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waterleaf

(Encyclopedia)waterleaf, common name for the Hydrophyllaceae, a family of herbs and some shrubs, widely distributed but especially abundant in W and SW North America. Best known in the United States are the waterle...

warbler

(Encyclopedia)warbler, name applied in the New World to members of the wood warbler family (Parulidae) and in the Old World to a large family (Sylviidae) of small, drab, active songsters, including the hedge sparro...

Atlantic Ocean

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Atlantic Ocean [Lat.,=of Atlas], second largest ocean (c.31,800,000 sq mi/82,362,000 sq km; c.36,000,000 sq mi/93,240,000 sq km with marginal seas). The North Atlantic Ocean has some of the w...

shearwater

(Encyclopedia)shearwater, common name for members of the family Procellariidae, gull-like sea birds related to the petrel and the albatross and including the fulmar. Shearwaters are found on unfrozen saltwaters all...

mole, in zoology

(Encyclopedia)mole, in zoology, common name for the small, burrowing, insectivorous mammals of the family Talpidae, found throughout the temperate Northern Hemisphere. Moles are trapped as pests, although they prob...

Jurassic period

(Encyclopedia)Jurassic period jərăsˈĭk [key] [from the Jura Mts.], second period of the Mesozoic era of geologic time, lasting from 213 to 144 million years ago. At the start of the Jurassic most of the contine...

Marcos de Niza

(Encyclopedia)Marcos de Niza märˈkōs dā nēˈsä [key], c.1495–1558, missionary explorer in Spanish North America. A Franciscan friar, he served in Peru and Guatemala before going to Mexico. There he headed a...

Solomon's-seal

(Encyclopedia)Solomon's-seal, any plant of the genus Polygonatum, north-temperate perennial herbs of the family Liliaceae (lily family). The hairy Solomon's-seal (P. pubescens) and the smooth Solomon's-seal (P. bif...

bugbane

(Encyclopedia)bugbane, any plant of the genus Cimicifuga, tall north-temperate perennials of the family Ranunculaceae (buttercup family). The white spirelike bloom has a rank odor that attracts flies, which pollina...

Lalemant, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Lalemant, Charles shärl lälmäNˈ [key], 1587–1674, French Jesuit missionary in North America; brother of Jérôme Lalemant and uncle of Gabriel Lalemant. He arrived in Quebec in 1625 and acted as...