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Hippeastrum

Hippeastrum is a genus of about 90 species, and over 600 hybrids and cultivars, of perennial, herbaceous and bulbous plants, native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas, from Mexico south to Argentina and on some islands in the Caribbean. The majority have large, fleshy bulbs—usually about the size of a softball—and tall, broad, strap-like leaves that are (generally) evergreen, and large red or purple flowers. Numerous colors and cultivars have been created over the past hundred years.

Hippeastrum is a genus in the family Amaryllidaceae (subfamily Amaryllidoideae, tribe Hippeastreae, and subtribe Hippeastrinae). For many years, there has been confusion among botanists, as well as collectors and the general public, over the generic names Amaryllis and Hippeastrum; the former is a South African genus of plants, while the latter is a new world genus. However, the common name "amaryllis" has been used for Hippeastrum for years, especially for the ornamental cultivars (sold as indoor flowering bulbs around November and December, for Christmas, in the Northern Hemisphere). Within the genus Hippeastrum exist many epiphytic species, as well, which may be found living in natural debris and leaf litter on the crooks of tree branches; by comparison, Amaryllis is a primarily terrestrial, southern African genus of perennial bulbs.

Description

Most Hippeastrum bulbs are tunicate (a protective dry outer layer and fleshy concentric inner scales or leaf bases). The bulbs are generally between 5–12 cm (2"–5") in diameter and produce two to seven long-lasting evergreen or deciduous leaves that are 30–90 cm (12"–36") long and 2.5–5 cm (1"–2") wide. The leaves are hysteranthous (develop after flowering), sessile (borne directly from the stem or peduncle), rarely persistent and subpetiolate.

The flowers are arranged in umbelliform inflorescences which are pauciflor or pluriflor (2-14 flowers), supported on an erect hollow scape (flower stem) which is 20–75 cm (12"–30") tall and 2.5–5 cm (1"–2") in diameter with two free bracts forming a spathe which is bivalve with free leaflets at its base. Depending on the species, there are two to fifteen large showy flowers, which are more or less zygomorphic and hermaphrodite. Each flower is 13–20 cm (5"–8") across, and the native species are usually purple or red. They are funnelform (funnel shaped) and declinate (curving downwards and then upwards at the tip) in shape. The perianth has six brightly colored tepals (three outer sepals and three inner petals) that may be similar in appearance or very different. The perianth segments are subequal or unequal. The tepals are united at the base to form a short tube, usually with a rudimentary scaly paraperigonium with fimbriae or a callose ridge present at the throat.

The androecium consists of six stamens with filiform (thread like) filaments, which are fasciculate (in close bundles) and declinate or ascendent. The anthers are dorsifixed or versatile. In the gynaecium, the ovary is inferior and trilocular with pluriovulate locules. The style is filiform, and the stigma trifid. The fruit forms a trivalve capsule containing seeds which are dry, flattened, obliquely winged or irregularly discoid, hardly ever turgid, and globose (spherical) or subglobose, with a brown or black phytomelanous testa.

Etymology
The name Hippeastrum was first given to the genus by Herbert, being derived from the Ancient Greek, meaning a "knight's star" from ἱππεύς (hippeus, mounted knight) and ἄστρον (astron, star), to describe the first recognized species, Hippeastrum reginae. Herbert proposed to call the genus, which he distinguished from Linnaeus' Amaryllis, Hippeastrum, or "knight's-star-lily". He states; "'I have named [them] Hippeastrum or Knights-star-lily, pursuing the idea which gave rise to the name Equestris' (p.12)."

Herbert's fourteen species included this Hippeastrum equestre. This 'equine' connection refers to Carl Linnaeus the Younger who had named (in an unpublished manuscript) a West Indian species as Amaryllis equestris, because of its similarity to the African genus Amaryllis. This name and attribution was first published by William Aiton in 1789, in his Hortus Kewensis. Which species this was is not known precisely. However, in 1795 William Curtis, described Amaryllis equestris or the Barbados lily in his Botanical Magazine, referring to Aiton:

"'The spatha is composed of two leaves, which standing up at a certain period of the plant's flowering like ears, give to the whole flower a fancied resemblance of a horse's head; whether LINNÆUS derived his name of equestris from this circumstance or not, he does not condescend to inform us.'"

In 1803 John Sims claimed Curtis had made a mistake in this attribution, and that; "'this name was given from the remarkable likeness the front view of it has to a star of some of the orders of knight-hood; an appearance well expressed by JACQUIN's figure in the Hortus Schoenbrunnensis'"

Despite much speculation, there is no definitive explanation of either Linnaeus fils or Herbert's thinking. For instance the 'knight's star' has been compared to Linnaeus' decoration as a Knight of the Order of the Polar Star. The Latin word equestris (of a knight, or horseman) may have been confused with equi (of a horse), or possibly Herbert was making a literary knight's move on the Linnaean term. The flower name has even been compared to the mediaeval weapon, the spoked mace or Morning Star which it superficially resembles.

Common name
Although the 1987 decision settled the question of the scientific name of the genus, the common name "amaryllis" continues to be used. Bulbs sold as amaryllis and described as ready to bloom for the holidays belong to the genus Hippeastrum. "Amaryllis" is also used in the name of some societies devoted to the genus Hippeastrum. Separate common names are used to describe the genus Amaryllis, e.g., "Naked Lady".

Separation of Hippeastrum from Amaryllis
The taxonomy of the genus is complicated. The first issue is whether the name should more properly be Amaryllis L. . In 1753 Carl Linnaeus created the name Amaryllis belladonna, the type species of the genus Amaryllis, in his Species Plantarum along with eight other Amaryllis species. Linnaeus had earlier worked on the Estate of George Clifford near Haarlem between 1735 and 1737 describing the plants growing there in his Hortus Cliffortianus in 1738. It is to this work that he refers in his Species Plantarum. This was assumed to be the South African Cape Belladonna, although not precisely known. Clifford's herbarium is now preserved at the Natural History Museum in London.

At the time both South African and South American plants were placed in this same genus. By the early nineteenth century Amaryllis had become a polymorphic (diverse) genus with about 50 species from what we would consider a dozen genera today, and attempts were made to separate it into different genera. This work commenced in 1819 with the contributions of the English botanist, the Revd. William Herbert in Curtis's Botanical Magazine which he expanded in 1821 in The Botanical Register, identifying 14 species of the new genus of Hippeastrum, and only leaving three species in Amaryllis. The rest of the Amaryllis species he transferred to other genera, several of which he created. Herbert further refined his descriptions of Hippeastrum in his work on the Amaryllidaceae in 1837.

Nomenclature debate
Since then, a key question has been whether Linnaeus's original type was a South African plant (now Amaryllis) or a South American plant (now Hippeastrum). If the latter, the correct name for the genus Hippeastrum would then be Amaryllis and a new name would need to be found for the South African genus. In 1938 Johannes Cornelius Theodorus Uphof (JCT Uphof) claimed, with some evidence, that the plant was in fact the South American Hippeastrum equestre (Linn. fil.) Herb. (syn. Amaryllis equestris (Linn. fil.) ex Aiton, accepted name H. puniceum) a plant which Carl Linnaeus' son, Linnaeus the Younger (Linn. fil.) had described c. 1781-3 (unpublished) but soon after appearing in the Hortus Kewensis of 1789. This paper sparked a debate over the next half century, that delayed the official transfer of species from Amaryllis to Hippeastrum. This debate involved botanists on both sides of the Atlantic and the outcome was a decision by the 14th International Botanical Congress in 1987 that Amaryllis L. should be a nomen conservandum (conserved name, i.e., correct regardless of priority) and ultimately based on a specimen of the South African Amaryllis belladonna from the Clifford Herbarium. Thus Amaryllis L. is the correct name for the South African genus, not the South American genus (Hippeastrum).

Claim for Leopoldia
The second issue is whether the name should be Leopoldia. In 1819 Herbert had proposed Leopoldia as a nomen provisorium (provisional name) for the same taxon as he called Hippeastrum in 1821. Although Leopoldia was subsequently validated (i.e., became the correct name), this was overlooked, and Hippeastrum rather than Leopoldia was used for the genus of New World amaryllids. Following Filippo Parlatore in 1845, the name Leopoldia was used for a genus of grape hyacinth species, allied to Muscari. In order to preserve the widespread usage of both Hippeastrum and Leopoldia, Fabio Garbari and Werner Greuter proposed in 1970 that Herbert's Hippeastrum and Parlatore's Leopoldia should be conserved and Herbert's Leopoldia rejected. This was accepted and Hippeastrum Herb. is now a nomen conservandum (conserved name), i.e., the correct name regardless of the fact that it does not have priority over Leopoldia.

Intergeneric hybrids
While interspecific hybrids of Hippeastrum are relatively common, hybridization with other genera of Amaryllidaceae are more rare. The most conspicuous exception is the hybrid obtained through crossbreeding with the Mexican Sprekelia formosissima (St James's lily, Aztec lily, Jacobean lily), another member of the tribe Hippeastreae, originally called Amaryllis formosissima, which is apomictic. × Hippeastrelia is the name given to this cross.

Subgenera
A number of subgenera have been proposed over the years. For instance in the 1870s and 1880s John Gilbert Baker considerably reorganised Hippeastrum. In 1878 he described nine sections of the genus, but by 1888 he included seven subgenera, namely (number of species in parentheses) Habranthus (10), Phycella (3), Rhodophiala (5), Macropododastrum (1), Omphalissa (6), Aschamia (10) and Lais (3), some of which have since been treated as separate genera (Habranthus, Rhodophiala). Baker both reduced the original number of species of Herbert, but also enlarged the genus by adding in other genera such as Habranthus, Phycella, Rhodophiala and Rhodolirion (also called Rhodolirium, and subsequently moved to Rhodophilia), which he included as separate sections of Hippeastrum. In addition, he included many new species being discovered in South America, particularly Chile. His 1878 classification included 47 species, reduced to 38 by 1888. These subgenera were not widely used due to indistinct boundaries of some of the divisions. For reference, these were:
 * Aschamia (Salisb.) Baker (e.g. H. reginae, H. andreanum, H. scopulorum, H. mandonii, H. leopoldii, H. reticulatum, H. stylosum)
 * Cephaleon Traub (e.g. H. machupijchense)
 * Lais (Salisb.) Baker (e.g. H. striatum, H. vittatum, H. breviflorum)
 * Macropodastrum Baker (e.g. H. elegans)
 * Omphalissa (Salisb.) Baker (e.g. H. aulicum, H. psittacinum, H. calyptratum, H. cybister, H. pardinum, H. miniatum, H. iguazuanum)
 * Sealyana Traub (e.g.: H. reticulatum)

Following a major recircumscription of Hippeastreae, Hippeastrum was once again formally divided into two subgenera, by the inclusion of the three species of Tocantina:
 * Tocantinia (Ravenna) Nic.García (3)
 * Hippeastrum (~100)

Selected species
, the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families accepts 91 species: Garcia et al. (2019) estimate approximately 100 species in subgenus Hippeastrum, together with 3 in subgenus Tocantinia.

 * Hippeastrum angustifolium Pax
 * Hippeastrum arboricola (Ravenna) Meerow
 * Hippeastrum aulicum (Ker Gawl.) Herb.
 * Hippeastrum aviflorum (Ravenna) Dutilh
 * Hippeastrum calyptratum (Ker Gawl.) Herb.
 * Hippeastrum canterai Arechav.
 * Hippeastrum correiense (Bury) Worsley
 * Hippeastrum cybister (Herb.) Benth. ex Baker
 * Hippeastrum evansiae (Traub & I.S.Nelson) H.E.Moore
 * Hippeastrum ferreyrae (Traub) Gereau & Brako
 * Hippeastrum iguazuanum (Ravenna) T.R.Dudley & M.Williams
 * Hippeastrum leopoldii T.Moore
 * Hippeastrum miniatum (Ruiz & Pav.) Herb.
 * Hippeastrum papilio (Ravenna) Van Scheepen
 * Hippeastrum pardinum (Hook.f.) Dombrain
 * Hippeastrum petiolatum Pax
 * Hippeastrum psittacinum (Ker Gawl.) Herb.
 * Hippeastrum puniceum (Lam.) Voss. Syn. H. equestre (Aiton)
 * Hippeastrum reginae (L.) Herb.
 * Hippeastrum striatum (Lam.) H.E.Moore syn. H. rutilum (Ker Gawl.) Herb.
 * Hippeastrum reticulatum (L'Hér.) Herb. syn. H. striatifolium (Sims)
 * Hippeastrum vittatum (L'Hér.) Herb.

Unplaced names include Hippeastrum ugentii, considered in the Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families as probably a Crinum.

Hybrids include Hippeastrum ×johnsonii.

Distribution and habitat
Hippeastrum species are concentrated in two centres of diversity, the main one in Eastern Brazil and the other in the central southern Andes of Peru, Bolivia and Argentina, on the eastern slopes and nearby foothills. Some species are found as far north as Mexico and the West Indies. The genus is thought to have originated in Brazil where at least 34 of the species have been found. Their habitat is mainly tropical and subtropical, though those species found south of the equator, or at sufficient altitude may be considered temperate. Hippeastrum is found in a wide range of habitats. Many are found in underbrush, while others prefer full sun. Hippeastrum angustifolium is an example of a species preferring flood areas, while other species prefer a drier habitat. There are also epiphytic species, such as Hippeastrum aulicum, Hippeastrum calyptratum, Hippeastrum papilio and Hippeastrum arboricola, which require air circulation around their roots, which are in the subgenus Omphalissa.

Reproduction
Species are generally diploid with 2n=22 chromosomes, but some species, such as Hippeastrum iguazuanum, have 24. The genus has a degree of interspecies intercompatibility allowing crossing.

Some species, such as the Uruguayan Hippeastrum petiolatum, are sterile and unable to produce seeds. H. petiolatum is a sterile triploid that reproduces asexually, producing many bulbils around the mother bulb. These are light, and easily carried on the surface of water ensuring distribution of the species during the rainy season. Other species such as Hippeastrum reticulatum are self-pollinating, reproducing by distributing seed. Although this does not guarantee genetic diversity in natural populations, it is widely used by colonising species. These two examples are not however typical of the genus, which commonly reproduces through allogamy. One mechanism that limits self-pollination is that of self-incompatibility by which seeds are only produced by pollination from other plants. Furthermore, the plant generally releases its pollen about two days before its stigma is receptive, making cross-pollination more likely. Pollinators include hummingbirds in subtropical areas, and moths.

Pests
Hippeastrum species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Spodoptera picta (crinum grub) as well as Pseudococcidae (mealybugs), large, and small narcissus bulb flies (Eumerus strigatus and E. funeralis), thrips, mites, aphids, snails and slugs. A fungal disease attacking Hippeastrum is Stagonospora curtisii (red blotch, red leaf spot or red fire). The leaves are also eaten by grasshoppers, and grasshoppers commonly plant egg pods in the ground near Hippeastrum bulbs, which erupt in the spring, covering the plant with nymphs.

Conservation
The following species were considered threatened or vulnerable by degradation of their natural habitat, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species in 1997.

 * Hippeastrum arboricolum (Argentina)
 * Hippeastrum aviflorum (Argentina)
 * Hippeastrum canterai (Uruguay)
 * Hippeastrum ferreyrae (Peru)
 * Hippeastrum petiolatum (Argentina & Brazil)

Cultivation

Hippeastrum cultivars and species can be grown inside in pots or outside in warmer climates (Hardiness 7B-11). Many will bloom year after year provided they are given a dormant period in a cool, dark place for two months without water or fertilizer although some bulbs will start growing before the two-month period is up.

The bulb is tender and should not be exposed to frost, but is otherwise easy to grow with large rewards for small efforts, especially those that bloom inside during the winter months. Note too, that Hippeastrum can also be grown in the ground in temperate areas. Bulbs are usually sold in fall for early winter bloom. Bare-root bulbs do best planted in a pot only slightly larger than the circumference of the bulb in well-drained, organic mix (such as sterilized potting soil plus coir fiber, or equal amounts of peat moss, sand and humus), with one third of the bulb visible above the surface of the soil and two thirds buried.

After planting, sprouting requires a warm place (about 20 °C). Bulbs need light watering until the leaves and buds emerge, and need to be situated in a well-lit, cool place and watered as needed to maintain moderate soil moisture. Overwatering will cause bulb and root rot. Plants may be fed with common fertilizers that contain iron and magnesium. Blooming takes place about two months after planting. The plant's leaves should continue to grow after the flowers have faded. Summering outdoors in four or five hours of direct sunlight, plus fertilizing lightly as the season progresses, will help develop buds for the next year.

Breeding and propagation
Intense cultivation of a number of species, particularly from Brazil, Bolivia and Peru, has occurred because of the appearance and size of the flowers, resulting in many hybrids and cultivars.

History
Hippeastrum breeding began in 1799 when Arthur Johnson, a watchmaker in Prescot, England, crossed Hippeastrum reginae with Hippeastrum vitattum, obtaining hybrids that were later given the name Hippeastrum × 'Johnsonii' (Johnson's amaryllis, 'hardy amaryllis' or St. Joseph's lily). Johnson shared his work with the Liverpool Botanic Garden which was fortunate, since his greenhouse was destroyed in a fire. His hybrid was being cultivated in the US by the mid-nineteenth century. Many new hybrid lines followed as new species were sent to Europe from South America, the most important of which were Reginae and Leopoldii.

The Reginae strain hybrids were produced by Jan de Graaff and his two sons in the Netherlands in the mid-19th century by crossing Hippeastrum vitatum and Hippeastrum striatum with Hippeastrum psittacinum and some of the better hybrids available in Europe at the time. Some of the most successful hybrids were Graveana and Empress of India.

Leopoldii hybrids arose from the work of the British explorer and botanist Richard Pearce, an employee of James Veitch & Sons, a plant nursery. Pearce brought back specimens of Hippeastrum leopoldii and Hippeastrum pardinum from the Andes. These two species were notable for large flowers that were wide open and relatively symmetrical. Crossing these two species with the best of the Reginae strain produced a lineage of very large open flowered specimens, with up to 4-6 flowers on each scape. The Veitch nursery dominated the commercial development of Hippeastrum leopoldii and other varieties up to the early years of the twentieth century, the best of their hybrids setting the standard for modern commercial development.

The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw Amaryllis breeding develop in the United States, particularly in Texas, California, and Florida in conjunction with the USDA (1910–1939). The major US contribution came from the work of Henry Nehrling and Theodore Mead, whose hybrids crossed with Dutch stock have produced some modern hybrids, although not matching the European strains.

In 1946, two Dutch growers moved to South Africa and began cultivation there. Although most cultivars of Hippeastrum come from the Dutch and South African sources, bulbs are now [when?] being developed in the United States, Japan, Israel, India, Brazil and Australia. Nurseries may list Amaryllis bulbs as being 'Dutch', 'Israeli', 'Peruvian' etc., depending on the country of origin.

Most modern commercial hybrids are derived from the following species:
 * H. vittatum
 * H. leopoldii
 * H. pardinum
 * H. reginae
 * H. puniceum
 * H. aulicum

Propagation
Three main methods are used for propagating Hippeastrum: seeds, bulbils and 'twin scales'. More recently [when?], micropropagation in vitro has been used on a commercial scale.

Seeds
The seeds are contained in a thin dark brown/black paper like fleche, that might easily blow away with some wind. Seed multiplication may be used for the development of new cultivars or to increase the yield of native species. Seeds are generally sown in early summer in seedbeds, and then transplanted to larger containers. They require warmth, frequent watering, and should not be given a dormant period. Seeds do not breed true. Plants obtained from seeds take about six years to bloom.

Bulbils
Home propagation is best performed by using offset bulbils. Commercially, only cultivars that produce at least three bulbils on the mother bulb are used for this form of propagation. Plants grown from this method take three to four years to bloom.

Twin scales
The most common commercial propagation method is referred to as 'twin scales'. This involves the division of the bulb into 12 sections and then separating each section into twin scales connected by the basal plate. The cuttings that are derived from these are grown in moist vermiculite in the dark till bulbils appear. More recently [when?] growing them in sunlight has been found to produce a better crop.

In vitro
The technique of plant tissue culture in vitro improves the propagation of Hippeastrum by decreasing the time required to reach the minimum size to start the reproductive cycle, using sections of bulbs grown in artificial media with the addition of plant hormones.

Fragrance

Most modern cultivars lack any fragrance, although 'Dancing Queen' represents an exception. Fragrance is genetically related to flower colour (white, or pastel shades) and is a recessive characteristic, so that when fragrant and non fragrant varieties are crossed, not all progeny will be fragrant, whereas two fragrant progenitors will produce an all fragrant progeny.

Flowering

Hippeastrum hybrids and cultivars are valued for their large ornamental flowers, particularly for indoor cultivation during the northern hemisphere winter. The larger the bulb, the more flowers it will produce. The largest bulbs measure 14 to 16 inches (36 to 41 cm) in circumference and will produce three or more scapes (flower stems) with four or more blooms each. The commonest bulbs measure $10 1/2$ to $12 1/2$ inches (27 to 32 cm) with two scapes with four to six flowers each depending on the cultivar. Some bulbs put up two flower scapes at the same time; others may wait several weeks between blooms and sometimes the second scape will have only two or three flowers rather than the usual four. A bulb needs to produce large, healthy leaves in the summer growing season before it can send up a scape the following year. Bulbs are often described by the country of origin of the bulb producers, since they may have different characteristics, e.g. 'Dutch Amaryllis', 'South African Amarylllis'. Dutch bulbs usually produce flowers first, then, after they have finished blooming (hysteranthous), the plant will begin growing leaves. Bulbs from the South African growers usually put up a scape and leaves at the same time (synanthous).

Of the many hybrids, the best known are those producing flowers with red, pink, salmon, orange and white colors. Other flower colors include yellow and pale green with variations on these including multicoloring, with different colored mottling, stripes or edges on the petals. Some flowers have uniform colors or patterns on all six petals while others have more pronounced colors on the upper petals than on the lower ones.

Although many names are used to describe hybrids and cultivars, e.g., 'Large Flowering', 'Dutch', 'Royal Dutch', there are five types that are commonly sold; 'Trumpets', as the name suggests, have flared, tube-shaped flowers. Single, double, and miniature bulbs are the ones typically sold by nurseries and other stores for the holidays in December and for St. Valentine’s Day and Easter.
 * Single flower (large flowering)
 * Double flower
 * Miniature (dwarf, or small flowering)
 * Trumpet
 * Jumbo (mammoth)

Of the commercially available Hippeastrum species, sometimes sold as 'exotic' amaryllis, Hippeastrum cybister has extremely thin petals often described as spider-like. The miniature evergreen Hippeastrum papilio or "butterfly amaryllis" whose petals resemble a butterfly (papilio) has a unique color and pattern with broad rose-burgundy center stripes and striations of pale green on the upper petals and narrow stripes on the bottom three. It has been crossed with both cybister and single flower cultivars to produce hybrids with unusual striping.

Dormancy
Hippeastrum bulbs can be induced to rebloom yearly by mimicking the conditions in its natural environment (cool dry winters). When foliage starts to yellow, dormancy can be induced by withholding water and placing the plant in a cool 4-13 °C dark place for six to ten weeks or until buds start to show. Even when plants are thriving outdoors in temperate climates, dormancy can be induced by withholding water and fertilizer in the northern hemisphere autumn, and bringing indoors to a cool environment prior to the first frost. Leaves will usually wither during this period and a flower stem begin to emerge after eight to ten weeks.

Bulbs can then be brought back into light, inspected for pests or rot, and repotted in fresh soil after cutting foliage to about 10 cm above the bulb. Subsequent care is as for new bulbs, as described above. Best results are obtained by transplanting every three to four years.

Cultivars
The cultivar 'Clown' (Double Galaxy Group) (white with red stripes) has received the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

Uses

Cultivars of Hippeastrum are popular indoor ornamental plants prized for their large brightly colored flowers (including red, pink, salmon, orange and white). As such they have a very important place in the floriculture trade for sale as cut flowers or potted plants. Although the market is dominated by the Netherlands, and South Africa, other areas of production include Israel, Japan and the United States (Florida). Brazil also produces 17 million Hippeastrum bulbs annually.

Hippeastrum has yielded at least 64 isoquinoline alkaloids, which include anti-parasitic (e.g. candimine) and psychopharmacological activity due to their high alkaloid content. One alkaloid isolated from Hippeastrum vittatum (montanine) has demonstrated antidepressant, anticonvulsant and anxiolytic properties. Hippeastrum puniceum may also have therapeutic properties as it has been used in folk medicine to treat swellings and wounds.

Symbolism
A stylized flower of a Hippeastrum cultivar (under its common name of amaryllis) is used internationally as a symbol for organizations associated with Huntington's disease, a genetic degenerative disease of the nervous system. The widely used logo represents a double image of a head and shoulders as the flower of a growing and vibrant plant. The reduced size of the inner head and shoulders image symbolizes the diminution in a person caused by Huntington's disease. The leaves represent the protection, purpose, growth and development of the Huntington's community worldwide in its search for a cure and treatment.

General

 * see also Hortus Veitchii, Messrs James Veitch and Sons
 * see also Hortus Veitchii, Messrs James Veitch and Sons
 * see also Hortus Veitchii, Messrs James Veitch and Sons
 * see also Hortus Veitchii, Messrs James Veitch and Sons
 * see also Hortus Veitchii, Messrs James Veitch and Sons
 * see also Hortus Veitchii, Messrs James Veitch and Sons
 * see also Hortus Veitchii, Messrs James Veitch and Sons
 * see also Hortus Veitchii, Messrs James Veitch and Sons
 * see also Hortus Veitchii, Messrs James Veitch and Sons
 * see also Hortus Veitchii, Messrs James Veitch and Sons
 * see also Hortus Veitchii, Messrs James Veitch and Sons
 * see also Hortus Veitchii, Messrs James Veitch and Sons
 * see also Hortus Veitchii, Messrs James Veitch and Sons
 * see also Hortus Veitchii, Messrs James Veitch and Sons
 * see also Hortus Veitchii, Messrs James Veitch and Sons
 * see also Hortus Veitchii, Messrs James Veitch and Sons

Historical sources (chronological)

 * Digital edition by the University and State Library Düsseldorf
 * (4 vols.)
 * Digital edition by the University and State Library Düsseldorf
 * (4 vols.)
 * Digital edition by the University and State Library Düsseldorf
 * (4 vols.)
 * Digital edition by the University and State Library Düsseldorf
 * (4 vols.)
 * Digital edition by the University and State Library Düsseldorf
 * (4 vols.)
 * Digital edition by the University and State Library Düsseldorf
 * (4 vols.)
 * (4 vols.)
 * (4 vols.)

Articles and theses

 * For references to Hippeastrum, see pp. 7ff, 31–34; for detailed descriptions of Hippeastrum splendens, see pp. 52–53.
 * For references to Hippeastrum, see pp. 7ff, 31–34; for detailed descriptions of Hippeastrum splendens, see pp. 52–53.
 * For references to Hippeastrum, see pp. 7ff, 31–34; for detailed descriptions of Hippeastrum splendens, see pp. 52–53.
 * For references to Hippeastrum, see pp. 7ff, 31–34; for detailed descriptions of Hippeastrum splendens, see pp. 52–53.
 * For references to Hippeastrum, see pp. 7ff, 31–34; for detailed descriptions of Hippeastrum splendens, see pp. 52–53.
 * For references to Hippeastrum, see pp. 7ff, 31–34; for detailed descriptions of Hippeastrum splendens, see pp. 52–53.
 * For references to Hippeastrum, see pp. 7ff, 31–34; for detailed descriptions of Hippeastrum splendens, see pp. 52–53.
 * For references to Hippeastrum, see pp. 7ff, 31–34; for detailed descriptions of Hippeastrum splendens, see pp. 52–53.
 * For references to Hippeastrum, see pp. 7ff, 31–34; for detailed descriptions of Hippeastrum splendens, see pp. 52–53.
 * For references to Hippeastrum, see pp. 7ff, 31–34; for detailed descriptions of Hippeastrum splendens, see pp. 52–53.
 * For references to Hippeastrum, see pp. 7ff, 31–34; for detailed descriptions of Hippeastrum splendens, see pp. 52–53.
 * For references to Hippeastrum, see pp. 7ff, 31–34; for detailed descriptions of Hippeastrum splendens, see pp. 52–53.

Databases

 * (Search for Hippeastrum)
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User:Marshman

I started here on July 25, 2003. Because I'm such a nice guy, I was quickly elevated to admin status. I became a wikiholic almost immediately. I went through an early period of anger and frustration over "others" and their edits, but came out of it a pretty mellow guy with a changed philosophy on what a "commmunity" really means.

This concept (Wikipedia) is one close to my own hopes for the WWW. I am an environmental consultant specializing in ecology, biology, botany, and water quality. In my free time, I maintain several web pages for professional groups to which I belong and pages on general educational themes about the environment in the Hawaiian Islands where I live. Editing is one part of my real job (as a consultant) that I enjoy very much. I have been rewriting or revising Wikipedia articles on coral reefs and places in the Hawaiian Islands with which I am particularly familiar. My coral reef experience comes from extensive travels to Central Pacific atolls while working on a dissertation as a graduate student at the University of Hawaii. I still travel around the Pacific as part of my work, conducting environmental studies, although in the last decade or so I have shifted my interest from the marine environment to terrestrial plants (vegetation surveys), streams, and wetlands.

Main areas of interest are botany, water quality, geology (especially as relates to aquatic environments), wetlands, and ecology. I also spend a lot of time at Wikibooks where I work on the Ecology, Invert. Zoo., Botany, and German textbooks.

I have lots of digital photos from my trusty Nikon Coolpix 950, which unfortunately is starting to show its age. I like the camera so much, I'm afraid to buy a new one and be disappointed. Nikon no longer makes Cool Pix with the "rotating" body. Camera going fast - need to find a new one ....

Have not edited for awhile (since 2007 according to Wikipedia) but not exactly true. I have made corrections on occasion to pages i follow. I also reqularly make monetary donations as I strongly support Wikipedia as an excellent example of the best the web can be. Hope to get back into editing some day.

Resources

 * Wikipedia:WikiProject Hawai‘i {rc)

 * Blank maps

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: User:Marshman


text:
San Blas

San Blas, the Spanish name for Saint Blaise, may refer to:

Argentina

 * San Blas de los Sauces, in La Rioja Province
 * San Blas, La Rioja, in La Rioja Province
 * San Blas de los Sauces Department, in La Rioja Province

Bulgaria

 * Sveti Vlas (Свети Влас), Burgas Province

Ecuador

 * San Blas, Quito

Malta

 * San Blas, Nadur

Mexico

 * San Blas, Nayarit
 * San Blas Atempa, Oaxaca
 * San Blas, Baja California Sur
 * Marismas Nacionales-San Blas mangroves, an ecoregion

Panama

 * Guna Yala, an autonomous territory, formerly called San Blas
 * San Blas Islands, off the Caribbean coast
 * San Blas Range, a mountain range

Paraguay

 * San Blas (Asunción)

Peru

 * San Blas (Cusco), a neighbourhood in the historic city centre of Cusco

Spain

 * San Blas (Madrid), a district of Madrid
 * San Blas (Madrid Metro), a station on Line 7
 * Church of San Blas (Villarrobledo)

United States

 * Cape San Blas, part of a peninsula in Gulf County, Florida
 * Church San Blas de Illescas of Coamo Puerto Rico

title: San Blas


text:
Pumped-storage hydroelectricity

Pumped-storage hydroelectricity (PSH), or pumped hydroelectric energy storage (PHES), is a type of hydroelectric energy storage used by electric power systems for load balancing. The method stores energy in the form of gravitational potential energy of water, pumped from a lower elevation reservoir to a higher elevation. Low-cost surplus off-peak electric power is typically used to run the pumps. During periods of high electrical demand, the stored water is released through turbines to produce electric power.

Pumped-storage hydroelectricity allows energy from intermittent sources (such as solar, wind) and other renewables, or excess electricity from continuous base-load sources (such as coal or nuclear), to be saved for periods of higher demand. The reservoirs used with pumped storage can be quite small, when contrasted with the lakes of conventional hydroelectric plants of similar power capacity, and generating periods are often less than half a day.

The round-trip efficiency of PSH varies between 70%–80%. Although the losses of the pumping process make the plant a net consumer of energy overall, the system increases revenue by selling more electricity during periods of peak demand, when electricity prices are highest. If the upper lake collects significant rainfall, or is fed by a river, then the plant may be a net energy producer in the manner of a traditional hydroelectric plant.

Pumped storage is by far the largest-capacity form of grid energy storage available, and,, accounts for around 95% of all active storage installations worldwide, with a total installed throughput capacity of over 181 GW and a total installed storage capacity of over 1.6 TWh.

Basic principle
A pumped-storage hydroelectricity generally consists of two water reservoirs at different heights, connected with each other. At times of low electrical demand, excess generation capacity is used to pump water into the upper reservoir. When there is higher demand, water is released back into the lower reservoir through a turbine, generating electricity. Pumped storage plants usually use reversible turbine/generator assemblies, which can act both as a pump and as a turbine generator (usually Francis turbine designs). Variable speed operation further optimizes the round trip efficiency in pumped hydro storage plants. In micro-PSH applications, a group of pumps and Pump As Turbine (PAT) could be implemented respectively for pumping and generating phases. The same pump could be used in both modes by changing rotational direction and speed: the operation point in pumping usually differs from the operation point in PAT mode.

Types
In closed-loop systems, pure pumped-storage plants store water in an upper reservoir with no natural inflows, while pump-back plants utilize a combination of pumped storage and conventional hydroelectric plants with an upper reservoir that is replenished in part by natural inflows from a stream or river. Plants that do not use pumped storage are referred to as conventional hydroelectric plants; conventional hydroelectric plants that have significant storage capacity may be able to play a similar role in the electrical grid as pumped storage if appropriately equipped.

Economic efficiency
Taking into account conversion losses and evaporation losses from the exposed water surface, energy recovery of 70–80% or more can be achieved. This technique is currently the most cost-effective means of storing large amounts of electrical energy, but capital costs and the necessity of appropriate geography are critical decision factors in selecting pumped-storage plant sites.

The relatively low energy density of pumped storage systems requires either large flows and/or large differences in height between reservoirs. The only way to store a significant amount of energy is by having a large body of water located relatively near, but as high as possible above, a second body of water. In some places this occurs naturally, in others one or both bodies of water were man-made. Projects in which both reservoirs are artificial and in which no natural inflows are involved with either reservoir are referred to as "closed loop" systems.

These systems may be economical because they flatten out load variations on the power grid, permitting thermal power stations such as coal-fired plants and nuclear power plants that provide base-load electricity to continue operating at peak efficiency, while reducing the need for "peaking" power plants that use the same fuels as many base-load thermal plants, gas and oil, but have been designed for flexibility rather than maximal efficiency. Hence pumped storage systems are crucial when coordinating large groups of heterogeneous generators. Capital costs for pumped-storage plants are relatively high, although this is somewhat mitigated by their proven long service life of decades - and in some cases over a century, which is three to five times longer than utility-scale batteries. When electricity prices become negative, pumped hydro operators may earn twice - when "buying" the electricity to pump the water to the upper reservoir at negative spot prices and again when selling the electricity at a later time when prices are high.

Along with energy management, pumped storage systems help stabilize electrical network frequency and provide reserve generation. Thermal plants are much less able to respond to sudden changes in electrical demand that potentially cause frequency and voltage instability. Pumped storage plants, like other hydroelectric plants, can respond to load changes within seconds.

The most important use for pumped storage has traditionally been to balance baseload powerplants, but they may also be used to abate the fluctuating output of intermittent energy sources. Pumped storage provides a load at times of high electricity output and low electricity demand, enabling additional system peak capacity. In certain jurisdictions, electricity prices may be close to zero or occasionally negative on occasions that there is more electrical generation available than there is load available to absorb it. Although at present this is rarely due to wind or solar power alone, increased use of such generation will increase the likelihood of those occurrences.

It is particularly likely that pumped storage will become especially important as a balance for very large-scale photovoltaic and wind generation. Increased long-distance transmission capacity combined with significant amounts of energy storage will be a crucial part of regulating any large-scale deployment of intermittent renewable power sources. The high non-firm renewable electricity penetration in some regions supplies 40% of annual output, but 60% may be reached before additional storage is necessary.

Small-scale facilities
Smaller pumped storage plants cannot achieve the same economies of scale as larger ones, but some do exist, including a recent 13 MW project in Germany. Shell Energy has proposed a 5 MW project in Washington State. Some have proposed small pumped storage plants in buildings, although these are not yet economical. Also, it is difficult to fit large reservoirs into the urban landscape (and the fluctuating water level may make them unsuitable for recreational use). Nevertheless, some authors defend the technological simplicity and security of water supply as important externalities.

Location requirements
The main requirement for PSH is hilly country. The global greenfield pumped hydro atlas lists more than 600,000 potential sites around the world, which is about 100 times more than needed to support 100% renewable electricity. Most are closed-loop systems away from rivers. Areas of natural beauty and new dams on rivers can be avoided because of the very large number of potential sites. Some projects utilise existing reservoirs (dubbed "bluefield") such as the 350 Gigawatt-hour Snowy 2.0 scheme under construction in Australia. Some recently proposed projects propose to take advantage of "brownfield" locations such as disused mines such as the Kidston project under construction in Australia.

Environmental impact
Water requirements for PSH are small: about 1 gigalitre of initial fill water per gigawatt-hour of storage. This water is recycled uphill and back downhill between the two reservoirs for many decades, but evaporation losses (beyond what rainfall and any inflow from local waterways provide) must be replaced. Land requirements are also small: about 10 hectares per gigawatt-hour of storage, which is much smaller than the land occupied by the solar and windfarms that the storage might support. Closed loop (off-river) pumped hydro storage has the smallest carbon emissions per unit of storage of all candidates for large-scale energy storage.

Seawater
Pumped storage plants can operate with seawater, although there are additional challenges compared to using fresh water, such as saltwater corrosion and barnacle growth. Inaugurated in 1966, the 240 MW Rance tidal power station in France can partially work as a pumped-storage station. When high tides occur at off-peak hours, the turbines can be used to pump more seawater into the reservoir than the high tide would have naturally brought in. It is the only large-scale power plant of its kind.

In 1999, the 30 MW Yanbaru project in Okinawa was the first demonstration of seawater pumped storage. It has since been decommissioned. A 300 MW seawater-based Lanai Pumped Storage Project was considered for Lanai, Hawaii, and seawater-based projects have been proposed in Ireland. A pair of proposed projects in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile would use 600 MW of photovoltaic solar (Skies of Tarapacá) together with 300 MW of pumped storage (Mirror of Tarapacá) lifting seawater 600 m up a coastal cliff.

Freshwater coastal reservoirs
Freshwater from the river floods is stored in the sea area replacing seawater by constructing coastal reservoirs. The stored river water is pumped to uplands by constructing a series of embankment canals and pumped storage hydroelectric stations for the purpose of energy storage, irrigation, industrial, municipal, rejuvenation of exploited rivers, etc. These multipurpose coastal reservoir projects offer massive pumped-storage hydroelectric potential to utilize variable and intermittent solar and wind power that are carbon-neutral, clean, and renewable energy sources.

Underground reservoirs
The use of underground reservoirs has been investigated. Recent examples include the proposed Summit project in Norton, Ohio, the proposed Maysville project in Kentucky (underground limestone mine), and the Mount Hope project in New Jersey, which was to have used a former iron mine as the lower reservoir. The proposed energy storage at the Callio site in Pyhäjärvi (Finland) would utilize the deepest base metal mine in Europe, with 1450 m elevation difference. Several new underground pumped storage projects have been proposed. Cost-per-kilowatt estimates for these projects can be lower than for surface projects if they use existing underground mine space. There are limited opportunities involving suitable underground space, but the number of underground pumped storage opportunities may increase if abandoned coal mines prove suitable.

In Bendigo, Victoria, Australia, the Bendigo Sustainability Group has proposed the use of the old gold mines under Bendigo for Pumped Hydro Energy Storage. Bendigo has the greatest concentration of deep shaft hard rock mines anywhere in the world with over 5,000 shafts sunk under Bendigo in the second half of the 19th Century. The deepest shaft extends 1,406 metres vertically underground. A recent pre-feasibility study has shown the concept to be viable with a generation capacity of 30 MW and a run time of 6 hours using a water head of over 750 metres.

US-based start-up Quidnet Energy is exploring using abandoned oil and gas wells for pumped storage. If successful they hope to scale up, utilizing some of the 3 million abandoned wells in the US.

Using hydraulic fracturing pressure can be stored underground in impermeable strata such as shale. The shale used contains no hydrocarbons.

Decentralised systems
Small (or micro) applications for pumped storage could be built on streams and within infrastructures, such as drinking water networks and artificial snow-making infrastructures. In this regard, a storm-water basin has been concretely implemented as a cost-effective solution for a water reservoir in a micro-pumped hydro energy storage. Such plants provide distributed energy storage and distributed flexible electricity production and can contribute to the decentralized integration of intermittent renewable energy technologies, such as wind power and solar power. Reservoirs that can be used for small pumped-storage hydropower plants could include natural or artificial lakes, reservoirs within other structures such as irrigation, or unused portions of mines or underground military installations. In Switzerland one study suggested that the total installed capacity of small pumped-storage hydropower plants in 2011 could be increased by 3 to 9 times by providing adequate policy instruments.

Using a pumped-storage system of cisterns and small generators, pico hydro may also be effective for "closed loop" home energy generation systems.

Underwater reservoirs
In March 2017, the research project StEnSea (Storing Energy at Sea) announced their successful completion of a four-week test of a pumped storage underwater reservoir. In this configuration, a hollow sphere submerged and anchored at great depth acts as the lower reservoir, while the upper reservoir is the enclosing body of water. Electricity is created when water is let in via a reversible turbine integrated into the sphere. During off-peak hours, the turbine changes direction and pumps the water out again, using "surplus" electricity from the grid.

The quantity of power created when water is let in, grows proportionally to the height of the column of water above the sphere. In other words: the deeper the sphere is located, the more densely it can store energy. As such, the energy storage capacity of the submerged reservoir is not governed by the gravitational energy in the traditional sense, but by the vertical pressure variation.

High-density pumped hydro
RheEnergise aim to improve the efficiency of pumped storage by using fluid 2.5x denser than water ("a fine-milled suspended solid in water" ), such that "projects can be 2.5x smaller for the same power."

History
The first use of pumped storage was in 1907 in Switzerland, at the Engeweiher pumped storage facility near Schaffhausen, Switzerland. In the 1930s reversible hydroelectric turbines became available. This apparatus could operate both as turbine generators and in reverse as electric motor-driven pumps. The latest in large-scale engineering technology is variable speed machines for greater efficiency. These machines operate in synchronization with the network frequency when generating, but operate asynchronously (independent of the network frequency) when pumping.

The first use of pumped-storage in the United States was in 1930 by the Connecticut Electric and Power Company, using a large reservoir located near New Milford, Connecticut, pumping water from the Housatonic River to the storage reservoir 230 ft above.

Worldwide use
In 2009, world pumped storage generating capacity was 104 GW, while other sources claim 127 GW, which comprises the vast majority of all types of utility grade electric storage. The European Union had 38.3 GW net capacity (36.8% of world capacity) out of a total of 140 GW of hydropower and representing 5% of total net electrical capacity in the EU. Japan had 25.5 GW net capacity (24.5% of world capacity).

The six largest operational pumped-storage plants are listed below (for a detailed list see List of pumped-storage hydroelectric power stations):

Australia
Australia has 15GW of pumped storage under construction or in development. Examples include:

In June 2018 the Australian federal government announced that 14 sites had been identified in Tasmania for pumped storage hydro, with the potential of adding 4.8GW to the national grid if a second interconnector beneath Bass Strait was constructed.

The Snowy 2.0 project will link two existing dams in the New South Wales' Snowy Mountains to provide 2,000 MW of capacity and 350,000 MWh of storage.

In September 2022, a pumped hydroelectric storage (PHES) scheme was announced at Pioneer-Burdekin in central Queensland that has the potential to be the largest PHES in the world at 5 GW.

China
China has the largest capacity of pumped-storage hydroelectricity in the world.

In January 2019, the State Grid Corporation of China announced plans to invest US$5.7 billion in five pumped hydro storage plants with a total 6 GW capacity, to be located in Hebei, Jilin, Zhejiang, Shandong provinces, and in Xinjiang Autonomous Region. China is seeking to build 40 GW of pumped hydro capacity installed by 2020.

Norway
There are 9 power stations capable of pumping with a total installed capacity of 1344 MW and an average annual production of 2247 GWh. The pumped storage hydropower in Norway is built a bit differently from the rest of the world. They are designed for seasonal pumping. Most of them can also not cycle the water endlessly, but only pump and reuse once. The reason for this is the design of the tunnels and the elevation of lower and upper reservoirs. Some, like Nygard power station, pump water from several river intakes up to a reservoir.

The largest one, Saurdal, which is part of the Ulla-Førre complex, has four 160 MW Francis turbines, but only two are reversible. The lower reservoir is at a higher elevation than the station itself, and thus the water pumped up can only be used once before it has to flow to the next station, Kvilldal, further down the tunnel system. And in addition to the lower reservoir, it will receive water that can be pumped up from 23 river/stream and small reservoir intakes. Some of which will have already gone through a smaller power station on its way.

United States
In 2010, the United States had 21.5 GW of pumped storage generating capacity (20.6% of world capacity). PSH contributed 21,073 GWh of energy in 2020 in the United States, but −5,321 GWh  (net) because more energy is consumed in pumping than is generated. Nameplate pumped storage capacity had grown to 21.6 GW by 2014, with pumped storage comprising 97% of grid-scale energy storage in the United States. As of late 2014, there were 51 active project proposals with a total of 39 GW of new nameplate capacity across all stages of the FERC licensing process for new pumped storage hydroelectric plants in the United States, but no new plants were currently under construction in the United States at the time.

Hybrid systems
Conventional hydroelectric dams may also make use of pumped storage in a hybrid system that both generates power from water naturally flowing into the reservoir as well as storing water pumped back to the reservoir from below the dam. The Grand Coulee Dam in the United States was expanded with a pump-back system in 1973. Existing dams may be repowered with reversing turbines thereby extending the length of time the plant can operate at capacity. Optionally a pump back powerhouse such as the Russell Dam (1992) may be added to a dam for increased generating capacity. Making use of an existing dam's upper reservoir and transmission system can expedite projects and reduce costs.

title: Pumped-storage hydroelectricity


text:
Evagrius

Evagrius or Euagrius may refer to:

 * People:

 * Evagrius of Constantinople (fourth century), bishop of Constantinople (circa 370–380)
 * Evagrius of Antioch, bishop of Antioch (388-392)
 * Evagrius Ponticus (346–399), Christian mystic
 * Evagrius Gallus (5th century), author of the Dialogue of Simon and Theophilus
 * Evagrius Scholasticus (6th century), historian

 * Biology:
 * Evagrius, a junior synonym of Elasmopoda, a genus of true bugs in the family Coreidae

title: Evagrius


text:
Evagrius Scholasticus

Evagrius Scholasticus (Εὐάγριος Σχολαστικός) was a Syrian scholar and intellectual living in the 6th century AD, and an aide to the patriarch Gregory of Antioch. His surviving work, Ecclesiastical History (Ἐκκλησιαστικὴ Ἱστορία), comprises a six-volume collection concerning the Church's history from the First Council of Ephesus (431) to the emperor Maurice’s reign until Scholasticus' death.

Life
Evagrius Scholasticus was born in Epiphania, a Syrian town located next to the Orontes River in the heart of the Eastern Roman Empire. Glenn Chesnut gives his date of birth as either 536 or 537; Michael Whitby says "about 535". His first written work addressed the plague outbreak which infected a vast segment of the population. Evagrius himself was infected by the outbreak during his youth yet managed to survive it. According to his own account, close members of his family died from the outbreak, including his wife at the time. Michael Whitby reasons that Evagrius was born into a wealthy aristocratic family with close ties to the political elite.

His education was long-ranging and comprehensive since early childhood, starting with a specialization in grammar and transitioning to classical Greek literature. This eventually culminated in Evagrius’s pursuit of legal studies, which upon completion, earned him the prestigious title of “Scholasticus” when he was in his late 20s. His first notable official endeavor was accompanying Gregory of Antioch to Constantinople in order to defend him against charges related to sexual misbehavior. Evagrius again remarried in Antioch, where his own records testify to his prestige among the professional elite since displays of grandeur and a massive audience were present during this wedding ceremony. Dedicated to the emperor Maurice Evagrius wrote many works on theological matters, but none of these survives. His remaining work, The Ecclesiastical History was complete in 593, a six-volume compilation of Christian history from the first Council of Ephesus to his own present time.

Evagrius was explicitly a Christian in the Chalcedonian tradition, critiquing both Zacharias Rhetor and Zosimus for theological differences, two popular historians during his own time. He respected the former scholar for his contributions to the histories of the 5th and 6th centuries AD but chastised him for his Monophysite position. However, he was especially hostile towards Zosimus, a pagan historiographer, for his vehemently anti-Christian views, stating “ ‘You, O accursed and totally defiled one, say that the fortunes of the Romans wasted away and were altogether ruined from the time when Christianity was made known”, challenging Zosimus's assumption that Rome's fall began with Constantine's conversion.

Ecclesiastical History
Evagrius's only surviving work, Ecclesiastical History, addresses the history of the Eastern Roman Empire from the official beginning of the Nestorian controversy at the First Council of Ephesus in 431 to the time in which he was writing, 593. The book's contents focus mainly on religious matters, describing the events surrounding notable bishops and holy men.

The editio princeps was published in 1544 under the name of Robertus Stephanus (better known as Robert Estienne). John Christopherson, bishop of Chichester, made a Latin translation of the Ecclesiastical History, which was published after his death in 1570. Translations into English appeared much later: the first was by Edward Walford, which was published at London in 1846; Michael Whitby's translation was published in 2001 by Liverpool University Press as part of their "Texts in Translation Series."

Some historians, particularly Pauline Allen, allege that Evagrius's Chalcedonian theological stance directly influenced his selection of information, in order to defend Chalcedonian-aligned political agents against negative reputation. Whitby, however, emphasizes the legal scholar's acceptance and inclusion of information written by other historians who adopted opposing stances, when he discerned that their accounts were reliable. For example, Evagrius Scholasticus relies heavily on Zachariah's textual study of history even though he was a monophysite, occasionally omitting minor facets of his work that explicitly promote his theology, but largely considering him to be dependable. Allen also reasons that Evagrius built on Zachariah's work because his was the only comprehensive historical account of events taking place from Theodoret of Cyrus’s time till his own era. Unfortunately, however, Zachariah’s original manuscripts have been lost.

Evagrius is much less critical of the Emperor Justinian and his wife Theodora, in comparison with Procopius, who described the two as physically manifest demons. Because of regional affiliations Evagrius depicts the emperor in a more sympathetic light, praising his moderate approach to justice and his restraint towards excessive persecution, yet still decrying his heresy and displays of wealth. Evagrius’s ambivalence to Justinian is especially evident when he describes him as a virtuous man yet blind to impending defeat in his self-initiated war with Persia. Chesnut also comments on how the Roman historian and scholar endues his Ecclesiastical History with a dramatic style, using themes from classical Greek tragedies to characterize Justinian’s life, particularly Fortune’s grand fluctuations.

Evagrius builds upon the documents written by Zachariah, Symeon Stylites the Elder, Eustathius of Epiphania, John Malalas, Zosimus, and Procopius of Caesarea.

The Ecclesiastical History is considered an important and relatively authoritative account of the timeline it traces, since Evagrius draws on other scholars’ material, explicitly acknowledging his sources. He meticulously organizes information taken from other written historical works in order to validate his account more effectively than other theological scholars of his time, thus diminishing confusion for future historian's interested in studying his work. However, historians acknowledge that there are serious logical errors inherent in Evagrius's surviving work, which is common for its epoch, namely the problematic chronological sequencing and skimming over of undeniably notable events such as major wars and other secular events. When the scholar mentions important occasions in his own life, lack of chronological labeling is especially evident – which can provide complications to those analyzing his book.

title: Evagrius Scholasticus


text:
King & Spalding

King & Spalding LLP is an American multinational corporate law firm that is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with offices located in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. It has over 1,300 lawyers in 23 offices globally. It is Am Law 100, Global 30, and white-shoe firm.

About
King & Spalding, also known as "K&S", was founded on January 1, 1885 by Alexander C. King and Jack Spalding in Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta remains the global headquarters of the firm.

The firm has additional offices in Austin, Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Northern Virginia, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and Washington, D.C.. K&S also has a London-based international arm, King & Spalding International LLP, which opened in 2003, and maintains offices or affiliates in Abu Dhabi, Brussels, Dubai, Frankfurt, Geneva, Paris, Riyadh, Singapore, and Tokyo.

Representative clients
The firm has represented various, large companies and private equity funds.

The firm "advises Donald Trump's real estate empire", according to one report which also cited the American Civil Liberties Union on the subject. Further, the firm enjoys a rich revolving door of senior government officials who elect to join or rejoin the firm's partnership following premier roles in United States public service; these officials include Sally Yates, Rod Rosenstein, Zachary T. Fardon, and many others.

In 2018 the firm filed a Foreign Agents Registration Act application notifying their work as an advisor to the Saudi Arabian organization King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy, which was created by King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to pursue a nuclear program. It received $705,171.21 for this advice.

Rankings
In 2023, The American Lawyer named King & Spalding Law Firm of the Year.

On the "Vault Law 100" list of the most prestigious law firms in the United States, King & Spalding was ranked #39 for 2024, moving up from #43 in 2019.

For 2024, King & Spalding was the 22nd largest law firm by revenue in the world, #22 in the Global 200 firms, and #17 in AmLaw 200 firms.

In February 2020, King & Spalding was named to the WTR1000 list by World Trademark Review.

Partners
In 1913, E. Marvin Underwood became Assistant Attorney General of the United States. In 1918, the presidential administration of King's & Spalding's former Atlanta law colleague Woodrow Wilson appointed founder Alexander Campbell King as the Solicitor General of the United States. King & Spalding's senior partners include former United States Attorney General Griffin Bell (now deceased). Georgia's former US Senator and director of The Coca-Cola Company Sam Nunn (now retired), former Indiana U.S. Senator and now Director of National Intelligence in the Trump Administration Dan Coats, former Florida US Senator Connie Mack, and former Georgia governor George Busbee (now deceased) also joined the firm after their respective retirements from public office. From 1981 to 1984, retired partner Bob Woodward served in the Office of Tax Legislative Counsel of the U.S. Treasury Department, holding the positions of Tax Legislative Counsel in 1983-1984 and Associate Tax Legislative Counsel in 1982–1983. Chilton Varner was appointed to the Federal Civil Rules Advisory Committee by Chief Justice William Rehnquist in 2004 and reappointed by Chief Justice John Roberts in 2007.

King & Spalding maintains a prominent White Collar Defense (called "Special Matters and Government Investigations") team founded by former United States Attorney General Griffin Bell, that includes many prominent former prosecutors. The Special Matters team focuses exclusively on white-collar defense, civil and regulatory investigations, corporate internal investigations, and investigations before the United States Congress. Current Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Christopher A. Wray, joined the firm in late 2005 before being appointed by President Donald J. Trump in 2017. Zachary Fardon, who was previously an associate from 1992 to 1996 and rejoined the Chicago office as a partner in 2017, served as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois from 2013 to 2017. In 2018, former United States Deputy Attorney General and Acting Attorney General Sally Yates rejoined the firm's Special Matters and Government practice group as a partner. Former United States Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein joined the firm's D.C. Office as a partner in 2020.

The firm's current chairman Robert D. Hays has held the position since 2005. Former Atlanta M&A partner Mike Egan, who previously served as counsel to the Atlanta Falcons, was hired by Arthur Blank to be General Counsel of AMB Group LLC. In May 2017, Jim Woolery joined the firm's Corporate, Finance & Investments practice group from hedge fund Hudson Executive Capital. Woolery was soon thereafter joined in the firm's New York City office by infrastructure M&A dealmaker Jonathan Melmed in August 2018.

Randy Mastro, who led the litigation practice at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher for more than 20 years and represented clients including AIG, Chevron, DraftKings and former Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie, joined the firm as partner in August 2022.

Transactions and cases
Originally focused on Southern U.S. railroad and utility consolidation transactions in the 19th and early 20th centuries, King & Spalding's international mergers and acquisitions practice has more recently advised on corporate transactions. Atlanta M&A partner W. Calvin "Cal" Smith, who recruited Woolery to the M&A practice, has acted for clients such as Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen in its $1.8 billion sale to Restaurant Brands International and Energizer in its $2 billion acquisition of the Rayovac and VARTA battery brands from Spectrum Brands.

The firm provided Guantanamo Bay attorneys for six Yemeni detainees, including Mohammed Al-Adahi. The firm was appointed as independent counsel to the Special Court for Sierra Leone, following allegations of war crimes against the country's former president, and undertook litigation and research assistance for the prosecutor's office in the U.N.-assisted Khmer Rouge Tribunal.

Impact on the City of Atlanta and the State of Georgia
The firm played a pivotal role in the creation of the largest bank holding company in Georgia, The Trust Company of Georgia (now known as SunTrust Banks), as the firm's first M&A lawyers, including Hughes Spalding, advised early predecessors of The Trust Company of Georgia in transformative corporate reorganizations and combinations with other regional banking institutions, including the separation of Trust Company of Georgia from Atlanta National Bank and Lowry National Bank shortly following revisions to the law under the 1933 Banking Act and the merger of Trust Company of Georgia with Sun Banks in 1985. The combined bank later merged with Third National in Tennessee, Crestar in Virginia, and National Commerce Bank in Memphis, Tennessee and North Carolina.

In 1995, King & Spalding lawyers, led by partner Horace Sibley, advised the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, which staged the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. King & Spalding personnel in Atlanta raised more than $930,000 in support of United Way in 2018. In the 1800s, the King & Spalding firm incorporated and filed the charter documents of the Piedmont Driving Club. In 2006, former K&S partner Joseph Bankoff was unanimously appointed Chief Executive Officer of Atlanta's Woodruff Arts Center. A team of partners from the firm's Corporate, Finance & Investments team put together documentation to construct, brand, market and operate the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The same King & Spalding team represented the City of Atlanta in its winning bid to host Super Bowl LIII in 2019. In 2014, Atlanta M&A partner Mike Egan advised Arthur Blank in the expansion of the Atlanta United FC. In 2015, Atlanta M&A partner Rahul Patel advised certain investors in the Atlanta Hawks NBA basketball franchise in a recapitalization transaction involving Grant Hill, Sarah Blakely and Jesse Itzler. In 2005, Egan and Atlanta M&A partner Ray Baltz represented Atlanta Spirit LLC in its acquisition of the Atlanta Hawks, Atlanta Thrashers and the operating rights to Philips Arena in a transaction valued at $241 million. Corporate lawyers from King & Spalding have also represented the investors and the management team of the BB&T Atlanta Open, an ATP World Tour 250 tennis championship held annually in Midtown Atlanta. The firm maintains close ties to the University of Georgia School of Law, which is home to the Alexander Campbell King Law Library; former K&S partner Mike Raeber serves as the University's general counsel, and several of its law professors were former King & Spalding associates.

Defense of the Defense of Marriage Act
In April 2011, the firm signed a $500,000 contract with the Republican-controlled United States House of Representatives to take on the case of defending the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage in federal law as the union between one man and one woman, in court for the House, with partner (and former Solicitor General) Paul Clement as its lead attorney. After the contract was signed, the gay rights group Human Rights Campaign announced it would launch a publicity war to "shame" the firm and planned protest, ads in legal publications, and to try to influence students and potential clients dealings with the firm. Soon after signing, the firm asked to withdraw from the case after facing criticism from gay rights groups, citing an "inadequate" vetting process. Clement immediately resigned from the firm, writing in a letter to King & Spalding Chairman Robert Hays, "I resign out of the firmly-held belief that a representation should not be abandoned because the client's legal position is extremely unpopular in certain quarters. Defending unpopular decisions is what lawyers do...Efforts to delegitimize any representation for one side of a legal controversy are a profound threat to the rule of law." He added, "If there were problems with the firm's vetting process, we should fix the vetting process, not drop the representation." Clement immediately joined Bancroft PLLC, which took the case. The National Law Journal wrote that the event "leaves unanswered a myriad of questions about the status of Clement's other cases and clients, and the future of King & Spalding's D.C. appellate practice, which was built around Clement."

The firm was criticized by those in the legal community on both sides of the same-sex marriage issue for the decision; Attorney General of the United States Eric Holder compared the situation to the criticism of lawyers tasked with defending Guantanamo Bay detainees, saying, "It was something we dealt with here in the Department of Justice...The people who criticized our people here at the Justice Department were wrong then as are people who criticized Paul Clement for the representation that he's going to continue." Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey said, "Although lawyers are not obligated in the first instance to take all comers, they are very much obligated not to quit in the face of criticism once they do take on a client. This is a bad message to send to lawyers and to clients." The decision shocked those lawyers involved in Supreme Court cases. Speaker of the House John Boehner issued a statement condemning the firm's "careless disregard for its responsibilities to the House in this constitutional matter." Theodore Olson, Clement's predecessor as Solicitor General and a same-sex marriage supporter, said, "I don't know of anything comparable to this. You have to be willing to stand your ground."

Talking Points Memo reported that Coca-Cola "directly intervened to press the firm to extricate itself from the case."

After King & Spalding dropped the case, Attorney General of Virginia Ken Cuccinelli terminated his office's relationship with the firm, writing in a letter to the firm that their "willingness to drop a client, the U.S. House of Representatives, in connection with the lawsuit challenging the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was such an obsequious act of weakness that I feel compelled to end your legal association with Virginia so that there is no chance that one of my legal clients will be put in the embarrassing and difficult situation like the client you walked away from, the House of Representatives." The National Rifle Association of America soon did the same.

Participation in Trump administration election lawsuits
In the immediate aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, King & Spalding was criticized for choosing to represent the Trump campaign in a lawsuit in North Carolina seeking to block the state from implementing a rule allowing an extension for the receipt of mail-in ballots. Protesters gathered outside the firm's D.C. office on November 13. Protesters including Eliza Orlins, a public defender and candidate for Manhattan district attorney, and others characterized the election lawsuits by King & Spalding, Jones Day, Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP, and other law firms as frivolous, highly unlikely to overturn the election result, and damaging to the integrity of American democracy. As it turned out, Trump won North Carolina, making further proceedings by King & Spalding on his behalf in the state moot.

title: King & Spalding


text:
Schiltron

A schiltron (also spelled sheltron, sceld-trome, schiltrom, or shiltron) is a compact body of troops forming a battle array, shield wall or phalanx. The term is most often associated with Scottish pike formations during the Wars of Scottish Independence in the late 13th and early 14th centuries.

Etymology
The term dates from at least 1000 AD and derives from Old English roots expressing the idea of a "shield-troop". Some researchers have also posited this etymological relation may show the schiltron is directly descended from the Anglo-Saxon shield wall, and still others give evidence "schiltron" is a name derived from a Viking circular formation (generally no fewer than a thousand fighters) in extremely close formation, intended to present an enemy's cavalry charge with an "infinite" obstacle (that is, a perimeter horses refuse to breach). Matters are confused by use of this term in Middle English to clearly refer to a body of soldiers without reference to formation, including cavalry and archers. The first mention of the schiltron as a specific formation of spearmen appears to be at the Battle of Falkirk in 1298. There is, however, no reason to believe this is the first time such a formation was used and it may have had a long previous history in Scotland, as the Picts used to employ spears in block formation as the backbone of their armies.

Circular schiltrons
There are two recorded Scottish instances of circular schiltrons: William Wallace's army at the 1298 Battle of Falkirk, and an element of Thomas Randolph's forces on the first day of the 1314 Battle of Bannockburn.

The circular formation is essentially static. At Falkirk, the formation was fortified by driving stakes into the ground before the men, with ropes between. Charles Oman describes the formation thus: "The front ranks knelt with their spear butts fixed in the earth; the rear ranks leveled their lances over their comrades heads; the thick-set grove of twelve foot spears was far too dense for the cavalry to penetrate."

Rectilinear schiltrons
There are numerous accounts of rectilinear schiltrons – they were employed at the battles of Glen Trool (1307), Bannockburn (the main battle), Myton (1319), Dupplin Muir (1332), Culblean (1335), Halidon Hill (1333), Neville's Cross (1346) and Otterburn (1388).

Unlike the circular schiltron, the rectilinear formation was capable of both defensive and offensive action. The offensive use of the schiltron is a tactical development credited to Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn. He had drilled his troops in the offensive use of the pike (requiring great discipline) and he was able to fight the English forces on flat, firm ground suitable for their large force of cavalry. Bruce's new tactic was a response to a crushing defeat for the Scots at Falkirk when the first recorded use of the schiltron by a Scottish army failed in the face of a combination of conscripted Welsh longbowmen, English archers and English cavalry.

Detailed descriptions of the formation are rare but those given by English chroniclers of Bannockburn demonstrate the essential features:
 * "They had axes at their sides and lances in their hands. They advanced like a thick-set hedge and such a phalanx could not easily be broken."
 * "They were all on foot; picked men they were, enthusiastic, armed with keen axes, and other weapons, and with their shields closely locked in front of them, they formed an impenetrable phalanx ..."

English examples
The term schiltron is also used by Barbour to describe English infantry at Bannockburn. It is also used by the author of the Lanercost Chronicle to describe the English spearmen at the Battle of Boroughbridge (1322). In both cases, a rectilinear formation is being described, though that at Boroughbridge is curved, with its flanks bent back.

European parallels
While doubtless a Scottish development, the schiltron fits into a Northern European context of infantry combat. Parallels with Scandinavian practice have already been drawn (see Etymology above) and the multiple-ranked tightly packed infantry formations were standard across Europe during the Middle Ages.

Schiltron-like formations were also used by the Welsh troops at the battles of Orewin Bridge (1282) and Maes Moydog (1295), although this tactic was generally unsuccessful for the Welsh.

Perhaps the closest parallel is with the armies of medieval Flanders. Here too can be seen the deep blocks of fighting men, with rows of spears braced in the earth to resist cavalry. The greatest of their battles was possibly Courtrai in 1302, where the Flemings destroyed a French army of knights and foot-soldiers. The Flemings also made great use of a circular "crown-shaped" formation, similar to those used at Falkirk and Bannockburn.

A similar square formation ("formação em quadrado") of pike-armed foot soldiers was used by the English-assisted Portuguese troops against Castilian armies in the late 14th century at Aljubarrota (1385).

Another example is during the Battle of Legnano (1176) between the Milanese Army against Federico Barbarossa, in defense of the Carroccio by the Milanese armies commanded by Guido da Landriano.

Comparable formations

 * Phalanx
 * Pike Square
 * Shield Wall
 * Tercio
 * Testudo

title: Schiltron


text:
Blinded experiment

In a blind or blinded experiment, information which may influence the participants of the experiment is withheld until after the experiment is complete. Good blinding can reduce or eliminate experimental biases that arise from a participants' expectations, observer's effect on the participants, observer bias, confirmation bias, and other sources. A blind can be imposed on any participant of an experiment, including subjects, researchers, technicians, data analysts, and evaluators. In some cases, while blinding would be useful, it is impossible or unethical. For example, it is not possible to blind a patient to their treatment in a physical therapy intervention. A good clinical protocol ensures that blinding is as effective as possible within ethical and practical constraints.

During the course of an experiment, a participant becomes unblinded if they deduce or otherwise obtain information that has been masked to them. For example, a patient who experiences a side effect may correctly guess their treatment, becoming unblinded. Unblinding is common in blinded experiments, particularly in pharmacological trials. In particular, trials on pain medication and antidepressants are poorly blinded. Unblinding that occurs before the conclusion of a study is a source of experimental error, as the bias that was eliminated by blinding is re-introduced. The CONSORT reporting guidelines recommend that all studies assess and report unblinding. In practice, very few studies do so.

Blinding is an important tool of the scientific method, and is used in many fields of research. In some fields, such as medicine, it is considered essential. In clinical research, a trial that is not a blinded trial is called an open trial.

History
The first known blind experiment was conducted by the French Royal Commission on Animal Magnetism in 1784 to investigate the claims of mesmerism as proposed by Charles d'Eslon, a former associate of Franz Mesmer. In the investigations, the researchers (physically) blindfolded mesmerists and asked them to identify objects that the experimenters had previously filled with "vital fluid". The subjects were unable to do so.

In 1817, the first blind experiment recorded to have occurred outside of a scientific setting compared the musical quality of a Stradivarius violin to one with a guitar-like design. A violinist played each instrument while a committee of scientists and musicians listened from another room so as to avoid prejudice.

An early example of a double-blind protocol was the Nuremberg salt test of 1835 performed by Friedrich Wilhelm von Hoven, Nuremberg's highest-ranking public health official, as well as a close friend of Friedrich Schiller. This trial contested the effectiveness of homeopathic dilution.

In 1865, Claude Bernard published his Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine, which advocated for the blinding of researchers. Bernard's recommendation that an experiment's observer should not know the hypothesis being tested contrasted starkly with the prevalent Enlightenment-era attitude that scientific observation can only be objectively valid when undertaken by a well-educated, informed scientist. The first study recorded to have a blinded researcher was conducted in 1907 by W. H. R. Rivers and H. N. Webber to investigate the effects of caffeine. The need to blind researchers became widely recognized in the mid-20th century.

Bias
A number of biases are present when a study is insufficiently blinded. Patient-reported outcomes can be different if the patient is not blinded to their treatment. Likewise, failure to blind researchers results in observer bias. Unblinded data analysts may favor an analysis that supports their existing beliefs (confirmation bias). These biases are typically the result of subconscious influences, and are present even when study participants believe they are not influenced by them.

Terminology
In medical research, the terms single-blind, double-blind and triple-blind are commonly used to describe blinding. These terms describe experiments in which (respectively) one, two, or three parties are blinded to some information. Most often, single-blind studies blind patients to their treatment allocation, double-blind studies blind both patients and researchers to treatment allocations, and triple-blinded studies blind patients, researcher, and some other third party (such as a monitoring committee) to treatment allocations. However, the meaning of these terms can vary from study to study.

CONSORT guidelines state that these terms should no longer be used because they are ambiguous. For instance, "double-blind" could mean that the data analysts and patients were blinded; or the patients and outcome assessors were blinded; or the patients and people offering the intervention were blinded, etc. The terms also fail to convey the information that was masked and the amount of unblinding that occurred. It is not sufficient to specify the number of parties that have been blinded. To describe an experiment's blinding, it is necessary to report who has been blinded to what information, and how well each blind succeeded.

Unblinding
"Unblinding" occurs in a blinded experiment when information becomes available to one from whom it has been masked. In clinical studies, unblinding may occur unintentionally when a patient deduces their treatment group. Unblinding that occurs before the conclusion of an experiment is a source of bias. Some degree of premature unblinding is common in blinded experiments. When a blind is imperfect, its success is judged on a spectrum with no blind (or complete failure of blinding) on one end, perfect blinding on the other, and poor or good blinding between. Thus, the common view of studies as blinded or unblinded is an example of a false dichotomy.

Success of blinding is assessed by questioning study participants about information that has been masked to them (e.g. did the participant receive the drug or placebo?). In a perfectly blinded experiment, the responses should be consistent with no knowledge of the masked information. However, if unblinding has occurred, the responses will indicate the degree of unblinding. Since unblinding cannot be measured directly, but must be inferred from participants' responses, its measured value will depend on the nature of the questions asked. As a result, it is not possible to measure unblinding in a way that is completely objective. Nonetheless, it is still possible to make informed judgments about the quality of a blind. Poorly blinded studies rank above unblinded studies and below well-blinded studies in the hierarchy of evidence.

Post-study unblinding
Post-study unblinding is the release of masked data upon completion of a study. In clinical studies, post-study unblinding serves to inform subjects of their treatment allocation. Removing a blind upon completion of a study is never mandatory, but is typically performed as a courtesy to study participants. Unblinding that occurs after the conclusion of a study is not a source of bias, because data collection and analysis are both complete at this time.

Premature unblinding
Premature unblinding is any unblinding that occurs before the conclusion of a study. In contrast with post-study unblinding, premature unblinding is a source of bias. A code-break procedure dictates when a subject should be unblinded prematurely. A code-break procedure should only allow for unblinding in cases of emergency. Unblinding that occurs in compliance with code-break procedure is strictly documented and reported.

Premature unblinding may also occur when a participant infers from experimental conditions information that has been masked to them. A common cause for unblinding is the presence of side effects (or effects) in the treatment group. In pharmacological trials, premature unblinding can be reduced with the use of an active placebo, which conceals treatment allocation by ensuring the presence of side effects in both groups. However, side effects are not the only cause of unblinding; any perceptible difference between the treatment and control groups can contribute to premature unblinding.

A problem arises in the assessment of blinding because asking subjects to guess masked information may prompt them to try to infer that information. Researchers speculate that this may contribute to premature unblinding. Furthermore, it has been reported that some subjects of clinical trials attempt to determine if they have received an active treatment by gathering information on social media and message boards. While researchers counsel patients not to use social media to discuss clinical trials, their accounts are not monitored. This behavior is believed to be a source of unblinding. CONSORT standards and good clinical practice guidelines recommend the reporting of all premature unblinding. In practice, unintentional unblinding is rarely reported.

Significance
Bias due to poor blinding tends to favor the experimental group, resulting in inflated effect size and risk of false positives. Success or failure of blinding is rarely reported or measured; it is implicitly assumed that experiments reported as "blind" are truly blind. Critics have pointed out that without assessment and reporting, there is no way to know if a blind succeeded. This shortcoming is especially concerning given that even a small error in blinding can produce a statistically significant result in the absence of any real difference between test groups when a study is sufficiently powered (i.e. statistical significance is not robust to bias). As such, many statistically significant results in randomized controlled trials may be caused by error in blinding. Some researchers have called for the mandatory assessment of blinding efficacy in clinical trials.

In medicine
Blinding is considered essential in medicine, but is often difficult to achieve. For example, it is difficult to compare surgical and non-surgical interventions in blind trials. In some cases, sham surgery may be necessary for the blinding process. A good clinical protocol ensures that blinding is as effective as possible within ethical and practical constrains.

Studies of blinded pharmacological trials across widely varying domains find evidence of high levels of unblinding. Unblinding has been shown to affect both patients and clinicians. This evidence challenges the common assumption that blinding is highly effective in pharmacological trials. Unblinding has also been documented in clinical trials outside of pharmacology.

Pain
A 2018 meta-analysis found that assessment of blinding was reported in only 23 out of 408 randomized controlled trials for chronic pain (5.6%). The study concluded upon analysis of pooled data that the overall quality of the blinding was poor, and the blinding was "not successful." Additionally, both pharmaceutical sponsorship and the presence of side effects were associated with lower rates of reporting assessment of blinding.

Depression
Studies have found evidence of extensive unblinding in antidepressant trials: at least three-quarters of patients were able to correctly guess their treatment assignment. Unblinding also occurs in clinicians. Better blinding of patients and clinicians reduces effect size. Researchers concluded that unblinding inflates effect size in antidepressant trials. Some researchers believe that antidepressants are not effective for the treatment of depression and only outperform placebos due to systematic error. These researchers argue that antidepressants are just active placebos.

Acupuncture
While the possibility of blinded trials on acupuncture is controversial, a 2003 review of 47 randomized controlled trials found no fewer than four methods of blinding patients to acupuncture treatment: 1) superficial needling of true acupuncture points, 2) use of acupuncture points which are not indicated for the condition being treated, 3) insertion of needles outside of true acupuncture points, and 4) the use of placebo needles which are designed not to penetrate the skin. The authors concluded that there was "no clear association between type of sham intervention used and the results of the trials."

A 2018 study on acupuncture which used needles that did not penetrate the skin as a sham treatment found that 68% of patients and 83% of acupuncturists correctly identified their group allocation. The authors concluded that the blinding had failed, but that more advanced placebos may someday offer the possibility of well-blinded studies in acupuncture.

In physics
It is standard practice in physics to perform blinded data analysis. After data analysis is complete, one is allowed to unblind the data. A prior agreement to publish the data regardless of the results of the analysis may be made to prevent publication bias.

In social sciences
Social science research is particularly prone to observer bias, so it is important in these fields to properly blind the researchers. In some cases, while blind experiments would be useful, they are impractical or unethical. Blinded data analysis can reduce bias, but is rarely used in social science research.

In forensics
In a police photo lineup, an officer shows a group of photos to a witness and asks the witness to identify the individual who committed the crime. Since the officer is typically aware of who the suspect is, they may (subconsciously or consciously) influence the witness to choose the individual that they believe committed the crime. There is a growing movement in law enforcement to move to a blind procedure in which the officer who shows the photos to the witness does not know who the suspect is.

In music
Auditions for symphony orchestras take place behind a curtain so that the judges cannot see the performer. Blinding the judges to the gender of the performers has been shown to increase the hiring of women. Blind tests can also be used to compare the quality of musical instruments.

title: Blinded experiment