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bristlecone pine

(Encyclopedia)bristlecone pine, common name for the pine species Pinus longaeva, found in the White Mountains of California. Specimens have been known to live some 5,000 years. ...

butterwort

(Encyclopedia)butterwort, common name for several species of the plant genus Pinguicula of the north temperate zone and the mountains of tropical America. It is a member of the family Lentibulariaceae (bladderwort ...

Devonian period

(Encyclopedia)Devonian period dĭvōˈnēən [key], fourth period of the Paleozoic era of geologic time between 408 and 360 million years ago (see Geologic Timescale, tablegeologic timescale, table). It was named (...

quartz

(Encyclopedia)quartz, one of the commonest of all rock-forming minerals and one of the most important constituents of the earth's crust. Chemically, it is silicon dioxide, SiO2. It occurs in crystals of the hexagon...

desert

(Encyclopedia)desert, arid region, usually partly covered by sand, having scanty vegetation or sometimes almost none, and capable of supporting only a limited and specially adapted animal population. The so-called ...

Sevier

(Encyclopedia)Sevier, river, c.280 mi (450 km) long, formed in SW Utah by the junction of Panguitch Creek and Assay Creek. It flows northward through canyons, then leaves the mountains and flows SW through the Sevi...

Shinano

(Encyclopedia)Shinano shĭnäˈnō [key], river, longest of Honshu, Japan, c.230 mi (370 km) long. It rises in the mountains of central Honshu and flows generally NE to the Sea of Japan at Niigata. It waters the fe...

Tagus

(Encyclopedia)Tagus tāˈgəs [key], Span. Tajo, Port. Tejo, river, c.585 mi (940 km) long, rising in the mountains E of Madrid, E Spain, and draining the central part of the Iberian Peninsula. The Tagus flows nort...

wagon train

(Encyclopedia)wagon train, in U.S. history, a group of covered wagons used to convey people and supplies to the West before the coming of the railroad. The wagon replaced the pack, or horse, train in land commerce ...

Mount Olympus

(Encyclopedia)Mount Olympus: see Cyprus; Olympic Mountains; Olympus. ...