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alpine plants

(Encyclopedia)alpine plants, high-altitude representatives of various flowering plants (chiefly perennials) that because of their dwarf habit, profuse blooming, and the preference of many for shady places are culti...

Caesalpinus, Andreas

(Encyclopedia)Caesalpinus, Andreas ändrĕˈä chāzälpēˈnō [key], 1519–1603, Italian botanist and physiologist. He was physician to Pope Clement VIII. He described, in part and as a theory only, the circulat...

peppergrass

(Encyclopedia)peppergrass, any species of the genus Lepidium, widely distributed peppery-tasting herbs of the family Cruciferae (or Brassicaceae; mustard family). They commonly have toothed leaves, clusters of smal...

Platt, Charles Adams

(Encyclopedia)Platt, Charles Adams, 1861–1933, American architect, landscape architect, painter, and etcher, b. New York City. He studied etching with Stephen Parrish and painting, in Paris, under Boulanger and L...

wallflower

(Encyclopedia)wallflower, Mediterranean perennial (Cheiranthus cheiri) of the family Cruciferae (or Brassicaceae; mustard family), particularly popular in Europe, where it flourishes on old walls. An old-fashioned ...

caper

(Encyclopedia)caper, common name for members of the Capparidaceae, a family of tropical plants found chiefly in the Old World and closely related to the family Cruciferae (or Brassicaceae; mustard family). Capparis...

Valencia, city, Spain

(Encyclopedia)Valencia, city (1990 pop. 758,738), capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and of Valencia prov., E Spain, on the Turia River. The third largest city in Spain, it lies in a fertile garden reg...

Mojave Trails National Monument

(Encyclopedia)Mojave Trails National Monument, 1.6 million acres (647,000 hectares), SE California. Linking Joshua Tree National Park and Mojave National Preserve, it follows the trails of the Chemehuevi people, a ...

larkspur, in botany

(Encyclopedia)larkspur, any north temperate, Old World annual of the genus Consolida of the buttercup family. Consolida species were formerly classified in the genus Delphinium, which includes similar annual, bienn...

Sackville-West, Vita

(Encyclopedia)Sackville-West, Vita (Victoria Mary Sackville-West), 1892–1962, English writer; wife of Sir Harold Nicolson and granddaughter of the 2d Baron Sackville. Both she and Nicolson were members of the Blo...