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bluebell

(Encyclopedia)bluebell, common name for several plants belonging to completely different classes, particularly the bellflower and the Virginia cowslip, or Virginia bluebell, of the family Boraginaceae (borage famil...

Hercules'-club

(Encyclopedia)Hercules'-club, common name for several small, thorny trees, chiefly the devil's-walking-stick of the family Aralaceae (ginseng family) and the prickly ash of the family Rutaceae (orange family). The ...

Harim

(Encyclopedia)Harim hāˈrĭm [key], in the Bible. 1 Family of priests in the return from the Exile. An alternate form is Rehum. 2 Another family of priests in the return from the Exile. 3 Priest, probably the ance...

pimento

(Encyclopedia)pimento or allspice, common names for a tree (Pimenta dioica or P. officinalis) of the family Myrtaceae (myrtle family) cultivated in the West Indies for its dried unripe berries, used medicinally and...

bittersweet

(Encyclopedia)bittersweet, name for two unrelated plants, belonging to different families, both fall-fruiting woody vines sometimes cultivated for their decorative scarlet berries. One, called also woody nightshade...

bellflower, in botany

(Encyclopedia)bellflower or bluebell, name commonly used as a comprehensive term for members of the Campanulaceae, a family of chiefly herbaceous annuals or perennials of wide distribution, characteristically found...

stock, in botany

(Encyclopedia)stock, in botany, common name for any species of the genus Matthiola, for Malcomia maritima (Virginia stock), and for the wallflower, all belonging to the family Cruciferae (or Brassicaceae; mustard f...

Lucy, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Lucy, Saint, d. 304?, Sicilian virgin martyr. According to legend, at an early age she vowed herself to God. She rejected a pagan suitor, who then denounced her during the persecutions under Diocletia...

Graevius, Johann Georg

(Encyclopedia)Graevius, Johann Georg yōˈhän gāˈôrk grāˈvēo͝os [key], 1632–1703, German antiquary. His German name was Gräve or Greffe. He was historiographer to William III of England and is remembered...

Folgore da San Geminiano

(Encyclopedia)Folgore da San Geminiano fôlˈgōrā dä sän jāmēnyäˈnō [key], fl. 1308–16, Italian poet. Mesi, his cycle of sonnets on the seasons and their appropriate pleasures, is interspersed with zestf...