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Mishneh Torah

The Mishneh Torah (מִשְׁנֵה תוֹרָה), also known as Sefer Yad ha-Hazaka (ספר יד החזקה), is a code of Rabbinic Jewish religious law (halakha) authored by Maimonides (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon/Rambam). The Mishneh Torah was compiled between 1170 and 1180 CE (4930 and 4940 AM), while Maimonides was living in Egypt, and is regarded as Maimonides' magnum opus. Accordingly, later sources simply refer to the work as "Maimon", "Maimonides", or "RaMBaM", although Maimonides composed other works.

Mishneh Torah consists of fourteen books, subdivided into sections, chapters, and paragraphs. It is the only medieval-era work that details all of Jewish observance, including those laws that are only applicable when the Temple in Jerusalem is in existence, and remains an important work in Judaism.

Its title is an appellation originally used for the Biblical book of Deuteronomy, and its moniker, "Book of the Strong Hand", derives from its subdivision into fourteen books: the numerical value fourteen, when represented as the Hebrew letters Yodh (10) and Dalet (4), forms the word yad ('hand').

Maimonides intended to provide a complete statement of the Oral Law, so that a person who mastered first the Written Torah and then the Mishneh Torah would be in no need of any other book. Contemporary reaction was mixed, with a strong and immediate opposition which focused on the absence of sources and the belief that the work appeared to be intended to supersede study of the Talmud. Maimonides responded to these criticisms, and the Mishneh Torah endures as an influential work in Jewish religious thought. According to several authorities, a decision may not be rendered in opposition to a view of Maimonides, even where he apparently militated against the sense of a Talmudic passage, for in such cases the presumption was that the words of the Talmud were incorrectly interpreted. Likewise: "One must follow Maimonides, even when the latter opposed his teachers, since he surely knew their views, and if he decided against them, he must have disapproved their interpretation." The Mishneh Torah was later adapted for an Ashkenazi audience by Meir HaKohen in the form of the Haggahot Maimuniyyot. The work consists of supplemental notes to the Mishneh Torah with the objective of implanting contemporary Sephardic thought in Germany and France, while juxtaposing it to contemporary Ashkenazi halakhic customs.

Language and style
The Mishneh Torah is written in Hebrew, as the Mishnah had been. As he states in the preface, Maimonides was reluctant to write in Talmudic Aramaic, since it was not widely known. His previous works had been written in Judeo-Arabic.

The Mishneh Torah virtually never cites sources or arguments, and confines itself to stating the final decision on the law to be followed in each situation. There is no discussion of Talmudic interpretation or methodology, and the sequence of chapters follows the factual subject matter of the laws rather than the intellectual principle involved. Maimonides was criticized for not including sources by his contemporaries. Maimonides later regretted not adding sources but ultimately did not have time to update his work.

The books and sections

 * 1) HaMadda (Knowledge)
 * 2) Yesodei ha-Torah (lit. ‘Foundations of the Torah’): belief in God, and other Jewish principles of faith
 * 3) De'ot: general proper behavior
 * 4) Talmud Torah: Torah study
 * 5) Avodah Zarah: the prohibition against idolatry and foreign worship
 * 6) Teshuvah: the law and philosophy of repentance
 * 7) Tefillin shel yad klaf.jpg]] Ahavah (Love [of God])
 * 8) Kri'at Shema: recitation of the Shema
 * 9) Tefilah and Birkat Kohanim: prayer and the priestly blessing
 * 10) Tefillin, Mezuzah, and Sefer Torah
 * 11) Tzitzit
 * 12) Berachot: blessings
 * 13) Milah: circumcision
 * 14) Seder Tefilot: order of prayers
 * 15) Sukkots with wall from wood.JPG booth]] Zemanim (Times)
 * 16) Shabbat: Sabbath
 * 17) Eruvin: a type of Rabbinic device that allows Jews to carry outdoors and walk longer distances on the Sabbath, as well as cook on holidays.
 * 18) Shevitat `Asor: laws of Yom Kippur, except for the Temple service (see Avodat Yom ha-Kippurim, below)
 * 19) Yom Tov: prohibitions on major Jewish holidays that are different from the prohibitions of Sabbath
 * 20) Hametz u-Matza: chametz and matzah (i. e., Passover)
 * 21) Shofar ve-Lulav ve-Sukkah: Shofar (i. e., Rosh Hashanah) and palm frond and Sukkah (i. e., Sukkot)
 * 22) Shekalim: money collected for the Temple in Jerusalem when it stood
 * 23) Kiddush HaChodesh: sanctification of the month
 * 24) Taaniyot: fasts
 * 25) Hanukah u-Megillah: Hanukkah and the Scroll of Esther (i. e., Purim)
 * 26) V03p128a01 Ketubah.jpg, a Jewish marriage contract, outlining the duties of the husband]] Nashim (Women):
 * 27) Ishut: laws of marriage, including kiddushin and the ketubah
 * 28) Geirushin: laws of divorce
 * 29) Yibum va-Chalitzah: laws of levirate marriage
 * 30) Na'arah Betulah: the law of a man who seduces or rapes an unmarried woman
 * 31) Sotah: laws concerning a woman suspected of infidelity
 * 32) Kedushah (Holiness)
 * 33) Issurei Biah: forbidden sexual relations, including niddah, incest, and adultery. Since intermarriage with non-Jews is forbidden, the laws of conversion to Judaism are also included.
 * 34) Ma'akhalot Assurot: laws of forbidden foods (see kashrut)
 * 35) Shechitah: laws of ritual slaughter
 * 36) Hafla'ah (Separation):
 * 37) Shevuot: laws of oaths (to refrain from doing an action)
 * 38) Nedarim: laws of vows (to do an action)
 * 39) Nezirot: laws of Nazirites
 * 40) Erachin: laws of donations to the temple
 * 41) Zera'im (Seeds)
 * 42) Kilayim: laws of forbidden mixtures
 * 43) Aniyim: laws of obligatory gifts to the poor
 * 44) Terumot: laws of obligatory gifts to the priests
 * 45) Maaser: laws of tithes
 * 46) Sheini: laws of secondary tithes
 * 47) Bikurim: laws of first fruit offerings
 * 48) Shemittah: laws of the sabbatical year
 * 49) Jerusalem Modell BW 3.JPG, as imagined in the Holyland Model of Jerusalem]] Avodah (Divine Service):
 * 50) Bet HaBechirah: laws of God's chosen house
 * 51) K'lei HaMikdash: laws of the temple utensils and those who serve within
 * 52) Bi'at HaMikdash: laws of entry to the sanctuary
 * 53) Issurei HaMizbe'ach: laws of entities prohibited to be offered on the altar
 * 54) Ma'aseh HaKorbanot: laws of the sacrificial procedures
 * 55) Temidim uMusafim: laws of continual and additional offerings
 * 56) Pesule HaMukdashim: laws of consecrated entities that have been disqualified
 * 57) Avodat Yom HaKippurim: laws of the Yom Kippur service
 * 58) Me'ilah: laws of the misappropriation of consecrated property
 * 59) Korbanot (Offerings)
 * 60) Korban Pesach: the Passover offering
 * 61) Chagigah: the festival offering
 * 62) Bechorot: laws regarding first-born children
 * 63) Shegagot: Offerings for Unintentional Transgressions
 * 64) Mechussarey Kapparah: Offerings for Those with Incomplete Atonement
 * 65) Temurah: Substitution
 * 66) Taharah (Ritual Purity)
 * 67) Tumat Met: defilement by coming into contact with death
 * 68) Para Aduma: the red heifer
 * 69) Tumat Zara’at: defilement by tzara'at
 * 70) Metamei Mischkaw u-Moschaw tangential defilement
 * 71) She'ar Avot haTumot other sources of defilment
 * 72) Tumat Ochalin: defilement of foods
 * 73) Kelim: vessels
 * 74) Mikvaot: laws regarding the mikvah
 * 75) Sefer Nezikim, also known as Sefer Nezikin (torts)
 * 76) Nizqei Mamon: property damage
 * 77) Geneivah: theft
 * 78) Gezeilah v'Avidah: robbery and lost property
 * 79) Hovel uMaziq: one who injures another
 * 80) Rotzeah uShmirat Nefesh: murderers and life preservation
 * 81) Sefer Kinyan (Acquisition)
 * 82) Mechirah sale
 * 83) Zechiyah uMatanah: ownerless property and gifts
 * 84) Sh’chenim: neighbors
 * 85) Shluhin v’Shutafin: agents and partners
 * 86) ‘Avadim: slaves
 * 87) Sefer Mishpatim (Civil Laws)
 * 88) Schirut rent
 * 89) Sheilah uPiqadon borrowing and deposits
 * 90) Malveh v'Loveh lenders and borrowers
 * 91) To'en v'Nit'an plaintiff and reception
 * 92) Nahalot inheritance
 * 93) Sanhedrin1.jpg Sefer Shoftim (Judges)
 * 94) Sanhedrin
 * 95) Edut: testimony
 * 96) Mamrim: heretics
 * 97) Evel: mourning
 * 98) Melachim uMilhamoteyhem: kings and wars

Notable laws
Mishneh Torah contains a widely quoted list of eight levels of charitable donation, where the first level is most preferable, and the eighth the least (see Tzedakah).

Critics and criticism
The Mishneh Torah was strongly opposed almost as soon as it appeared. Major sources of contention were the absence of sources and the belief that the work appeared to be intended to supersede study of the Talmud. Some criticisms appear to have been less rational in nature. Indeed, Maimonides quotes the Talmud in stating that one should study the Talmud for a third of one's study time.

The most sincere but influential opponent, whose comments are printed parallel to virtually all editions of the Mishneh Torah, was Rabbi Abraham ben David of Posquières (Raavad III, France, 12th century).

Many critics were especially bitter against the new methods which he had employed, and the very peculiarities which he had regarded as merits in his work failed to please his opponents because they were innovations. Thus they reproached him because he departed from the Talmudic order and introduced a division and arrangement of his own, and because he dared to sometimes decide according to the Tosefta and the Jerusalem Talmud as against the Babylonian Talmud.

Especially sharp was the blame heaped upon Maimonides because he neglected to cite his sources; this was considered an evidence of his superciliousness, since it made it difficult, if not absolutely impossible, for scholars to verify his statements, and compelled them to follow his decisions absolutely. Yet, despite all this, Maimonides remained certain that in the future the Mishneh Torah would find great influence and acceptance. This is boldly expressed in a letter to his student Rabbi Yoseph ben ha-rav Yehudah:

"And all that I've described to you regarding those who won't accept it [the Mishneh Torah] properly, that is uniquely in my generation. However, in future generations, when jealousy and the lust for power will disappear, all of Israel will subsist [lit. "we be satiated"] on it alone, and will abandon all else besides it without a doubt – except for those who seek something to be involved with all their lives, even though it doesn't achieve a purpose."

Maimonides' response
Maimonides defended himself. He had not composed this work for glory; he desired only to supply the necessary, but lacking, code, for there was danger lest pupils, weary of the difficult study, might go astray in decisions of practical importance.

He noted that it had never been his intention to abolish Talmudic studies altogether, nor had he ever said that there was no need of the "Halakot" of Rabbi Isaac Alfasi, for he himself had lectured to his pupils on the Gemara and, at their request, upon Alfasi's work. However, he did state that for the masses, there was no need for Talmud study, as the Mishne Torah, along with the written Torah, would suffice. He also stated that in-depth study of Talmudic discussions was "a waste of time", for the sole purpose of study was to know how to practice the law.

He said that his omission of his sources was due solely to his desire for brevity, although he regretted that he had not written a supplementary work citing his authorities for those halakot whose sources were not evident from the context. He would, however, should circumstances permit, atone for this error, however toilsome it might be to write such a supplement.

Raavad was forced to acknowledge that the work of Maimonides was a magnificent contribution, nor did he hesitate to praise him and approve his views in many passages, citing and commenting upon the sources.

Later works (e. g., Yosef Karo's Kesef Mishné) set out to find sources for Maimonides' decisions, and to resolve any disputes between him and the Raavad.

Yonah of Gerona
Special mention should be made of Yonah of Gerona, a cousin of Nachmanides (Ramban) who was initially a member of the vocal opponents of the "Yad". He was involved in the burning of a number of copies of the Sefer ha-Madda in the 1240s. Regret followed, when he saw the Talmud being burnt in Paris in 1244, which he interpreted as a sign from Heaven that he had been mistaken. He set out to the Land of Israel, to ask forgiveness on Maimonides' grave in presence of ten witnesses, but failed to continue to his destination. He composed a classic work on penitence (titled Shaarei Teshuva, "The Gates of Repentance") during his soul-searching.

Influence
Thus the work of Maimonides, notwithstanding the sharp attacks upon it, soon won general recognition as an authority of the first importance for ritual decisions. According to several authorities, a decision may not be rendered in opposition to a view of Maimonides, even though the latter apparently militated against the sense of a Talmudic passage, for in such cases the presumption was that the words of the Talmud were incorrectly interpreted. Likewise: "One must follow Maimonides even when the latter opposed his teachers, since he surely knew their views, and if he decided against them he must have disapproved their interpretation".

Even when later authorities, like Asher ben Jehiel (the Rosh), decided against Maimonides, it became a rule of the Oriental Jews to follow the latter, although the European Jews, especially the Ashkenazim, preferred the opinions of the Rosh in such cases. But the hope which Maimonides expressed, that in time to come his work and his alone would be accepted, has been only half fulfilled. His Mishneh Torah is indeed still very popular, but there has been no cessation in the study of other works.

Ironically, while Maimonides refrained from citing sources out of concern for brevity (or perhaps because he designed his work to be used without studying the Talmud or other sources first), the result has often been the opposite of what he intended. Various commentaries have been written which seek to supply the lacking source documentation, and, indeed, today, the Mishneh Torah is sometimes used as a sort of an index to aid in locating Talmudic passages. In cases where Maimonides' sources, or interpretation thereof, is questionable, the lack of clarity has at times led to lengthy analyses and debates – quite the opposite of the brevity he sought to attain. On the other hand, this only became an issue for students and scholars who studied the Mishneh Torah's sources. According to Maimonides himself, deducing law from the sources had already become a precarious proposition (for a number of reasons) – even in his own times. This necessarily relates to different subjects – like the influence of the exile, language skills, lack of time, censorship, and alternate versions of the Talmud.

Printed editions and textual accuracy
Over time many textual errors and distortions have appeared in the various editions of Maimonides' Mishneh Torah. These inaccuracies are in the text of rulings, in the drawings made by Maimonides, as well as in the division (and thus the numbering) of rulings.

There are various reasons for these inaccuracies. Some are due to errors in the copying of manuscripts (before the age of printing) or mistakes by typesetters of later editions. Others are due to conscious attempts to "correct" the text, and yet others to Christian censorship (in countries under its control). In addition, Maimonides himself frequently edited the text of his own autograph copy, such that manuscripts copied from his own book did not preserve his later corrections. Thus, the received version may not be the text that Maimonides intended us to read.

Often the distortions in existing versions prompted questions on the "Mishne Torah" which were solved in many creative and different ways by the scholars throughout the generations; many of these questions don’t arise in the first place if the version is corrected based upon reliable manuscripts.

In order to determine the exact version, scholars use reliable early manuscripts (some of them containing Maimonides' own signature), which are free of both Christian censorship and the changes of later readers who tried to "correct" the text on their own, without manuscript evidence. Since the middle of the 20th century there have been five scientific printings of the book:
 * Rabbi Shabsai Frankel's edition includes critical editions of the "classical" commentators on Mishneh Torah as well as the book itself. However, the actual text of Mishneh Torah in this edition is based heavily on the printed editions, rather than the early manuscripts, whose variant readings are relegated to marginal notes and an apparatus at the end of each volume. All the volumes have been published.
 * Rabbi Yosef Qafih's edition is based mainly on Yemenite manuscripts, and includes an extensive commentary by Qafih that surveys the discussions of the classical commentaries on Mishneh Torah and includes verbatim citation of previous commentaries in their entirety along with Qafih's comments.
 * The Yad Peshutah edition by Rabbi Nahum Rabinovitch, Rosh Yeshivat Yeshivat Birkat Moshe in Ma'ale Adumim. This edition is based on a number of manuscripts (different ones are used for the different books, according to their reliability) and includes an original commentary on the Mishneh Torah.
 * The Exact Mishneh Torah edition by Rabbi Yitzchak Shelat, also of Yeshivat Birkat Moshe, has no commentary. It compares the printed versions to the fixed version. So far, four volumes have been printed; the publisher expects to print two new volumes each year.
 * A one-volume edition (1000 pages), published by Yeshivat Or Vishua and now in its third edition, reflects all the editions based on reliable manuscripts, accompanied by surrounding indexes but with no commentary. The text was checked again, based mainly on Qafih's edition. It gives variant readings from the other leading editions only in cases where the changes are meaningful. "The Mishne Torah Project" of the yeshiva also plans to publish a multi-volume pocket edition including vowel diacritics and cross-references to other passages and to Maimonides' other works. The pocket version of Sefer Ha-Madda (The Book of Knowledge) is already in print.

Codes and commentators
Mishneh Torah itself has been the subject of a number of commentaries, the most notable being Magid Mishné by Vidal de Toulouse, Migdal Oz by Shem Tov ben Abraham ibn Gaon Kesef Mishné by Yosef Karo, Mishné la-Melech by Judah Rosanes, Lechem Mishné by Abraham de Boton, Rabbi David ben Zimra (Radbaz) and Haggahot Maimuniyyot by Meir HaKohen (which details Ashkenazi customs). Most commentators aim to resolve criticisms of the Raavad, and to trace Maimonides' sources to the text of the Talmud, Midrash and Geonim.

Later codes of Jewish law, such as Arba'ah Turim by Rabbi Jacob ben Asher and Shulchan Aruch by Rabbi Yosef Karo, draw heavily on Maimonides' work, and in both, whole sections are often quoted verbatim.

Also there were many attempts down to the present time to force those who follow the rulings of Maimonides to change to the Shulchan Aruch or some other latter work of Minhag/Halakha. In response to this Karo wrote:

"Who is he whose heart conspires to approach forcing congregations who practice according to the RaMBaM of blessed memory, to go by any one of the early or latter-day Torah authorities?! ... Is it not a case of a fortiori, that regarding the School of Shammai—that the halakhah does not go according to them—they [the Talmudic Sages] said ‘if [one practices] like the School of Shammai [he may do so, but] according to their leniencies and their stringencies’: The RaMBaM, is the greatest of all the Torah authorities, and all the communities of the Land of Israel and the Arab-controlled lands and the West [North Africa] practice according to his word, and accepted him upon themselves as their Chief Rabbi. Whoever practices according to him with his leniencies and his stringencies, why coerce them to budge from him? And all the more so if also their fathers and forefathers practiced accordingly: for their children are not to turn right or left from the RaMBaM of blessed memory. And even if communities that practice according to the Rosh or other authorities like him became the majority, they cannot coerce the minority of congregations practicing according to the RaMBaM of blessed memory, to practice like they do. And there is no issue here concerning the prohibition against having two courts in the same city [‘lo tithgodedu’], since every congregation should practice according to its original custom…"

Study

The in-depth study of Mishneh Torah underwent a revival in Lithuanian Judaism in the late 19th century. The Lithuanians did not use it as a source book on practical halakha, as they followed the Ashkenazi authorities such as Moses Isserles and the Aruch ha-Shulchan.

Instead, they used it as a guide to Talmudic interpretation and methodology. Given the fact that the Mishneh Torah entirely omits these topics, this reading seems paradoxical and against the grain. Their method was to compare the Talmudic source material with Maimonides' final decision, in order to reconstruct the rules of interpretation that must have been used to get from one to the other.

It thus remains an integral part of the Yeshiva curriculum. As regards Talmud study, it is one of the primary works referenced in analyzing the Talmudic text from a legal point of view, as mentioned. It is also a primary text referenced in understanding the Halakha as presented in the Arba'ah Turim and Shulchan Aruch; and Mishneh Torah is thus one of the first post-Talmudic sources consulted when investigating a question of Jewish law. See ; ;.

Prominent recent authorities who have written commentaries on the work include Rabbis Meir Simcha of Dvinsk (Ohr Somayach), Chaim Soloveitchik (Chiddushei Rabbeinu Chaim), Yitzchok Isaac Krasilschikov (Tevunah), Isser Zalman Meltzer (Even HaEzel), and, more recently, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (Hadran al HaRambam), Elazar Shach (Avi Ezri), Nahum Rabinovitch (Yad Peshuta), and Rabbi Yosef Kapach. See also: List of commentaries on Mishneh Torah

Many scholarly speeches (e. g., the traditional Rabbi's speech on the Shabbat preceding Pesach and Yom Kippur) often revolve around a reconciliation between two passages in Maimonides' work. Rav Soloveitchik's work Al haTeshuvah discussing repentance in the light of Rambam's work, is widely studied and referenced (in Modern Orthodox communities) in the days leading up to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Today, thousands of Orthodox Jews, particularly Chabad Hasidim, participate in one of the annual study cycles of Mishneh Torah (one or three chapters a day), innovated by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, in the spring of 1984. Parallel to the three- or one-chapter(s)-a-day cycle, there is a daily study of the Sefer Hamitzvot "Book of the Commandments", also authored by Maimonides.

A popular commentary, Rambam La'Am ('Rambam for the Nation'), was produced in 1971 by Rabbi Shmuel Tanchum Rubinstein (published by Mossad Harav Kook). This 20 volume set is widely used in daily Rambam study, in the Israeli Chabad and Religious Zionist communities. Adin Steinsaltz produced a similarly positioned commentary, published by Koren in 2017.

Practice
As for halakha l'maaseh (practical application of Jewish law), although the majority of Jews keep Jewish law according to various other Rabbinic codes organized around the Shulchan Aruch, an increasing number of Yemenite Jews, as well as various other individuals, are being attracted to the Mishneh Torah as their choice code of Jewish law by which to live. They may consider it a return to the original ways of their ancestors.

One individual who contributed to this phenomenon was Rabbi Yiḥyah Qafiḥ, the founder of the Dor Daim movement in Yemen. The Mishneh Torah had always been a leading authority in the Baladi (local, traditionalist) Yemenite community – as a matter of local custom. Scholarly work in this vein was continued by his grandson, Rabbi Yosef Qafiḥ (also spelled Gafah, Qafahh or Kapach). Yosef Qafiḥ is credited with the publication of an almost encyclopedic commentary to the entire Mishneh Torah, including his own insights, set to a text of the Mishneh Torah based upon the authoritative, hand-written manuscripts preserved by the Yemenite Jewish community. The introduction to his edition of the Mishneh Torah is well known in itself as a defense for the keeping of halakha according to the Mishneh Torah.

During his lifetime, Yosef Qafiḥ was a leading figure in the Baladi Yemenite community as a whole, as well as the Dor Daim or strict "Rambamists". After Qafiḥ died, Rabbi Rasson Arusi has largely filled his place as the leading public representative of the Baladi and Rambamist communities.

Rabbi Rasson Arusi is founder of 'Halikhoth Ahm Yisroel' and Makhon Mishnath haRambam, and head of the marriage department of the Rabbinate of Israel, as well as chief rabbi of city of Kiryat Ono in Israel. Arusi and the organization Makhon Mishnath haRambam have published several books filled with commentary on various parts and aspects of the Mishneh Torah as well as topics related to the Yemenite Jewish community. Besides the works of Qafiḥ and Arusi, there are a number of other commentaries to the Mishneh Torah written by leaders of the Yemenite Jewish community.

Ethnology
Scholars specializing in the study of the history and subculture of Judaism in premodern China (Sino-Judaica) have noted this work has surprising similarities with the liturgy of the Kaifeng Jews, descendants of Persian Merchants who settled in the Middle Kingdom during the early Song Dynasty. Beyond scriptural similarities, Michael Pollak comments the Jews' Pentateuch was divided into 53 sections according to the Persian style. He also points out:

"There is no proof, to be sure, that Kaifeng Jewry ever had direct access to the works of "the Great Eagle", but it would have had ample time and opportunity to acquire or become acquainted with them well before its reservoir of Jewish learning began to run out. Nor do the Maimonidean leanings of the kehillah contradict the historical evidence that has the Jews arriving in Kaifeng no later than 1126, the year in which the Sung fled the city--and nine years before Maimonides was born. In 1163, when the kehillah built the first of its synagogues, Maimonides was only twenty-eight years old, so that it is highly unlikely that even his earliest authoritative teachings could by then have reached China [...] The compliance of their descendants with certain uniquely Maimonidean interpretations implies that the channels of communication between the kehillah and extra-Chinese Jewish centers were still open several generations after its establishment."

The work was being used by the Jews of India during Maimonides' lifetime. In response to a letter from the Rabbis of Lunel, France requesting him to translate his Guide of the Perplexed from Arabic to Hebrew, Maimonides applauded their piety in light of what he viewed as the general stagnation of religiosity throughout the rest of the Jewish world. However, he commented: "Only lately some well-to-do men came forward and purchased three copies of my code [the Mishneh Torah] which they distributed through messengers... Thus, the horizon of these Jews was widened, and the religious life in all communities as far as India revived." Further support for the Mishneh Torah circulating in India comes in the form of a letter sent from Safed, Israel, to Italy in 1535. In it, David del Rossi claimed that a Tripolitan Jewish merchant had told him the India town of Shingly (Cranganore) had a large Jewish population who dabbled in yearly pepper trade with the Portuguese. As far as their religious life, he wrote they: "only recognize the Code of Maimonides and possessed no other authority or Traditional law."

Translations
The first known English translation of the Mishneh Torah was made in 1832 by Herman Hedwig Bernard, professor of Hebrew at Cambridge University. Bernard's work is titled The Main Principles of the Creed and Ethics of the Jews Exhibited in Selections from the Yad Hachazakah of Maimonides, with A Literal English Translation, Copious Illustrations from the Talmud, &c.. Bernard's work includes a glossary of words and concepts which appear in the Mishneh Torah.

The 1888 work Dat Vadin by Rabbi Moses Frankel, published in Odessa, is a Russian language summary of the Mishneh Torah.

In 1944, Philip Birnbaum published an excerpted translation published as Maimonides' Mishneh Torah: Yad Hazakah.

The Yale Judaica Series edition of the Mishneh Torah was started in 1949 and is almost complete, except "the Book of Knowledge", which is in progress:
 * Introduction, Isadore Twersky (1982) ISBN 0-300-02846-6
 * Book 2, The Book of Love, Menachem Kellner (2004) ISBN 0-300-10348-4
 * Book 3, The Book of Seasons, Solomon Gandz and Hyman Klein (1961) ISBN 0-300-00322-6
 * Book 3, Treatise 8, The Sanctification of the New Moon, Solomon Gandz, Julian Obermann, Otto Neugebauer (1956) ISBN 0-300-00476-1
 * Book 4, The Book of Women, Isaac Klein (1972) ISBN 0-300-01438-4 / ISBN 978-0-300-01438-9
 * Book 5, The Book of Holiness, Leon Nemoy, Louis I. Rabinowitz, and Philip Grossman (1965) ISBN 0-300-00846-5
 * Book 6, The Book of Asseverations, B. D. Klein (1962) ISBN 0-300-00633-0
 * Book 7, The Book of Agriculture, Isaac Klein (1979) ISBN 0-300-02223-9
 * Book 8, The Book of Temple Service, Mendell Lewittes (1957) ISBN 0-300-00497-4
 * Book 9, The Book of Offerings, Herbert Danby, (1950) ISBN 0-300-00398-6
 * Book 10, The Book of Cleanness, Herbert Danby, (1954) ISBN 0-300-00397-8
 * Book 11, The Book of Torts, Hyman Klein (1954) ISBN 0-300-00632-2
 * Book 12, The Book of Acquisitions, Isaac Klein (1951) ISBN 0-300-00631-4
 * Book 13, The Book of Civil Laws, Jacob J. Rabinowitz (1949) ISBN 0-300-00845-7
 * Book 14, The Book of Judges, Abraham M. Hershman (1949) ISBN 0-300-00548-2

In 1981 Feldheim Publishers published an edition of the first two books based on the Oxford manuscript, with the translation of Moses Hyamson. As the translation was made from the traditional printed texts, it does not always match the Hebrew.

Moznaim Publishing Corporation has published an annotated English translation of the Mishneh Torah by Rabbi Eliyahu Touger. This edition is available online on chabad.org

In November 2006 Mayer Alter Horowitz of the Boston Hasidic dynasty announced that The Nesher Hagodol Legacy Foundation had begun a translation "Perush HaMeir" elucidating and explaining the Mishneh Torah.

title: Mishneh Torah


text:
Emmerich Kálmán

Emmerich Kálmán (Kálmán Imre; 24 October 1882 – 30 October 1953) was a Hungarian composer of operettas and a prominent figure in the development of Viennese operetta in the 20th century. Among his most popular works are Die Csárdásfürstin (1915) and Gräfin Mariza (1924). Influences on his compositional style include Hungarian folk music (such as the csárdás), the Viennese style of precursors such as Johann Strauss II and Franz Lehár, and, in his later works, American jazz. As a result of the Anschluss, Kálmán and his family fled to Paris and then to the United States. He eventually returned to Europe in 1949 and died in Paris in 1953.

Biography
Kálmán was born Imre Koppstein in Siófok, then in Austria-Hungary, on the southern shore of Lake Balaton, to a Jewish family. Kálmán initially intended to become a concert pianist, but because of early-onset arthritis, he focused on composition instead. He studied music theory and composition at the National Hungarian Royal Academy of Music (then the Budapest Academy of Music), where he was a fellow student of Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály under Hans Kössler.

His early symphonic poems Saturnalia and Endre és Johanna were well-received, although he failed to achieve publication. He also composed piano music and wrote many songs: a song cycle on poems by Ludwig Jacobowski and a song collection published under the title Dalai. However, the popularity of his humorous cabaret songs led him towards the composition of operettas. His first great success was Tatárjárás – Ein Herbstmanöver in German, meaning Autumn maneuver, although the English title is The Gay Hussars, which was first staged at the Lustspieltheater in Budapest, on 22 February 1908. Thereafter he moved to Vienna, where he achieved worldwide fame through his operettas Der Zigeunerprimas, Die Csárdásfürstin, Gräfin Mariza, and Die Zirkusprinzessin. Kálmán and Franz Lehár were the leading composers of what has been called the "Silver Age" of Viennese operetta during the first quarter of the 20th century. He became well known for his fusion of Viennese waltz with Hungarian csárdás. Even so, polyphonically and melodically, Kálmán was a devoted follower of Giacomo Puccini, while in his orchestration methods he employed principles characteristic of Tchaikovsky's music.

In 1929, his first child (with Vera Mendelsohn), Charles Kalman (1929–2015) was born and would later on be also a composer.

Despite his Jewish origins he was one of Adolf Hitler's favorite composers. After the Anschluss, he rejected Hitler's offer to become an 'honorary Aryan' and was forced to move first to Paris, then to the United States, settling in California in 1940.

Last years and death
Following his emigration, performances of his works were prohibited in Nazi Germany. He emigrated back to Vienna from New York in 1949 before moving in 1951 to Paris, where he died.

Popular culture
In 1958 a West German biopic The Csardas King was made of his life, starring Gerhard Riedmann in the lead role.

The supporters of both the national football and handball team of Iceland use his composition Das Veilchen vom Montmartre as their anthem.

Operettas

 * Tatárjárás (The Mongol Invasion) – Budapest, 1908
 * Ein Herbstmanöver – Vienna, 1909 (German version of Tatárjárás)
 * The Gay Hussars – Knickerbocker Theatre, Broadway, New York, 1909 (American version of Tatárjárás)
 * Autumn Manoeuvres – London, 1912 (English version of Tatárjárás)
 * Az obsitos (The Veteran) – Budapest, 1910
 * Der gute Kamerad – Vienna, 1911 (German revision of Az Obsitos)
 * Gold gab ich für Eisen – Vienna, 1914 (revision of Der gute Kamerad)
 * Her Soldier Boy – Astor Theatre, Lyric Theastre, Shubert Theatre, New York, 1916/17
 * Soldier Boy – London, 1918
 * Der Zigeunerprimas (The Gypsy Band Leader) – Vienna, 1912
 * Sari – Liberty Theatre, New Amsterdam Theatre, New York, 1914
 * The Blue House – London, 1912
 * Der kleine König (The Little King) – Vienna, 1912
 * Zsuzsi kisasszony – Budapest, 1915
 * Miss Springtime – New Amsterdam Theatre, New York, 1916/17
 * Die Faschingsfee – Vienna, 1917 (German revision of Zsuzsi kisasszony)
 * Die Csárdásfürstin – Vienna, 1915
 * The Riviera Girl – New Amsterdam Theatre, New York, 1917
 * The Gipsy Princess – London, 1921
 * Das Hollandweibchen – Vienna, 1920
 * A Little Dutch Girl – London, 1920
 * La Holandesita – Spain, 1921 (Spanish version by Casimiro Giralt)
 * The Dutch Girl – U.S., 1925
 * Die Bajadere – Vienna, 1921
 * The Yankee Princess – Knickerbocker Theatre, New York, 1922
 * Gräfin Mariza – Vienna, 1924
 * Countess Maritza – Shubert Theatre, New York, 1926/27, with Yvonne d'Arle in the title role.
 * Maritza – London, 1938
 * Die Zirkusprinzessin – Vienna, 1926
 * The Circus Princess – Winter Garden Theatre, New York, 1927
 * Golden Dawn – Hammerstein's Theatre, New York, 1927/28
 * Die Herzogin von Chicago – Vienna, 1928
 * The Duchess of Chicago – U.S., 1929
 * Das Veilchen vom Montmartre – Vienna, 1930
 * Paris in Spring – U.S., 1930
 * A Kiss in Spring – London, 1932
 * Der Teufelsreiter (Az ördöglovas – The Devil Rider) – Vienna, 1932
 * Kaiserin Josephine – Zurich, 1936
 * Miss Underground – written 1942, unproduced
 * Marinka – Winter Garden Theatre, Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York, 1945
 * Arizona Lady – Bern, 1954

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

title: Emmerich Kálmán


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Vasoconstriction

Vasoconstriction is the narrowing of the blood vessels resulting from contraction of the muscular wall of the vessels, in particular the large arteries and small arterioles. The process is the opposite of vasodilation, the widening of blood vessels. The process is particularly important in controlling hemorrhage and reducing acute blood loss. When blood vessels constrict, the flow of blood is restricted or decreased, thus retaining body heat or increasing vascular resistance. This makes the skin turn paler because less blood reaches the surface, reducing the radiation of heat. On a larger level, vasoconstriction is one mechanism by which the body regulates and maintains mean arterial pressure.

Medications causing vasoconstriction, also known as vasoconstrictors, are one type of medicine used to raise blood pressure. Generalized vasoconstriction usually results in an increase in systemic blood pressure, but it may also occur in specific tissues, causing a localized reduction in blood flow. The extent of vasoconstriction may be slight or severe depending on the substance or circumstance. Many vasoconstrictors also cause pupil dilation. Medications that cause vasoconstriction include: antihistamines, decongestants, and stimulants. Severe vasoconstriction may result in symptoms of intermittent claudication.

General mechanism
The mechanism that leads to vasoconstriction results from the increased concentration of calcium (Ca2+ ions) within vascular smooth muscle cells. However, the specific mechanisms for generating an increased intracellular concentration of calcium depends on the vasoconstrictor. Smooth muscle cells are capable of generating action potentials, but this mechanism is rarely utilized for contraction in the vasculature. Hormonal or pharmacokinetic components are more physiologically relevant. Two common stimuli for eliciting smooth muscle contraction are circulating epinephrine and activation of the sympathetic nervous system (through release of norepinephrine) that directly innervates the muscle. These compounds interact with cell surface adrenergic receptors. Such stimuli result in a signal transduction cascade that leads to increased intracellular calcium from the sarcoplasmic reticulum through IP3-mediated calcium release, as well as enhanced calcium entry across the sarcolemma through calcium channels. The rise in intracellular calcium complexes with calmodulin, which in turn activates myosin light-chain kinase. This enzyme is responsible for phosphorylating the light chain of myosin to stimulate cross-bridge cycling.

Once elevated, the intracellular calcium concentration is returned to its normal concentration through a variety of protein pumps and calcium exchangers located on the plasma membrane and sarcoplasmic reticulum. This reduction in calcium removes the stimulus necessary for contraction, allowing for a return to baseline.

Causes
Factors that trigger vasoconstriction can be exogenous or endogenous in origin. Ambient temperature is an example of exogenous vasoconstriction. Cutaneous vasoconstriction will occur because of the body's exposure to the severe cold. Examples of endogenous factors include the autonomic nervous system, circulating hormones, and intrinsic mechanisms inherent to the vasculature itself (also referred to as the myogenic response).

Exposure to water causes vasoconstriction near the skin, which in turn causes water-immersion wrinkling.

Examples
Examples include stimulants, amphetamines, and antihistamines. Many are used in medicine to treat hypotension and as topical decongestants. Vasoconstrictors are also used clinically to increase blood pressure or to reduce local blood flow. Vasoconstrictors mixed with local anesthetics are used to increase the duration of local anesthesia by constricting the blood vessels, thereby safely concentrating the anesthetic agent for an extended duration, as well as reducing hemorrhage.

The routes of administration vary. They may be both systemic and topical. For example, pseudoephedrine is taken orally and phenylephrine is topically applied to the nasal passages or eyes. Examples include:

Endogenous
Vasoconstriction is a procedure of the body that averts orthostatic hypotension. It is part of a body negative feedback loop in which the body tries to restore homeostasis (maintain constant internal environment).

For example, vasoconstriction is a hypothermic preventative in which the blood vessels constrict and blood must move at a higher pressure to actively prevent a hypoxic reaction. ATP is used as a form of energy to increase this pressure to heat the body. Once homeostasis is restored, the blood pressure and ATP production regulates. Vasoconstriction also occurs in superficial blood vessels of warm-blooded animals when their ambient environment is cold; this process diverts the flow of heated blood to the center of the animal, preventing the loss of heat.

Pathology
Vasoconstriction can be a contributing factor to erectile dysfunction. An increase in blood flow to the penis causes an erection.

Improper vasoconstriction may also play a role in secondary hypertension.

To summarize, vasoconstriction is a physiological process that involves the narrowing of blood vessels, particularly arteries and arterioles, resulting in a reduction of blood flow to specific tissues or organs. This phenomenon is primarily regulated by the contraction of smooth muscle cells within the vessel walls. Several factors contribute to vasoconstriction, including the release of vasoconstrictor substances such as endothelin and angiotensin II, both of which play crucial roles in the modulation of vascular tone.

Additionally, sympathetic nervous system activation, triggered by stress or other stimuli, prompts the release of norepinephrine, a neurotransmitter that induces vasoconstriction by binding to alpha-adrenergic receptors on smooth muscle cells. The narrowing of blood vessels leads to an increase in peripheral resistance, thereby elevating blood pressure. While vasoconstriction is a normal and essential regulatory mechanism for maintaining blood pressure and redistributing blood flow during various physiological processes, its dysregulation can contribute to pathological conditions. Chronic vasoconstriction is associated with hypertension, a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack and stroke. Moreover, impaired blood flow resulting from abnormal vasoconstriction may contribute to tissue ischemia, which can be observed in conditions like Raynaud's disease. Understanding the pathology of vasoconstriction is crucial for developing targeted therapeutic strategies to manage conditions associated with abnormal vascular tone.

title: Vasoconstriction


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Moment (mathematics)

In mathematics, the moments of a function are certain quantitative measures related to the shape of the function's graph. If the function represents mass density, then the zeroth moment is the total mass, the first moment (normalized by total mass) is the center of mass, and the second moment is the moment of inertia. If the function is a probability distribution, then the first moment is the expected value, the second central moment is the variance, the third standardized moment is the skewness, and the fourth standardized moment is the kurtosis.

For a distribution of mass or probability on a bounded interval, the collection of all the moments (of all orders, from $0$ to $∞$) uniquely determines the distribution (Hausdorff moment problem). The same is not true on unbounded intervals (Hamburger moment problem).

In the mid-nineteenth century, Pafnuty Chebyshev became the first person to think systematically in terms of the moments of random variables.

Significance of the moments
The $n$-th raw moment (i.e., moment about zero) of a random variable $$X$$ with density function $$f(x)$$ is defined by $$\mu'_n = \langle X^{n} \rangle ~\overset{\mathrm{def}}{=}~ \begin{cases} \sum_i x^n_i f(x_i), & \text{discrete distribution} \\[1.2ex] \int x^n f(x) \, dx, & \text{continuous distribution} \end{cases}$$The $n$-th moment of a real-valued continuous random variable with density function $$f(x)$$ about a value $$c$$ is the integral$$\mu_n = \int_{-\infty}^\infty (x - c)^n\,f(x)\,\mathrm{d}x.$$

It is possible to define moments for random variables in a more general fashion than moments for real-valued functions — see moments in metric spaces. The moment of a function, without further explanation, usually refers to the above expression with $$c=0$$. For the second and higher moments, the central moment (moments about the mean, with c being the mean) are usually used rather than the moments about zero, because they provide clearer information about the distribution's shape.

Other moments may also be defined. For example, the $n$th inverse moment about zero is $$\operatorname{E}\left[X^{-n}\right]$$ and the $n$-th logarithmic moment about zero is $$\operatorname{E}\left[\ln^n(X)\right].$$

The $n$-th moment about zero of a probability density function $$f(x)$$ is the expected value of $$X^n$$ and is called a raw moment or crude moment. The moments about its mean $$\mu$$ are called central moments; these describe the shape of the function, independently of translation.

If $$f$$ is a probability density function, then the value of the integral above is called the $n$-th moment of the probability distribution. More generally, if F is a cumulative probability distribution function of any probability distribution, which may not have a density function, then the $n$-th moment of the probability distribution is given by the Riemann–Stieltjes integral$$\mu'_n = \operatorname{E} \left[X^n\right] = \int_{-\infty}^\infty x^n\,\mathrm{d}F(x)$$where X is a random variable that has this cumulative distribution F, and $E$ is the expectation operator or mean. When$$\operatorname{E}\left[ \left|X^n \right| \right] = \int_{-\infty}^\infty \left|x^n\right|\,\mathrm{d}F(x) = \infty$$the moment is said not to exist. If the $n$-th moment about any point exists, so does the $(n − 1)$-th moment (and thus, all lower-order moments) about every point. The zeroth moment of any probability density function is 1, since the area under any probability density function must be equal to one.

Standardized moments
The normalised $n$-th central moment or standardised moment is the $n$-th central moment divided by $σ^{n}$; the normalised $n$-th central moment of the random variable $X$ is $$\frac{\mu_n}{\sigma^n} = \frac{\operatorname{E}\left[(X - \mu)^n\right]}{\sigma^n} = \frac{\operatorname{E}\left[(X - \mu)^n\right]}{\operatorname{E}\left[(X - \mu)^2\right]^\frac{n}{2}} .$$

These normalised central moments are dimensionless quantities, which represent the distribution independently of any linear change of scale.

Mean
The first raw moment is the mean, usually denoted $$\mu \equiv \operatorname{E}[X].$$

Variance
The second central moment is the variance. The positive square root of the variance is the standard deviation $$\sigma \equiv \left(\operatorname{E}\left[(x - \mu)^2\right]\right)^\frac{1}{2}.$$

Skewness
The third central moment is the measure of the lopsidedness of the distribution; any symmetric distribution will have a third central moment, if defined, of zero. The normalised third central moment is called the skewness, often $γ$. A distribution that is skewed to the left (the tail of the distribution is longer on the left) will have a negative skewness. A distribution that is skewed to the right (the tail of the distribution is longer on the right), will have a positive skewness.

For distributions that are not too different from the normal distribution, the median will be somewhere near $μ − γσ/6$; the mode about $μ − γσ/2$.

Kurtosis
The fourth central moment is a measure of the heaviness of the tail of the distribution. Since it is the expectation of a fourth power, the fourth central moment, where defined, is always nonnegative; and except for a point distribution, it is always strictly positive. The fourth central moment of a normal distribution is $3σ^{4}$.

The kurtosis $κ$ is defined to be the standardized fourth central moment. (Equivalently, as in the next section, excess kurtosis is the fourth cumulant divided by the square of the second cumulant.) If a distribution has heavy tails, the kurtosis will be high (sometimes called leptokurtic); conversely, light-tailed distributions (for example, bounded distributions such as the uniform) have low kurtosis (sometimes called platykurtic).

The kurtosis can be positive without limit, but $κ$ must be greater than or equal to $γ^{2} + 1$; equality only holds for binary distributions. For unbounded skew distributions not too far from normal, $κ$ tends to be somewhere in the area of $γ^{2}$ and $2γ^{2}$.

The inequality can be proven by considering$$\operatorname{E}\left[\left(T^2 - aT - 1\right)^2\right]$$where $T = (X − μ)/σ$. This is the expectation of a square, so it is non-negative for all a; however it is also a quadratic polynomial in a. Its discriminant must be non-positive, which gives the required relationship.

Higher moments
High-order moments are moments beyond 4th-order moments.

As with variance, skewness, and kurtosis, these are higher-order statistics, involving non-linear combinations of the data, and can be used for description or estimation of further shape parameters. The higher the moment, the harder it is to estimate, in the sense that larger samples are required in order to obtain estimates of similar quality. This is due to the excess degrees of freedom consumed by the higher orders. Further, they can be subtle to interpret, often being most easily understood in terms of lower order moments – compare the higher-order derivatives of jerk and jounce in physics. For example, just as the 4th-order moment (kurtosis) can be interpreted as "relative importance of tails as compared to shoulders in contribution to dispersion" (for a given amount of dispersion, higher kurtosis corresponds to thicker tails, while lower kurtosis corresponds to broader shoulders), the 5th-order moment can be interpreted as measuring "relative importance of tails as compared to center (mode and shoulders) in contribution to skewness" (for a given amount of skewness, higher 5th moment corresponds to higher skewness in the tail portions and little skewness of mode, while lower 5th moment corresponds to more skewness in shoulders).

Mixed moments
Mixed moments are moments involving multiple variables.

The value $$E[X^k]$$ is called the moment of order $$k$$ (moments are also defined for non-integral $$k$$). The moments of the joint distribution of random variables $$X_1 ... X_n$$ are defined similarly. For any integers $$k_i\geq0$$, the mathematical expectation $$E[{X_1}^{k_1}\cdots{X_n}^{k_n}]$$ is called a mixed moment of order $$k$$ (where $$k=k_1+...+k_n$$), and $$E[(X_1-E[X_1])^{k_1}\cdots(X_n-E[X_n])^{k_n}]$$ is called a central mixed moment of order $$k$$. The mixed moment $$E[(X_1-E[X_1])(X_2-E[X_2])]$$ is called the covariance and is one of the basic characteristics of dependency between random variables.

Some examples are covariance, coskewness and cokurtosis. While there is a unique covariance, there are multiple co-skewnesses and co-kurtoses.

Transformation of center
Since $$(x - b)^n = (x - a + a - b)^n = \sum_{i=0}^n {n \choose i}(x - a)^i(a - b)^{n-i}$$ where $\binom{n}{i}$ is the binomial coefficient, it follows that the moments about b can be calculated from the moments about a by: $$E\left[(x - b)^n\right] = \sum_{i=0}^n {n \choose i} E\left[(x - a)^i\right](a - b)^{n-i}.$$

The moment of a convolution of function
The raw moment of a convolution $h(t) = (f * g)(t) = \int_{-\infty}^\infty f(\tau) g(t - \tau) \, d\tau$ reads $$\mu_n[h] = \sum_{i=0}^{n} {n\choose i} \mu_i[f] \mu_{n-i}[g]$$ where $$\mu_n[\,\cdot\,]$$ denotes the $$n$$-th moment of the function given in the brackets. This identity follows by the convolution theorem for moment generating function and applying the chain rule for differentiating a product.

Cumulants
The first raw moment and the second and third unnormalized central moments are additive in the sense that if X and Y are independent random variables then $$\begin{align} m_1(X + Y) &= m_1(X) + m_1(Y) \\ \operatorname{Var}(X + Y) &= \operatorname{Var}(X) + \operatorname{Var}(Y) \\ \mu_3(X + Y) &= \mu_3(X) + \mu_3(Y) \end{align}$$

(These can also hold for variables that satisfy weaker conditions than independence. The first always holds; if the second holds, the variables are called uncorrelated).

In fact, these are the first three cumulants and all cumulants share this additivity property.

Sample moments
For all k, the $k$-th raw moment of a population can be estimated using the $k$-th raw sample moment $$\frac{1}{n}\sum_{i = 1}^{n} X^k_i$$ applied to a sample $X_{1}, ..., X_{n}$ drawn from the population.

It can be shown that the expected value of the raw sample moment is equal to the $k$-th raw moment of the population, if that moment exists, for any sample size $n$. It is thus an unbiased estimator. This contrasts with the situation for central moments, whose computation uses up a degree of freedom by using the sample mean. So for example an unbiased estimate of the population variance (the second central moment) is given by $$\frac{1}{n - 1}\sum_{i = 1}^n \left(X_i - \bar{X}\right)^2$$ in which the previous denominator $n$ has been replaced by the degrees of freedom $n − 1$, and in which $$\bar X$$ refers to the sample mean. This estimate of the population moment is greater than the unadjusted observed sample moment by a factor of $$\tfrac{n}{n-1},$$ and it is referred to as the "adjusted sample variance" or sometimes simply the "sample variance".

Problem of moments
Problems of determining a probability distribution from its sequence of moments are called problem of moments. Such problems were first discussed by P.L. Chebyshev (1874) in connection with research on limit theorems. In order that the probability distribution of a random variable $$X$$ be uniquely defined by its moments $$\alpha_k = E\left[X^k\right]$$ it is sufficient, for example, that Carleman's condition be satisfied: $$\sum_{k=1}^\infin\frac{1}{\alpha_{2k}^{1/2k}} = \infin$$ A similar result even holds for moments of random vectors. The problem of moments seeks characterizations of sequences $${{\mu_n}': n = 1,2,3,\dots}$$that are sequences of moments of some function f, all moments $$\alpha_k(n)$$ of which are finite, and for each integer $$k\geq1$$ let $$\alpha_k(n)\rightarrow \alpha_k ,n\rightarrow \infin,$$ where $$\alpha_k$$ is finite. Then there is a sequence $${\mu_n}'$$ that weakly converges to a distribution function $$\mu$$ having $$\alpha_k$$ as its moments. If the moments determine $$\mu$$ uniquely, then the sequence $${\mu_n}'$$ weakly converges to $$\mu$$.

Partial moments
Partial moments are sometimes referred to as "one-sided moments." The $n$-th order lower and upper partial moments with respect to a reference point r may be expressed as

$$\mu_n^- (r) = \int_{-\infty}^r (r - x)^n\,f(x)\,\mathrm{d}x,$$ $$\mu_n^+ (r) = \int_r^\infty (x - r)^n\,f(x)\,\mathrm{d}x.$$

If the integral function do not converge, the partial moment does not exist.

Partial moments are normalized by being raised to the power 1/n. The upside potential ratio may be expressed as a ratio of a first-order upper partial moment to a normalized second-order lower partial moment.

Central moments in metric spaces
Let $(M, d)$ be a metric space, and let B(M) be the Borel $σ$-algebra on M, the $σ$-algebra generated by the d-open subsets of M. (For technical reasons, it is also convenient to assume that M is a separable space with respect to the metric d.) Let $1 ≤ p ≤ ∞$.

The $p$-th central moment of a measure $μ$ on the measurable space (M, B(M)) about a given point $x_{0} ∈ M$ is defined to be $$\int_{M} d\left(x, x_0\right)^p \, \mathrm{d} \mu (x).$$

μ is said to have finite $p$-th central moment if the $p$-th central moment of $μ$ about x0 is finite for some $x_{0} ∈ M$.

This terminology for measures carries over to random variables in the usual way: if $(Ω, Σ, P)$ is a probability space and $X : Ω → M$ is a random variable, then the $p$-th central moment of X about $x_{0} ∈ M$ is defined to be $$ \int_M d \left(x, x_0\right)^p \, \mathrm{d} \left( X_* \left(\mathbf{P}\right) \right) (x) = \int_\Omega d \left(X(\omega), x_0\right)^p \, \mathrm{d} \mathbf{P} (\omega) = \operatorname{\mathbf{E}}[d(X, x_0)^p],$$ and X has finite $p$-th central moment if the $p$-th central moment of X about x0 is finite for some $x_{0} ∈ M$.

title: Moment (mathematics)


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Talk:James Hogg

Untitled
Is this the Hogg of Hogg's Jacobite Reliques? Mkweise 15:40, 16 Nov 2003 (UTC)
 * Never mind, I found the answer: yes. Mkweise 16:03, 16 Nov 2003 (UTC)

Did Hogg really become better known than Burns?

It is difficult to credit Hogg's becoming better known than Burns. Burns, after all, is one of the most popular and most translated writers in the world. I have heard Scots say that he is, in both cases. This not to downplay Hogg's achievements. His works deserve much wider readership than they have at present.

The article rather makes it sound as though "Confessions" was a success at the time of publication; it was not. Although it is Hogg's best known work today, it met with little success in his lifetime. This should be clarified in the article, I feel.

No mention is made of the *The Three Perils of Man*. But many now consider this novel to be even more important than *The Confessions of a Justified Sinner* Though it hass the from of a historical novel, it is arguably the first supernatural fantasy novel ever written. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.128.52.156 (talk) 09:46, 1 November 2011 (UTC)

Both Sides the Tweed
The wiki article and other sources say that Dick Gaughan's "Both Sides the Tweed" is based on one of James Hogg's poems. Which one? Does anyone know? Shouldn't this fact be mentioned in this article? I would add a piece myself but don't know which poem Gaughan supposedly plagiarized from Hogg. — Preceding unsigned comment added by FrancisDane (talk • contribs) 14:36, 25 November 2011 (UTC)

I don't know I'm afraid. This discussion is not exactly definitive. either. Ben  Mac  Dui  16:22, 26 November 2011 (UTC)

Error
The photo in this Wikipedia article can also be seen at the University of North Caroilina at Chapel Hill with this caption: "James Hogg of Hillsborough, University trustee from 1789 to 1802 and one of Carolina’s first and greatest volunteer fundraisers, solicited gifts of land and money for the Chapel Hill campus." Is there a photo mixup or is the Wikipedia article missing info and wrong when it said "James and William remained in Scotland for their entire lives"? Hialeah Harry (talk) 00:04, 11 February 2012 (UTC)
 * Well spotted. There is a mixup but I suspect it may be in the University of North Carolina IT department. I cannot be certain but you will see many photos of the same man on the web (see here for example) claiming to be the poet and I very much doubt that he was also a fundraiser in the US. Ben   Mac  Dui  09:58, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

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Legacy -- or trivia?
James Hogg is the subject of the protagonist's critical writing in ''The Lecturer's Tale by James Hynes. Kdammers (talk) 17:09, 12 September 2021 (UTC)

Possible article about his son
The article for James Hogg (publisher) looks like it could be this James Hogg's son since it's listed he had a son named James Hogg. My problem is I can't find any dates of when that son was born to compare birth dates with so I can't for definite link these articles. If anyone else can find a date or evidence to link these two that would be great. Mesidast (talk) 09:09, 27 September 2022 (UTC)

Life mask or death mask
Is the image (left) captioned in the article as a "live head cast" a life mask or a death mask of Hogg? There are two photographs of it on Commons, the other one (right) describing it as Death mask of James Hogg, the "Ettrick Shepherd", on display in the courtroom of the old Sheriff Court in Selkirk. Belbury (talk) 08:36, 22 March 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:James Hogg


text:
Agapanthus

Agapanthus is a genus of plants, the only one in the subfamily Agapanthoideae of the family Amaryllidaceae. The family is in the monocot order Asparagales. The name is derived from Greek: ἀγάπη (agapē – "love"), ἄνθος (anthos – "flower").

Some species of Agapanthus are commonly known as lily of the Nile, or African lily in the UK. However, they are not lilies and all of the species are native to Southern Africa (South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique), though some have become naturalized in scattered places around the world (Australia, Great Britain, Mexico, Ethiopia, Jamaica, etc.).

Species boundaries are not clear in the genus, and in spite of having been intensively studied, the number of species recognized by different authorities varies from 6 to 10. The type species for the genus is Agapanthus africanus. Many hybrids and cultivars have been produced. They are cultivated throughout warm areas of the world. They can especially be spotted throughout Northern California. Most of these were described in a book published in 2004.

Description
Agapanthus is a genus of herbaceous perennials that mostly bloom in summer. This leads to the Australian common name, Star of Bethlehem, as it blooms just before Christmas. The leaves are basal, curved, and linear, growing up to 60 cm long. They are rather leathery and arranged in two opposite rows. The plant has a mostly underground stem called a rhizome (like a ginger 'root') that is used as a storage organ. The roots, which grow out of the rhizome, are white, thick and fleshy. The inflorescence is a pseudo-umbel subtended by two large deciduous bracts at the apex of a long, erect scape, up to 2 m tall. They have funnel-shaped or tubular flowers, in hues of blue to purple, shading to white. Some hybrids and cultivars have colors not found in wild plants which includes bi-colored blue/lavender and white flowers flushed with pink as the blooms mature. The ovary is superior. The style is hollow. Agapanthus does not have the distinctive chemistry of Allioideae.

Taxonomy
The genus Agapanthus was established by Charles Louis L'Héritier de Brutelle in 1788.

Family placement
Which family the genus belongs to has been a matter of debate since its creation. In the Cronquist system, the genus was placed in a very broadly defined family Liliaceae, along with other lilioid monocots. In 1985, Dahlgren, Clifford, and Yeo placed Agapanthus in Alliaceae, close to Tulbaghia. Their version of Alliaceae also included several genera that would later be transferred to Themidaceae.

In 1996, following a phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequences of the gene rbcL, Themidaceae was resurrected and Agapanthus was removed from Alliaceae. The authors found Agapanthus to be sister to Amaryllidaceae and transferred it to that family. This was not accepted by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group when they published the original APG system in 1998, because the clade consisting of Agapanthus and Amaryllidaceae had only 63% bootstrap support. The APG system recognized three separate families, Agapanthaceae, Alliaceae sensu stricto, and Amaryllidaceae sensu stricto. Agapanthaceae consisted of Agapanthus only, and Dahlgren's idea that it is close to Tulbaghia was rejected.

When the APG II system was published in 2003, it offered the option of combining Agapanthaceae, Alliaceae sensu stricto, and Amaryllidaceae sensu stricto to form a larger family, Alliaceae sensu lato. When the name Amaryllidaceae was conserved by the ICBN for this larger family, its name was changed from Alliaceae to Amaryllidaceae, but its circumscription remained the same. When APG II was replaced by APG III in 2009, Agapanthaceae was no longer accepted, but was treated as subfamily Agapanthoideae of the larger version of Amaryllidaceae. Also in 2009, Armen Takhtajan recognized the three smaller families allowed by APG II, instead of combining them as in APG III.

The table below summarizes the alternative family divisions:

Further molecular phylogenetic analyses of DNA sequences have confirmed that Agapanthus is sister to a clade consisting of subfamilies Allioideae and Amaryllidoideae of the family Amaryllidaceae (sensu APG III).

Species
Zonneveld and Duncan (2003) divided Agapanthus into six species (A. africanus, A. campanulatus, A. caulescens, A. coddii, A. inapertus, A. praecox). Four additional species had earlier been recognised by Leighton (1965) (A. comptonii, A. dyeri, A. nutans and A. walshii), but were given subspecific rank by Zonneveld and Duncan. , the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families recognises seven species:

 * 1) Agapanthus africanus (L.) Hoffmanns (syn. A. umbellatus; African Lily or African Tulip)
 * 2) Agapanthus campanulatus F.M.Leight. (African bluebell, African Blue lily or Bell Agapanthus)
 * 3) Agapanthus caulescens Spreng.
 * 4) Agapanthus coddii F.M.Leight. (Codd's Agapanthus or Blue Lily)
 * 5) Agapanthus inapertus Beauverd (including A. dyeri; Drakensberg Agapanthus or Drooping Agapanthus)
 * 6) Agapanthus praecox Willd. (including A. comptonii, A. orientalis; Common Agapanthus, Blue Lily, African Lily, or Lily of the Nile)
 * 7) Agapanthus walshii L.Bolus

The name Agapanthus ensifolius was coined in 1799, referring to a species now called Lachenalia ensifolia. (see Lachenalia).
 * formerly included

Cultivation
Agapanthus praecox can be grown within USDA plant hardiness zones 9 to 11. In lower-numbered zones, the rhizomes should be placed deeper in the soil and mulched well in the fall. Summer water should be provided. Agapanthus can be propagated by dividing clumps or by seeds. The seeds of most varieties are fertile.

Several hundred cultivars and hybrids are cultivated as garden and landscape plants. Several are winter-hardy to USDA Zone 7.

In the UK the following cultivars have received the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:

 * 'Blue Ice' - pale blue
 * 'Blue Magic' - dark blue
 * ('Rfdd') - white
 * ('Mdb001') - white/purple
 * 'Happy Blue' - light blue
 * 'Hoyland Blue' - white/pale blue
 * 'Ice Blue Star' - pale blue-violet
 * 'Jacaranda' - blue/dark stripe
 * 'Jonny's White' - white
 * 'Leicester' - white
 * 'Loch Hope' - deep blue
 * 'Luly' - pale blue/violet
 * 'Marjorie' - pale violet-blue
 * 'Megan's Mauve' - lavender-blue
 * 'Midnight Star' - deep blue
 * 'Monique' - deep blue
 * 'Northern Star' - violet/deep blue
 * 'Purple Delight' - purple
 * 'Royal Blue' - bright blue
 * 'Sandringham' - bright blue
 * 'Sandy' - pale violet-blue
 * ('Notfred') - blue
 * 'Sky' - sky blue
 * 'Summer Days' pale/dark blue

There are seven UK National Collection of Agapanthus, held by:
 * Ian Scroggy at Bali-Hai Nursery in Carnlough, County Antrim.
 * Mike Grimshaw in Cam, Gloucestershire (cultivars bred and raised by Dick Fulcher).
 * Mike Grimshaw in Cam, Gloucestershire (pre-2005 cultivars).
 * Patrick Fairweather at Fairweather's Garden Centre in Beaulieu, Hampshire (cultivars from the Fairweather Nursery trials).
 * Hoyland Plant Centre in Barnsley, Yorkshire (Hoyland hybrids, variegated, and special interest).
 * Mrs Ruth Penrose at Bowdens Nursery in Sticklepath, Devon (Pine Cottage cultivars).
 * Mr & Mrs R J & C L Fulcher in Eggesford, Devon (Pine Cottage cultivars).

Invasive species
In some regions, some agapanthus are listed as invasive species of plants. In New Zealand, Agapanthus praecox is classed as an "environmental weed" and calls to have it added to the National Pest Plant Accord have encountered opposition from gardeners.

Pests
As a rule, Agapanthus species are pest-hardy, neither being much attacked nor drastically affected by common garden pests. However, since the early 21st century Agapanthus in the far south of South Africa have fallen victim to a species of noctuid moth, the Agapanthus borer, Neuranethes spodopterodes. The larvae of the moth bore into the budding inflorescence and as they mature they tunnel down towards the roots, or emerge from the stem and drop down to feed on the leaves or rhizomes. A severe attack promotes rot and may stunt or even kill the plant; even plants that survive commonly lose most of their inflorescences and fail to produce the desired show of flowers.

Though Neuranethes spodopterodes is invasive in the regions where it has emerged as a pest, it is not an exotic invader, but a translocated species, having been imported inadvertently from its natural range in more northerly regions of the country. In its original range, the moth is not of horticultural importance, being controlled by natural enemies that as yet have neither been identified nor imported along with the host plants. In contrast, the Agapanthus borer is of considerable concern in the South West, and its voracity is so impressive that the species shows promise as a possible control for invasive Agapanthus praecox in countries like New Zealand.

In 2016, a new species of gall midge, Enigmadiplosis agapanthi, was described damaging Agapanthus in the United Kingdom.

Allergenic potential
Agapanthus has low potential for causing allergies; its OPALS allergy scale rating is 2 out of 10.

title: Agapanthus


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Androstephium

The genus Androstephium is a group of North American plants in the cluster lily subfamily within the asparagus family. It contains two species native to the southwestern and south-central United States.

 * Species

title: Androstephium


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Prefecture-level city

A prefecture-level city or prefectural city is an administrative division of the People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province and above a county in China's administrative structure.

During the Republican era, many of China's prefectural cities were designated as counties as the country's second level division below a province. From 1949 to 1983, the official term was a province-administrated city (Chinese: 省辖市). Prefectural level cities form the second level of the administrative structure (alongside prefectures, leagues and autonomous prefectures). Administrative chiefs (mayors) of prefectural level cities generally have the same rank as a division chief of a national ministry. Since the 1980s, most former prefectures have been renamed into prefecture-level cities.

A prefectural level city is a "city" and "prefecture"  that have been merged into one consolidated and unified jurisdiction. As such it is simultaneously a city, which is a municipal entry with subordinate districts, and a prefecture with subordinate county-level cities and counties which is an administrative division of a province.

A prefectural level city is often not a "city" in the usual sense of the term (i.e., a large continuous urban settlement), but instead an administrative unit comprising, typically, a main central urban area (the core city, city as in the usual sense, usually with the same name as the prefectural level city) surrounded by rural areas, which together are divided into districts, and some surrounding counties or county-level cities governed by the prefecture-level city on behalf of the province, which all have their own urban areas surrounded by their own rural areas. The urban areas of the surrounding counties are usually smaller than the core urban area, and towns also form small urban areas scattered in the rural. The larger prefectural level cities span over 100 km.

Prefectural level cities nearly always contain multiple counties, county level cities, and other such sub-divisions. This results from the fact that the formerly predominant prefectures, which prefectural level cities have mostly replaced, were themselves large administrative units containing cities, smaller towns, and rural areas. To distinguish a prefectural level city from its actual urban area (city in the strict sense), the term shìqū (市区; "urban area"), is used.

The first prefectural level cities were created on 5 November 1983. Over the following two decades, prefectural level cities have come to replace the vast majority of Chinese prefectures; the process is still ongoing.

Most provinces are composed entirely or nearly entirely of prefectural level cities. Of the 22 provinces and five autonomous regions of the PRC, only nine provinces (Yunnan, Guizhou, Qinghai, Heilongjiang, Sichuan, Gansu, Jilin, Hubei, and Hunan) and three autonomous regions (Xinjiang, Tibet, and Inner Mongolia) have at least one or more second level or prefectural level divisions that are not prefectural level cities. In the case of the disputed Taiwan, it has six prefectural level cities, but these are governed separately by the Republic of China as their special municipalities.

Criteria that a prefecture must meet to become a prefectural level city:

 * An urban centre with a non-rural population over 250,000
 * gross output of value of industry of 200,000,000 RMB (US$32 million)
 * the output of the tertiary sector supersedes that of the primary sector, contributing over 35% of the GDP

Fifteen large prefectural level cities have been granted the status of sub-provincial city, which gives them much greater autonomy.

Shijiazhuang, Suzhou, and Zhengzhou are the largest prefectural level cities with populations approaching or exceeding some sub-provincial cities.

A sub-prefecture-level city is a county-level city with powers approaching those of prefectural level cities.

Classification
There are a total of three classifications of prefecture-level cities:

 * Regular prefectural level city, which consists of counties, county level cities, and districts subdivisions.
 * Consolidated district-governed prefectural level city, which only consists of districts as subdivisions.
 * Currently there are only 13 cities under this classification: Ezhou, Foshan, Guangzhou, Haikou, Karamay, Nanjing, Sansha, Sanya, Shenzhen, Wuhai, Wuhan, Xiamen, and Zhuhai
 * Prefectural level city with no county-level divisions (direct-piped city), which are cities that do not govern any county-level divisions such as counties, county level cities, or legal administrative districts.
 * Currently there are only four cities under this classification: Danzhou, Dongguan, Jiayuguan, and Zhongshan

Cartographic expression and statistics
In Europe and North America, cities are generally represented as points, while counties are represented as areas. Thus, Bloomington, Indiana, is indicated on the map by a point, which is distinct from, and enclosed by, the area of Monroe County, Indiana. In China, however, large cities such as Xianning may, in reality, contain both urban and rural elements. Moreover, they may enclose counties or other cities. On a less detailed map, Xianning would be indicated by a point, more or less corresponding to the coordinates of its city government. Other populous areas may also be exhibited as points, such as the county of Tongshan, with no indication that Tongshan is, in fact, enclosed by Xianning. On a more detailed map, Xianning would be drawn as an area, similar to a county of the United States, and Tongshan would be drawn as a smaller area within Xianning.

This convention may lead to difficulty in the identification of places mentioned in older sources. For example, Guo Moruo writes that he was born in the town of Shawan, within the prefecture of Leshan, and attended primary school in the town of Jiading. A modern map is unlikely to show either town: Shawan, because it is too small, and Jiading, because it is the seat of Leshan, and is therefore indicated on the map by a point labelled "Leshan." A more detailed map would show Shawan as a district within Leshan, but Jiading would still be missing.

Statistics of China such as population and industrial activity are generally reported along prefectural city lines. Thus, the relatively unknown city of Huangshi has 2.5 million residents, more than most European capitals, but upon closer inspection, the city covers an area almost 100 kilometers across. Furthermore, Huangshi contains several other cities, such as Daye. If a person wished to calculate the population of the urban area of Huangshi, and had a map of Huangshi, and a table of its population by district, the task might not be easy. The urban area might be split between several districts, and some of those districts may include rural elements as well.

title: Prefecture-level city


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Brodiaea

Brodiaea, also known by the common name cluster-lilies, is a monocot genus of flowering plants.

One school of thought places the genus in the family, while another school of thought places it in the subfamily Brodiaeoideae of the family Asparagaceae. The USDA Plants Database still classifies the genus Brodiaea in the family Liliaceae.

Brodiaea species occur along the Pacific Coast region of North America, from British Columbia throughout California into the Baja California Peninsula. They are especially common in northern California.

Description
Brodiaea species are herbaceous perennials, growing from corms. Between one and six narrow leaves are produced from the corm. The bare flowering stem (scape) carries an umbel of flowers. Individual flowers have six blue to purple tepals, joined at the base to form a tube with free lobes at the mouth. The outer three tepal lobes are narrower than the inner three.

In almost all species, inside the tepals and joined to their bases are three sterile stamens (staminodes), resembling small petals, each opposite one of the outer tepals. Three normal stamens are also joined to the bases of the tepals and are placed opposite the inner ones. The base of the filaments of the stamens may be expanded into various shapes, such as flaps or wings. The size and shape of the staminodes and of the structures at the base of the filaments are important diagnostic characters. The compound pistil is formed of three carpels forming a superior ovary with three locules. The style which emerges between the three stamens has a three-lobed stigma. The seeds are black.

Nomenclature
The origin of the scientific name of the genus is somewhat tangled. Specimens of what is now called Brodiaea were first collected by Archibald Menzies, botanist to the Vancouver Expedition, in 1792. Menzies collected the plant from the vicinity of the Strait of Georgia, named "New Georgia" by George Vancouver. The first published reference to the plant did not give it a name. This was in James Edward Smith's 1807 An introduction to physiological and systematical botany, where Smith used it to argue that the tepals of liliaceous plants are sepals rather than petals: "'I cannot conceal a recent discovery which strongly confirms the opinion of my acute and candid friend. Two species of a new genus, found by Mr. Menzies on the West coast of North America, have beautiful liliaceous flowers like an Agapanthus, with six internal petals besides!'"

The following year, early in 1808, Richard Salisbury published a description of the first Brodiaea species in The Paradisus Londinensis, naming it Hookera coronaria, the genus name being in honour of the illustrator William Hooker. Shortly afterwards, Smith named a moss genus Hookeria, and in April 1808, he read to the Linnean Society of London a formal description of a new genus, based on the same species as Salisbury's Hookera coronaria, naming the genus Brodiaea in honour of Scottish botanist James Brodie. Formal publication did not occur, however, until Smith's presentation went to print in 1810. George Boulger, writing in the Dictionary of National Biography, says that Smith's actions were deliberately intended to deprive Salisbury of credit for the genus.

If this was Smith's intention it was successful, since although Salisbury's genus name Hookera has priority over Smith's name Brodiaea, names as similar as Hookera and Hookeria are considered to be confusing and a formal proposal to conserve the names Brodiaea and Hookeria over the name Hookera was accepted. Brodiaea is thus a "conserved name" or "nomen conservandum", shown by the abbreviation "nom. cons." after the name in botanical sources. The type species is now Brodiaea coronaria, and the original type, Brodiaea grandiflora Sm. , is an illegitimate name.

Phylogeny and classification
Brodiaea belongs to a group of 12 genera whose affinities were the subject of much controversy until the end of the 20th century. Salisbury treated them as a family which he named Themidaceae. Others placed this group at lower taxonomic rank and usually included them in Liliaceae, Alliaceae, or Amaryllidaceae. Molecular phylogenetic studies confirmed the suspicions of many that this group was misplaced, and consequently, the family Themidaceae was resurrected in 1996. When the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group published the APG II system in 2003, Themidaceae was accepted as an optional family for those who wanted to circumscribe families narrowly in the order Asparagales. When the APG III system was published in 2009, the former Themidaceae was treated as a subfamily, Brodiaeoideae, of the family Asparagaceae sensu lato.

Some sources, such as ITIS, continue to use the polyphyletic groups of obsolete taxonomic systems. Other sources, such as the Angiosperm Phylogeny Website mostly follow the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group.

Brodiaea (or brodeia ) is also used as a common name to refer to three genera, Brodiaea, Dichelostemma, and Triteleia. The latter two genera were once included as part of the genus Brodiaea. The monophyly of Brodiaea as presently defined is not entirely certain. It might be intermixed with Dichelostemma.

Species
, the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families lists the following 17 species. English common names are from the Flora of North America.

 * 1) Brodiaea appendiculata Hoover - appendage cluster-lily - central California
 * 2) Brodiaea californica Lindl. ex Lem. - California cluster-lily - northern California, southwestern Oregon
 * 3) Brodiaea coronaria (Salisb.) Jeps. - harvest cluster-lily; Californian hyacinth - British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, much of California
 * 4) Brodiaea elegans Hoover - elegant cluster-lily - western Oregon, most of California
 * 5) Brodiaea filifolia S.Watson - threadleaf cluster-lily - southern California
 * 6) Brodiaea insignis (Jeps.) Niehaus  - Kaweah cluster-lily - Tulare County
 * 7) Brodiaea jolonensis Eastw. - chaparral cluster-lily - southern California, northern Baja California
 * 8) Brodiaea kinkiensis Niehaus - San Clemente Island cluster-lily - San Clemente Island
 * 9) Brodiaea matsonii R.E.Preston - Shasta County
 * 10) Brodiaea minor (Benth.) S.Watson (syn. Brodiaea purdyi Eastw. ) - vernalpool cluster-lily - northern California
 * 11) Brodiaea nana Hoover - northern California
 * 12) Brodiaea orcuttii (Greene) Baker - Orcutt's cluster-lily - southern California, northern Baja California
 * 13) Brodiaea pallida Hoover - Chinese Camp cluster-lily - Calaveras and Tuolumne Counties
 * 14) Brodiaea santarosae T.J.Chester - Santa Rosa basalt brodiaea - Riverside and San Diego Counties
 * 15) Brodiaea sierrae R.E.Preston  - Butte, Yuba and Nevada Counties
 * 16) Brodiaea stellaris S.Watson - starflower cluster-lily - Sonoma, Mendocino and Humboldt Counties
 * 17) Brodiaea terrestris Kellogg - dwarf cluster-lily - southwestern Oregon and much of coastal and southern California

Numerous other names have been coined using the name Brodiaea, referring to species now regarded as better suited to other genera (Androstephium Beauverdia Dandya Dichelostemma Leucocoryne Nothoscordum Tristagma Triteleia Triteleiopsis).
 * formerly included

Distribution and habitat
Brodiaea species are confined to western North America, from British Columbia in the north, through the West Coast of the United States region, to northwestern Mexico in the south. The majority of species are endemic to California.

Many are adapted to serpentine soils or other soils with particular chemical compositions, resulting in limited distributions and several rare and endangered species. An example is Brodiaea pallida, known only from two populations along the border between Tuolumne County and Calaveras County, California.

Cultivation
A number of species of Brodiaea are in cultivation. Species such as B. californica and B. coronaria are recommended for sunny positions in the garden, where they extend the flowering season of most ornamental bulbs, flowering in early summer rather than in spring. The flower heads (umbels) of larger species can be dried for use as winter decorations. Smaller species, such as B. terrestris, may be grown in a bulb frame or alpine house.

title: Brodiaea


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Ipheion

The flowering plant genus Ipheion (starflower, spring starflower) belongs to Allioideae, a subfamily of the family Amaryllidaceae. The World Checklist of Selected Plant Families no longer recognize the genus, regarding it as a synonym of Tristagma, although The Plant List accepts two species.

Description
They are small bulbous perennials with narrow grass-like leaves and honey-scented star-shaped flowers in spring, usually in shades of white or pale blue. The genus occurs naturally in Argentina, Uruguay, and southern Brazil, although Ipheion uniflorum has naturalized elsewhere.

History
The genus was originally described in 1836 by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque, based on Ipheion uniflorum, separating it from Milla uniflora Graham (now Tristagma). The original description was unifloral inflorescences with white flowers, spathe formed by one bifid bract, staminal filaments independently fused to the perigonial tube and the fruit being a clavate trilocular capsule.

The name then disappeared for more than a century and at various times the species have been included under other related genera (Milla, Tristagma, Brodiaea (including Hookera), Leucocoryne, Nothoscordum, Triteleia and Beauverdia). Several of these genera are now in a completely different but related family (Themidaceae). The closest of these genera to Ipheion is actually Tristagma. For instance in 1837, at the same time as Rafinesque's description, Ipheion uniflorum was described by John Lindley in the Botanical Register as Triteleia uniflora Lindl. (see illustration)

In 1908, Beauverd placed Ipheion uniflorum in a new section of Nothoscordum, Nothoscordum section uniflora Beauv. as Nothoscordum uniflorum Baker (without attributing Rafinesque), along with four other species. However the name Ipheion did not appear again until 1943. In that year Herter elevated Nothoscordum section uniflora to the rank of genus, as Beauverdia. Later that same year Stearn pointed out that the name Ipheion had precedence and described the genus with nine species under that name.

There has been constant uncertainty as to the limits of the genus. At one stage it included 23 species in two sections, at other times it was completely absorbed into other genera such as Tristagma. Those species with yellow flowers were returned to Nothoscordum. In 1972 Guaglianone separated it again from Tristagma and divided it into two sections, Hirtellum and Ipheion. At that time it consisted of eight species in Argentina, Uruguay, southern Brazil and central Chile.

Familial circumscription
Lindley included Ipheion (as Triteleia) under the family Liliaceae, a pattern that remained until 1926, when Hutchinson moved parts of that family to Amaryllidaceae, as tribe Gilesieae, an arrangement that has largely persisted since.

Phylogenetics
In 1996, a molecular phylogenetic study of the rbcL gene created the Gilliesioideae, as one of three subfamilies within Alliaceae. As phylogenetically constructed, Gilliesioideae (Gilliesioideae (Lindl.) Am., Botany: 134. 1832 - Gilliesieae Lindl. in Bot. Reg.: ad t. 992. 1826.) consisted of those New World Alliaceae not included in the other two subfamilies, which included both the former Gilliesieae together with Ipheion, Leucocoryne, Nothoscordum, and Tristagma. This is the circumscription which the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) accepted in the APG classification of 1998 and which later became known as Alliaceae sensu stricto (s.s.).

This construction of Gilliesioideae, implicitly recognised that it was composed of two groups or tribes, informally referred to as Ipheieae and Gilliesieae. The Ipheieae were actinomorphic, and included Ipheion, Nothoscordum, Leucocoryne s.l. (including Pabellonia and Stemmatium). Further phylogenetic analysis revealed that Ipheion was not monophyletic but rather biphyletic with some species clustering with Tristagma, and others with Nothoscordum (Fay 2006) although the division into sections was later supported. Research published in 2010 suggests that although related to genera such as Tristagma and Nothoscordum, it is a distinct genus of 3 species. However, other sources do not recognize the genus, placing all the Ipheion species in Tristagma.

Ipheion section Hirtellum was raised to genus rank in 2014 under the older name of Beauverdia, with four species found in Argentina, southern Brazil, and Uruguay. This corresponds to Group 3 of Sassone et al. 2013. This leaves Ipheion section Ipheion representing the genus, but further work is required. This cluster (Group 2 in the cladistic analysis of Sassone et al. 2013) which clusters with Tristagma may either be an independent genus, or a section of the latter genus. These are the three species listed here.

Species

 * Ipheion sessile, syn. Ipheion recurvifolium, Tristagma sessile
 * Ipheion tweedieanum, syn. Tristagma tweedianum
 * Ipheion uniflorum, syn. Tristagma uniflorum - spring starflower

Species formerly placed in this genus
Other species formerly placed in Ipheion have been transferred to Beauverdia, Nothoscordum or Tristagma:
 * Ipheion ameghinoi (Speg.) Traub = Tristagma ameghinoi (Speg.) Speg.
 * Ipheion bivalve (Hook. ex Lindl.) Traub = Tristagma bivalve (Hook. ex Lindl.) Traub
 * Ipheion brevipes (Kuntze) Traub = Tristagma brevipes (Kuntze) Traub
 * Ipheion circinatum (Sandwith) Traub = Tristagma circinatum (Sandwith) Traub
 * Ipheion dialystemon Guagl. = Nothoscordum dialystemon (Guagl.) Crosa
 * Ipheion felipponei (Beauverd) Traub = Beauverdia sellowiana (Kunth) Herter
 * Ipheion gracile (Phil.) Traub = Tristagma gracile (Phil.) Traub
 * Ipheion hirtellum (Kunth) Traub = Beauverdia hirtella (Kunth) Herter
 * Ipheion lloydiiflorum (Beauverd) Traub = Beauverdia vittata (Griseb.) Herter
 * Ipheion lorentzii (Herter) Traub = Beauverdia lorentzii Herter
 * Ipheion nivale (Poepp.) Traub = Tristagma nivale Poepp.
 * Ipheion patagonicum (Baker) Traub = Tristagma patagonicum (Baker) Traub
 * Ipheion poeppigianum (Gay) Traub = Tristagma poeppigianum (Gay) Traub
 * Ipheion porrifolium (Poepp.) Traub = Tristagma porrifolium (Poepp.) Traub
 * Ipheion recurvifolium (C.H.Wright) Traub = Tristagma sessile (Phil.) Traub
 * Ipheion sellowianum (Kunth) Traub = Beauverdia sellowiana (Kunth) Herter
 * Ipheion setaceum (Baker) Traub = Nothoscordum setaceum (Baker) Ravenna
 * Ipheion spegazzinii (Macloskie) Traub = Tristagma patagonicum (Baker) Traub
 * Ipheion subsessile (Beauverd) Traub = Beauverdia hirtella (Kunth) Herter
 * Ipheion violaceum (Kunth) Traub = Tristagma bivalve (Hook. ex Lindl.) Traub
 * Ipheion viridius (Killip) Traub = Tristagma patagonicum (Baker) Traub
 * Ipheion vittatum (Griseb.) Traub = Beauverdia vittata (Griseb.) Herter

Uses
Ipheion uniflorum is widely used as an ornamental garden plant in the Americas, Africa, Australia and Europe.

title: Ipheion


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Milla

Milla, the Mexican star, is a genus of monocotyledonous plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Brodiaeoideae. They are native mostly to Mexico, with one species extending into Guatemala, Honduras, Arizona, Texas and New Mexico.

Milla contains ten accepted species:

 * 1) Milla biflora Cav. - widespread across most of Mexico plus Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Guatemala and Honduras
 * 2) Milla bryanii  I.M.Johnst. - Coahuila
 * 3) Milla delicata H.E.Moore - Guerrero
 * 4) Milla filifolia T.M.Howard - Morelos
 * 5) Milla magnifica H.E.Moore - Guerrero, Morelos
 * 6) Milla mexicana T.M.Howard - Puebla, Oaxaca
 * 7) Milla mortoniana H.E.Moore - Guerrero
 * 8) Milla oaxacana Ravenna - Oaxaca
 * 9) Milla potosina T.M.Howard - San Luis Potosí
 * 10) Milla rosea H.E.Moore - Nuevo León

title: Milla


text:
Muilla

Muilla is a genus of monocots in the family Asparagaceae. It includes four to five species of flowering plants.

Taxonomy
The genus name is a taxonomic anagram of Allium (in fact, the letters are in exact reverse order), the onion genus, for the flowers' resemblance.

In the APG III classification system, it is placed in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Brodiaeoideae. The subfamily has also been treated as a separate family Themidaceae.

Distribution
Muilla species are native to southwestern North America.

Species

 * Current species

 * Formerly included species
 * Muilla clevelandii (S.Watson) Hoover — synonym of Bloomeria clevelandii S.Watson

title: Muilla