From today's featured articleThe British florin, or two-shilling coin, was issued from 1849 until 1967, with a final issue for collectors dated 1970. Valued at one tenth of a pound (24 old pence), it was introduced in 1849 as part of an experiment in decimalisation that went no further at that time. The original florins attracted controversy for omitting a reference to God from Queen Victoria's titles; that type is accordingly known as the "godless florin", and was in 1851 succeeded by the "Gothic florin", for its design and style of lettering. Throughout most of its existence, the florin bore some variation of either the shields of the United Kingdom or the emblems of its constituent nations. In 1968, in preparation for Decimal Day, the Royal Mint began issuing the ten-pence piece, identical to the florin in specifications and value. Both coins remained in circulation until 1993, when the ten pence piece was made smaller, and the florin was demonetised. (Full article...)
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Eucalyptus is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Its foliage is relatively immune to attack by plant-eating animals because of the toxins found in the essential oil present in the leaves. Different species of Eucalyptus contain a range of differing compounds; koalas, possums and other marsupial herbivores make food choices based on the smell of the leaves. This photograph shows sawfly larvae from the family Pergidae feeding on Eucalyptus leaves in the Bogong High Plains in Victoria, Australia. The larvae are naturally gregarious, and some species can cause serious damage to Eucalyptus by defoliation. Photograph credit: Fir0002
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