(Encyclopedia) saxifragesaxifragesăkˈsĭfrĭj [key], common name for several members of the Saxifragaceae, a family of widely varying herbs, shrubs, and small trees of cosmopolitan distribution. They…
For thousands of years, farmers have improved their crops by crossbreeding plants that have good traits. They take pollen from one plant and add it to the flowers of another plant to produce a…
actressBorn: 1950Birthplace: Bronx, N.Y. The daughter of Puerto Rican parents, Manzano attended the High School of the Performing Arts in New York City and received a scholarship to attend Carnegie…
(Encyclopedia) Allingham, MargeryAllingham, Margeryălˈĭng-əm [key], 1904–66, English detective-story writer, b. London. Most of her novels feature Mr. Albert Campion, a scholarly detective of noble…
(Encyclopedia) cosmoscosmoskŏzˈməs [key], any plant of the tropical American genus Cosmos of the family Asteraceae (aster family). C. bipinnatus, of Mexico, and others are cultivated in many…
(Encyclopedia) Fantin-Latour, Ignace Henri Jean ThéodoreFantin-Latour, Ignace Henri Jean Théodoreēgnäsˈ äNrēˈ zhäNˈ tēōdôrˈ fäNtăNˈ-lät&oomacr;rˈ [key], 1836–1904, French painter and lithographer…
(Encyclopedia) grape hyacinth, any plant of the genus Muscari of the family Liliaceae (lily family), low plants with dense spikelike clusters of small, nodding flowers that are usually deep blue. Of…
(Encyclopedia) Awaji-shimaAwaji-shimaäwäˈjē-shēˈmä [key], island, 32 mi (52 km) long and from 3 to 17 mi (4.8–27 km) wide, Hyogo prefecture, Japan, in the Inland Sea. Sumoto, on Osaka Bay, is the…
(Encyclopedia) Spanish moss, fibrous grayish-green epiphyte (Tillandsia usneoides) that hangs on trees of tropical America and the Southern states, also called Florida, southern, or long moss. It is…
