Passiflora incarnata is easily cultivated and in its native range and homeland is a common low maintenance garden plant that can be trained to adorn fences and arbors. The wild maypop is an aggressive vine native to the southeastern United States extending into the central US reaching Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. The vines can carpet the floor of thickets within days in favorable weather. The plants grow in full sun and need direct sunlight for at least half of the day. The best soils for P. incarnata are well-drained  but the plants tolerate occasionally wet and acidic soils. The plants have a high drought tolerance. P. incarnata can be planted all the year in zone 7–11 (hardiness zone). The space between two plants is 36–60 inches (91.44 – 152.4 cm). One to two years are necessary before they begin bearing. Each flower has a very short life (about one day). Then the fruit develops in two to three months. The harvest depends on vine size and age of the plant but one reported 10–20 fruits per vine. Seeds can be collected in the fall after the fruit has begun to shrivel. There are some problems with nematodes and caterpillars in the culture of P. incarnata.
The flowers appear suitable for bumblebee pollination and may attract ruby-throated hummingbirds. As both bees and hummingbirds look for nectar, the pollen filled flower anthers brush the back of the bee or the face of the hummingbird, enabling pollen to be readily transferred to the central sticky stigma.
Passiflora incarnata can potentially become an agricultural weed. The genus Passiflora introduced for agricultural purpose has been reported as an important weed in certain regions of the world. The United States Department of Agriculture notes that P. incarnata is referred to as a weed by these publications: Weeds of Kentucky and adjacent states: a field guide and Weeds of the United States and Canada.
Mechanical control as removing the suckers regularly is advised to prevent the spreading of maypop. It is also recommended to train the vines onto trellis and fences to limit propagation.


Possible interactions with following medications:
Sedatives
Anticoagulants
Monoamine oxidase inhibitors
P. incarnata may increase main effects or side effects of medications listed above.
For oral consumption, pregnant or breastfeeding women should use caution and seek medical advice before orally consuming P. incarnata. The effects of oral ingestion of the plant compounds on reproduction or on unborn child have not been tested.


P. incarnata contains flavonoids and alkaloids, with leaves containing the greatest concentration of flavonoids. Other flavonoids present in P. incarnata include chrysin, apigenin, luteolin, quercetin, kaempferol, and isovitexin.
The main bioactive substances identified in P. incarnata include polyphenols, flavonoids, carotenoids, anthocyanins and other natural antioxidants. The polyphenols mainly belonging to the flavones C-glucoside class are present in P. incarnata and these phenols and flavonoids have high potential antioxidant properties that exhibit significant free radical scavenging activity.


Passionflower has culinary fruits that may be used for jams, jellies and desserts.The juice is a favorite flavoring in drinks. It can be used as a fresh substitute for its commercially grown South American relative, Passiflora edulis, a related species with similar sized fruit. The fruit can be eaten by hand, as indicated by its common name, given to it by Cajuns: liane de grenade or "pomegranate vine". It has a slightly sweet-tart taste and a pleasant scent when fully ripe. The Passiflora family have aromatic, sweet fruit that make it highly appreciated for fresh consumption and as a flavoring aid.


Passiflora lutea, the yellow passionflower, is a flowering plant in the family Passifloraceae, native North America, in the eastern and south-central parts of the United States from Pennsylvania west to Kansas, and south to Florida and Texas. It is the northernmost species of Passiflora, occurring slightly further north than P. incarnata, and tolerant of winter temperatures down to −15 °C, and even −30 °C for short periods.
It is a perennial herbaceous climbing or trailing vine that can reach 3–5 m in length. The leaves are trilobed, 3–7 cm long and 3–15 cm broad, with a 5 cm petiole; in the north of its range, it is deciduous.  The common name as well as the scientific name refers to the small, 1-1.5 cm diameter chartreuse (yellow-green) or off-white flowers it produces in summer. The flowers are followed by small black berries that contain seeds that are brown and bumpy. P. lutea grows in bright shade to sunny places with moist, rich soil. Very similar to Passiflora suberosa.
Yellow passionflower is often good for butterfly gardens, as it is a host for Gulf fritillaries, julia butterflies (Dryas julia), and zebra longwings (Heliconius charitonius). It is also the only pollen source used by an unusual specialist bee, Anthemurgus passiflorae, which is the sole member of its genus; this rare bee is unusual in that despite its obligate relationship with the plant (oligolecty), it rarely pollinates it.


Passiflora lutea is considered an endangered species in Pennsylvania.


It is a vine with cylindric stems covered in red-brown hairs when young. The leaves are serrate, three-lobed, up to 15 cm long and 18 cm broad. The lobed leaves' resemblance to grape leaves gives this passionflower its specific epithet, "vitifolia," meaning "grape leaves" after the Latin for grape "vitis."  The flowers are bright red, up to 9 cm diameter. The fruit is a berry 5 cm long and 3 cm broad, with green flesh speckled with white, slight downy hairs, containing numerous seeds. The fruit is quite sour when it falls off the plant and can take a month to ripen to its full flavor of sour strawberries. Due to the fragrant fruit, it is in small-scale cultivation in the Caribbean.


The band-tailed pigeon (Patagioenas fasciata) is a medium-sized bird of the Americas. Its closest relatives are the Chilean pigeon and the ring-tailed pigeon, which form a clade of Patagioenas with a terminal tail band and iridescent plumage on their necks. There are at least 8 sub-species, and some authorities split this species into the northern band-tailed pigeon (Patagioenas fasciata) and the southern band-tailed pigeon (Patagioenas albilinea).
It ranges from British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, and southern Arizona south in higher elevations through Mexico and Central America to northern Argentina. In autumn it migrates out of its permanent resident range into northern California, New Mexico, and parts of Utah and Colorado. It is found from almost sea level to 3,600 m (12,000 ft), generally in oak, pine-oak, and coniferous forests. It feeds on seeds, notably acorns, as well as berries and small fruits.


It is the biggest pigeon in North America, measuring 33 to 40 cm (13 to 16 in) long and weighing 225–515 g (7.9–18.2 oz). The coastal subspecies P. f. monilis (averaging 392 g (13.8 oz)) is larger than the inland subspecies (averaging 340 g (12 oz)). The band-tailed pigeon has a wingspan of 66 cm (26 in).
The plumage is gray, somewhat darker above. The head and underparts have a faint pink cast, especially in the adult male; the belly is nearly white. The distal half of the tail is also pale (except in the subspecies of Baja California), whence the English name. The bill and feet are yellow, with good identification marks at sufficiently close range. Adults have green iridescence on the back of the neck, adjacent to a thin white collar on the nape. Juvenile birds have white feather edges above, giving a scaly appearance.


This species is relatively quiet for a pigeon. Its voice is low-pitched and owl-like, often in two-syllable calls that rise and then fall (huu-ooh) with even spacing between calls. It also makes a variety of harsh squawking sounds for a variety of reasons.
It builds a rudimentary platform nest out of twigs, in which it lays one or two eggs. Outside the breeding season, it forms flocks, sometimes over 50 birds, and often becomes nomadic, following the acorn crop or moving to lower altitudes or other areas outside its breeding range.  They commonly congregate at and drink from mineral springs, although it is not fully understood why.  In addition to acorns and other seeds, the band-tailed pigeon will seasonally consume fruits such as Pacific madrona and Toyon berries. This species often visits bird feeders. With the introduction of English Holly and English Ivy, two popular plants in landscaping in western North America, the bird is found in persistent numbers in suburban areas now as well.
The parasitic louse Columbicola extinctus, believed to have become extinct with the extinction of the passenger pigeon, was recently rediscovered on the band-tailed pigeon. The band-tailed pigeon is the closest genetic relative of the passenger pigeon and has been investigated for being used in efforts to bring back that extinct species.


The white-crowned pigeon (Patagioenas leucocephala) is a fruit and seed-eating species of bird in the dove and pigeon family Columbidae. It is found primarily in the Caribbean.
John James Audubon painted these pigeons, including the watercolour painting in his work, Birds of America, published in the early 19th century.


In the first half of the 18th century the white-crowned pigeon was described and illustrated by several naturalists including John Ray in 1713, Hans Sloane in 1725 and Mark Catesby in 1731. When in 1758 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the tenth edition, he placed the white-crowned pigeon with all the other pigeons in the genus Columba. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Columba leucocephala and cited the earlier authors. The specific epithet combines the Ancient Greek leukos meaning "white" and -kephalos meaning "-headed". Although Linnaeus gave the location as North America, the type locality is taken to be the Bahamas following Catesby. The species is now placed in the genus Patagioenas that was introduced by the German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach in 1853 with the white-crowned pigeon as the type species. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.


The white-crowned pigeon can measure 29–35 cm (11–14 in) in length, span 48–59 cm (19–23 in) across the wings, and weigh 150–301 g (5.3–10.6 oz). It is around the same size as the common rock pigeon, but weighs a bit less since it is generally less chunky and has a relatively longer and more square tail. Adult birds' plumage varies from a slate gray to an almost-black color. Its iridescent collar-patch is notably only seen under good lighting, shining a barred white pattern with green. Their distinct crown-patch  can vary in shade of color from a more bright white in males to a more gray-white in most females. Juveniles can have a grayish-brown color for They have a white iris and a pale-tipped red bill. Juveniles are a less dark shade of grey, lack the nape pattern and white iris, and show only a few pale feathers on the crown. Their call is a loud, deep coo-cura-coo or coo-croo. This species is a member of a diverse clade of Patagioenas which vary much in appearance, but are united by their triple coos (except in the scaled pigeon).


It is a resident breeder mainly in the Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica and Antigua. It breeds in smaller numbers in Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti), Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Anguilla and other Caribbean islands. It also breeds along the Caribbean coast of Central America. In the United States it is found only in the Florida Keys, Everglades, and the southern tip of mainland Florida.  They will often spend the wintertime in the Caribbean islands.
The white-crowned pigeon primarily lives and breeds in nest colonies or individually in low lying, coastal, mangrove forests, and will travel inland to feed on the fruits and seeds of a wide variety of plants. In Florida, the white-crowned pigeon has historically been documented nesting exclusively on remote, tidally inundated mangrove islands in wildlife refuges.  Recent observations have confirmed nesting on the southern tip of mainland Florida.
With few exceptions, this species requires isolated offshore mangrove islets with limited disturbance for breeding. These tidally inundated mangrove islands which provide some protection from predators such as raccoons.  However, several instances of white-crowned pigeons nesting in heavily-trafficked, urban areas, such as downtown Key West and Miami Florida, have recently been observed.  This could be due to habitat loss as a result of hurricanes, and/or increased predation pressure in their historic nesting habitat.


A main threat to this species is loss of habitat due to deforestation and habitat degradation. The white-crowned pigeon needs two distinct habitats, one for nesting and one for feeding.  They typically breed in coastal red mangroves (Rhizophora mangle), which continue to be clear-cut for crops such as sugarcane.  Agriculture and deforestation have become a problem for the species' feeding grounds, typically inland hardwood forests.  The bird is very skittish, and is known to simply abandon its nest when it is encroached upon.  In Florida, white-crowned pigeons often feed on the fruit of poisonwood (Metopium toxiferum). Unfortunately, this native plant causes severe human dermatitis and is often removed.
The white-crowned pigeon is also an important game species throughout much of its range.  Although, changes have been made to hunting regulations in the Bahamas, illegal hunting is still a problem for these pigeons.
Other threats to this species include (in Florida) a major cause of mortality is collision with man-made objects; and pesticide use.
Like the extinct passenger pigeon, this species "illustrates a very important principle of conservation biology: it is not always necessary to kill the last pair of a species to force it to extinction.  These birds are "threatened by the slaughter of nesting birds on its Caribbean breeding grounds"; they may play an vitally important, yet not fully understood, role in the seed dispersal of West Indian flora.


The spot-winged pigeon (Patagioenas maculosa) is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.


At least one author has asserted, based on plumage similarities, that the spot-winged pigeon, picazuro pigeon (P. picazuro), bare-eyed pigeon (P. corensis), and scaled pigeon (P. speciosa) form a monophyletic group. Others argue that significant vocal differences belie that.
According to the International Ornithological Committee (IOC), the Clements taxonomy, and the South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society, the spot-winged pigeon has two subspecies, the nominate P. m. maculosa and P. m. albipennis, . The Handbook of the Birds of the World treats the latter as a separate species, white-winged pigeon.


The two subspecies of spot-winged pigeon differ significantly in their plumage. The nominate P. m. maculosa is 32 to 33 cm (13 to 13 in) long and weighs 308 to 347 g (10.9 to 12.2 oz). The adult male's forehead, crown, nape, hindneck, and breast are mostly dull purplish pink and the rest of the head and underparts are gray. The upper back and wing coverts are dark brown and show creamy white spots. The wings are mostly black above and pale gray below. The lower back and rump are bluish gray and the tail dark gray. The adult female is similar but the head and neck are generally duller. The juvenile is also similar, but duller all over with drab gray head and breast.
P. m. albipennis is slightly larger, 33 to 34 cm (13 to 13 in) long. The adults' head, neck, rump, and the whole of the underparts are blue-gray with a purplish wash that is especially pronounced in the male. The upper back and wing coverts are gray-brown. The folded wing shows a conspicuous white band that contrasts with the otherwise dark wing. As in the nominate subspecies, the juvenile is a duller version of the adult.


Both subspecies of spot-winged pigeon typically feed in flocks on the ground. P. m. maculosa's diet is mostly seeds, including rice and sunflower, but it has been observed eating fruit and leaves. P. m. albipennis's diet has not been studied.


P. m. maculosa's song is "a rhythmic series of very hoarse-sounding coos...'cuuuuu uh-cuh-cuuuh...' repeated two or three times. Its call is "a repeated growling 'grwhoh'". P. m. albipennis's song is "a gruff 'rrrrrow grr-g’RRRR grr-g’RRRR grr-g’RRRR'" and its call a "short 'corw'".


The IUCN treats P. m. maculosa and P. m. albipennis as separate species, and has assessed both at being of Least Concern. P. m. maculosa is common and widespread in the southern part of its range, and its population might be increasing. P. m. albipennis is distributed more locally, but its population might also be growing.


Patalene olyzonaria, the juniper-twig geometer, is a moth of the  family Geometridae. It is found from Quebec and New Hampshire to Florida, west to Texas, north to Wisconsin.
The wingspan is 21–25 mm. Adults are on wing from April to November. There are two to three generations per year.
The larvae feed on Juniperus species and at times Thuja occidentalis and possibly Pinus.


Patania ruralis, the mother of pearl moth,  is a species of moth of the family Crambidae. It was described by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in 1763. It is found in Europe.
The wingspan is 26–40 millimetres (1.0–1.6 in). The forewings are pale whitish-ochreous, yellowish-tinged; a grey subcostal suffusion and connected orbicular dot; lines rather dark grey, first straight, second serrate, curved, strongly broken inwards beneath middle; a dark grey discal mark, nearly followed by a grey blotch; a grey terminal band, edge parallel to second line. Hindwings with colour, discal mark, and posterior markings as in forewings. The larva is whitish green, sides greener; dorsal line darker; head green.
The moth flies from June to September depending on the location.
The larvae feed on stinging nettle and are notable for their rolling locomotion. Scientists used the rolling behavior of the caterpillar as a model to create next-generation robots that roll.


Paulownia tomentosa, common names princess tree, empress tree, or foxglove-tree, is a deciduous hardwood tree in the family Paulowniaceae, native to central and western China. It is an extremely fast-growing tree with seeds that disperse readily, and is a persistent exotic invasive species in North America, where it has undergone naturalisation in large areas of the Eastern US. P. tomentosa has also been introduced to Western and Central Europe, and is establishing itself as a naturalised species there as well.


The generic name Paulownia honours Anna Pavlovna of Russia, who was Queen Consort of the Netherlands from 1840 to 1849.  The specific epithet tomentosa is a Latin word meaning ‘covered in hairs’.


This tree grows 10–25 m (33–82 ft) tall, with large heart-shaped to five-lobed leaves 15–40 cm (6–16 in) across, arranged in opposite pairs on the stem. On young growth, the leaves may be in whorls of three and be much bigger than the leaves on more mature growth. The leaves can be mistaken for those of the catalpa.
The very fragrant flowers, large and violet-blue in colour are produced before the leaves in early spring, on panicles 10–30 centimetres (4–12 in) long, with a tubular purple corolla 4–6 centimetres (1+1⁄2–2+1⁄4 in) long resembling a foxglove flower. The fruit is a dry egg-shaped capsule 3–4 centimetres (1+1⁄8–1+5⁄8 in) long, containing numerous tiny seeds. The seeds are winged and disperse by wind and water. Pollarded trees do not produce flowers, as these form only on mature wood.
Paulownia tomentosa requires full sun for proper growth.  It is tolerant of pollution and can tolerate many soil types. It can also grow from small cracks in pavements and walls. Paulownia can survive wildfires because the roots can regenerate new, very fast-growing stems.


Anhui, Gansu, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Liaoning, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan


In August 2021 the EPPO added P. tomentosa to its Alert List, not due to any particular known problem within Europe, but as a step to begin assessing whether it should be regarded as a problematic invader.
Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France (including Corsica), Germany, Hungary, Italy (including Sardinia and Sicily), Slovenia, Switzerland, United Kingdom


Paulownia tomentosa is cultivated as an ornamental tree in parks and gardens. It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
Because of its tolerance and flexibility, Paulownia functions ecologically as a pioneer plant. Its nitrogen-rich leaves provide good fodder and its roots prevent soil erosion. Eventually, Paulownia is succeeded by taller trees that shade it and in whose shade it cannot thrive.
The characteristic large size of the young growth is exploited by gardeners: by pollarding the tree and ensuring there is vigorous new growth every year, massive leaves are produced (up to 60 centimetres (24 in) across). These are popular in the modern style of gardening which uses large-foliaged and "architectural" plants.
The soft, lightweight seeds were commonly used as a packing material by Chinese porcelain exporters in the 19th century, before the development of polystyrene packaging. Packing cases would often leak or burst open in transit and scatter the seeds along rail tracks. The magnitude of the numbers of seeds used for packaging, together with seeds deliberately planted for ornament, has allowed the species to be viewed as an invasive species in areas where the climate is suitable for its growth, notably Japan and the eastern United States.
In Japan, where the tree's name of Princess Tree originates, its name stems from the practice of planting seeds of the tree when a couple has a daughter; it is said that by the time the daughter is in her older teens or at the peak of adulthood when she is ready to marry, the tree by this time has also grown to maturity, which is then felled and made into a tansu dresser as a wedding gift.
P. tomentosa has been suggested as a plant to use in carbon capture projects, as it is capable of C4 carbon fixation. P. tomentosa displays markedly efficient photosynthesis, has large leaves that readily absorb pollutants, and also has value in timber and aesthetics, adding to interest surrounding its use in carbon capture.


Some geranyl flavonoids can be found in P. tomentosa.
Verbascoside can also be produced in hairy roots cultures of P. tomentosa.


The Indian peafowl (Pavo cristatus), also known as the common peafowl, and blue peafowl, is a peafowl species native to the Indian subcontinent. It has been introduced to many other countries.  Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female peafowl are referred to as peahens, even though peafowl of either sex are often referred to colloquially as "peacocks".
Indian peafowl display a marked form of sexual dimorphism. The peacock is brightly coloured, with a predominantly blue fan-like crest of spatula-tipped wire-like feathers and is best known for the long train made up of elongated upper-tail covert feathers which bear colourful eyespots. These stiff feathers are raised into a fan and quivered in a display during courtship. Despite the length and size of these covert feathers, peacocks are still capable of flight. Peahens lack the train, have a white face and iridescent green lower neck, and dull brown plumage. The Indian peafowl lives mainly on the ground in open forest or on land under cultivation where they forage for berries, grains but also prey on snakes, lizards, and small rodents. Their loud calls make them easy to detect, and in forest areas often indicate the presence of a predator such as a tiger. They forage on the ground in small groups and usually try to escape on foot through undergrowth and avoid flying, though they fly into tall trees to roost.
The function of the peacock's elaborate train has been debated for over a century. In the 19th century, Charles Darwin found it a puzzle, hard to explain through ordinary natural selection. His later explanation, sexual selection, is widely but not universally accepted. In the 20th century, Amotz Zahavi argued that the train was a handicap, and that males were honestly signalling their fitness in proportion to the splendour of their trains. Despite extensive study, opinions remain divided on the mechanisms involved.
The bird is celebrated in Hindu and Greek mythology and is the national bird of India. The Indian peafowl is listed as of Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.


Carl Linnaeus in his work Systema Naturae in 1758 assigned to the Indian peafowl the technical name of Pavo cristatus (means "crested peafowl" in classical Latin).
The earliest usage of the word in written English is from around 1300 and spelling variants include pecok, pekok, pecokk, peacocke, peocock, pyckock, poucock, pocok, pokok, pokokke, and poocok among others. The current spelling was established in the late 17th century. Chaucer (1343–1400) used the word to refer to a proud and ostentatious person in his simile "proud a pekok" in Troilus and Criseyde (Book I, line 210).
The Greek word for peacock was taos and was related to the Persian "tavus" (as in Takht-i-Tâvus for the famed Peacock Throne). The Ancient Hebrew word tuki (plural tukkiyim) has been said to have been derived from the Tamil tokei but sometimes traced to the Egyptian tekh. In modern Hebrew the word for peacock is "tavas". In Sanskrit, the peacock is known as Mayura and is associated with the killing of snakes.


Paxistima myrsinites (Oregon boxleaf, Oregon boxwood, mountain lover, box, or hedge, false box, myrtle box leaf; syn. Pachistima myrsinites)  is a species of shrub in the family Celastraceae. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to northern Mexico to the Rocky Mountains, where it grows in forests, often in the understory.


Paxistima myrsinites is a low prostrate or spreading evergreen shrub growing to a meter in maximum height. The stems have many four-angled branches lined with oppositely arranged oval leaves roughly 1 to 3 centimeters long. The leaves are thick, leathery, toothed, and pointed or round-tipped. They are light green when new and shiny dark green when mature. Blossoming occurs from June to August.  The inflorescences occur in the leaf axils, where there appears a single flower or cluster of up to three. The small flat flower has four dark red oval petals about a millimeter long. The fruit is an oblong capsule under a centimeter long containing usually one seed in each of its two valves. The seed is dark and shiny and partly covered in a white aril. The shrub reproduces via seed, but it can also be propagated with cuttings.


The wild shrub is a good food source for wild animals such as elk, moose, which browse its evergreen leaves in the winter,  and grouse.


Paxistima myrsinites has been utilized by Native American groups for various medicinal and ceremonial uses.


Pectis papposa is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is native to North America, where it occurs in the southwestern United States as far east as Texas, and in northern Mexico. Common names include cinchweed, common chinchweed, many-bristle chinchweed, and many-bristle fetid-marigold.
This is a host plant of the beet leafhopper.


It can be found in Mexican markets sold as limoncillo. It is used in moderation to flavor meat.


The Seri call the plant casol, casol heecto ("small casol"), casol ihasii tiipe ("fragrant casol"), and  cacatajc ("what causes vomiting") and use it medicinally. The Pima use a decoction of the plant or the dried plant itself as a laxative. The Zuni people take an infusion of the whole plant as a carminative, and use an infusion of the flowers as eye drops for snowblindness. They also use the chewed flowers as perfume before dancing in ceremonies of "the secret fraternities". The Havasupai parch and grind the seeds and use them to make mush and soup. They also dip the fresh plant in salt water and eat it with mush or cornmeal as a condiment. The Pueblo use it as a spice.


Pedicularis canadensis, commonly called Canadian lousewort or wood betony, is a flowering plant in the family Orobanchaceae. It is native to North America, where it is found in southeastern Canada, the eastern United States, and eastern Mexico. It has a wide-ranging natural habitat, being found in mesic to dry, forests, woodlands, and prairies.


Pedicularis canadensis is a perennial, clonal, herbaceous plant, growing to 30 cm (12 in) tall. It has long, soft, hairy leaves (many are basal, growing tufted from roots), some 12 to 36 cm (4.7 to 14.2 in) long, deeply incised and toothed, often reddish-purple under sunlight. It blooms in the spring to summer, between April and June. It produces a broad whorl of tubular, hooded flowers on top of a segmented stalk. The flowers range in color from a greenish-yellow to purplish-red, clustered on short, dense spikes. They are pollinated by bumblebees. The fruit is a long brown seed capsule, which disperses through explosive dehiscence.


The genus name Pedicularis is from Latin meaning "of or relating to lice", from the belief that cows caught lice when grazing in pastures with the European Pedicularis palustris. The specific epithet canadensis refers to Canada. It was formerly included in the family Scrophulariaceae but is now considered to be in Orobanchaceae.
Two subspecies are accepted:
Pedicularis canadensis subsp. canadensis — broadly distributed
Pedicularis canadensis subsp. fluviatilis (A.Heller) W.A.Weber — restricted to northern New Mexico and Colorado


Wood betony is broadly distributed across eastern North America, from Quebec west to Manitoba, south to Mexico, and east to Florida. It occurs in a variety of habitats, including mesic to dry prairies, savannas, barrens, and woodlands. In the Chicago area it is considered a conservative species, with a coefficient of conservatism of 9.


Pedicularis canadensis is a hemiparasite, attaching to the roots of diverse species, but also producing chlorophyll on its own. Its roots also have a symbiotic relationship with a fungus that helps it gather nutrients. It has been used in prairie restoration projects to reduce the dominance of aggressive tallgrasses.
A leaf beetle, Capraita circumdata has been collected from inside of the flowers. Several ants have been recorded visiting the flowers, including: Crematogaster cerasi, Formica incerta, Formica subsericea, and Lasius alienus. Bees documented visiting the flowers of wood betony include Augochlorella aurata, Bombus auricomus, Bombus bimaculatus, Bombus fervidus, Bombus griseocollis, Bombus impatiens, Bombus vagans, Halictus  confusus, and Lasioglossum anomalum.


This plant was eaten by the Iroquois as a vegetable, often as a soup. It was added to oats and used as horse feed by Native Americans.
American Indians used a root infusion as a remedy for stomachaches, diarrhea, anemia and heart trouble and made a poultice for swellings, tumors and sore muscles.


The Menomini called the root "enticer root" and carried it as a charm when determined on seducing the opposite sex. The root was also used to heal broken marriages by placing it in food the couple would both eat, hoping its magic would rekindle romance.


Pedicularis densiflora, known commonly as Indian warrior or warrior's plume, is a plant in the family Orobanchaceae.
Indian warrior is native to California and Oregon in western North America and is found in chaparral, forests, California oak woodlands at low elevations.


Pedicularis densiflora is a perennial herb with stout, green or sometimes reddish or magenta stems and fern-shaped leaves, and long spikes of deep red to bright pink flowers with toothed petals.
Like others of its genus, it is a root parasitic plant, attaching to the roots of other plants to obtain nutrients and water. This species is a facultative parasite, or hemiparasite, in that it can live without attaching to another plant but will parasitize if presented with the opportunity. It often parasitizes plants of the heath family, such as manzanita.


Pedicularis racemosa is a species of flowering plant in the family Orobanchaceae known by the common names sickletop lousewort and leafy lousewort. It is native to western North America, where it grows in coniferous forests. This is a perennial herb producing several stems up to 80 centimetres (31 in) tall, greenish to dark red in color. The leaves are up to 10 centimetres (4 in) long, linear in shape and lined with teeth. The inflorescence is a small raceme of flowers occupying the top of the stem. Each white to light purple or yellow flower is up to 1.6 centimetres (2⁄3 in) long and is divided into a curved or coiled beak-like upper lip and a wide three-lobed lower lip. The fruit is a capsule over a centimeter in length containing smooth seeds.


Pedicularis semibarbata, known by the common name pinewoods lousewort, is a species of flowering plant in the family Orobanchaceae.
It is native to California and Nevada. It can often be found in coniferous forests of the Peninsular Ranges, Sierra Nevada, and Transverse Ranges.


Pedicularis semibarbata is a perennial herb producing several stems up to 20 centimeters long from a caudex, but most of the stem is beneath the soil and the plant is low on the ground. The leaves are up to 20 centimeters long, lance-shaped shape and divided into many toothed or lobed segments.
The inflorescence is a raceme of flowers with hairy bracts and sepals surrounding the flower bases. Each hairy red- or purple-tinged yellow flower is club-shaped and may exceed 2 centimeters in length. Toward the middle it is divided into a broad hooded upper lip and a three-lobed lower lip.
Parasitic plant
Like many species in the broomrape family, the lousewort is a root-parasite. This species taps nutrients from conifers and the lupine Lupinus fulcratus.
Some authors recognize the Pedicularis semibarbata subtaxon charlestonensis, which is endemic to Nevada.


Pedicularis verticillata, the whorled lousewort, is a species of flowering plant in the family Orobanchaceae which can be found in Alaska, North-Western Canada, and everywhere in China at the elevation of 2,100–4,400 metres (6,900–14,400 ft). Its native habitats include moist meadows and lakeshores.


The plant is a perennial herb and is 15–35 centimetres (5.9–13.8 in) high. The stems are erect at the center and have hairs which come in four lines. It leaves carry 3 centimetres (1.2 in) long petioles which are white coloured while its leaf-blades are oblong, lanceolate and are 2.5–3 centimetres (0.98–1.18 in) by 1–1.2 centimetres (0.39–0.47 in) (sometimes they are as wide as 1.8 centimetres (0.71 in)). Both stem and basal leaves are of the same length while the species' calyx is red and is 6 millimetres (0.24 in) long and is ovoid. Raceme is inflorescent and dense, with white coloured flowers. It corolla is of purple colour and is 1.3 centimetres (0.51 in) with right tube being bent. The galea is falcate,  5 millimetres (0.20 in) long and rounded at the front. The plant' capsule is 1–1.5 centimetres (0.39–0.59 in) by 4–5 millimetres (0.16–0.20 in), and is both apiculate and lanceolate with the seeds being 1.8 millimetres (0.071 in) long.


Pelargonium capitatum is one of several species (including Pelargonium graveolens) known as rose geranium or rose-scented pelargonium in English. The popular names refer to the scent of the essential oils extracted from glandular tissue, not the flowers, which have hardly any scent to speak of. Some of the species are known as kusmalva (meaning, roughly, "coastal geranium") in Afrikaans.
It is in the subgenus Pelargonium along with Pelargonium graveolens, Pelargonium tomentosum and Pelargonium crispum.


Pelargonium comes from the Greek pelargos, which means stork. Another name for pelargoniums is storksbills due to the shape of their fruit. The epithet capitatum refers to the head-shaped flowers leaves.


Pelargonium capitatum is a low shrub up to about 100 cm (39 in) in height and 1.5 m across. The stems are soft and coated in green, glandular hairs. Brushing against a bush releases a copious scent of the essential oil from damaged hairs. The scent varies from  faint sweetness to a strong rosy scent. The flowers range from white through various shades of pink to purple. Its preferred habitat is on sand dunes, but it is a fast grower on any reasonable base, including hard clayey soil, so it readily colonises disturbed habitat. Pelargonium capitatum is one of a number of related plants that  have become a major problem in coastal regions of southwest Western Australia, where it invades banksia woodland and coastal heathland. It can be easily propagated from seed or cuttings, and grows best in well-drained sandy soils.


It is found in fynbos along the coast of South Africa, from Lamberts Bay in the Western Cape east to Kwazulu-Natal. Its habitat is usually beach sand or other well-drained sandy soils. It is a popular and convenient ornamental plant and it also is one of the species of Pelargonium cultivated as a source of essential oils.


There are many cultivars and hybrids of Pelargonium capitatum as it hybridises readily with other species in the Pelargonium subgenus. These cultivars and hybrids include:
Pelargonium 'Atomic Snowflake' - A lemony rose scented variety with creamy variegated edges
Pelargonium 'Attar of Roses' - Perhaps the most well known of pelargonium cultivars, P. 'Attar of Roses' has a sweet rose/elderflower scent.
Pelargonium 'Pink Capitatum' - A common variety of P. capitatum. It has sweet rose/lemon/elderflower scented leaves.
Pelargonium 'Rober's Lemon Rose' - A lemon scented cultivar of P. capitatum. Possibly a hybrid between P. capitatum and P. × limoneum.
Pelargonium 'Round-Leaf Rose' - A Reddish-Pink flowered variety of P. capitatum with rose scented leaves.
Pelargonium × asperum - A rose scented hybrid between P. capitatum and Pelargonium radens. This hybrid is the most commonly used pelargonium in the perfume industry. Not to be confused with the sweet scented species Pelargonium asperum.


Pelargonium cucullatum is a hairy, upright, branching, perennial shrub, of 1–2 m (3.3–6.6 ft) high, that has been assigned to the cranesbill family. It sprouts new stems from the underground rootstock and becomes woody at its base. It has alternately set, sometimes slightly succulent leaves crowded near the top of the branches, with leaf stalks and flat to hood-shaped leaf blades, with a rounded broad triangular to kidney-shaped outline of about 4–5.5 cm (1+3⁄5–2+1⁄5 in) long and 5–9 cm (2–3+3⁄5 in) wide, often somewhat incised, the margin with irregular teeth. The white to purplish red, 5-merous, somewhat mirror symmetrical flowers grow in umbel-like clusters, and each contain mostly 7 fertile stamens and 3 infertile staminodes (best checked in the bud) of different length. P. cucullatum has been cultivated as a garden ornamental and house plant since the 17th century. It has been used to breed many modern pelargonium hybrids, notably the Regal pelargoniums. It is called hooded-leaf pelargonium or herba althaea in English and wildemalva in Afrikaans.


Pelargonium cucullatum is a hairy, upright, branching, perennial shrub of 1–2 m (3.3–6.6 ft) high, with a taproots and underground runners from which intermittent shoots arise. It is fragrant when rubbed. The branches are initially herbaceous and greyish green but become eventually woody and brown. These are 6–10 mm (0.24–0.39 in) in diameter, and have a sparse to dense covering of long, soft (villous) hairs or straight hairs all pointing in the same direction (also called strigose), and  some glandular hairs. The alternate leaves are crowding near the ends of branches and are hairy in the same manner as the branches. Each leaf is accompanied by two free, caducous, membranous, light green, ovate to narrowly ovate stipules of 5–10 mm (0.20–0.39 in) long and 3–7 mm (0.12–0.28 in) wide with a pointy tip, to the sides of the leaf stem. The leaf stem is mostly 20–55 mm (0.79–2.17 in) long (full range 8–90 mm (0.31–3.54 in)), with a groove on the somewhat flattened upper side. The undivided leaf blade is flat to cup-shaped, with a firm to somewhat succulent, rounded, broadly triangular to kidney-shaped outline of about 4–5.5 cm (1+3⁄5–2+1⁄5 in) long and 5–9 cm (2–3+3⁄5 in) wide, often somewhat incised, the margin with irregular teeth, particularly near the base, occasionally accentuated by a red line or a row of hairs, and a heart-shaped to wedge-shaped base. The veins are sunken below the upper leaf surface but stick out on the lower leaf surface.
The inflorescence is a branched flowering stem that bears up to 4 umbels with mostly 3-9, but sometimes as few as only one or as much as 13 flowers each. The flowering stem bears one or two small leaves and two to four green bracts at each branching. These bracts are oval to broadly oval with a pointy tip, 5–9 mm (0.20–0.35 in) long and 2–4 mm (0.079–0.157 in) wide, ovate  to  broadly  ovate  with  acute  apices, sparsely pilose to villous (especially abaxially and at the margins). The stems carrying the umbels (called peduncles) are green or tinged red, with many soft hairs and fewer glandular hairs, mostly 3–6 cm (1.2–2.4 in) long (full range 2–7 cm (0.79–2.76 in)) mm long. The peduncles are sometimes slightly curved when the flowers are stil the in bud, become upright when the flowers are open, and recurve or nod after flowering. The stems of the individual flowers (or pedicels) are green or reddish brown, felty hairy and 2–7 mm (0.079–0.276 in) or rarely up to 11 mm (0.43 in) mm long.
As in all Pelargonium species, the posterior sepal is fused with the pedicel forming the nectary tube or hypanthium, and in P. cucullatum, it is 5–12 mm (0.20–0.47 in) long, felty hairy, green or reddish brown. The five sepals are felty hairy, green or reddish brown in colour, 12–20 mm (0.47–0.79 in) long and 2–6 mm (0.079–0.236 in) wide, narrowly elliptic to elliptic with pointy tips. The five petals are dark pinkish, light pink or rarely white in colour, 15–32 mm (0.59–1.26 in) long and 6–17 mm (0.24–0.67 in) wide. Two larger petals on the upper side of the flower are asymmetric inverted egg-shaped, with dark purple streaks and a reddish purple tinge at the base that dissolves in reddish purple patches. The three lower and smaller petals are narrowly elliptic to inverted egg-shaped, 15–28 mm (0.59–1.10 in) long and 6–12 mm (0.24–0.47 in) wide, and marked reddish purple. The 10 filaments are white to pale pink in colour and merged at base. The filaments differ in length. Mostly 7 (rarely fewer) of them carry 2–3 mm (0.079–0.118 in) long, purple anthers, fixed at the centre that open with a slit towards the centre of the flower, exposing orange pollen. Two are 12–18 mm (0.47–0.71 in), two 10–16 mm (0.39–0.63 in), two 8–13 mm (0.31–0.51 in) and one 11–15 mm (0.43–0.59 in) long. Three (rarely more) are staminodes that lack anthers and are 5–10 mm (0.20–0.39 in) long. The reddish purple style is 6–9 mm (0.24–0.35 in) long, with few long, straight, soft, hairs in the lower half and five dark reddish purple stigmas of 2–4 mm (0.079–0.157 in) long. The fruits each consist of five mericarps of 15–31 mm (0.59–1.22 in) long, with a capsule at base of 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in) long and a tail of 11–25 mm (0.43–0.98 in) long. The capsules contain one seed each of 3–4 mm (0.12–0.16 in) long.


The hooded-leaf pelargonium was first collected for science by Dutch botanist Paul Hermann in 1672, and was probably found on the slopes of Table Mountain. As far as known, William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland was the first to grow the species in Europe in 1690. The "father of modern taxonomy", Carl Linnaeus described the species in the Hortus Kewensis, a book by William Aiton that was published in 1789, based on a specimen collected somewhere in Africa,
without precise locality, that was illustrated in the Hortus Cliffortianus. Charles Louis L'Héritier de Brutelle assigned it to his genus Pelargonium, creating the new name Pelargonium cucullatum.
Linnaeus had described Geranium cucullatum already in 1753 in the first edition of the Species Plantarum, but it was based on a mix of material of the subspecies cucullatum and strigifolium, making it unfit to base the name of the species or any of these two subspecies on. Charles L'Héritier assigned the mix collection also to Pelargonium cucullatum. In 1891, Otto Kuntze reassigned it again, creating the combination Geraniospermum cucullatum.
In 1759, Nicolaas Laurens Burman distinguished a Geranium cucullatum var. fimbriatum. Phillip Miller, chief gardener at the Chelsea Physic Garden, described Geranium angulosum in the 8th edition of The Gardeners Dictionary in 1768. Charles L'Héritier assigned it to the genus Pelargonium, making the new combination Pelargonium angulosum in the Hortus Kewensis in 1789. In 1891, Otto Kuntze reassigned it again, creating the combination Geraniospermum angulosum. Spanish botanist Antonio José Cavanilles described and illustrated Pelargonium acerifolium in his Monadelphiae Classis Dissertationes Decem. Diss. 4, Quarta Dissertatio Botanica, De Geranio of 1787. Volschenk, Van der Walt & Vorster in their 1982 revision of Pelargonium cucullatum considered all of these names synonymous to subsp. cucullatum.
Charles L'Héritier also distinguished Pelargonium acerifolium in the Hortus Kewensis in 1789. This is not the same plant as Cavanilles had described under the same name two years earlier. William Henry Harvey in 1860 reduced it in 1860 to a variety of L'Héritier's species Pelargonium angulosum. Volschenk, Van der Walt & Vorster renamed it in 1982 to subsp. strigifolium.
Volschenk in the same revision of the species distinguished a new subspecies that he called Pelargonium cucullatum subsp. tabulare.
Pelargonium cucullatum is the type species of the section Pelargonium, the subgenus Pelargonium, and the genus Pelargonium. A recent comparison of homologous DNA resulted in the following relationship tree:
The name of the species cucullatum is Latin and means "hood", which refers to the cupped leaves.


All three subspecies grow in fynbos vegetation. Subspecies cucullatum occurs on the east coast of the Cape Peninsula and the Kogelberg, growing on sandy and well-drained soil that receives 400–800 mm (16–31 in) precipitation per year. The largest population of subsp. tabulare can be found on the south and west coast, and the inland of the Cape Peninsula, but it also occurs around Saldanha Bay. The subsp. strigifolium, is a montane taxon that can be found from near Caledon in the Kleinrivier Mountains in the east to the Hottentots Holland Mountains in the west, and from Baardskeerdersbos in the south to around Bainskloof in the north. It occurs on a variety of soils derived from sandstone, shale, tillite and granite, always above about 300 m (980 ft) altitude, receiving 600–1,000 mm (24–39 in) precipitation annually. The populations of all three subspecies of Pelargonium cucullatum in the wild are stable and their continued survival is considered to be of least concern.


The stork-billed kingfisher (Pelargopsis capensis), is a tree kingfisher which is widely but sparsely distributed in the tropical Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India to Indonesia. This kingfisher is resident throughout its range.
It is a very large kingfisher, measuring 35 cm (14 in) in length. The adult has a green back, blue wings and tail, and olive-brown head. Its underparts and neck are buff. The very large bill and legs are bright red. The flight of the stork-billed kingfisher is laboured and flapping, but direct. Sexes are similar. There are 13 races or subspecies, differing mostly in plumage detail, but P. c. gigantea of the Sulu Archipelago in the Philippines has a white head, neck and underparts. The call of this noisy kingfisher is a low and far reaching peer-por-por repeated about every 5 seconds, as well cackling ke-ke-ke-ke-ke-ke.
The stork-billed kingfisher lives in a variety of well-wooded habitats near lakes, rivers, or coasts. It perches quietly whilst seeking food, and is often inconspicuous despite its size. It is territorial and will chase away eagles and other large predators. This species hunts fish, frogs, crabs, rodents and young birds.
Adults dig their nests in river banks, decaying trees, or tree termite nests. A clutch of two to five round white eggs is typical.


The first formal description of the stork-billed kingfisher was by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1766 in the 12th edition of his Systema Naturae. He coined the binomial name Alcedo capensis. Linnaeus based his description on Mathurin Jacques Brisson's "Le martin-pescheur du Cap de Bonne Espérance". Brisson believed his specimen had come from the Cape of Good Hope region of South Africa. The species does not occur in Africa and it was suggested that the specimen had been obtained on the Indonesian island of Java. The specimen is now known to have come from near Chandannagar in West Bengal, India. Linnaeus's specific epithet capensis denotes the Cape of Good Hope. The current genus Pelargopsis was introduced by the German zoologist Constantin Gloger in 1841.
Thirteen subspecies are recognised:
P. c. capensis (Linnaeus, 1766) – Nepal through India to Sri Lanka
P. c. osmastoni (Baker, ECS, 1934) – Andaman Islands
P. c. intermedia Hume, 1874 – Nicobar Islands
P. c. burmanica Sharpe, 1870 – Myanmar to Indochina and south to north Malay Peninsula
P. c. malaccensis Sharpe, 1870 – central and south Malay Peninsula, Riau Archipelago and Lingga Islands
P. c. cyanopteryx (Oberholser, 1909) – Sumatra, Bangka Island and Belitung Island
P. c. simalurensis Richmond, 1903 – Simeulue Island  (off the west coast of the island of Sumatra in Indonesia)
P. c. sodalis Richmond, 1903 – Banyak, Nias, Batu and Mentawai Islands (off the west coast of Sumatra)
P. c. innominata (van Oort, 1910) – Borneo
P. c. javana (Boddaert, 1783) – Java
P. c. floresiana Sharpe, 1870 – Bali to Flores  (Lesser Sunda Islands)
P. c. gouldi Sharpe, 1870 – north Philippines
P. c. gigantea Walden, 1874 – central and south Philippines
The insular forms nesoeca on the Nias and Batu Islands as well as isoptera on Mentawai Island are here subsumed within sodalis. Prior to the change of type locality to Chandannagar, the birds in India were placed in the subspecies gurial but this race is now synonymized with the nominate race capensis.


The Australian pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus) is a large waterbird in  the family Pelecanidae, widespread on the inland and coastal waters of Australia and New Guinea, also in Fiji, parts of Indonesia and as a vagrant in New Zealand. It is a predominantly white bird with black wings and a pink bill. It has been recorded as having the longest bill of any living bird. It mainly eats fish, but will also consume birds and scavenge for scraps if the opportunity arises.


The Australian pelican was first described by Dutch naturalist Coenraad Jacob Temminck in 1824. Its specific epithet is derived from the Latin verb conspicere, meaning 'to behold', and refers to the 'spectacled' appearance created by its conspicuous eye markings.


The Australian pelican is medium-sized by pelican standards, with a wingspan of 2.3 to 2.6 m (7.5 to 8.5 ft). Weight can range from 4 to 13 kg (8.8 to 28.7 lb), although most of these pelicans weigh between 4.54 and 7.7 kg (10.0 and 17.0 lb). The average weight of four unsexed Australian pelicans was 5.5 kg (12 lb), making this the second heaviest Australian flying bird species on average, after the brolga, although the male of the more sexually dimorphic Australian bustard weighs a bit more at average and maximum weights (both birds are, of course, much smaller than the cassowary and emu). The pale, pinkish bill is enormous, even by pelican standards, and is the largest bill in the avian world. The record-sized bill was 50 cm (20 in) long. Females are slightly smaller with a notably smaller bill, which can measure as small as 34.6 cm (13.6 in) at maturity. The total length is boosted by the bill to 152–188 cm (60–74 in), which makes it rank alongside the Dalmatian pelican as the longest of pelicans.
Overall, the Australian pelican is predominantly white in colour. There is a white panel on the upper-wing and a white-V on the rump set against black along the primaries. During courtship, the orbital skin and distal quarter of the bill are orange-coloured with the pouch variously turning dark blue, pink and scarlet. The non-breeding adult has its bill and eye-ring a pale yellow and the pouch is a pale pinkish. Juvenile birds are similar to the adults, but with black replaced with brown and the white patch on upper wing reduced. Overall, their appearance is somewhat similar to several other pelicans, though the species is allopatric.


This species can occur in large expanses of mainland Australia and Tasmania. Australian pelicans occur primarily in large expanses of open water without dense aquatic vegetation. The habitats that can support them include large lakes, reservoirs, billabongs and rivers, as well as estuaries, swamps, temporarily flooded areas in arid zones, drainage channels in farmland, salt evaporation ponds and coastal lagoons. The surrounding environment is unimportant: it can be forest, grassland, desert, estuarine mudflats, an ornamental city park, or industrial wasteland, provided only that there is open water able to support a sufficient supply of food. However, they do seem to prefer areas where disturbance is relatively low while breeding. They may also roost on mudflats, sandbars, beaches, reefs, jetties and pilings.
The species became first known to occur in New Zealand from a specimen shot at Jerusalem in 1890 and small numbers of subfossil bones, the first found at Lake Grassmere in 1947, followed by records of other stray individuals. The bones were later described as a new (sub)species, Pelecanus (conspicillatus) novaezealandiae (Scarlett, 1966: "New Zealand pelican") as they appeared to be larger, but Worthy (1998), reviewing new material, determined that they were not separable from the Australian population. These fossils were first found in 1930.
Australian pelicans follow no particular schedule of regular movement, simply following the availability of food supplies. Drought frequently precedes movements. When the normally barren Lake Eyre filled during 1974 to 1976, for example, only a handful of pelicans remained around the coastal cities: when the great inland lakes dried again, the population dispersed once more, flocks of thousands being seen on the northern coasts. On some occasions, they are simply blown by the wind to new locations.  It is a fairly regular visitor to the southern coast of New Guinea, as well as the Bismarck Islands and Solomon Islands. It occurs as a vagrant to Christmas Island, Vanuatu, Fiji, Palau and New Zealand. A population irruption occurred in 1978 into Indonesia, with Australian pelicans reaching Sulawesi, Java and possibly also Sumatra.


Australian pelicans feed by plunge-diving while swimming on the surface of the water. They work in groups to drive fish to shallower water, where they stick their sensitive bills in to snatch their prey. Some feeding grounds in large bodies of water have included up to 1,900 individual birds. They will sometimes also forage solitarily. Their predominant prey is fish and they commonly feed on introduced species such as goldfish, European carp and European perch. When possible, they also eat native fish, with a seeming preference for the perch Leiopotherapon unicolor. However, the Australian pelican seems to be less of a piscivore and more catholic in taste than other pelicans. It regularly feeds on insects and many aquatic crustaceans, especially the common yabby and the shrimps in the genus Macrobrachium. This pelican also takes other birds with some frequency, such as silver gulls, Australian white ibis and grey teal, including eggs, nestlings, fledglings and adults, which they may kill by pinning them underwater and drowning them. Reptiles and amphibians are also taken when available. Reportedly even small dogs have been swallowed. The Australian pelican is an occasional kleptoparasite of other water birds, such as cormorants. Cannibalism of young pelicans has also been reported.


The Australian pelican begins breeding at two or three years of age. The breeding season varies, occurring in winter in tropical areas (north of 26°S) and spring in parts of southern Australia. Breeding may occur any time after rainfall in inland areas. The nest is a shallow depression in earth or sand, sometimes with some grass lining. Grassy platforms are constructed at Lake Alexandrina in South Australia. Rarely, slightly more elaborate nests have also been observed on top of Muehlenbeckia florulenta bushes. Nesting is communal, with colonies located on islands (such as the North Peron Island) or sheltered areas in the vicinity of lakes or the sea. Breeding Australian pelicans will lay one to four (typically two) chalky-white eggs measuring 93 mm × 57 mm (3.7 in × 2.2 in), which often appear scratched and dirty. The eggs are incubated for 32 to 35 days. The chicks are naked when they hatch, though quickly grow grey down feathers. After they hatch, the larger one will be fed more, and the smaller one will eventually die of starvation or siblicide. For the first two weeks the chicks will be fed regurgitated liquid, but for the remaining two months they will be fed fish and some invertebrates. Feeding pods are formed within colonies when the chicks are around 25 days. The young pelicans fledge at around three months of age.


The Australian pelican is not globally threatened. They are usually fairly common in proper habitats. At the aforementioned temporary inundation of Lake Eyre in March 1990, over 200,000 adult birds were found to be breeding. The species is legally protected and does not seem to be showing any immediate adverse effects from pollution.
In several areas, such as the beach at Monkey Mia, Western Australia and at The Entrance, New South Wales, pelicans may associate with humans and may even beg for hand-outs, but they are quite sensitive to human disturbances while nesting. They will readily adapt to artificial bodies of water such as reservoirs so long as there is no regular boating in them. Due to the popularity of open water sports, the habitat of the Australian pelican has suffered considerably less than more vegetated wetlands throughout Australia. The Australian pelican is evaluated as a least-concern species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.


The brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) is a bird of the pelican family, Pelecanidae, one of three species found in the Americas and one of two that feed by diving into water. It is found on the Atlantic Coast from New Jersey to the mouth of the Amazon River, and along the Pacific Coast from British Columbia to northern Chile, including the Galapagos Islands. The nominate subspecies in its breeding plumage has a white head with a yellowish wash on the crown. The nape and neck are dark maroon–brown. The upper sides of the neck have white lines along the base of the gular pouch, and the lower fore neck has a pale yellowish patch. The male and female are similar, but the female is slightly smaller. The nonbreeding adult has a white head and neck. The pink skin around the eyes becomes dull and gray in the nonbreeding season. It lacks any red hue, and the pouch is strongly olivaceous ochre-tinged and the legs are olivaceous gray to blackish-gray.
The brown pelican mainly feeds on fish, but occasionally eats amphibians, crustaceans, and the eggs and nestlings of birds. It nests in colonies in secluded areas, often on islands, vegetated land among sand dunes, thickets of shrubs and trees, and mangroves. Females lay two or three oval, chalky white eggs. Incubation takes 28 to 30 days with both sexes sharing duties. The newly hatched chicks are pink, turning gray or black within 4 to 14 days. About 63 days are needed for chicks to fledge. Six to 9 weeks after hatching, the juveniles leave the nest, and gather into small groups known as pods.
The brown pelican is the national bird of Saint Martin, Barbados, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and the Turks and Caicos Islands, and the official state bird of Louisiana, appearing on the flag, seal, or coat of arms of each. It has been rated as a species of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. It was listed under the United States Endangered Species Act from 1970 to 2009, as pesticides such as  dieldrin and DDT threatened its future in the Southeastern United States and California. In 1972, the use of DDT was banned in Florida, followed by the rest of the United States. Since then, the brown pelican's population has increased. In 1903, Theodore Roosevelt set aside the first National Wildlife Refuge, Florida's Pelican Island,  to protect the species from hunters.


The brown pelican was described by Swedish zoologist Carl Linnaeus in the 1766 12th edition of his Systema Naturae, where it was given the binomial name of Pelecanus occidentalis. It belongs to the New World clade of the genus Pelecanus.
Five subspecies of the brown pelican are recognized. These subspecies are genetically distinct despite a similar phenotype. Different habitats allow to recognize them. :
The brown pelican is part of a clade that includes the Peruvian pelican (P. thagus) and the American white pelican (P. erythrorhynchos). The Peruvian pelican was previously treated as a subspecies of the brown pelican, but is now considered a separate species on the basis of its much greater size (around double the weight of the brown pelican), differences in bill color and plumage, and a lack of hybridization between the forms despite a large range overlap. In contrast, hybridization between brown and white pelicans is possible.
In 1932, James L. Peters separated the American white pelican and the brown pelican (including the Peruvian pelican) into monospecific subgenera. This separation was also supported by Jean Dorst and Raoul J. Mougin in 1979. The spot-billed pelican and the pink-backed pelican were considered to be sister species by Andrew Elliott in 1992 and Joseph B. Nelson in 2005, and the divergence between the brown and the Peruvian pelicans was found to be the most in the pelican family. In 1993, Paul Johnsgard hypothesized that the pelicans derived from a south Asian or African ancestor, and spread through northern Asia and Australia before finally coming to North America. This hypothesis would imply that, unless the brown pelican and the American white pelican resulted from multiple invasions of North America, they would be sister taxa. However, trees derived from genetic data disagree. In 1990, Charles Sibley and John E. Ahlquist's Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Mean (UPGMA) tree based on DNA–DNA hybridization data found that the American white pelican, the pink-backed pelican, the great white pelican, and the Australian pelican were sister species, and the brown pelican was the most divergent of all.


The brown pelican is the smallest of the eight extant pelican species, but is often one of the larger seabirds in their range nonetheless. It measures 1 to 1.52 m (3 ft 3 in to 5 ft 0 in) in length and has a wingspan of 2.03 to 2.28 m (6 ft 8 in to 7 ft 6 in). The weight of adults can range from 2 to 5 kg (4.4 to 11.0 lb), about half the weight of the other pelicans found in the Americas, the Peruvian and American white pelicans. The average weight in Florida of 47 females was 3.17 kg (7.0 lb), while that of 56 males was 3.7 kg (8.2 lb). Like all pelicans, it has a very long bill, measuring 280 to 348 mm (11.0 to 13.7 in) in length.
The nominate subspecies in its breeding plumage has a white head with a yellowish wash on the crown. The nape and neck are dark maroon–brown. The upper sides of the neck have white lines along the base of the gular pouch, and the lower foreneck has a pale yellowish patch. The feathers at the center of the nape are elongated, forming short, deep chestnut crest feathers. It has a silvery gray mantle, scapulars, and upperwing coverts (feathers on the upper side of the wings), with a brownish tinge. The lesser coverts have dark bases, which gives the leading edge of the wing a streaky appearance. The uppertail coverts (feathers above the tail) are silvery white at the center, forming pale streaks. The median (between the greater and the lesser coverts), primary (connected to the distal forelimb), secondary (connected to the ulna), and greater coverts (feathers of the outermost, largest, row of upperwing coverts) are blackish, with the primaries having white shafts and the secondaries having variable silver-gray fringes. The tertials (feathers arising in the brachial region) are silver-gray with a brownish tinge. The underwing has grayish-brown remiges with white shafts to the outer primary feathers. The axillaries and covert feathers are dark, with a broad, silver–gray central area. The tail is dark gray with a variable silvery cast. The lower mandible is blackish, with a greenish-black gular pouch at the bottom for draining water when it scoops out prey. The breast and belly are dark, and the legs and feet black. It has a grayish white bill tinged with brown and intermixed with pale carmine spots. The crest is short and pale reddish-brown in color. The back, rump, and tail are streaked with gray and dark brown, sometimes with a rusty hue. The male and female are similar, but the female is slightly smaller. It is exceptionally buoyant due to the internal air sacks beneath its skin and in its bones. It is as graceful in the air as it is clumsy on land.
The nonbreeding adult has a white head and neck, and the pre-breeding adult has a creamy yellow head. The pink skin around the eyes becomes dull and gray in the non-breeding season. It lacks any red hue, and the pouch is strongly olivaceous ochre tinged and the legs are olivaceous gray to blackish-gray. It has pale blue to yellowish white irides which become brown during the breeding season. During courtship, the bill becomes pinkish red to pale orange, redder at the tip, and the pouch is blackish. Later in the breeding season the bill becomes pale ash-gray over most of the upper jaw and the basal third of the mandible.
The juvenile is similar, but is grayish-brown overall and has paler underparts. The head, neck, and thighs are dusky-brown, and the abdomen is dull white. The plumage of the male is similar to a fully adult female, although the male's head feathers are rather rigid. The tail and flight feathers are browner than those of the adult. It has short, brown upperwing coverts, which are often darker on greater coverts, and dull brownish-gray underwing coverts with a whitish band at the center. The irides are dark brown and the facial skin is bluish. It has a gray bill which is horn-yellow to orange near the tip, with a dark gray to pinkish-gray pouch. It acquires adult plumage at over 3 years of age, when the feathers on the neck become paler, the upperparts become striped, the greater upperwing and median coverts become grayer, and the belly acquires dark spots.
The brown pelican is readily distinguished from the American white pelican by its nonwhite plumage, smaller size, and habit of diving for fish from the air, as opposed to co-operative fishing from the surface. It and the Peruvian pelican are the only true marine pelican species.
The brown pelican produces a wide variety of harsh, grunting sounds, such as a low-pitched hrrraa-hrra, during displays. The adult also rarely emits a low croak, while young frequently squeal.


The brown pelican lives on the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific Coasts in the Americas. On the Atlantic Coast, it is found from the New Jersey coast to the mouth of the Amazon River. Along the Pacific Coast, it is found from British Columbia to south-central Chile, including the Galapagos Islands. After nesting, North American birds move in flocks further north along the coasts, returning to warmer waters for winter. In the non-breeding season, it is found as far north as Canada. It is a rare and irregular visitor south of the Piura in Peru, where generally it is replaced by the Peruvian pelican, and can occur as a non-breeding visitor south at least to Ica during El Niño years. Small numbers of brown pelicans have been recorded from Arica in far northern Chile. It is fairly common along the coast of California, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, the West Indies, and many Caribbean islands as far south as Guyana. Along the Gulf Coast, it inhabits Alabama, Texas, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Mexico.
The brown pelican is a strictly marine species, primarily inhabiting marine subtidal, warm estuarine, and marine pelagic waters. It is also found in mangrove swamps, and prefers shallow waters, especially near salty bays and beaches. It avoids the open sea, seldom venturing more than 20 miles from the coast. Some immature birds may stray to inland freshwater lakes. Its range may also overlap with the Peruvian pelican in some areas along the Pacific coast of South America. It roosts on rocks, water, rocky cliffs, piers, jetties, sand beaches, and mudflats.


Most brown pelican populations are resident (nonmigratory) and dispersive (species moving from its birth site to its breeding site, or its breeding site to another breeding site), although some migration is observed, especially in the northern areas of its range, but these movements are often erratic, depending on local conditions. Southwards, they are vagrants (found outside its usual range) in Tierra del Fuego. They have been recorded off the eastern coast of Brazil, in Alagoas. Rare inland vagrants, generally caused by hurricanes or El Niño phenomena, have been reported from the Colombian Andes. They were first recorded in July 2009 at the Interandean Valley where they remained for at least 161 days. There are four records far inland in Amazônia Legal along the Amazon River and its tributaries.


The brown pelican is a very gregarious bird; it lives in flocks of both sexes throughout the year. In level flight, brown pelicans fly in groups, with their heads held back on their shoulders and their bills resting on their folded necks. They may fly in a V formation, but usually in regular lines or single file, often low over the water's surface. To exclude water from the nasal passage, they have narrower internal regions of the nostrils.


The brown pelican is a piscivore, primarily feeding on fish.  Menhaden may account for 90% of its diet, and the anchovy supply is particularly important to the brown pelican's nesting success. Other fish preyed on with some regularity includes pigfish, pinfish, herring, sheepshead, silversides, mullets, sardines, minnows, and topminnows. Brown pelicans residing in Southern California rely especially heavily on pacific sardine as a major food source which can compose up to 26% of their diet, making them one of the top three predators of sardines in the area. Non-fish prey includes crustaceans, especially prawns, and it occasionally feeds on amphibians and the eggs and nestlings of birds (egrets, common murres and its own species).
As the brown pelican flies at a maximum height of 18 to 21 m (60 to 70 ft) above the ocean, it can spot schools of fish while flying. When foraging, it dives bill-first like a kingfisher, often submerging completely below the surface momentarily as it snaps up prey. Besides its sister species, the Peruvian pelican, this is the only pelican to primarily forage via diving, all other extant pelican merely float on the waters' surface when foraging. Upon surfacing, it spills the water from its throat pouch before swallowing its catch. Only the Peruvian pelican shares this active foraging style (although that species never dives from such a great height), while other pelicans forage more inactively by scooping up corralled fish while swimming on the water surface. It is an occasional target of kleptoparasitism by other fish-eating birds such as gulls, skuas, and frigatebirds. They are capable of drinking saline water due to the high capacity of its salt glands to excrete salt.


The brown pelican is a monogamous breeder within a breeding season, but does not pair for life. Nesting season peaks during March and April. The male chooses a nesting site and performs a display of head movements to attract a female. At the proposed nest site, major courtship displays such as head swaying, bowing, turning, and upright (standing on its legs without any support) are performed by both the sexes. They may also be accompanied by low raaa calls.
Once a pair forms a bond, overt communication between them is minimal. It is a colonial species, with some colonies maintained for many years. Probably owing to disturbance, tick infestation, or alteration in food supply, colonies frequently shift. It nests in secluded area, often on islands, vegetated spots among sand dunes, thickets of shrubs and trees, and in mangroves, although sometimes on cliffs, and less often in bushes or small trees. Nesting territories are clumped, as individual territories may be at a distance of just 1 m (3.3 ft) from each other. They are usually built by the female from reeds, leaves, pebbles, and sticks, and consist of feather-lined impressions protected with a 10 to 25 cm (3.9 to 9.8 in) rim of soil and debris. They are usually found 0.9 to 3 m (3 to 10 ft) above the ground. Renesting may occur if eggs are lost from the nest early in the breeding season.
There are usually two to three, or sometimes even four, oval eggs in a clutch, and only one brood is raised per year. The egg is chalky white, and can measure about 76 mm (3.0 in) in length and 51 mm (2.0 in) in width. Incubation takes 28 to 30 days with both sexes sharing duties, keeping the eggs warm by holding them on or under their webbed feet. It takes 28 to 30 days for the eggs to hatch, and about 63 days to fledge. After that, the juvenile leave the nest and gather into small groups known as pods. The newly hatched chicks are pink and weigh about 60 g (0.13 lb). Within 4 to 14 days, they turn gray or black. After that, they develop a coat of white, black or grayish down. Fledging success may be as high as 100% for the first hatched chick, 60% for the second chick, and just 6% for the third chick.
The parents regurgitate predigested food for the young to feed upon until they reach their fledging stage. After about 35 days, the young venture out of the nest by walking. The young start flying about 71 to 88 days after hatching. The adults remain with them until some time afterwards and continue to feed them. In the 8- to 10-month period during which they are cared for, the nestling pelicans are fed by regurgitated, partially digested food of around 70 kg (150 lb) of fish. The young reach sexual maturity (and full adult plumage) at anywhere from three to five years of age. A brown pelican has been recorded to have lived for over 31 years in captivity.


Predation is occasional at colonies, and predators of eggs and young (usually small nestlings are threatened but also occasionally up to fledgling size depending on the size of the predator) can include gulls, raptors (especially bald eagles), spiny-tailed iguanas, alligators, vultures, feral cats, feral dogs, raccoons, fish crows, and corvids. Predation is likely reduced if the colony is on an island. Although it is rare, bobcats have been documented eating both the offspring and injured adults. Predation on adult brown pelicans is rarely reported, but cases where they have fallen prey to bald eagles have been reported. Also, South American sea lions and unidentified large sharks have been observed to prey on adult brown pelicans by seizing them from beneath while the birds are sitting on ocean waters. The invasive red imported fire ant is known to prey on hatchlings. Like all pelicans, brown pelicans are highly sensitive to disturbances by humans (including tourists or fishermen) at their nests, and may even abandon their nests. Due to their size, non-nesting adults are rarely predated. Brown pelicans have several parasitic worms such as Petagiger, Echinochasmus, Phagicola longus, Mesostephanus appendiculatoides, Contracaecum multipapillatum, and Contracaecum bioccai, from its prey diet of black mullets, white mullets, and other fish species.


The brown pelican is now a staple of crowded coastal regions and is tolerated to varying degrees by fishermen and boaters. In the early twentieth century, hunting was a major cause of its death, and people still hunt adults for their feathers and collect eggs on the Caribbean coasts, in Latin America, and occasionally in the United States, even though it is protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.


The brown pelican is the national bird of Saint Martin, Barbados, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. In 1902, it was made a part of the official Louisiana seal and, in 1912, a pelican and her young became part of the Flag of Louisiana as well. One of Louisiana's state nicknames is "The Pelican State", and the brown pelican is the official state bird of Louisiana. It is one of the mascots of Tulane University, present on its seal, and is also present on the crest of the University of the West Indies. The National Basketball Association (NBA)'s New Orleans Pelicans are named in the honor of the brown pelican.
In the 1993 film The Pelican Brief, based on the novel of the same name by John Grisham, a legal brief speculates that the assassins of two supreme court justices were motivated by a desire to drill for oil on a Louisiana marshland that was a habitat of the endangered brown pelican. In the same year, Jurassic Park showed a pod of brown pelicans at the end of the film. In 1998, American conductor David Woodard performed a requiem for a California brown pelican on the seaward limit of the berm of a beach where the animal had fallen. In the 2003 Disney/Pixar film Finding Nemo, a brown pelican (voiced by Geoffrey Rush in an Australian accent) was illustrated as a friendly, virtuous talking character named Nigel.


Since 1988, the brown pelican has been rated as least concern on the IUCN Red List of Endangered species based on its large range—greater than 20,000 km² (7700 mi²)—and an increasing population trend. The population size is also well beyond the threshold for vulnerable species. The nominate race population is thought to number at least 290,000 in the West Indies, and 650,000 globally. In 1903, Theodore Roosevelt set aside Pelican Island, now known as Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, to solely protect the brown pelican from hunters.
Starting in the 1940s with the invention and extensive use of pesticides such as DDT, the brown pelican population had drastically declined due to a lack of breeding success. By the 1960s, it had almost disappeared along the Gulf Coast and, in southern California, it had suffered almost total reproductive failure, due to DDT usage in the United States. The brown pelican was listed under the United States Endangered Species Act from 1970 to 2009. A research group from the University of Tampa, headed by Ralph Schreiber, conducted research in Tampa Bay, and found that DDT caused the pelican eggshells to be too thin to support the embryo to maturity. In 1972, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) banned DDT usage in the United States and limited the use of other pesticides. There has been a decline in chemical contaminant levels in brown pelican eggs since then, and a corresponding increase in its nesting success. It became extinct in 1963 in Louisiana. Between 1968 and 1980, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries' reintroduction program re-established the brown pelican, and its population numbers in California and Texas were restored due to improved reproduction and natural recolonization of the species. By 1985, its population in the eastern United States, including Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, and northward along the Atlantic Coast, had recovered and the species was removed from the Endangered Species List. Its population has grown by about 68% per decade over a period of 40 years in North America, and this trend appears to be continuing. It is still listed as endangered in the Pacific Coast region of its range and in the southern and central United States. Although the United States Gulf Coast populations in Louisiana and Texas are still listed as endangered, they were recently estimated in 2009 about 12,000 breeding pairs.  Since that time the Deepwater Horizon oil spill has adversely affected populations, and current population figures are not available.


The brown pelican abundance has steadily recovered from the drastic population decreases in the 1940s, however bottom up control threatens the Southern California populations as food sources become diminished. It is common for forage fish populations to experience regular fluctuations, however there has been a consistent decrease in the Pacific sardine population beginning as early as 2014. In 2019 these declines were found to have reached levels which were a mere 10% of the highest reported abundances. Fluctuations in sardine populations have largely been attributed to bottom-up control, primarily including climate variability and ocean temperature. The significant decrease in pacific sardine population can be linked to the levels of nitrogen within their habitat, a limiting factor in plankton production. Pacific sardines in the California current system rely on wind driven upwelling to push cooler, nitrogen rich waters towards the surface, maintaining a sustainable, nutrient abundant environment. Continued environmental disruptions, such as El Niño, rising ocean temperatures, and increased commercial fishing, have drastic effects on nutrient cycling within the California current system, leading to lasting impacts on Pacific sardine productivity and reproductive success.
The brown pelican has been predicted to have high vulnerability to declining sardine populations . At the lowest levels of sardine abundance, the brown pelican population has been predicted to decline up to 50%. Even with a more moderate decline in sardine abundance (50% relative abundance), brown pelicans have been predicted to decrease by up to 27%. A recent decline in brown pelican breeding success coincides with the population decline of the Pacific sardine. Between 2014 and 2016, brown pelicans experienced a continuous breeding failure. These breeding failures have been characterized by decreased numbers of pelicans arriving at nesting colonies, large scale abandonment and early migration due to an inability to feed hatchlings, and sub-optimal breeding by those who do attempt to breed. Breeding success is greatly reduced by oceanic anomalies, specifically warm-phase anomalies that increase the intensity of upwellings. Increased upwellings disrupt marine productivity and forage fish availability. These trends have important implications for the health and conservation of brown pelicans, as well as other seabirds.
Seabirds have become increasingly important as an indicator species. They are often used in order to indirectly track changes in fish stocks, ecosystem health, and climate change. Environmental changes tend to have fast acting impacts on marine bird populations due to the simplicity of their trophic cascade, allowing for complex, long term trends in ecosystem health and resources to be easily realized and tracked. Brown pelicans have proven to be a useful indicator in determining the effects of the well established fishing industry in Southern California. Sardine fishery in the Gulf of California has been showing signs of overfishing since the early 1990s. Sardine population and abundance, however, is difficult to monitor and obtain indicators for. Since lacking food availability has negative implications for breeding success in seabirds, seabird diet and breeding success has been used to indirectly measure the population status of the fish they feed on. This model has been shown to work using brown pelicans as an indicator species. As the proportion of sardines in the brown pelicans diet decreases, the success of fisheries declines to a lesser extent. When eventually the sardine abundance has declined enough for brown pelicans to move away and begin feeding on other forage fish, commercial fishing still would be fishing in significant numbers. This indicates that even when fisheries are not seeing signs of declining sardine abundance, brown pelicans may have already been affected to the point of locating other food sources. This availability of sardines may decline even further during El Niño anomalies, when thermoclines prevent brown pelicans from reaching their prey. Brown pelican diet will mostly indicate declines in sardine abundance for fisheries during the same season, as brown pelicans feed mostly on the same adult fish that are commercially fished. Although brown pelicans serve as an important indicator species for fisheries, declining sardine abundance due to both climate changes and overfishing have huge implications on overall ecosystem health, within or outside the individual trophic cascade.


The film is set in Australia, although the Australian pelican is the only pelican known to occur in that country.


The spot-billed pelican (Pelecanus philippensis) or grey pelican is a member of the pelican family. It breeds in southern Asia from southern Iran across India east to Indonesia. It is a bird of large inland and coastal waters, especially large lakes. At a distance they are difficult to differentiate from other pelicans in the region although it is smaller but at close range the spots on the upper mandible, the lack of bright colours and the greyer plumage are distinctive. In some areas these birds nest in large colonies close to human habitations.


The spot-billed pelican is a . It is 125–152 cm (49–60 in) long and a weight of 4.1–6 kg (9.0–13.2 lb). It is mainly white, with a grey crest, hindneck and a brownish tail. The feathers on the hind neck are curly and form a greyish nape crest. The pouch is pink to purplish and has large pale spots, and is also spotted on the sides of the upper mandible. The tip of the bill (or nail) is yellow to orange. In breeding plumage, the skin at the base of the beak is dark and the orbital patch is pink. In flight they look not unlike the Dalmatian pelican but the tertials and inner secondaries are darker and a pale band runs along the greater coverts. The tail is rounder.
The newly hatched young are covered in white down. They then moult into a greyish speckled plumage. The spots on the bill appear only after a year. The full adult breeding plumage appears in their third year.


The species is found to breed only in peninsular India, Sri Lanka and in Cambodia. A few birds from India are known to winter in the Gangetic plains but reports of its presence in many other parts of the region such as the Maldives, Pakistan and Bangladesh has been questioned. The main habitat is in shallow lowland freshwaters. The spot-billed pelican is not migratory but are known to make local movements and are more widely distributed in the non-breeding season.
This species is a colonial breeder, often breeding in the company of other waterbirds. The nests are on low trees near wetlands and sometimes near human habitations. Many large breeding colonies have been recorded and several have disappeared over time. In June 1906, C E Rhenius visited a colony in Kundakulam in Tirunelveli district where the villages considered the birds semi-sacred. The same colony was revisited in 1944, and was found to have about 10 nests of pelicans and nearly 200 nests of painted stork.
The Sittang River in Burma was said by E W Oates to have "millions" of pelicans in 1877 and in 1929 E C Stuart Baker reported that they were still nesting in thousands along with greater adjutant storks:
The whole forest consisted of very large trees, but a portion, about one in twenty, was made up of wood-oil trees, gigantic fellows, 150 feet high and more, and with a smooth branchless trunk of 80 to 100 feet. These are the trees selected by the pelicans.
 I was out that day till 3 p.m., continually moving, and must have walked at least twenty miles in various directions, but never from first to last was 1 out of sight of either a Pelican's or Adjutant's nest. From what I saw, and from what the Burmans told me, I compute the breeding-place of these birds to extend over an area about twenty miles long and five broad.
— Oates (1877) quoted in Hume (1890)

This colony was however reported by B E Smythies to have disappeared between the 1930s and the 1940s.
Another colony was discovered in 1902 at a village called Buchupalle in the Cudappah district, where these pelicans nested along with painted storks during the month of March. This colony was never traced again. The Kolleru Lake colony was discovered by K K Neelakantan in 1946. Nearly 3000 pelicans nested in this colony at the time of discovery. This colony however disappeared around 1975.
Due to habitat loss and human disturbance, the spot-billed pelican's numbers have declined and many populations in Southeast Asia are now extinct. The specific name refers to the Philippines, where the species was abundant in the early 1900s but declined and become locally extinct in the 1960s. The populations in southern India are thought to be on the rise. Estimates suggest that increased protection has since enabled a recovery in their numbers and the status of the species was changed from vulnerable to near threatened in the 2007 IUCN Red List.


They are very silent although at their nests they can make hisses, grunts or snap their bills. Some early descriptions of nesting colonies have claimed them to be distinctive in their silence but most have noted colonies as noisy.
Like most other pelicans, it catches fish in its huge bill pouch while swimming at the surface. Unlike the great white pelican it does not form large feeding flocks and is usually found to fish singly or in small flocks. Groups may however sometimes line up and drive fish towards the shallows. When flying to their roosts or feeding areas, small groups fly in formation with steady flapping. During the hot part of the day, they often soar on thermals. They may forage at night to some extent.
The birds nest in colonies and the nest is a thick platform of twigs placed on a low tree. The breeding season varies from October to May. In Tamil Nadu, the breeding season follows the onset of the northeast monsoon. The courtship display of the males involves a distention of the pouch with swinging motions of the head up and down followed by sideways swings followed by the head being held back over the back. Bill claps may also be produced during the head swaying movements. The nests are usually built alongside other colonial waterbirds, particularly painted storks. Three to four chalky white eggs is the usual clutch. The eggs become dirty with age. Eggs hatch in about 30–33 days. The young stay in or near the nest from three to five months. In captivity the young are able to breed after two years. Like other pelicans, they cool themselves using gular fluttering and panting.
The trematode parasite Renicola pelecani was described from the kidneys of a specimen of a Sri Lankan spot-billed pelican that died at the London zoo.


This species was once used by fishermen in parts of eastern Bengal as decoys for certain fish. These fishermen believed that an oily secretion from the bird attracted certain fish such as Colisa and Anabas.
The propensity of these birds to nest close to human habitations has been noted from the time of T C Jerdon:
I have visited on Pelicanry in the Carnatic, where the Pelicans have (for ages I was told) built their rude nests, on rather low trees in the midst of a village, and seemed to care little for the close and constant proximity of human beings.
— Jerdon, 1864
Several colonies have since been discovered and while many of these have vanished others have been protected and a few villages with nesting colonies have become popular tourist attractions. Well known villages with colonies include Kokrebellur, Koothankulam and Uppalapadu.


The Peruvian pelican (Pelecanus thagus) is a member of the pelican family. It lives on the west coast of South America, breeding in loose colonies from about 33.5° in central Chile to Piura in northern Peru, and occurring as a visitor in southern Chile and Ecuador.


These birds are dark in colour with a white stripe from the top of the bill up to the crown and down the sides of the neck. They have long tufted feathers on the top of their heads. It was previously considered a subspecies of the brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis). The Peruvian pelican is considerably larger, ranging from about 5 to 7 kg (11–15 lb) in weight, 137 to 152 cm (4.5–5.0 ft) in length and with a wingspan of about 228 cm (7.5 ft). Compared to the brown pelican, it also has proportionally longer crest feathers, as well as differences in the colours of the gular pouch, beak, scapulars and greater wing coverts.


The main breeding season occurs from September to March. Clutch size is usually two or three eggs. Eggs are incubated for approximately 4 to 5 weeks, with the rearing period lasting about 3 months.


Pellaea andromedifolia, with the common names coffee cliffbrake and coffee fern, is a species of cliff brake fern in the Cheilanthoideae subfamily of the Pteridaceae. It is native to California in the United States and Baja California in Mexico.


This plant does not have the immediately recognizable sharply pointed leaflets on its fronds that many other ferns have. Its leaves bear rounded or oval-shaped segments widely spaced along the rachis. Each segment may curl under along its edges. The leaves are green when new, then turn red, purplish, or brown.
Some individuals of this species are diploid and reproduce sexually, while some are triploid or tetraploid and reproduce by apogamy (growth of a plant from a gamete without fertilization).


Pellaea andromedifolia is found on dry Western facing sunny banks, in coastal, Mojave Desert, and California chaparral and woodlands habitats. It is able to take long periods without water, when it will shrivel and appear dead.  Then shortly after rainfall new growth appears quickly from the ground.  It is not crown forming, but spreading slowly and forming clumps.


Pellaea mucronata is a species of fern known by the common name bird's foot cliffbrake.
It is native to much of California, and parts of Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, and Baja California, where it grows in various types of rocky habitat. The subspecies californica is limited to California, while ssp. mucronata can be found outside that state's borders.
Each leaf is 7 to 45 centimeters long and is borne on a thin petiole. It is composed of a thin, straight, brown rachis lined with widely spaced leaflets. The leaflets are divided into small narrow terminal segments, or these may be subdivided into another set of segments. The smallest segment measures up to about a centimeter long and is green to dark purplish in color. The edges may be rolled under. The sporangia are located under the edges.


In 1891, Edward Yerbury Watson described it as:
Male. Upperside olive brown: forewing with two small yellowish semi-transparent spots within end of cell, three before the apex, and in the male three oblique discal spots followed by a dark-bordered slender straight impressed glandular streak: hindwing with one or two very indistinct pale discal spots. Female with five discal spots in the forewing, and four or five in the hindwing. Underside paler ; markings more distinct; hindwing also with a spot at upper end of the cell. Expanse 1.6 inch.(Moore)


P. mathias is considered a pest to rice-growing cultures, although it is not as damaging to rice plants as Parnara guttata. Newly hatched caterpillars are especially voracious in eating young seedlings. They also use silken threads to roll up and stitch together partially eaten leaves for more efficient consumption.


Peltandra virginica is a plant of the arum family known as green arrow arum and tuckahoe. It is widely distributed in wetlands in the eastern United States, as well as in Quebec, Ontario, and Cuba. It is common in central Florida including the Everglades and along the Gulf Coast. Its rhizomes are tolerant to low oxygen levels found in wetland soils. It can be found elsewhere in North America as an introduced species and often an invasive plant.
P. virginica is a hydrophytic marshland aquatic plant pollinated by a chloropid fly through providing a brood site and releasing the pollen onto them. The primary dispersal mechanisms are via water and animals.


This is an emergent perennial herb growing from a large rhizome and producing many large leaves. An individual leaf may have a petiole nearly a meter long and a blade half a meter in length. The leaves are quite variable in shape and size, but they are often generally arrowhead-shaped.
The inflorescence bears male and female flowers, as well as sterile flowers. The flower varies from whitish to greenish to yellow. The fruit is a brown berry containing a few seeds within a clear gelatinous pulp. Large number of seeds can accumulate in the soil of wetlands.
Peltandra virginica is a marshland aquatic plant, growing in North America bogs, ponds, and marshes. The roots and base grow into the submerged substrate, and the leaves and inflorescences project up and out of the water. The roots form a perennial rhizome. Various forms of leaf blades have been observed, both in larger ranges and smaller individual populations.  Petioles range from green to green-purple to purple with a medium green blade petiole lengths between 38 and 98 centimeters and blade length being between 9 and 57 centimeters. Lateral veins also have variable thicknesses. Inflorescences are generally pale green to white, being lighter within the spathe. Lengths for the inflorescence range between 7 and 25 centimeters with the spadix being about half the size to the full length of the spathe with greenish to white flowers, producing fruits that rot within the closed spathe. Fruits are pea green to mottled green and purple and range from 6 to 16 millimeters. In most of its range, it blooms from spring to late summer and fall and in warmer regions, it will bloom into the winter. It generally thrives in low salinity environments.