Almond

The almond (/ɑːmənd/ or /ɑːlmənd/) (Prunus dulcis, syn. Prunus amygdalus, Amygdalus communis, Amygdalus dulcis) is a species of tree native to the Middle East and South Asia.

"Almond" is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree. Within the genus Prunus, it is classified with the peach in the subgenus Amygdalus, distinguished from the other subgenera by the corrugated shell (endocarp) surrounding the seed.

The fruit of the almond is a drupe, consisting of an outer hull and a hard shell with the seed, which is not a true nut, inside. Shelling almonds refers to removing the shell to reveal the seed. Almonds are sold shelled or unshelled. Blanched almonds are shelled almonds that have been treated with hot water to soften the seedcoat, which is then removed to reveal the white embryo.

Description

Tree

The almond is a deciduous tree, growing 4–10 m (13–33 ft) in height, with a trunk of up to 30 cm (12 in) in diameter. The young twigs are green at first, becoming purplish where exposed to sunlight, then grey in their second year. The leaves are 3–5 inches long, with a serrated margin and a 2.5 cm (1 in) petiole. The flowers are white to pale pink, 3–5 cm (1–2 in) diameter with five petals, produced singly or in pairs and appearing before the leaves in early spring. Almond grows best in Mediterranean climates with warm, dry summers and mild, wet winters. The optimal temperature for their growth is between 15 and 30 °C (59 and 86 °F) and the tree buds have a chilling requirement of 300 to 600 hours below 7.2 °C (45.0 °F) to break dormancy.

Luzé

Luzé is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.

Population

See also

References

Luz

Luz is the name of two places in the Bible.

Mentioned in Genesis

Luz is the ancient name of a royal Canaanite city, connected with Bethel (Genesis 28:19; 35:6). It is debated among scholars whether Luz and Bethel represent one and the same town - the former the Canaanite name, and the latter the Hebrew name - or whether they were distinct places in proximity to each other.

Mentioned in Book of Judges

Luz is also considered to be a town in the north, described in Judges 1:22 "And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Beth-el; and the LORD was with them. 23 And the house of Joseph sent to spy out Beth-el--now the name of the city beforetime was Luz. 24 And the watchers saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said unto him: 'Show us, we pray thee, the entrance into the city, and we will deal kindly with thee.' 25 And he showed them the entrance into the city, and they smote the city with the edge of the sword; but they let the man go and all his family. 26 And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called the name thereof Luz, which is the name thereof unto this day."

Luz Casal

Luz Casal (Spanish pronunciation: [luθ kaˈsal]; born November 11, 1958 at Boimorto) is a Spanish pop singer. She grew up in neighbouring Asturias, took singing, piano and ballet classes, and moved to Madrid to pursue a career as a musician.

She became famous in the early 1980s, and remained an important figure in Spanish pop music all through said decade and beyond, with her sound gradually maturing towards soft adult pop. She recorded a cover version of Étienne Daho's French language song "Duel au Soleil" in Spanish called "Un nuevo día brillará", which became a hit song. Since the beginning of her career, she has sold over five million albums.

In 1992, she enjoyed great success with her appearance in the soundtrack of Pedro Almodóvar's acclaimed film High Heels singing Agustín Lara's theme "Piensa en mí".

In January 2007, Luz Casal was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent an operation at the Ruber Clinic in Madrid., seven months later, she revealed to the Spanish media that she had overcome her disease. More recently in May 2010, she announced that she had been diagnosed with cancer in her other breast and had to cancel her current tour to be operated on.

Nut (fruit)

A nut is a fruit composed of a hard shell and a seed, which is generally edible. In a general context, however, a wide variety of dried seeds are called nuts, but in a botanical context, there is an additional requirement that the shell does not open to release the seed (indehiscent). The translation of "nut" in certain languages frequently requires paraphrases, as the word is ambiguous.

Most seeds come from fruits that naturally free themselves from the shell, unlike nuts such as hazelnuts, chestnuts, and acorns, which have hard shell walls and originate from a compound ovary. The general and original usage of the term is less restrictive, and many nuts, such as almonds, pecans, pistachios, walnuts, and Brazil nuts, are not nuts in a botanical sense. Common usage of the term often refers to any hard-walled, edible kernel as a nut.

Botanical definition

A nut in botany is a simple dry fruit with one seed (rarely two) in which the ovary wall becomes very hard (stony or woody) at maturity, and where the seed remains unattached or free within the ovary wall. Most nuts come from the pistils with inferior ovaries (see flower) and all are indehiscent (not opening at maturity). True nuts are produced, for example, by some plant families of the order Fagales.

List of Marvel Comics characters: N

N'Gabthoth

N'Gabthoth is a demon who has clashed with the Doctor Strange. He once served as an agent of Shuma-Gorath. N'Gabthoth has great magical power, and could fire bolts of mystical force from his eye.

Nameless One

The Nameless One is a two-headed demon. The Nameless One first appeared in Sub-Mariner #22 (February 1970), and was created by Roy Thomas and Marie Severin. He was the leader of the Undying Ones, and led them to conquer the Earth millennia ago. The Undying Ones ruled the Earth for ages, though eventually their powers waned and were forced to return to their own realm. The Nameless One continued to rule them when they were exiled from Earth, and during several attempts to conquer it again in modern times. Later, another demon became a successor to the previous, two-headed Nameless One as leader of the Undying Ones. This demon tried to use Wolverine to kill Doctor Strange. Wolverine, enhanced by demonic magic, slew this Nameless One and many of the Undying Ones.

Nut (hardware)

A nut is a type of fastener with a threaded hole. Nuts are almost always used opposite a mating bolt to fasten a stack of parts together. The two partners are kept together by a combination of their threads' friction, a slight stretch of the bolt, and compression of the parts. In applications where vibration or rotation may work a nut loose, various locking mechanisms may be employed: Adhesives, safety pins or lockwire, nylon inserts, or slightly oval-shaped threads. The most common shape is hexagonal, for similar reasons as the bolt head - 6 sides give a good granularity of angles for a tool to approach from (good in tight spots), but more (and smaller) corners would be vulnerable to being rounded off. It takes only 1/6th of a rotation to obtain the next side of the hexagon and grip is optimal. However polygons with more than 6 sides do not give the requisite grip and polygons with less than 6 sides take more time to be given a complete rotation.Other specialized shapes exist for certain needs, such as wing nuts for finger adjustment and captive nuts for inaccessible areas.