Do you have Hot Lips?

     The 'Hot Lips' plant or 'Sore-mouth' bush are two names given Psychotria poeppigiana because of the obvious Resemblance!
     P. poeppigiana is a large shrub - a plant species in the family Rubiaceae. The inflorescences are carried upright or semi-erect and are surrounded by large bracts, colored a conspicuous red, that attract pollinators. The flowers themselves are inconspicuous, with the small yellow petals and sepals forming a narrow corollar tube. Pollinators are mainly hummingbirds, namely small hermit (Phaethornithinae) species like the Black-throated Hermit (Phaethornis atrimentalis), Straight-billed Hermit (P. bourcieri) and Reddish Hermit (P. ruber). They do not insert their bills deeply into the small flowers, and thus the pollinators of the Sore-mouth Bush include curved- and straight-billed species alike.
      In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis, or cone scale. Bracts are often (but not always) different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of a different color, shape, or texture. Typically, they also look different from the parts of the flower, such as the petals and/or sepals. Some bracts are brightly colored and serve the function of attracting pollinators, either together with the perianth or instead of it.
      Hot Lips ranges widely in the tropical Americas, from Chiapas, Oaxaca, Tabasco and Veracruz in Mexico to the very north of Argentina. It does not occur on the Pacific side of the American cordillera however, and is thus absent from El Salvador and Chile. It is probably also absent from Uruguay and Paraguay.

Sources : http://www.treknature.com/gallery/South_America/Colombia/South/Putumayo/photo188350.htm
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychotria_poeppigiana

Galaxies that Resemble the Letter "F"

Object ID # : 587732771594960992

       The Replica Report goes galactic today looking at 4 galaxies whose shapes Resemble the letter 'F'. A galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system consisting of stars, stellar remnants, and a interstellar medium of gas and dust, and, it is hypothesized, an important but poorly understood component called dark matter. Examples of galaxies range from dwarfs with as few as ten million stars to giants with a hundred trillion stars, each orbiting their galaxy's own center of mass.
       Galaxies contain varying numbers of star systems, star clusters and types of interstellar clouds. In between these objects is a sparse interstellar medium of gas, dust, and cosmic rays. Observational data suggests that super massive black holes may exist at the center of many, if not all, galaxies. They are thought to be the primary driver of active galactic nuclei found at the core of some galaxies. The Milky Way galaxy appears to harbor at least one such object.
       Galaxies have been historically categorized according to their apparent shape; usually referred to as their visual morphology. A common form is the elliptical galaxy, which has an ellipse-shaped light profile. Spiral galaxies are disk-shaped with dusty, curving arms. Those with irregular or unusual shapes are known as irregular galaxies and typically originate from disruption by the gravitational pull of neighboring galaxies and are what make the alphabet series possible. Such interactions between nearby galaxies, which may ultimately result in a merging, sometimes induce significantly increased incidents of star formation leading to starburst galaxies. Smaller galaxies lacking a coherent structure are referred to as irregular galaxies.
Src : Wikipedia & http://cas.sdss.org/dr7/en/

Object ID # : 587739132954280095