Bivalve mollusks

Bivalve mollusks are known by such common names as clams, mussels, cockles, oysters, and scallops. These aquatic invertebrates live in marine and freshwater habitats all over the world. There are more than 30,000 living species of bivalves.
Bivalves range in size from the fingernail-sized “nut shells” to the giant clam which weighs up to 225 kilograms.
Its shell protects soft body. Muscles connect the two valves of the shell and allow closing the shell quickly and tightly. The innermost shiny shell layer is called mother of pearl. Some bivalves build shiny round pearls around particles of dirt that enter their shells.
A bivalve has a nervous system, a digestive system, a heart, and gills instead of lungs. Bivalves lack a well-developed head, and so their sense organs are located on the fringe of the mantle.
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Poppy – wonderful flower

Poppies are valued for their brilliantly colored blossoms. They are grown as garden plants and also for their seeds.
Poppies grow in mild climates throughout the world. They come in different sizes: from tiny plants that grow near the soil to plants that are up to 4.6 meters in height.
Poppy flowers are shaped like cups and have four to six petals. They may be red, orange, yellow, pink, blue, lilac, or white. Their seeds are used for baking breads and desserts. Medicine to relieve pain can be made from the poppy. According to Avicenna, a decoction of the poppies’ roots cured sciatica and headaches.
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Iris – graceful and amazing flower

Irises are popular garden flowers. They are known for their wide variety of colors and unique petal shapes. There are about 800 species of iris. They grow mostly in mild northern regions. Some irises grow from bulbs. Others grow from the rhizomes of other iris plants.
Irises have six petals that can be white, yellow, pink, red, blue, purple, brown, or even black. Irises can grow to 90 centimeters tall and usually have a strong fragrance.
Irises are known since ancient times. One of the frescoes found in Crete shows a priest surrounded by irises. The fresco is about 4,000 years old.
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Mimicry – Protective Coloration

Mimicry may be defined as imitation or copying of an action or image. It helps animals and plants in various ways: keep them from being eaten or help them get food.
The fly orchid is a type of plant whose flower looks like a fly. This helps the plant attract real flies to pollinate it.
Some animals use mimicry to prey on other creatures. The tongue of the alligator snapping turtle looks like a worm. The turtle lies in water with its mouth open. When fish come over to get the “worm,” the turtle eats them.
The eggs of the European cuckoo look like the eggs of other birds. So, host parents incubate cuckoo’s eggs as their own.
Passionflower plants sometimes grow little lumps that look like butterfly eggs. So, the plant protests itself from being eaten by the caterpillars that would develop from the real eggs.
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Beautiful and Unusual Nests

Birds are well known for building nests for their eggs. Some fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and insects also build nests. Some fish hollow out nests in underwater gravel or sand. Frogs make nests out of mud or hardened froth. Alligators build mounds of grasses and mud. Cobras push together nests of leaves. Rabbits, mice, moles, and gophers make their nests underground.
Birds build nests in trees, in bushes, in caves, on buildings, on the ground or underground. They use a wide range of building materials: twigs and grass, mud, feathers, plant fuzz, and bits of spiderweb. Some birds use their saliva to bind the materials together.
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Daisy – pearl among plants

Daisies belong to the aster family, which also includes chrysanthemums, dahlias, marigolds, sunflowers, and zinnias.
Daisies grow in Europe, North America, and other parts of the world. Common types of daisy include the Dakar oxeye daisy, the English daisy, and the Shasta daisy.
These plants often grow to about 61 to 91 centimeters tall and their flowers can be white, purple, pink, or red.
Daisy protects the queen of the garden, rose, and a lush jasmine from the invasion of aphids.
Daisy translated from Greek as pearl.
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Sunflowers – Golden Giants

Sunflower is one of the largest and most splendid of flowers. It is valuable for its economic uses as well as for its beauty. The sunflower gets its name from the way it turns its head from east to west to follow the Sun, and its bloom looks like the Sun. The Latin name, Helianthus annum, is derived from the Greek words meaning “sun” and “flower” and from the Latin word meaning “annual.”
The flower usually grows to about two meters in height.
The bloom of a sunflower has two parts. The central disk flowers packed closely together are dark. When pollinated by insects, these smaller flowers develop into the seeds. The flowers around the outside are called ray flowers and they are golden yellow. A disk can vary from 5 to 50 centimeters in diameter and may produce from 100 to 8,000 seeds.
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