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Bottled maple syrup

Maple syrup is asyrup usually made from thexylem sap ofsugar maple,red maple orblack maple trees. In cold climates, these trees store starch in their trunks and roots before the winter; the starch is then converted to sugar that rises in the sap in the spring. Trees can be tapped by boring holes into their trunks and collecting the sap. This is processed by heating to evaporate some of the water, leaving the concentrated syrup. Maple syrup was first collected and used by the Indigenous people of North America; the practice was adopted by European settlers.Quebec, Canada, is by far the largest producer, making about three-quarters of the world's output. The syrup is graded based on its density and translucency. Maple syrup is often eaten as an accompaniment to food, as an ingredient inbaking and as asweetener and flavouring agent. Maple syrup and the sugar maple tree are symbols of Canada and several US states, in particular Vermont. (Full article...)

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Women's 400 metres final at the 2016 European Athletics Championships

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In the news

Trifid andLagoon nebulae

TheVera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile releases thefirst light images(example shown) from its new8.4-metre (28 ft) telescope.
In basketball, theOklahoma City Thunder defeat theIndiana Pacers to winthe NBA Finals.
An attack on aGreek Orthodox church inDamascus, Syria, kills at least 25 people.
The United States conductsmilitary strikes on three nuclear facilities in Iran.
In rugby union, theCrusaders defeat theChiefs to winthe Super Rugby Pacific final.

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On this day

July 1:Canada Day (1867)

Sack of Lunenburg

1782 –American Revolutionary War: Five Americanprivateer vesselsraided the British settlement atLunenburg, Nova Scotia(depicted).
1935 – The firstGrant Park Music Festival was held in Chicago'sGrant Park.
1940 –Second World War: TheGrand Quartier Général of theFrench Army was disbanded, following the French surrender.
1960 – Ghana became a republic, withKwame Nkrumah asits first president.
1970 – TheBelfast Banking Company, whichissued banknotes in Northern Ireland, merged with its rivalNorthern Bank.

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Today's featured picture

Trillium erectum, the red trillium, is a species offlowering plant in the familyMelanthiaceae. It is a springephemeral plant whose life-cycle is synchronized with that of the forests in which it lives. It is native to the eastern United States and eastern Canada from northernGeorgia toQuebec andNew Brunswick. Like all trilliums, it has awhorl of threebracts (leaves) and a singletrimerous flower with threesepals, threepetals, two whorls of threestamens each, and threecarpels (fused into a singleovary with threestigmas). It is aperennial plant that persists by means of an undergroundrhizome.Trillium erectum hascarrion-scented flowers that produce fetid or putrid odors purported to attract carrion fly and beetle pollinators. ThisT. erectum flower was photographed inStephen's Gulch Conservation Area inOntario, Canada.

Photograph credit:The Cosmonaut

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