Friday 11 May 2012

Monimiaceae

Monimiaceae is a family of flowering plants, which includes 150-220 species of shrubs and small trees in 18-25 genera. They are native to the southern hemisphere tropics and subtropics. The largest genus is Tambourissa, with 50 species in Madagascar, the Mascarene Islands, and the Comoros. The type genus, Monimia, is endemic to the Macarenes.

The earliest fossil occurrence of the family is from the late Cretaceous of Antarctica.

Friday 24 February 2012

Biography - Patricia Grace

Grace currently lives in Hongoeka Bay, Plimmerton. In 2006 she was one of three honourees in the 2006 Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement. Grace was awarded the Distinguished Companion of The New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2007 Queen's Birthday Honours. She is the 2008 recipient of the prestigious biennial Neustadt International Prize for Literature.

Grace is a patron of the Coalition for Open Government. The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English refers to her prose as distinctive in its "spare style based on the speech structures of Maori English".