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Keller, Helen Adams

(Encyclopedia)Keller, Helen Adams, 1880–1968, American author and lecturer, blind and deaf from an undiagnosed illness at the age of two, b. Tuscumbia, Ala. In 1887 she was put under the charge of Anne Sullivan (...

kudzu

(Encyclopedia)kudzu ko͝odˈzo͞o [key], plant of the family Leguminosae (pulse family), native to Japan. Kudzu (Pueraria thunbergiana) has a woody stem, broad leaves, and clusters of large purple flowers. It is us...

Kunlun

(Encyclopedia)Kunlun ko͝onˈlo͝onˈ [key], great mountain system of central Asia, between the Himalayas and the Tian Shan, extending c.1,000 mi (1,610 km) E from the Pamir Mts., along the Tibet-Xinjiang border in...

Arius

(Encyclopedia)Arius ərīˈəs, ârˈē– [key], c.256–336, Libyan theologian, founder of the Arian heresy. A parish priest in Alexandria, he advanced the doctrine famous as Arianism and was excommunicated local...

pipsissewa

(Encyclopedia)pipsissewa pĭpsĭsˈəwä [key], any plant of the genus Chimaphila, perennial herbs of dry wooded regions in the Northern Hemisphere. The pipsissewas, closely related to the wintergreens, have thick,...

plane tree

(Encyclopedia)plane tree, sycamore, or buttonwood, any species of the genus Platanus, deciduous trees of most temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, exclusive of Africa. The hairy, dry, seedlike fruits are ...

agar, substance obtained from seaweed

(Encyclopedia)agar äˈgär, āˈ–, ăgˈär [key], product obtained from several species of red algae, or seaweed, chiefly from the Ceylon, or Jaffna, moss (Gracilaria lichenoides) and species of Gelidium, harve...

Borodin, Aleksandr Porfirevich

(Encyclopedia)Borodin, Aleksandr Porfirevich əlyĭksänˈdər pərfēˈrĭvĭch bôrôdyēnˈ [key], 1833–87, Russian composer, chemist, and physician. He studied at the academy of medicine in St. Petersburg, wh...

tamarisk

(Encyclopedia)tamarisk tămˈərĭsk [key], shrub or small tree of the genus Tamarix, native chiefly to the Mediterranean area and to central Asia. The plants are often heathlike and thrive in arid and coastal regi...

Wake Island

(Encyclopedia)Wake Island, atoll with three islets (Wake, Wilkes, and Peale), 3 sq mi (7.8 sq km), central Pacific, between Hawaii and Guam. It is a U.S. military base and scientific research center under the juris...