Gerald Joyce, of the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, puts this really well in the New York Times, telling science reporter Dennis Overbye that these critters are stuck on the same tree of life as dinosaurs, plants, and yeast.

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Heading inland again, 150km from Guerrero Negro towards the small town of San Ignacio, the landscape becomes more desert-like and some of the stranger desert plants, like the boojum tree, make an appearance.

BBC: Driving from the top to the tip of Baja California

The swimming pool has a built-in bench where the couple's college-age children can watch movies projected onto one of the walls (the projector is hidden inside a fountain.) Loggias and outdoor dining areas surround the courtyard, which has grass between shellstone pavers, strawberry plants and a pineapple guava tree.

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Plants fight for space: ponga (silver tree fern), cabbage trees, manuka (tea tree), and pohutukawa (a coastal evergreen tree), which cling to the land at the sea's edge.

BBC: All at sea in New Zealand

The disease has caused widespread damage to ash tree populations in continental Europe and is particularly destructive to young plants.

BBC: Ash dieback: Government holds talk on potential threat

Plants in this family, which include the rubber tree, castor oil plant and the cassava shrub, are typified by small blossoms, the researchers comment.

BBC: NEWS | Science/Nature | Family found for gigantic flowers

With the help of many PTA volunteers, we installed a large green house, water garden with fish, bridge, butterfly garden, weather station, sundial, archaeology digging area for fossils and minerals, tree stumps for counting the rings, benches for an outdoor classroom and reading area, and over 60 different plants, shrubs and trees.

WHITEHOUSE: Parental Involvement in Schools: The Key to Our Children's Success | The White House