars are used in water conserving, native plant, and habitat gardens. As it does not tolerate freezing temperatures, it is often grown under glass in temperate zones.
In the UK it has won the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.


The Miwok and Pomo Native Americans used the plant to treat minor ailments such as sores, burns, diarrhea, and eye irritation. They used the colorful flowers for decorative purposes.


Diplacus bigelovii is a species of monkeyflower known by the common name Bigelow's monkeyflower. It is native to the southwestern United States, where it grows in desert and slope habitats. It was formerly known as Mimulus bigelovii.


Diplacus bigelovi is a hairy annual herb producing an erect stem 2 to 25 centimeters tall. The plant is variable in size and shape as well as color, the herbage being green to nearly red in color. The pointed oval or rounded leaves are each up to 3.5 centimeters long and arranged in opposite pairs about the stem.
The tubular base of the flower is surrounded by a reddish-green or purple ribbed calyx of hairy sepals with long lobe tips. The trumpet-shaped flower corolla is roughly one to two centimeters long and has a very narrow tube and a wide mouth. The corolla has two upper lobes and three lower, and is generally magenta or deep pink in color with darker red, purple, and yellow spots in the throat.


Diplolepis rosae is a gall wasp which causes a gall known as the rose bedeguar gall, Robin's pincushion, mossy rose gall, or simply moss gall. The gall develops as a chemically induced distortion of an unopened leaf axillary or terminal bud, mostly on field rose (Rosa arvensis) or dog rose (Rosa canina) shrubs. The female wasp lays up to 60 eggs within each leaf bud using her ovipositor. The grubs develop within the gall, and the wasps emerge in spring; the wasp is parthenogenetic with fewer than one percent being males.
A similar gall is caused by Diplolepis mayri, but this is much less common.


Being so prominent and interesting in appearance, this gall has more folklore attached to it than most. The term 'Bedeguar, Bedegar or Bedequar' comes from a French word, bédégar, and is ultimately from the Persian, bād-āwar, meaning 'wind-brought'. Robin in Robin's pincushion refers to the woodland sprite of English folklore, Robin Goodfellow.


The female is about 4 mm (0.16 in) long. Parts of the abdomen and legs are yellow-red, while the rest of the body is black. The male is black and lacks the hypopygium structure which clearly identifies the species in the female. Its legs are bicoloured yellow and has a body length of about 3 mm (0.12 in).


Some insects create their own microhabitats by forming a plant structure called a gall, made up of plant tissue, but controlled by the insect. A gall acts as both a habitat and food source for the maker of the gall. The interior of a bedeguar gall is formed from the bud, and is composed of edible nutritious and structural tissues. Some galls act as "physiologic sinks", concentrating resources in the gall from the surrounding plant parts. Galls may also provide the insect with some physical protection from predators.
The bedeguar gall is surrounded by a dense mass of sticky branched filaments. This structure gives the appearance of a ball of moss, and its filaments are often brightly colored, being at their best around September; starting off green and then passing through pink and crimson to reddish brown. A large specimen can be up to 10 cm (4 in) in width. The larvae develop and then overwinter as pupae in the now brown and dry-looking structure, emerging in May. The unilarval chambers are set in a woody core which persists after the filaments have worn off.
The bedeguar may also develop on Rosa rubiginosa, R. dumalis, or R. rubrifolia.
The gall induced by D. mayri differs in being more sparsely covered in short, unbranched filaments and the galls usually develop on the twigs.


A week after the egg has been laid, the larva hatches and begins to feed on the leaf bud tissue. This activity stimulates (in a way not yet understood) the development by the host plant of enlarged 'nutritive' cells in the area around the growing larva. These are fed on by the larva and are continually replaced by new cells. Further concentric layers of tissues develop around the core nutritive tissue and come to form the structure known as the bedeguar, complete with the outermost and characteristic fibrous outgrowths that give the gall its alternative name of Robin's pincushion. As the larva feeds and grows within this gall, it probably undergoes five larval instar stages (the growth stages between moults). The final instar stage is reached by late October. The larva ceases feeding. It now passes into the prepupal stage, in which form it overwinters inside the gall. In the following February or March, the prepupa undergoes a final moult and becomes a pupa. Through the thin, transparent skin of the pupa, it is possible to see the fully formed antennae, legs, wings and body segments of the adult wasp. The adults begin to emerge from the old galls, which are still attached to the rose, in May. Emergences may continue through to August.
As stated earlier, the adult wasps which start to emerge from the rose bedeguar will be mostly female, and these females will go on to lay eggs through parthenogenesis. No alternation of generations exists in this species. Males are known, but are very rare. One possible reason for this scarcity is the presence of a bacterium in the genus Wolbachia, which is endosymbiotic in the females' gametes. A female infected with Wolbachia produces only diploid eggs, when in the cells of the ovaries presumably cause the fusion of the pronuclei, which leads to entirely female progeny. When the females were treated with antibiotics, they were then able to produce normal male and female eggs.


Mature galls are sometimes broken open by vertebrate predators to recover the larvae or pupae. The large size of the emergence holes of the individual cells sometimes suggests predation by birds or small mammals has taken place.
The bedeguar is a good example of a complex community of insects. The cynipid wasp Periclistus brandtii is an inquiline that lives harmlessly within the bedeguar gall and like Diplolepis rosae itself, is often parasitised by insects referred to as parasitoids or even by hyperparasitoids in some cases.
The gall-wasp Periclistus brandtii causes no gall itself, but deposits its eggs in the bedeguar tissues on which the larvae feed. In turn, these larvae may be parasitised by a eurytomid wasp, Eurytoma rosae, which works its way from one inquiline's cell to the next. The parasitoid ichneumon Orthopelma mediator lays its eggs directly into larvae of D. rosae, killing them. The wasps Eurytoma rosae and Glyphomerus stigma can attack both the larvae of D. rosae and of the inquiline P. brandtii. These parasitoids may in turn be attacked by hyperparasitoids such as Caenacis inflexa and Pteromalus bedeguaris. The mossy and sticky filaments of the gall are clearly ineffective in preventing the entry of inquilines, predators, parasitoids and hyperparasitoids.
The tissues of the bedeguar gall are frequently attacked by the parasitic fungus Phragmidium subcorticum, more so than the other parts of the host rose plant.


The galls occur more commonly on plants under stress, i.e. very dry conditions, waterlogging or hedge cutting, whereas vigorously growing plants are less commonly found to have galls. Whether the vigorous plant suppresses gall formation or is avoided by the wasp in favor of easier targets is unknown. Young and damaged plants tend to produce larger and more numerous galls than old and intact ones. In the latter, many eggs are laid, but the number of galls formed is relatively few.
The relative number of parasitoids decreases with increasing gall volume. And the closer the gall is to the ground, the greater the total number of adults that emerge. Thus, it seems more effective for a female D. rosae to induce larger galls on lower branches of the shrubs to increase the survival probability of the offspring. The distances from margins of shrubs, however, affects neither the parasitoid ratio of galls nor the volume of the galls.
Removing and destroying galls before they dry and the wasps emerge may help to reduce the infestation. While fairly large, and sometimes present in quite large numbers on scrub specimens, they cause no measurable harm.


Dried and powdered, the gall was used to treat colic, as a diuretic, and as a remedy against toothache; the ashes mixed with honey and applied to the scalp were thought to prevent baldness. It was also valued as an astringent and for its ability to control fluid loss; placed beneath a pillow, it was thought to induce sleep.


Diplotaxis tenuifolia is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common names wild rocket and perennial wall-rocket. This plant is native to Europe and West Asia. It can be found throughout much of the temperate world where it has naturalized.
This is an erect mustard-like plant with branching stems that may exceed half a meter in height. It grows in clumps on the ground in a variety of habitats and is a common weed of roadsides and disturbed areas. It has long leaves which may be lobed or not. The foliage is aromatic when crushed. Atop the branches of the stem are bright yellow flowers with four rounded petals each about a centimeter long. The fruit is a straight, flat silique up to five centimeters long.


Perennial wall rocket, wild rocket, sand rocket, Lincoln weed, white rocket; seeds sometimes marketed as "wild Italian arugula" or "sylvetta arugula".


It is native to parts of Europe, reaching in the east to Turkey and Syria. It is extinct from Morocco and Algeria, but has been introduced in a number of regions: Cyprus, the Caucasus, Palestine, Yemen, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Canada (Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia), the United States, Costa Rica, Argentina and Uruguay.
Within Europe, its native range covers much of France, the Low Countries, Italy, the Pannonian Basin and the western Balkans up to Macedonia, with generally more thinly scattered populations in northern Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Crimea, Sicilly, Malta, Sardinia, Corsica and parts of Spain. It has extensively been introduced further north from its native range. In the British Isles the plant is an archaeophyte, with industrial regions and ports still at the centre of the distribution. It is established especially in parts of England and Wales (some believing the plant could even be native to the south-east). Its range has been expanding to the west since the 19th century, but it is still very rare in Scotland and Ireland. It has also been introduced into much of Central Europe: throughout Switzerland, Austria, Germany and Poland, with more scattered instances on the southern shores of Norway and Sweden (where it is found in fewer areas that in the recent past), the Baltic States, Belarus and a few locations further east in Ukraine and European Russia. It has also been introduced on Menorca and near Lisbon in Portugal.


Baby leaf rocket is cultivated worldwide as a salad leaf. In addition to D. tenuifolia, the annual Eruca sativa is grown and marketed under the same common names. These leaves are usually mixed with other baby leaf crops to form a mesclun-style salad. These crops have become popular due to their distinctive taste and texture in salads.

Leaves preserved at 5 °C show a loss of ascorbic acid and glucosinolates and an increase in polyphenols (then preservation after harvesting may be nutritionally good, since for example sinapic acid and ferulic acid have anti-cancer effects and umbelliferone is an anti-oxidant).


Dipodium roseum, commonly known as rosy hyacinth-orchid or pink hyacinth-orchid, is a leafless saprophytic orchid found in east and south-eastern Australia. In summer it produces a tall flowering stem with up to fifty pale pink flowers with small, dark red spots. A widespread and common species it is often confused with D. punctatum but has darker, less heavily spotted flowers.


Dipodium roseum is a leafless, tuberous, perennial, mycoheterotrophic herb. Between fifteen and fifty pale pink flowers with small dark red spots and 20–30 mm (0.8–1 in) wide are borne on a green to dark reddish black flowering stem 40–100 cm (20–40 in) tall. The sepals and petals are linear to elliptic, 13–20 mm (0.5–0.8 in) long, 3–6 mm (0.1–0.2 in) wide and free from each other with their tips curved backwards. The labellum is pink with dark lines, 10–15 mm (0.4–0.6 in) long, 4–6.5 mm (0.2–0.3 in) wide and has three lobes with their tips turned upwards. The centre lobe has a broad band of pink to mauve hairs. A rare white-flowering form also exists. Flowering occurs from November to February.
This orchid is often confused with D. punctatum. D. roseum has a broader band of hairs and striping on its labellum, smaller spots and much more recurved sepals and petals. D. punctatum lacks striping on its labellum, has much more pronounced spotting, and has flat or barely recurved sepals and petals.


Dipodium roseum was first formally described in 1991 by David Jones and Mark Clements and the description was published in Australian Orchid Research. The type specimen was collected in Montrose in Victoria's Dandenong Ranges. The specific epithet (roseum) is a Latin word meaning "rose-coloured", referring to the colour of the flowers of this orchid. The species was previously included in a wider circumscription of Dipodium punctatum.


The rosy hyacinth orchid grows in a range of habitats from dry woodland to wet forests. It occurs in Queensland south from Gympie, on the coast and ranges of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and in most of Australia where it is the most common Dipodium. It is also found in the south-east of South Australia and is the only member of the genus to occur in Tasmania.


Pollination of this species, as for all species in the genus, is by native bees and wasps.


No leafless species of Dipodium has been sustained in cultivation due to the inability to replicate its association with mycorrhizal fungi in a horticultural context.


Dipsacus fullonum, syn. Dipsacus sylvestris, is a species of flowering plant known by the common names wild teasel or fuller's teasel, although the latter name is usually applied to the cultivated variety D. fullonum var. sativus. It is native to Eurasia and North Africa, but it is known in the Americas, southern Africa, Australia and New Zealand as an introduced species.
It is a herbaceous biennial plant (rarely a short-lived perennial plant) growing to 1–2.5 metres (3.3–8.2 ft) tall. The inflorescence is a cylindrical array of lavender flowers which dries to a cone of spine-tipped hard bracts. It may be 10 centimeters long.


The genus name is derived from the word for thirst and refers to the cup-like formation made where sessile leaves merge at the stem. Rain water can collect in this receptacle; this may perform the function of preventing sap-sucking insects such as aphids from climbing the stem. The leaf shape is lanceolate, 20–40 centimetres (7.9–15.7 in) long and 3–6 centimetres (1.2–2.4 in) broad, with a row of small spines on the underside of the midrib.
Teasels are easily identified with their prickly stem and leaves, and the inflorescence of purple, dark pink or lavender flowers that form a head on the end of the stem(s). The inflorescence is ovoid, 4–10 centimetres (1.6–3.9 in) long and 3–5 centimetres (1.2–2.0 in) broad, with a basal whorl of spiny bracts. The first flowers begin opening in a belt around the middle of the spherical or oval flowerhead, and then open sequentially toward the top and bottom, forming two narrow belts as the flowering progresses. The dried head persists afterwards, with the small (4–6 millimetres (0.16–0.24 in)) seeds maturing in mid-autumn.
Carnivory in teasels was discussed by Francis Darwin (son of Charles Darwin) in a paper held by the Royal Society. Contemporary attempts to replicate Darwin's experiments on the common teasel continue to fuel debate over whether or not Dipsacus is truly carnivorous. A 2011 study revealed increased seed production (but not height) dependent on both amount and nature of introduced animal supplementation, while 2019 experiments suggested that the increased seed set was a response to poor soil conditions rather than proof of proto-carnivory.


The seeds are an important winter food resource for some birds, notably the European goldfinch. Teasels are often grown in gardens and encouraged on some nature reserves to attract them.


The fuller's teasel (the cultivar group Dipsacus fullonum Sativus Group; syn. D. sativus) was formerly widely used in textile processing, providing a natural comb for cleaning, aligning and raising the nap on fabrics, particularly wool. It differs from the wild type in having stouter, somewhat recurved spines on the seed heads. The dried flower heads were attached to spindles, wheels, or cylinders, sometimes called teasel frames, to raise the nap on fabrics (that is, to tease the fibres). By the 20th century, teasels were largely replaced by metal cards, which could be made uniform and do not require constant replacement as the teasel heads wear. However, some people who weave wool still prefer to use teasels for raising the nap, claiming that the result is better; in particular, if a teasel meets serious resistance in the fabric, it will break, whereas a metal tool would rip the cloth.
Teasels are also occasionally grown as ornamental plants, and the dried heads are used in floristry.
Teasels have been naturalised in many regions away from their native range, partly due to the import of fuller's teasel for textile processing, and partly by the seed being a contaminant mixed with crop seeds. It can sometimes become a noxious weed outside its native range. It forms large monocultures (displacing other species) in areas it invades that have favourable climates and none of the species which feed upon it in its native range.
The best method of control is by use of herbicides.
Two moths potentially useful for biological control were tested in Slovakia in 2003-2004 (following the identification of seven insects associated with the plant), including the monophagous Endothenia gentianaeana. E. gentianaeana was able to be reared in high numbers and its presence was found in nearly 100% of teasel plants surveyed in Slovakia,   by the second moth, Cochylis roseana was not targeted by local parasitic wasps as frequently as was Endothenia gentianaeana and caused a high level of damage. The USDA has not approved either of these moths for introduction as of 2018.


Dirca palustris, or eastern leatherwood, is a shrub that grows to a maximum height of about three meters. It is native to the eastern half of North America but abundant only locally. It is most likely to be encountered in the northern part of its range, and is a dominant shrub in some hardwood forests of the upper Great Lakes Region. Rich woods, swampy in some cases, provide its main habitat, and it is occasionally cultivated. The species name, "palustris", means "of the swamps," although it also occurs in well-drained areas provided that the soils are moisture-retentive. It is often hard to recognize because the flowers, which come out just before leafing, last a very short time and D. palustris may be mixed in with the much more frequent Spicebush, which also has small yellow flowers that appear before the leaves and do so at just about the same time in the early spring. Its closest relative, the western leatherwood, lives across the continent in the San Francisco Bay Area.


Disa bracteata, also known as South African weed orchid is a species of orchid native to South Africa.
It is one of the few orchid species which has become naturalized in Australia. It was first recorded in Western Australia in 1944, in South Australia in 1988 and Victoria in 1994. There is also a single recording in Tasmania.
Disa bracteata is classified as invasive in Australia. In sites where D. bracteata has invaded, there have been up to 80 individuals found per square meter of the area. The similarity of environmental conditions in Australia and South Africa have allowed D. bracteata, as well as many other species native to South Africa, to become naturalized in regions of Australia.


Discaria toumatou, commonly called matagouri, is a tangle-branched thorny plant endemic to New Zealand. An alternative but less used name for the plant is "wild Irishman". The name matagouri is how speakers of English heard the South Island pronunciation of the Māori name "matakoura". It is also known as tūmatakuru.
Matagouri is a tangle-branched, extremely thorny, divaricating shrub or small tree up to five metres tall. It has small leathery leaves close to the thorns, which are only abundant in spring or the shade. The flowers are tiny and white with no petals. It is the only New Zealand native plant that has thorns.
It is most common in tussock grassland, stony areas and river beds. It is common in the eastern South Island, and found in a few coastal localities in the North Island south from the mouth of the Waikato River. As with other Discaria species it fixes nitrogen from the atmosphere with the help of symbiotic bacteria of the genus Frankia in its roots. It often grows in association with mingimingi (Coprosma propinqua), porcupine shrub (Melicytus alpinus, an alpine mahoe), native brooms (Carmichaelia species) and the introduced sweet briar (Rosa rubiginosa), the last a weed.
As a native plant matagouri has complete protection on public conservation land and a degree of protection on private land under the Resource Management Act 1991. In a notable case a 400 ha area of matagouri forest, including trees that may have been 150 years old, was illegally sprayed at the head of Lake Sumner in 2001.


Species:
Dispholidus typus ((A. Smith, 1828)) – Boomslang
Dispholidus punctatus Laurent, 1955


Dissosteira carolina,  the Carolina grasshopper, Carolina locust, black-winged grasshopper, road-duster or quaker, is a large, band-winged species of grasshopper which ranges widely in North America inhabiting weedy grasslands.


Dissosteira carolina is one of the largest grasshoppers in North America at 32–58 mm in length and is a conspicuous species because of its size, colorful wings, and because it habitually flies over dirt roads and other bare ground. The spread wings  of the males measures 75 mm across while that of the females 80–102 mm. They can be identified by their brownish-black inner wings with yellow margins and a ridge running down the back and because of its large size and rather lazy bobbing flight it is often mistaken for a butterfly, especially the mourning cloak Nymphalis antiopa. The tegmina is light brown to tan to gray. They are colored in various shades from golden tan to gray to dark brown to greenish. They tend to be large and heavyset compared to African and West Asian locusts, though not as large or aggressive.


Dissosteira carolina feeds on both grasses and forbs but the actual composition of the diet depends on habitat. For example, in a disturbed site that had been reseeded with Bromus inermis and Agropyron cristatum, when  the adults' crop contents were examined 98 percent of the food consumed was Bromus inermis, by contrast, in a disturbed site that had not been reseeded but where weeds have colonised naturally, the adults' crop contents consisted of 33 percent native grasses and 64 percent weeds. In two-choice laboratory tests it was shown that D. carolina readily fed on Bromus tectorum, Bromus inermis, Pascopyrum smithii, wheat, barley, dandelion, and Bassia. As it has a wide geographical distribution and because it is known to be polyphagous D. carolina probably has many potential food plants.
In eastern Wyoming the hatching of the eggs of D. carolina may begin in early June or it may be delayed until late June. As oviposition occurs in late summer it is probable that the development of the nymph in the egg take place during the following spring. The nymphs emerge from the eggs over a period of at least two weeks to develop within a habitat of grass and weeds interspersed with patches of bare ground. In some areas, however, hatching may be extended over several weeks so that as many as four different instars coexist together. The nymphal period may be 40 days at an altitude of 4,700 feet and 55 days at an altitude of 6,100 feet in Wyoming. Laboratory reared nymphs kept at a constant temperature of 25 °C complete development in 52 days and 26 days at a constant temperature of 30 °C. D, carolina is thermophilic and prefers the hot, bare areas of its habitat.
Adult D. carolina appear earlier in the southern part of their range, e.g. during May in New Mexico and later in the more northerly parts of its range, e.g. July in northern Idaho. Once they acquire functional wings, they disperse extensively,  adults may fly distances of several miles or more, as they have been found in the center of large cities.
In the heat of the day, the male D. carolina take flight and hover, clicking their wings in a courtship display to attract females. Males court females by producing a calling signal by stridulating with hindlegs and wings, the hindlegs are used alternately to rub against the tegmen in a behaviour called alternate stridulation. The male sits horizontally on sunlit bare ground and may continue to stridulate for 5 minutes or more until he is successful in attracting a female. She moves towards the male and when she is close enough he approaches her and mounts. If he is acceptable to the female they copulate and may remain copulated for as long as 16 hours.
The females take a relatively long time to reach sexual maturity and it may take nine weeks from when the adults emerge to when ovipostion commences.
The female selects compacted bare ground which is exposed to the sun in which to oviposit, often the edge of a gravel or dirt road. She works her ovipositor to a depth of 35mm and deposits a large clutch of eggs which are enclosed in a sharply curved pod. After approximately 80 minutes, she extracts her ovipositor and then for up to three minutes she uses her hind tarsi to brush dust and debris over the oviposition site. The pod is  nearly 50mm long and usually contains more than 40 eggs.
D carolina is  a terrestrial, diurnal grasshopper, although they are attracted to lights on warm summer nights. Adults and nymphs shelter overnight and emerge to bask in the morning sun for two to three hours from roughly two hours after sunrise. After they have basked, the adults begin to walk and fly. Males are more active than the females which walk and fly far less than males but feed, groom, and rest more.  When temperatures reach hot ground temperatures of 43 °C and air temperature of 32 °C   the adults begin to stilt. As temperatures rise, they climb on to  vegetation until they are 2.5–7.5 mm above the substrate and face into the sun so that only the front of the head is exposed to the rays and the rest of the body is in shade. In the afternoon the adults bask again on bare ground from about 3 p.m. until 5 p.m. after which they walk or fly to seek shelter usually under canopies of grasses.


Dissosteira carolina are preyed on by various animals including many birds, pallid bats, spiders, praying mantis, and Sphex pensylvanicus wasps, which struggle to fly with such a heavy load.


Dissosteira carolina is a minor pest of grasses in rangeland. It is most common in disturbed areas where the main food is several species of weeds. In favorable habitats the populations may irrupt, dispersing and damaging crops. Disturbed areas reseeded with Bromus inermis may give rise to large populations of D. Carolina, which then fly to fields of autumn wheat where they can cause stand damage. There was an irruption in southern Saskatchewan in 1933 and 1934 which caused considerable damage to the region's crops. Damage has been recorded to tobacco in southern Ontario, to alfalfa and in 1935 D. carolina was especially destructive to Phaseolus vulgaris or Vicia faba in the vicinity of Flagstaff, Arizona. In Oklahoma damage  has been recorded in maize, sorghum, cotton and potato. To date there have been no detailed studies of the economic importance of D. carolina.


Dithyrea californica (spectacle pod, California spectacle pod, California shield pod) is an annual plant in the family Brassicaceae found in deserts of the Southwestern United States.


Dittrichia graveolens, commonly known as stinkwort or stinking fleabane, is a plant species in the sunflower family, native to southern Europe, North Africa, and western Asia as far east as Pakistan. It has become naturalized in California, Asia, Africa, Australia, and other places and is regarded as a noxious weed in some regions. It is a classified as an invasive species in California, and a potential threat to wine production in the state.
The plant is a branching subshrub growing up to 130 centimetres (51 inches) tall, with a rank, foul smell. Leaves are long and narrow, pointed at each end, with small teeth along the edges and glandular hairs on the surfaces. One plant can produce numerous yellow flower heads with as many as 16 ray florets and 40 disc florets.
Barbs on the fluffy-tipped seeds, which help it spread, can fatally damage the digestive systems of grazing animals. Oils in the plant also taint the flavor of meat and milk of animals that have consumed them. The sticky resin has been known to cause allergic reactions and severe dermatitis in humans. For this reasons, it is advisable to wear protective gloves when handling the plant.


Dittrichia viscosa, also known as false yellowhead, woody fleabane, sticky fleabane and yellow fleabane, is a flowering plant in the daisy family.
Dittrichia viscosa is a highly branching perennial common throughout the Mediterranean Basin. It has long, narrow leaves that are pointed at both ends and have teeth along the edges and glandular hairs on the surfaces. One plant can produce many yellow flower heads each with as many as 16 ray florets and 44 disc florets.
Originally, the species was found mainly in dry riverbeds and abandoned fields up to a 1500 m (5000 feet) elevation. Nowadays it is quite common in roadsides and ruderal habitats, even in urban areas. It is considered an invasive species in Australia. The false yellowhead is a tough plant, very resistant to adverse conditions and degraded environments. It is important as food for the caterpillars of certain butterflies and moths, like Iolana iolas.
Despite the fresh-looking green color of its leaves and its attractive inflorescence, this plant is sticky and has a certain smell that most people find unpleasant. It contains an essential oil and has been used in traditional medicine since ancient times, especially in the Levant, as an astringent. A yellow dye substance has, since ancient times, been produced from its roots.
It is an important plant in Catalan tradition, often mentioned in adages and proverbs. One adage says that: "No vos 'nemoreu, amor,de cap fadrina gallarda que és com la flor d'olivarda molt guapa, i dolenta d'olor."  [My dear one, don't fall in love with any woman who only has good looks, she is like a false yellowhead flower: beautiful, but full of stench.]
Subspecies
Dittrichia viscosa subsp. angustifolia (Bég.) Greuter
Dittrichia viscosa subsp. maritima (Brullo & De Marco) Greuter
Dittrichia viscosa subsp. revoluta (Hoffmanns. & Link) P.Silva & Tutin
Dittrichia viscosa subsp. viscosa


Diuris orientis, commonly called the wallflower orchid or eastern wallflower orchid, is a species of orchid which is endemic to eastern Australia. Like others in the genus Diuris, it has two ear-like petals and is similar to the common donkey orchid (Diuris corymbosa) of Western Australia with which it has been confused. This species is found in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania and its stalk-like petal "claw" is shorter in than those of D. corymbosa.


Diuris orientis is a tuberous, perennial, terrestrial herb, usually growing to a height of 12–35 cm (5–10 in). There are up to three leaves arising from the base of the plant, each leaf linear to narrow lance-shaped, 10–30 cm (4–10 in) long, 5–10 mm (0.2–0.4 in) wide and channelled.

There are up to 6 yellow flowers with reddish brown, purplish and mauve markings on a raceme 8–40 mm (0.3–2 in) high. The dorsal sepal is erect, broadly egg-shaped, 9–15 mm (0.4–0.6 in) long and wide. The lateral sepals are greenish-brown, linear to lance-shaped, 12–23 mm (0.5–0.9 in) long, 3–4 mm (0.1–0.2 in) wide, project down below the flow and are parallel or sometimes crossed. The petals are erect and spread, ear-like above the flower. They are broadly egg-shaped, 12–20 mm (0.5–0.8 in) long, 8–12 mm (0.3–0.5 in) wide on a greenish-brown, stalk-like "claw", 3–6 mm (0.1–0.2 in). (The claw in the similar Western Australian Diuris corymbosa is longer.) The labellum is 10–14 mm (0.4–0.6 in) long and is divided into three lobes. The lateral lobes are narrow egg-shaped to wedge shaped, 7–11 mm (0.3–0.4 in) long, 2.5–4 mm (0.1–0.2 in) wide, sometimes with a wavy margin. The medial lobe is 5–8 mm (0.2–0.3 in), wedge-shaped, strongly folded with a rounded tip. There is a callus near the base of the mid-lobe, consisting of a narrow, yellow ridge. Flowering usually occurs between September and November.


Diuris orientis was first formally described in 1998 by David Jones from a specimen collected at Beauty Point in Tasmania. The description was published in Australian Orchid Research. The specific epithet (orientis) is a Latin word meaning "east", referring to the easterly distribution of this species, compared to other orchids in the Diuris corymbosa complex.


The eastern wallflower orchid is widely distributed in South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria. In New South Wales it is only found in the far south east, in and near the Nadgee Nature Reserve. In Victoria it is fairly common in open forest and heath. There is a dramatic increase in the flowering of this species after summer bushfires.


Diuris pardina, commonly known as the leopard orchid or leopard doubletail is a species of orchid which is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It has two or three grass-like leaves and up to ten yellow flowers with reddish-brown marks and blotches.


Diuris pardina is a tuberous, perennial herb with two or three linear leaves 100–300 mm (4–10 in) long, 4–6 mm (0.2–0.2 in) wide and folded lengthwise. Between two and ten flowers 20–35 mm (0.8–1 in) wide are borne on a flowering stem 140–300 mm (6–10 in) tall. The flowers are yellow and heavily blotched with dark reddish-brown. The dorsal sepal is erect, 8–11 mm (0.3–0.4 in) long and 6–8 mm (0.2–0.3 in) wide. The lateral sepals are linear to lance-shaped, 14–16 mm (0.55–0.63 in) long, 2–3 mm (0.08–0.1 in) wide, turned downwards and usually strongly crossed. The petals are erect to curved backwards, with an egg-shaped blade 9–12 mm (0.4–0.5 in) long and 6–8 mm (0.2–0.3 in) wide on a reddish-brown stalk 4–7 mm (0.2–0.3 in) long. The labellum is 9–12 mm (0.4–0.5 in) long and has three lobes. The centre lobe is wedge-shaped, 7–9 mm (0.3–0.4 in) long and wide and the side lobes are oval, 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in) long and about 2 mm (0.08 in) wide. There are two raised, fleshy calli 4–5 mm (0.16–0.20 in) long in the mid-line of the labellum. Flowering occurs from August to October.


Diuris pardina was first formally described in 1840 by John Lindley and the description was published in his book, The Genera and Species of Orchidaceous Plants. The specific epithet (pardina) is derived from the Ancient Greek word pardos meaning "leopard".


The leopard orchid is found in New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. It grows in well-drained soils in heath and forest and there is considerable variation in the colouration of the flowers. In New South Wales in occurs south from Mudgee and in Victoria it is widespread and common in the southern half of the state.


The adult is a medium-sized blackbird with a rounded tail. The male is 25.5 cm (10.0 in) long and weighs 108 g (3.8 oz). The slightly smaller female is 23 cm (9.1 in) long and weighs 95 g (3.4 oz). The adult plumage is entirely black with a bluish gloss, and the bill, legs and feet are also black. The iris is brown. Females are identically plumaged to the males; young birds are brownish black and lack iridescence. There are no subspecies.


D. dives is a resident breeder from coastal eastern and south-eastern Mexico to Costa Rica. Its range is expanding. El Salvador was colonized in the 1950s, and eastern Guatemala in the 1960s. Prior to 1989 there was only one Costa Rican record, but it is now easily seen at least as far south as San José, and it is expected to colonize Panama.
The melodious blackbird inhabits a wide range of habitats, but avoids dense forest and thick undergrowth. It has adapted to human habitation and can be seen in gardens and on lawns. The melodious blackbird forages mainly on the ground for insects but will also take nectar and ripening maize ears as well as other plants, such as the fruits of the gumbo-limbo (Bursera simaruba) and Trophis racemosa.


Doellingeria umbellata, known by the common names tall flat-topped white aster, parasol whitetop, or tall white-aster, is a North American plant species in the family Asteraceae. It is native to Canada (from Alberta to Newfoundland), St. Pierre and Miquelon, and the eastern and north-central United States (from Nebraska and the Dakotas east to Maine and South to Mississippi, Georgia and the Florida Panhandle.
Doellingeria umbellata is a perennial up to 200 cm (80 inches) tall, spreading by means of underground rhizomes. It can sometimes produce as many as 300 small flower heads, each with as many as 16 white ray florets and 50 yellow disc florets.
Varieties
This perennial grows in full sun or part-shade and moist or draining wet soils that are best slightly acid in reaction, but adapts to moderately acid or slightly alkaline reaction.
Doellingeria umbellata var. pubens (A.Gray) Britton - Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Québec, Saskatchewan, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Wisconsin
Doellingeria umbellata var. umbellata - St. Pierre and Miquelon, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Québec, Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin


Doleschallia bisaltide, the autumn leaf, is a nymphalid butterfly found in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Australasia. In Australia it is also known as the leafwing.


The larvae are black, with two rows of dorsal white spots. Head with a pair of branched spines; rest of the segments with a dorsal and a lateral row of blue branched spines on each side. They feed on Artocarpus, Pseuderanthemum, Calycanthus, Ruellia, Girardina, Strobilanthus and Graptophyllum. The pupae are yellowish with numerous black spots; constricted in the middle; head produced into two points. There are several subspecies under Doleschallia bisaltide:
Doleschallia bisaltide andamanensis Fruhstorfer, 1899
This subspecies closely resembles the Indian form, but differs in the oblique yellow band on the upperside of the forewing, which is broader and extends from the middle of the costal margin uninterruptedly to interspace 4, though it is preapically constricted. On the upperside of the hindwing there is an inner as well as an outer conspicuous subterminal narrow-black band. On the underside, this subspecies is as variable as the typical form, but the ground colour in many specimens (presumably wet-season broods) is of a richer, almost metallic green, with the basal snow-white spots defined with black lines; the ocelli in interspaces 2 and 5 seem also to be more clearly defined than in the Indian form. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen as in malabarica.
This subspecies has been seen in the South Andaman (Chidiyatapu), Car Nicobar, Central Nicobars and at Great Nicobar. They are attracted to the flowers of Ligustrum glomeratum and larvae have been discovered on Pseuderanthemum album (Acanthaceae).
Doleschallia bisaltide apameia Fruhstorfer, 1912
Found in the Obi Islands.
Doleschallia bisaltide australis C. & R. Felder, 1867
The leafwing. Found in Indonesia, Torres Strait Islands, and northeastern Australia.
Doleschallia bisaltide bougainvillensis Strand, 1920
Found in Bougainville.
Doleschallia bisaltide cethega Fruhstorfer, 1912
Found in Sulawesi.
Doleschallia bisaltide ceylonica Fruhstorfer, 1903
The Ceylon autumn leaf. Found in Sri Lanka.
Doleschallia bisaltide continentalis Fruhstorfer, 1899
Found in southern China, Indochina and Malaysia. Doleschallia bisaltide siamensis is a synonym.
Doleschallia bisaltide denisi Viette, 1950
Found in New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands.
Doleschallia bisaltide gurelca Grose-Smith & Kirby, 1893
Found in the Bismarck Archipelago and the Admiralty Islands
Doleschallia bisaltide herrichi Butler, 1876
Found in New Hebrides.
Doleschallia bisaltide indica Moore, 1899
The Himalayan autumn leaf. Found in northern India and Nepal.
Doleschallia bisaltide karabachica Tytler, 1940
Doleschallia bisaltide malabarica Fruhstorfer, 1899
Male's and female's underside yellowish brown, paling anteriorly to rich golden yellow on the forewing, shading anteriorly into dusky brown on the hindwing. Forewing: the apical half black, following a line from vein 12 opposite the discocellulars, passing through apex of cell, obliquely across middle of interspace 3 and curving down to tornus; a black spot near apex of cell coalescing with the inner margin of 1he black colour; a short, very oblique, broad golden-yellow band, broader in the female than in the male, from middle of costal margin to interspace 5; a spot beyond in line with it in interspace 4; two, sometimes three, minute, preapical white specks; the cilia fulvous (tawny), touched with white, anteriorly. Hindwing uniform; the costal margin broadly as noted above, a subterminal narrow band and narrower terminal line posteriorly, dusky black; a postdiscal black spot in interspaces 2 and 5 respectively; the cilia fulvous.
Underside very variable, closely resembling a dry leaf. No two specimens are ever alike. The ground colour varies from reddish to dark greenish brown with irrorations (speckles) of greyish and black scales; apex of the forewing and the terminal margin posteriorly of the hindwing more or less lilacine; forewings and hindwings crossed by a dark narrow discal fascia, generally bordered on the inner side by a greyish line; this fascia bent inwards at right angles above vein 6 of the forewing and in most specimens, bordered internally by a diffuse pale patch and externally by an oblique whitish mark, beyond which is a subcostal white spot, followed by a transverse sinuous postdiscal series of obscure ocelli crossing both wings, each ocellus centred by a minute dot, white on the fore, black on the hindwing. In the male there are generally, but not invariably, a number of whitish spots on the basal areas of both wings. Antennae blackish brown, ochraceous at apex; head, thorax and abdomen dark fulvous brown; beneath, the palpi white, the thorax and abdomen pale brown. Wingspan is about 84 to 88 mm (3.3 to 3.5 in). Found from Sikkim, S. India, Ceylon, Assam, Myanmar and Tenasserim.
Doleschallia bisaltide menexema Fruhstorfer, 1912
Found in the Treasury Islands, Shortlands, Guadalcanal, and possibly the Solomon Islands.
Doleschallia bisaltide merguiana Evans, 1924
Doleschallia bisaltide montrouzieri Butler, 1876
Found in New Hebrides.
Doleschallia bisaltide nasica Fruhstorfer, 1907
Found in Waigeu.
Doleschallia bisaltide nigromarginata Joicey & Noakes, 1915
Found in Biak.
Doleschallia bisaltide tualensis Fruhstorfer, 1899
Found in Kai Island
Doleschallia bisaltide philippensis Fruhstorfer, 1899
Found in the Philippines.
Doleschallia bisaltide pratipa C. & R. Felder, 1860
Found in peninsular Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia.
Doleschallia bisaltide rennellensis Howarth, 1962
Found in Rennell and the Bellona Islands.
Doleschallia bisaltide scapus Fruhstorfer, 1912
Found in Indonesia and Timor.
Doleschallia bisaltide sciron Godman & Salvin, 1888
Found in the Treasury Islands, Shortlands, and Guadalcanal.
Doleschallia bisaltide tenimberensis Fruhstorfer, 1912
Found in Biak.
Doleschallia bisaltide tualensis Fruhstorfer, 1899
Found in Kai Island


The bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) is a small New World blackbird and the only member of the genus Dolichonyx. An old name for this species is the "rice bird", from its tendency to feed on cultivated grains during winter and migration. Adults are 16–18 cm (6.3–7.1 in) long with short finch-like bills and weigh about 28 g (1 oz). Adult males are mostly black with creamy napes and white scapulars, lower backs, and rumps. Adult females are mostly light brown with black streaks on the back and flanks, and dark stripes on the head; their wings and tails are darker. The bobolink breeds in the summer in Northern America, with most of the summer range in the northern United States. Bobolinks winter in southern South America, primarily Paraguay, Argentina, and Bolivia. Bobolink populations are rapidly declining due to numerous factors, such as agricultural intensification and habitat loss; they are considered threatened in Canada, and are at risk throughout their range.


The genus name Dolichonyx is from Ancient Greek dolikhos, "long", and onux, "claw". The specific oryzivorus is from Latin oryza, "rice", and vorare, "to devour"; an old name for this species is "Rice Bird". The English "Bobolink" is from Bob o' Lincoln, describing the call.


Measurements:
Length: 5.9–8.3 in (15–21 cm)
Weight: 1.0–2.0 oz (28–57 g)
Wingspan: 10.6 inches (27 cm)
Adults have short finch-like bills. Adult males are mostly black with creamy napes and white scapulars, lower backs, and rumps. Adult females and non-breeding males are mostly light brown, although their coloring includes black streaks on the back and flanks, and dark stripes on the head; their wings and tails are darker.


The bobolink breeds in the summer in North America across much of southern Canada and the northern United States; from 1966 to 2015 the species experienced a greater than 1.5% annual population decrease throughout most of its breeding range, extending from the Midwestern United States to the Canadian maritimes. The bobolink migrates long distances, wintering in southern South America. One bird was tracked migrating 12,000 mi (19,000 km) over the course of the year, often flying long distances up to 1,100 mi (1,800 km) in a single day, then stopping to recuperate for days or weeks.
Bobolinks often migrate in flocks, feeding on cultivated grains and rice, which leads to them being considered a pest by farmers in some areas. Although bobolinks migrate long distances, they have rarely been sighted in Europe—like many vagrants from the Americas, the majority of records are from the British Isles.
The species has been known in the southern United States as the "reedbird," or the "ricebird" from their consumption of large amounts of the grain from rice fields in South Carolina and the Gulf States during their southward migration in the fall. One of the species' main migration routes is through Jamaica, where they are called "butter-birds" and at least historically were collected as food, having fattened up on the aforementioned rice.
Bobolinks are the only species of landbird known to annually migrate through the Galápagos Islands, which are over 2,000 km from their primary migration route. A bobolink was collected in the Galápagos Islands by Charles Darwin in 1835. Bobolinks have been hypothesized to act as vectors for avian malaria-causing parasites arriving in the Islands. Additionally, bobolinks in the Galápagos have been found with seeds from Drymaria cordata, a plant native to the Galápagos but highly invasive elsewhere, entangled in their feathers, potentially spreading them to the mainland.


Bobolinks forage on or near the ground, and mainly eat seeds and insects. They are nicknamed the "armyworm bird" because of their predation on large numbers of armyworms, acting  including the True armyworm (Mythimna unipuncta) and the Fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda), acting as a natural pest control. In Florida bobolinks feed most often on the Fall armyworm and not the True armyworm because one is common and one is rare there.


During the 1800s the bobolink like many birds was slaughtered in large numbers for the meat trade.
The numbers of these birds are declining due to loss of habitat. Bobolinks are a species at risk in Nova Scotia, and throughout Canada. In Vermont, a 75% decline was noted between 1966 and 2007. Originally, they were found in tall grass prairie and other open areas with dense grass. Although hay fields are suitable nesting habitat, fields which are harvested early, or at multiple times, in a season may not allow sufficient time for young birds to fledge. Delaying hay harvests by just 1.5 weeks can improve bobolink survival by 20%. This species increased in numbers when horses were the primary mode of transportation, requiring larger supplies of hay.
A 2021 study found that the reintroduction of bison across the United States was detrimental to bobolink populations, with adult populations dropping as much as 62% and juvenile populations as much as 84%. This is presumed to be due to many new bison herds being managed more as livestock than wildlife, often kept in fenced pastures and protected from predation, which encourages overgrazing, trampling, and rapid multiplying. The study also found that lighter grazing by bison did not have the same harmful effects, demonstrating that the two species could likely coexist under the right circumstances.


Emily Dickinson penned many poems about or mentioning the bird. Edgar Allan Poe mentions the bird in "Landor's Cottage". William Cullen Bryant wrote about the bob-o'-link in his poem "Robert of Lincoln."
The bobolink is mentioned in the song Evelina by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg, from the musical Bloomer Girl:
Evelina, won't ya ever take a shine to that moon?

Evelina, ain't ya bothered by the Bobolink's tune?
The bird is also one of the many important ornithological references in Vladimir Nabokov's John Shade's poem "Pale Fire" in the novel of the same name.
Sophie Jewett ends her poem "An Exile's Garden" (1910) with a reference to a bobolink.
The bobolink is also mentioned in the film The Mouse on the Moon in connection with the fictional European microstate of Grand Fenwick, where oddly the bird is apparently common.
The bobolink is also mentioned in the musical Camelot. Words by Alan Jay Lerner.
The bobolink is mentioned in the song, “The Wind,” by Billy Bob Thornton, written by Warren Zevon.


Dolichovespula arenaria, also known as the common aerial yellowjacket, sandhills hornet, and common yellow hornet, is a species of wasp within the genus Dolichovespula widely distributed in the North American continent.


D. arenaria can be identified by the medially interrupted or incised apical fasciae of terga 1 and 2. They are yellow in color and can be differentiated from the other yellow-colored wasps, such as D. adulterina, in its genus by the lack of black markings in the ocular sinus.
In the majority of the population, the ocular sinus is yellow, but some melanic males have a black area that reaches the lower margin of the sinus. The queen has large black discal spots on terga 4 and 5, and smaller ones on terga 2 and 3.
Males can be identified by the larger antenna, spots on their basal band on terga 4 and 5 as well as an abdomen that ends with a flat "fuzzy butt" instead of a pointed stinger. Nest size ranges from 1-6 combs, and are made out of dull grey paper. However, color variations do occasionally occur due to available materials.


The common aerial yellowjacket lives across Canada and the United States. It occurs from northcentral Alaska to as far south as New Mexico and Arizona. D. arenaria is in fact one of the most common aerial yellowjackets found in eastern North America, and nests can be found in arboreal to subterranean habitats. Its nests are made from paper-like material and are usually found in trees and shrubs. In urban settings, nests are frequently found on buildings.


D. arenaria workers are known to mostly prey on live arthropods of a wide variety such as grasshoppers, crickets, caterpillars, spiders, flies, lacewings, and even lady beetles (which are generally avoided by Vespula species). They also prey on larvae of the fall webworm, as well as young hummingbirds. In general, they are not attracted to protein baits. Occasionally, however, Dolichovespula spp. may feed on animal carcasses— such feeding has been observed on carcasses of a dog, pig, and snake. They are commonly seen to prey in higher trees (2–4 m).


The rates of S. v. burra parasitism are low and their existence within the nest does not appear to hinder colony development. In this aspect, D. arenaria is unique among Dolichovespula spp. studied.


Dolomedes albineus, the white-banded fishing spider, is a species of nursery web spider in the family Pisauridae. It is found in the United States. Like most Dolomedes, this spider tends to hunt at or in streams and ponds. It has special hairs that repel water, allowing it to walk on water, and trap an air bubble on its abdomen to dive and swim, so that it can hunt tadpoles and aquatic invertebrates.


Dolycoris baccarum, the sloe bug or hairy shieldbug, is a species of shield bug in the family Pentatomidae.


This species is widespread in most of Europe and Central Asia. These shield bugs mainly inhabit hedgerows and woodland edges, fields, forests, parks and gardens.


Dolycoris baccarum can reach a length of about 10–12.5 millimetres (0.39–0.49 in). The basic color of pronotum and elytra is quite variable, but usually it is reddish purple, while scutellum is ocher. During the winter the basic color is dull brown. The whole body is quite hairy. The antennae are made by 4-5 black and white sections and the margins of the abdomen (connexivum) are alternately mottled with whitish and black. The male and female are very similar. A related species encountered in Europe is Dolycoris numidicus.


It is univoltine in the northern part of the range and bivoltine in the warmer southern areas. Adults of these shield bugs can be found all year around, as they overwinter. They emerge in the following spring, when they mate and females lay eggs. By the end of summer the new generation of adults appear. Nymphs feed on many plants, especially Rosaceae and Asteraceae species, Linaria vulgaris and Lamium album.  Adults can be found frequently on shrubs feeding on berries, especially Honeysuckle and Raspberries. Despite the common name sloe bug, neither the larvae nor the adults feed on Sloe (Prunus spinosa).


Dorcus parallelipipedus, the lesser stag beetle, is a species of stag beetle found in Europe.
Both sexes resemble the female stag beetle (Lucanus cervus), though they are a uniformly blackish colour rather than having the chestnut brown wing covers of the larger species.  Males have distinctly knobbed antennae, and although their jaws are somewhat larger than those of the females, they are nowhere near as large as those of many other male stag beetles. The lesser stag beetle is similar in appearance to the related antelope beetle (Dorcus parallelus) of North America.
Adults are from 18 to 32 mm (0.7 to 1.3 in) in length.  Like those of other stag beetles, the white, C-shaped larvae feed on wood. Adults as well as larvae are found in very soft decaying wood of broad-leaved trees, especially ash (Fraxinus excelsior), beech (Fagus sylvatica) and apple (Malus spp).
Adults are active in summer and disperse by flying, and sometimes coming to outside lights. This is a widespread species in most of England and is generally common (except in the far north), coming into gardens wherever there are orchards, old hedges or large trees.


Draba cuneifolia is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known as the wedgeleaf draba or wedgeleaf whitlow-grass. This annual plant is native to the southern half of North America where it grows in open, rocky fields and other disturbed areas. The plant forms a basal cluster of leaves, which are thick, widely toothed, and coated in stiff hairs. It bolts one or more erect stems which may approach 40 centimeters in maximum height. Each hairy stem bears an inflorescence of up to 75 small white flowers that continue at intervals down the stem as the stem grows in height. This family and its plants are easy to identify with its 4 petals and 4 sepals arranged like a "cross", either in an "X" or "H" shape, thus the name "Cruciferae". Mustards have 6 stamens usually 4 are taller and 2 are shorter. Fruits are either a long thin silique or short often rounded silicle.


Draba cuneifolia is found throughout the southern United States, Baja California and northwest Mexico.


The State of Illinois has listed Draba cuneifolia, Whitlow Grass as Endangered: The State of Ohio has listed Draba cuneifolia, Wedge-leaf Whitlow-grass as Threatened; The State of Kentucky has listed Draba cuneifolia, Wedge-leaf Whitlow-grass as Endangered; and The State of Tennessee has listed Draba cuneifolia, Wedge-leaved Whitlow-grass as a species of Special Concern.


Other species of Draba; more broadly, small species of Cardamine and other springtime mustards.


Dracophyllum longifolium, commonly called inaka (from Māori), is an upright shrub or small tree in the family Ericaceae that is endemic to New Zealand.
Dracophyllum longifolium grows mostly in the South Island but is found throughout New Zealand from sea level up to 1,200 metres (3,900 ft). Inaka occurs in open forests where it can grow as high as 12 metres and in sub-alpine areas it generally reaches 1–1.5 metres (3 ft 3 in–4 ft 11 in).


Dracophyllum longifolium has thin branches that become marked with rings as old leaves die. The needle-like long leaves are 3–5 millimetres (0.12–0.20 in) wide and up to 25 centimetres (9.8 in) long with a pointed tip and are often softly coloured from green through to orange and brown.

Inaka is a long-lived plant and can survive for up to 220 years.


In a 1952 supplement of the Trans. Proc. R. Soc. N. Z., W. R. B. Oliver published a revised taxonomic arrangement of the genus Dracophyllum which he had first attempted in 1928. In this supplement he placed D. longifolium in a group with D. oliveri within the subgenus Oreothemanus. Oliver, however, conducted his research based purely on morphological characteristics such as growth habit, leaves, and flowers. In 2010 a team of several botanists, including Stephanus Venter, published an article on the genus Dracophyllum in the Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden. In it they performed a cladistic analysis and produced a phylogenetic tree of the tribe Richeeae and other species using genetic sequencing. They found that only the subgenus Oreothamnus as well as the tribe Richeeae were monophyletic. The paraphylly of the genus Dracophyllum, as well as the polyphyly of the closely related genus Richea, they argued, suggested that a major taxonomic revision was required. Stephanus Venter revised the genus in 2021, merging the genus Richea into two subgenera, named D. subg. Cystanthe and D. subg. Dracophylloides, of Dracophyllum. Though he noted that because the 2010 study was based on plastid sequence data and did not attain some species with strong enough evidence, the subgenera are instead based on morphological characteristics.
D. longifolium's placement can be summarised in the following cladogram:


In both 2009 and 2012, D. longifolium var. longifolium was deemed to be "Not Threatened" under the New Zealand Threat Classification System, and this New Zealand classification was reaffirmed in 2018.
However, D. longifolium var. septentrionale was classified as "At Risk - Naturally Uncommon" in 2012, and in 2018.


Falcaria bilineata, the two-lined hooktip moth, is a moth in the family Drepanidae. It was described by Packard in 1864. It is found in North America, where it has been recorded from Newfoundland to New Jersey, west to Oregon and north to British Columbia. The habitat consists of deciduous woodlands.
The wingspan is 28–33 mm. The forewings are light brown to orangish-yellow. The ante- and postmedial lines are brown, straight and parallel and the reniform spot has the form of a black dot. The hindwings are white or pale yellow with a small indistinct discal spot and a thin brown terminal line. Adults are on wing from April to September in two generations per year.
The larvae feed on the leaves of Alnus and Betula species. The larva have a purplish or reddish-brown body, mottled with yellow. Pupation takes place in a cocoon made within a folded leaf.


The emu (/ˈiːmjuː/) (Dromaius novaehollandiae) is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the genus Dromaius. The emu's range covers most of mainland Australia, but the Tasmanian, Kangaroo Island and King Island subspecies became extinct after the European settlement of Australia in 1788.
Emus are soft-feathered, brown, flightless birds with long necks and legs, and can reach up to 1.9 metres (6.2 ft) in height. Emus can travel great distances, and when necessary can sprint at 48 km/h (30 mph); they forage for a variety of plants and insects, but have been known to go for weeks without eating. They drink infrequently, but take in copious amounts of water when the opportunity arises.
Breeding takes place in May and June, and fighting among females for a mate is common. Females can mate several times and lay several clutches of eggs in one season. The male does the incubation; during this process he hardly eats or drinks and loses a significant amount of weight. The eggs hatch after around eight weeks, and the young are nurtured by their fathers. They reach full size after around six months, but can remain as a family unit until the next breeding season. The emu is an important cultural icon of Australia, appearing on the coat of arms and various coins. The bird features prominently in Indigenous Australian mythology.
The bird is sufficiently common for it to be rated as a least-concern species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Despite this, some local populations are listed as endangered, with subspecies such as the Tasmanian emu going extinct by the 1800s. Threats to their survival include predation of their eggs, roadkills, and fragmentation of their habitats.


The etymology of the common name "emu" is uncertain, but is thought to have come from an Arabic word for large bird that was later used by Portuguese explorers to describe the related cassowary in Australia and New Guinea. Another theory is that it comes from the word "ema", which is used in Portuguese to denote a large bird akin to an ostrich or crane. In Victoria, some terms for the emu were Barrimal in the Dja Dja Wurrung language, myoure in Gunai, and courn in Jardwadjali. The birds were known as murawung or birabayin to the local Eora and Darug inhabitants of the Sydney basin.


Emus were first reported as having been seen by Europeans when explorers visited the western coast of Australia in 1696. This was during an expedition led by Dutch captain Willem de Vlamingh who was searching for survivors of a ship that had gone missing two years earlier. The birds were known on the eastern coast before 1788, when the first Europeans settled there. The birds were first mentioned under the name of the "New Holland cassowary" in Arthur Phillip's Voyage to Botany Bay, published in 1789 with the following description:
This is a species differing in many particulars from that generally known, and is a much larger bird, standing higher on its legs and having the neck longer than in the common one. Total length seven feet two inches. The bill is not greatly different from that of the common Cassowary; but the horny appendage, or helmet on top of the head, in this species is totally wanting: the whole of the head and neck is also covered with feathers, except the throat and fore part of the neck about half way, which are not so well feathered as the rest; whereas in the common Cassowary the head and neck are bare and carunculated as in the turkey.
The plumage in general consists of a mixture of brown and grey, and the feathers are somewhat curled or bent at the ends in the natural state: the wings are so very short as to be totally useless for flight, and indeed, are scarcely to be distinguished from the rest of the plumage, were it not for their standing out a little. The long spines which are seen in the wings of the common sort, are in this not observable,—nor is there any appearance of a tail. The legs are stout, formed much as in the Galeated Cassowary, with the addition of their being jagged or sawed the whole of their length at the back part.
The species was named by ornithologist John Latham in 1790 based on a specimen from the Sydney area of Australia, a country which was known as New Holland at the time. He collaborated on Phillip's book and provided the first descriptions of, and names for, many Australian bird species; Dromaius comes from a Greek word meaning "racer" and novaehollandiae is the Latin term for New Holland, so the name can be rendered as "fast-footed New Hollander". In his original 1816 description of the emu, the French ornithologist Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot used two generic names, first Dromiceius and later Dromaius. It has been a point of contention ever since as to which name should be used; the latter is more correctly formed, but the convention in taxonomy is that the first name given to an organism stands, unless it is clearly a typographical error. Most modern publications, including those of the Australian government, use Dromaius, with Dromiceius mentioned as an alternative spelling.


The emu was long classified, with its closest relatives the cassowaries, in the family Casuariidae, part of the ratite order Struthioniformes. An alternate classification was proposed in 2014 by Mitchell et al., based on analysis of mitochondrial DNA. This splits off the Casuariidae into their own order, the Casuariformes, and includes only the cassowaries in the family Casuariidae, placing the emus in their own family, Dromaiidae. The cladogram shown below is from their study.
Two different Dromaius species were present in Australia at the time of European settlement, and one additional species is known from fossil remains. The insular dwarf emus, D. n. baudinianus and D. n. minor, originally present on Kangaroo Island and King Island respectively, both became extinct shortly after the arrival of Europeans. D. n. diemenensis, another insular dwarf emu from Tasmania, became extinct around 1865. The mainland subspecies, D. n. novaehollandiae, remains common. The population of these birds varies from decade to decade, largely being dependent on rainfall; in 2009, it was estimated that there were between 630,000 and 725,000 birds. Emus were introduced to Maria Island off Tasmania, and Kangaroo Island off the coast of South Australia, during the 20th century. The Maria Island population died out in the mid-1990s. The Kangaroo Island birds have successfully established a breeding population.
In 1912, the Australian ornithologist Gregory M. Mathews recognised three living subspecies of emu, D. n. novaehollandiae (Latham, 1790), D. n. woodwardi Mathews, 1912 and D. n. rothschildi Mathews, 1912. The Handbook of the Birds of the World, however, argues that the last two of these subspecies are invalid; natural variations in plumage colour and the nomadic nature of the species make it likely that there is a single race in mainland Australia. Examination of the DNA of the King Island emu shows this bird to be closely related to the mainland emu and hence best treated as a subspecies.


The emu is the second tallest bird in the world, only being exceeded in height by the ostrich; the largest individuals can reach up to 150 to 190 cm (59 to 75 in) in height. Measured from the bill to the tail, emus range in length from 139 to 164 cm (55 to 65 in), with males averaging 148.5 cm (58.5 in) and females averaging 156.8 cm (61.7 in). Emus are the fourth or fifth heaviest living bird after the two species of ostrich and two larger species of cassowary, weighing slightly more on average than an emperor penguin. Adult emus weigh between 18 and 60 kg (40 and 132 lb), with an average of 31.5 and 37 kg (69 and 82 lb) in males and females, respectively. Females are usually slightly larger than males and are substantially wider across the rump.
Although flightless, emus have vestigial wings, the wing chord measuring around 20 cm (8 in), and each wing having a small claw at the tip. Emus flap their wings when running, perhaps as a means of stabilising themselves when moving fast. They have long necks and legs, and can run at speeds of 48 km/h (30 mph) due to their highly specialised pelvic limb musculature. Their feet have only three toes and a similarly reduced number of bones and associated foot muscles; emus are unique among birds in that their gastrocnemius muscles in the back of the lower legs have four bellies instead of the usual three. The pelvic limb muscles of emus contribute a similar proportion of the total body mass as do the flight muscles of flying birds. When walking, the emu takes strides of about 100 cm (3.3 ft), but at full gallop, a stride can be as long as 275 cm (9 ft). Its legs are devoid of feathers and underneath its feet are thick, cushioned pads. Like the cassowary, the emu has sharp claws on its toes which are its major defensive attribute, and are used in combat to inflict wounds on opponents by kicking. The toe and claw total 15 cm (6 in) in length. The bill is quite small, measuring 5.6 to 6.7 cm (2.2 to 2.6 in), and is soft, being adapted for grazing. Emus have good eyesight and hearing, which allows them to detect threats at some distance.
The neck of the emu is pale blue and shows through its sparse feathers. They have grey-brown plumage of shaggy appearance; the shafts and the tips of the feathers are black. Solar radiation is absorbed by the tips, and the inner plumage insulates the skin. This prevents the birds from overheating, allowing them to be active during the heat of the day. A unique feature of the emu feather is the double rachis emerging from a single shaft. Both of the rachis have the same length, and the texture is variable; the area near the skin is rather furry, but the more distant ends resemble grass. The sexes are similar in appearance, although the male's penis can become visible when he urinates and defecates. The plumage varies in colour due to environmental factors, giving the bird a natural camouflage. Feathers of emus in more arid areas with red soils have a rufous tint while birds residing in damp conditions are generally darker in hue. The juvenile plumage develops at about three months and is blackish finely barred with brown, with the head and neck being especially dark. The facial feathers gradually thin to expose the bluish skin. The adult plumage has developed by about fifteen months.
The eyes of an emu are protected by nictitating membranes. These are translucent, secondary eyelids that move horizontally from the inside edge of the eye to the outside edge. They function as visors to protect the eyes from the dust that is prevalent in windy arid regions. Emus have a tracheal pouch, which becomes more prominent during the mating season. At more than 30 cm (12 in) in length, it is quite spacious; it has a thin wall, and an opening 8 centimetres (3 in) long.


Once common on the east coast of Australia, emus are now uncommon there; by contrast, the development of agriculture and the provision of water for stock in the interior of the continent have increased the range of the emu in arid regions. Emus live in various habitats across Australia both inland and near the coast. They are most common in areas of savannah woodland and sclerophyll forest, and least common in heavily populated districts and arid areas with annual precipitation of less than 600 millimetres (24 in). Emus predominately travel in pairs, and while they can form large flocks, this is an atypical social behaviour that arises from the common need to move towards a new food source. Emus have been shown to travel long distances to reach abundant feeding areas. In Western Australia, emu movements follow a distinct seasonal pattern – north in summer and south in winter. On the east coast their wanderings seem to be more random and do not appear to follow a set pattern.


Emus are diurnal birds and spend their day foraging, preening their plumage with their beak, dust bathing and resting. They are generally gregarious birds apart from the breeding season, and while some forage, others remain vigilant to their mutual benefit. They are able to swim when necessary, although they rarely do so unless the area is flooded or they need to cross a river.
Emus begin to settle down at sunset and sleep during the night. They do not sleep continuously but rouse themselves several times during the night. When falling asleep, emus first squat on their tarsi and enter a drowsy state during which they are alert enough to react to stimuli and quickly return to a fully awakened state if disturbed. As they fall into deeper sleep, their neck droops closer to the body and the eyelids begin to close. If there are no disturbances, they fall into a deeper sleep after about twenty minutes. During this phase, the body is gradually lowered until it is touching the ground with the legs folded underneath. The beak is turned down so that the whole neck becomes S-shaped and folded onto itself. The feathers direct any rain downwards onto the ground. It has been suggested that the sleeping position is a type of camouflage, mimicking a small mound. Emus typically awake from deep sleep once every ninety minutes or so and stand upright to feed briefly or defecate. This period of wakefulness lasts for ten to twenty minutes, after which they return to slumber. Overall, an emu sleeps for around seven hours in each twenty-four-hour period. Young emus usually sleep with their neck flat and stretched forward along the ground surface.
The vocalisations of emus mostly consist of various booming and grunting sounds. The booming is created by the inflatable throat pouch; the pitch can be regulated by the bird and depends on the size of the aperture. Most of the booming is done by females; it is part of the courtship ritual, is used to announce the holding of territory and is issued as a threat to rivals. A high-intensity boom is audible 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) away, while a low, more resonant call, produced during the breeding season, may at first attract mates and peaks while the male is incubating the eggs. Most of the grunting is done by males. It is used principally during the breeding season in territorial defence, as a threat to other males, during courtship and while the female is laying. Both sexes sometimes boom or grunt during threat displays or on encountering strange objects.
On very hot days, emus pant to maintain their body temperature. Their lungs work as evaporative coolers and, unlike some other species, the resulting low levels of carbon dioxide in the blood do not appear to cause alkalosis. For normal breathing in cooler weather, they have large, multifolded nasal passages. Cool air warms as it passes through into the lungs, extracting heat from the nasal region. On exhalation, the emu's cold nasal turbinates condense moisture back out of the air and absorb it for reuse. As with other ratites, the emu has great homeothermic ability, and can maintain this status from −5 to 45 °C (23 to 113 °F). The thermoneutral zone of emus lies between 10 and 30 °C (50 and 86 °F).
As with other ratites, emus have a relatively low basal metabolic rate compared to other types of birds. At −5 °C (23 °F), the metabolic rate of an emu sitting down is about 60% of that when standing, partly because the lack of feathers under the stomach leads to a higher rate of heat loss when standing from the exposed underbelly.


Emus forage in a diurnal pattern and eat a variety of native and introduced plant species. The diet depends on seasonal availability with such plants as Acacia, Casuarina and grasses being favoured. They also eat insects and other arthropods, including grasshoppers and crickets, beetles, cockroaches, ladybirds, bogong and cotton-boll moth larvae, ants, spiders and millipedes. This provides a large part of their protein requirements. In Western Australia, food preferences have been observed in travelling emus; they eat seeds from Acacia aneura until the rains arrive, after which they move on to fresh grass shoots and caterpillars; in winter they feed on the leaves and pods of Cassia and in spring, they consume grasshoppers and the fruit of Santalum acuminatum, a sort of quandong. They are also known to feed on wheat, and any fruit or other crops that they can access, easily climbing over high fences if necessary. Emus serve as an important agent for the dispersal of large viable seeds, which contributes to floral biodiversity. One undesirable effect of this occurred in Queensland in the early twentieth century when emus fed on the fruit of prickly pears in the outback. They defecated the seeds in various places as they moved around, and this led to a series of campaigns to hunt emus and prevent the seeds of the invasive cactus being spread. The cacti were eventually controlled by an introduced moth (Cactoblastis cactorum) whose larvae fed on the plant, one of the earliest examples of biological control. The δ¹³C of the emu's diet is reflected in the δ¹³C of the calcite of its egg shell.
Small stones are swallowed to assist in the grinding up and digestion of the plant material. Individual stones may weigh 45 g (1.6 oz) and the birds may have as much as 745 g (1.642 lb) in their gizzards at one time. They also eat charcoal, although the reason for this is unclear. Captive emus have been known to eat shards of glass, marbles, car keys, jewellery and nuts and bolts.
Emus drink infrequently but ingest large amounts when the opportunity arises. They typically drink once a day, first inspecting the water body and surrounding area in groups before kneeling down at the edge to drink. They prefer being on firm ground while drinking, rather than on rocks or mud, but if they sense danger, they often stand rather than kneel. If not disturbed, they may drink continuously for ten minutes. Due to the scarcity of water sources, emus are sometimes forced to go without water for several days. In the wild, they often share water holes with kangaroos, other birds and animals; they are wary and tend to wait for the other animals to leave before drinking.