#stromata

[thetreacherouskind]

The sequel to Siren, Stromata.

[pharawee]

I set a trap to come and catch you oh, someone stop me now, I can't do this

[deltastrom]

Πώς φτιάχνω ένα κρεβάτι από παλέτες; Οδηγός κατασκευής

[quinnred]

The Swords Grow Wild: Tagryxnie A post-vehicle Trochilimorph, Tagryxnie are a common sight on the overgrown stromata-highway plains of Heliconia. While many creatures lost their wheels via natural selection, Tagryxnie kept them for the high-speed advantage. Tagryxnie are Anciliavores, snipping at the smaller Ancile growth with their beaks and pulling them in with great efficiency. Bioluminescent organs on their head help light their way at night, as well as for display to fellow herd-mates. They are a common choice of prey for larger predators.

[theprinceofmycologia]

Alternia solani

Alternia solani is a fungal pathogen that produces a disease in various memebers of the Solanum genus called early blight.¹

Host plants

Host plants include various members of the Solanum genus. Such as tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), potato (Solanum tuberosum), aubergine (Solanum melongena), bell pepper (Capsicum annuum) and other pepper species (Capsicum spp.).²

Symptoms

The symptoms of early blight will vary depending on the host and plant tissue.²

Foliar symptoms are dark brown ranging to black necrosis. The first symptoms often appear on the older leaves as small, dark, necrotic lesions, a few millimetres in diameter, which increase in size. The lesions are sometimes restricted by leaf veins and will take on an angular shape. Within larger lesions, concentric rings (so called bullseye) can be seen, usually surrounded by a chlorotic, yellowing zone. The chlorosis can extend to the whole infected leaf. The infected lesions enlarge and the whole leaf becomes necrotic which results in premature defoliation.²

With tomato plants, the premature defoliation can cause injury to the fruits due to sunscald.²

"Bullseye" patterned leaf lesion of Alternaria solani on a tomato plant¹

On tomato, Alternia solani can cause symptoms on the stem. Dark and sunken lesions can appear on the stems of seedlings, called collar rot. The infected seedling shows reduced plant vigour or can die when the stem is completely girdled by the lesion. The main stem of adult tomato plants can also be infected, showing small, slightly sunken lesions. As on the leaves, typical concentric rings are visible on the infected stem.²

On green or ripe tomato fruits, dark lesions can occur at the end of the stem. Ripe fruits are less susceptible than semi-ripe ones. Heavily infected fruits will drop prematurely. On less resistant cultivars, the calyx and blossom also can be infected and show comparable symptoms.²

Stem lesion of Alternaria solani on a potato plant¹

The symptoms on potato tubers are dark, slightly sunken lesions (dry rot). The dry or hard rot of tubers causes storage losses, reduces the quality of table potatoes, and reduces the germination capacity of seed potatoes.²

Disease cycle

Alternaria solani has a polycyclic life cycle and reproduces asexually by means of conidia (spores).¹

A. solani is a necrotrophic pathogen: it kills the host tissue using cell wall degrading enzymes and toxins and feeds on the dead plant cell material.¹

The life cycle starts with the fungus overwintering in crop residues or wild members of the family Solanaceae. In the spring, conidia are produced. Multicellular conidia are splashed by water or by wind onto an uninfected plant. The conidia infect the plant by entering through stromata, small wounds, or direct penetration. Infections usually start on older leaves close to the ground. The fungus takes time to grow and eventually forms a lesion. From this lesion, more conidia are created and released. These conidia infect other plants or other parts of the same plant within the same growing season. Every part of the plant can be infected and form lesions. This is especially important when fruit or tubers are infected as they can be used to spread the disease.¹

Distribution and environment

Distribution of Alternia solani ²

Alternaria solani spores are universally present in fields where host plants have been grown.¹

Free water is required for the spores to germinate; spores will be unable to infect a perfectly dry leaf. Alternaria spores germinate within 2 hours over a wide range of temperatures but at 26.6–29.4 °C (79.9–84.9 °F) may only take half an hour. Another 3 to 12 hours are required for the fungus to penetrate the plant depending on temperature. After penetration, lesions may form within 2 to 3 days or the infection can remain dormant awaiting proper conditions. Alternaria sporulates best at about 26.6 °C (79.9 °F) when abundant moisture (as provided by rain, mist, fog, dew, irrigation, etc.) is present. Infections are most prevalent on poorly nourished or otherwise stressed plants.¹

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References

1.

2.

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Mutuals:

@squidsandthings

@fungus-gnats

@fairy-tales-of-yesterday

@flamingears

@lameotello

@lovelyalicorn

[queenlucythevaliant]

Albino redwoods are the ABSOLUTE COOLEST. My family spent some time in the redwoods the summer after I took AP biology and I spent the whole trip obsessing over them. Here's some of what I remember!

Some redwoods have a combination of albino branches and wild type/chlorophyll producing branches. They're called chimeras and they're GORGEOUS (pics below). These trees express both sets of DNA along clearly delineated areas of the tree. Genetically, it's the same thing that's going on with calico cats

Most albino redwoods only grow to shrub or sapling size, but a few can grow to 30+ ft. Only the full-sized, mature trees produce cones. (Ie most albino redwoods arise due to new mutation and immediate natural selection, not heredity)

The filtration abilities are a direct size effect of the no chloroplasts thing. No chloroplasts -> weak stromata (bc it's basically just matrix) -> inefficient water transport and poor retention -> lots of uptake of environmental toxins, but poor retention. Kind of like flushing toxins out of our bodies! This kind of anatomy is really costly to the individual organism but, as discussed above, highly beneficial to the community. (Also, what even is an individual organism? Jury's still out lol)

There tend to be more viable albino redwoods near industrial/otherwise contaminated areas, as well as during periods of drought. Evolutionarily, this suggests that wild type trees might be behaving altruistically when the environment is stressful, allowing albinos to survive and thrive (the 30-footers). In contrast, during times of low stress, most albinos are ephemeral and die quickly.

Ecologically, this also means that albino redwood success might be a useful marker for localized environmental stress. They're the "white flags of the forest."

Chimera:

Large albino redwood:

More typical albino redwood, like the one I remember seeing:

Trees, like animals, can also experience albinism, though it is extremely rare.

[conocerle]

Pitágoras aconsejaba que es mejor gustar de las Musas que de las Sirenas y enseñaba a practicar la sabiduría sin gusto sensible rechazando como engañoso el encantamiento. Para sobresalir frente a las Sirenas bastó tan solo uno, y para responder a la Esfinge también uno solo…

Clemente de Alejandría Stromata I, Capítulo X, 48.5

El que sobresalió, venció, a las Sirenas fue Odiseo (Ulises) en la Odisea atribuido a Homero y escrito 800 ó 700 años antes de Cristo.

Canto (poema) XII, extracto

Circe, hechicera enamorada de Odiseo le advierte de las Sirenas:

- En primer lugar llegarás junto a las Sirenas, las que hechizan a todos los humanos que se aproximan a ellas. Cualquiera que en su ignorancia se les acerca y escucha la voz de las Sirenas, a ése no le abrazarán de nuevo su mujer ni sus hijos contentos de su regreso a casa. Allí las Sirenas lo hechizan con su canto fascinante, situadas en una pradera. En torno a ellas amarillea un enorme montón de huesos y renegridos pellejos putrefactos.

Prosigue la narración Odiseo

… yo corté con mi aguda espada un gruesa tajada de cera y la fui moldeando en pequeños trozos con mis robustas manos. Pronto se caldeaba la cera, ya que la forzaba una fuerte presión de los rayos de Helios, el soberano Hiperiónida. A todos mis compañeros, uno tras otro, les taponé con la masa los oídos. Y ellos me ataron a su vez de pies y manos en la nave, erguido junto al mástil, y reforzaron las amarras de este.

Cantan ahora las Sirenas

- Ven, acércate, muy famoso Odiseo, gran gloria de los aqueos! Detén tu navío para escuchar nuestra voz! Pues jamás paso de largo por aquí nadie en su negra nave sin escuchar la voz dulce del encanto de nuestra boca. Sino que ése, deleitándose, navega luego más sabio.

Continúa Odiseo

- Así decían desplegando su bella voz. Y mi corazón anhelaba escucharlas, y ordenaba a mis compañeros que me desataran haciendo gestos con mis cejas. Ellos se curvaban y bogaban. Pronto se pusieron en pie Perimedes y Eurícolo y vinieron a sujetarme más firmemente con las sogas. Cuando ya las hubimos pasado y no escuchamos más ni la voz ni la canción de las Sirenas, al punto mis fieles compañeros se quitaron la cera con la que les había ataponado los oidos, y me libraron de las cuerdas.

Termina el extracto.

Según Justino << todos los escritores, por la semilla del logos inmersa en la naturaleza, pudieron ver la realidad de las cosas aunque de manera oscura >>.

Hay que descubrir <<con gozo y respeto las semillas de la Palabra que en ellas [en todas las culturas] laten>>. Ad Gentes 11.

Ulises es figura de Cristo. Protege a sus compañeros cerrado sus oídos al mal y abriéndolos a la verdad. Ulises escucha la invitación de las Sirenas a soltarse igual que Cristo en la cruz escuchó cuando le decían que si era Dios se bajara de la Cruz. Distinto a Ulises, Cristo se podía soltar. Las Sirenas prometían que navegaría más sabio. Cristo es la sabiduría de Dios, su palabra, el verbo encarnado, el logos. Las Sirenas ofrecían vida para causar muerte. Las Sirenas mentían. Cristo es la verdad. Cristo ofrece su muerte para causar vida. Ulises y Cristo se ataron voluntariamente al madero; Ulises al mástil, Cristo a la cruz.

[forwheniamweak]

"Prayer is, then, to speak more boldly, converse with God. Though whispering, consequently, and not opening the lips, we speak in silence, yet we cry inwardly."

— Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 7.7

[theexodvs]

How much would you be willing to stake on a rumor? What if you could not trace the rumor to within the lifetime of its subject? Not within a century of the lifetime of its subject? What if you could not reliably trace this rumor to within 150 years of the lifetime of its subject, and in the meantime the closest statement on the matter points to a completely different conclusion?

The Book of Revelation is prophetic, which means various elements in it, the fall of Babylon the Great, the defeat of the Serpent, and the Seven Scrolls and Seven Trumpets were in John's future. If one looks only to Scripture and does not consult scholarship or newspaper headlines for a source of interpretation, one will find similarities in how John describes Babylon the Great to how Judah is described in Jeremiah 3-4. One will find the kings of the Earth taking charge against the Christ in Psalm 2 and Acts 4, and see this mirrored in Acts 17. One will find a double-sided, edible, honey-flavored scroll that Ezekiel eats before pronouncing judgements against Israel, and John pronouncing similar judgements on "the Earth" and "Babylon" after eating a similar scroll. It is worth noting that national Israel ceased to exist in AD 70.

In the Book of Revelation, John mentions that he is at Patmos, seemingly in exile. He does not specify when he was exiled or when he was writing. None of his known contemporaries give details as to when John was exiled or wrote Revelation. John is not mentioned in the Didache, the Shepherd of Hermas, or the Epistles to Barnabas or Diognetus. John is believed to have died no later than AD 110; within a century of his death, the closest any Church Father writes to an estimate of when John might have written Revelation is Clement of Alexandria. Around the turn of the third century, he wrote in Book VII of his Stromata that the ministry of the Apostles ended during the reign of Nero. If this ministry included prophetic visions, then John would have received his vision which he wrote in Revelation no later than AD 68, assuming Clement's assessment is correct some 130 years after the fact.

The other church fathers throughout the second century and for at least the first half of the third century either gave no details about John's exile, or stated that John was at Patmos in the last decade of the first century, but were unclear about how long he had been there, or whether he was writing apocalyptic literature at that time. In the fifth book of Against Heresies, Irenaeus wrote the following:

"We will not, however, incur the risk of pronouncing positively as to the name of Antichrist; for if it were necessary that his name should be distinctly revealed in this present time, it would have been announced by him who beheld the apocalyptic vision. For [that] was seen no very long time since, but almost in our day, towards the end of Domitian's reign."

The bracketed word notes a lack of clarity as to what, exactly, was last seen. While it is possible he is stating that the vision was seen during the reign of Domitian, he could have just as easily been claiming that John was seen during the reign of Domitian, the latter a less controversial statement. The Greek text lacks a nominative pronoun, and thus the wording remains vague.

The first unambiguous claim that John was exiled to Patmos during the reign of Domitian comes from the Victornius's commentary on Revelation. This same commentary makes oblique references to the Valerian Persecution, which occurred in AD 260. This means that 150 years passed from John's death to the first known, unambiguous, written assertion that he was exiled to Patmos during the reign of Domitian. No contemporaries of John, and no early biographers of John make so clear a statement. Two generations of people were born and began to die of old age during this time. To believe such a claim wholeheartedly is historically laughable.

[healthylifesthings]

Το προσδόκιμο ζωής είναι κατά 2,3 χρόνια μικρότερο στα κατώτερα μορφωτικά στρώματα σε σχέση με τα ανώτερα https://health.rodos-island.gr/prosdokimo-zois-einai-kata-chronia-mikrotero-sta-katotera-morfotika-stromata/

[traveltourismnews]

Το προσδόκιμο ζωής είναι 2,3 χρόνια μικρότερο στα κατώτερα μορφωτικά στρώματα σε σχέση με τα ανώτερα

https://travel-tourism.news-24.gr/prosdokimo-zois-einai-chronia-mikrotero-sta-katotera-morfotika-stromata-schesi/

[lifestyle-news24]

Το εύκολο tip για να φρεσκάρετε τα στρώματα

https://gossip.rodos-island.gr/to-efkolo-tip-gia-na-freskarete-ta-stromata/

[sethshead]

"Xylaria polymorpha, commonly known as dead man's fingers, is a saprobic fungus growing from the bases of rotting tree stumps and decaying wood. It has elongated upright stromata poking up through the ground, much like fingers.

"More details/photos: http://bit.ly/3YRpl0Q"

h/t David Attenborough Fans

[artemis-potnia-theron]

Is there a myth or many for the moons phases in greek mythology? Because I can't find any

Hey! 🌕

In terms of moon phases specifically, the info is pretty scarce. I'm planning to do a bigger deep dive into this if I find the time and will share more if/when I get it.

But for now, here's what I found on Selene's Wikipedia page, as she is considered to be the personification of the moon itself. It seems much of the moon phase related info connects directly back to her.

I'll seek out and share Artemis and Hekate related moon phase mythology if I find it.

🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘

Selene was said to carry the moon across the sky in her chariot, thus controlling its phases. The Homeric Hymn to Selene gives the following description:

"The air, unlit before, glows with the light of her golden crown, and her rays beam clear, whensoever bright Selene having bathed her lovely body in the waters of Ocean, and donned her far-gleaming raiment, and yoked her strong-necked, shining team, drives on her long-maned horses at full speed, at eventime in the mid-month: then her great orbit is full and then her beams shine brightest as she increases. So she is a sure token and a sign to mortal men. (Hymn 32)"

Selene was sometimes associated with childbirth, for it was believed that during the full moon women had the easiest labours; this helped in her identification with the goddess Artemis, as well as other goddesses connected to women's labours. (Cited from the writing of Chrysippus of Soli)

According to a certain Epigenes, the three Moirai, or Fates, were regarded in the Orphic tradition as representing the three divisions of Selene, "the thirtieth and the fifteenth and the first" (i.e. the crescent moon, full moon, and dark moon, as delinted by the divisions of the calendar month) (cited from Clement of Alexandria's Stromata: Abel, frg. 253.)

🌙

[ombrafurtiva]

Xylaria polymorpha, commonly known as dead man's fingers, is a saprobic fungus growing from the bases of rotting tree stumps and decaying wood. It has elongated upright stromata poking up through the ground, much like fingers.

[conocerle]

… filosofía griega, en la que, al igual que en las nueces, no todo es comestible.

Clemente de Alejandría, Stromata I, 7.3.