Wikipedia:Main Page history/2014 December 11

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From today's featured article

Xerochrysum bracteatum, commonly known as the golden everlasting, is a flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae, native to Australia. It grows as a woody or herbaceous perennial or annual shrub up to a metre (3 ft) tall with green or grey leafy foliage. Golden yellow or white flower heads are produced from spring to autumn; their distinctive feature is the papery bracts that resemble petals. The species is widespread, growing in a variety of habitats across the country, from rainforest margins to deserts and subalpine areas. The golden everlasting serves as food for various larvae of lepidopterans (butterflies and moths), and adult butterflies, hoverflies, native bees, small beetles and grasshoppers visit the flower heads. The golden everlasting has proven very adaptable to cultivation. It was propagated and developed in Germany in the 1850s, and annual cultivars in a host of colour forms from white to bronze to purple flowers became available. Many of these are still sold in mixed seed packs. In Australia, many cultivars are perennial shrubs, which have become popular garden plants. Sturdier, long-stemmed forms are used commercially in the cut flower industry. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

... that Sheikh Muhammad (pictured), the most well-known Muslim Marathi poet, wrote devotional poetry to the Hindu god Vithoba?
... that the 2013 film Gravity won seven Oscars, more than any other film at the 86th Academy Awards ceremony?
... that Nazi-era art dealer Walter Hofer was the main buyer for Hermann Göring's art collection?
... that the online marketplace Silk Road 3.0 appeared only hours after Silk Road 2.0 had been shut down as part of Operation Onymous?
... that the Rupert Covered Bridge No. 56, built in 1847, is the oldest remaining covered bridge in Columbia County, Pennsylvania?
... that British artist Frank Roper built a foundry on the ground floor of his house to create his metal sculptures?
... that the bluestripe pygmygoby was named after a ship?

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In the news

A report strongly criticizing the use of torture by the United States Central Intelligence Agency is released by the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Former Chinese domestic security chief Zhou Yongkang (pictured) is arrested and expelled from the Communist Party of China.
NASA successfully conducts the maiden flight of its Orion spacecraft.
Dozens of people are killed or injured in clashes between security forces and insurgents in Grozny, Chechen Republic, Russia.
In Canadian football, the Calgary Stampeders defeat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to win the Grey Cup.

Ongoing: Ebola outbreak – Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Recent deaths: Ralph H. Baer – Queen Fabiola of Belgium – Jean Béliveau

On this day...

December 11: Republic Day in Burkina Faso (1958)

220 – Emperor Xian abdicated the throne and the Han Dynasty broke apart, beginning the Three Kingdoms period.
1789 – The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (The Old Well pictured), one of the oldest public universities in the United States and the only one to award degrees in the 18th century, received its charter.
1905 – In support of the December Uprising in Moscow, the Council of Workers' Deputies of Kiev stage a mass uprising, establishing the Shuliavka Republic in the city.
1962 – Convicted murderers Ronald Turpin and Arthur Lucas were the last two persons to be executed in Canada.
2006 – The first action in the Mexican Drug War took place as President Felipe Calderón ordered Mexican military and Federal Police units into the state of Michoacán.

More anniversaries: December 10 – December 11 – December 12

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It is now December 11, 2014 (UTC) – Reload this page

Today's featured picture

Castalius rosimon is a small butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. First described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1775, the species can be found in South and Southeast Asia.

Photograph: Jeevan Jose

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