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symmetry, biological

(Encyclopedia)symmetry, biological, similarity or balance between parts of an organism so that when a straight cut is made through a point or along a line, equal, mirror-image halves are formed. Symmetry in body sh...

seas, freedom of the

(Encyclopedia)seas, freedom of the, in international law, the principle that outside its territorial waters (see waters, territorial) a state may not claim sovereignty over the seas, except with respect to its own ...

chicle

(Encyclopedia)chicle chĭkˈəl [key], name for the gum obtained from the latex of the sapodilla tree (Manilkara zapota), a tropical American evergreen. The sapodilla (known also by many other common names) is wide...

aardwolf

(Encyclopedia)aardwolf ärdˈwo͝olf [key], carnivore of the hyena family. The aardwolf, Proteles cristatus, resembles the true hyena but is smaller and more delicate. It has less powerful teeth and jaws and five i...

goldenrod

(Encyclopedia)goldenrod, any species of the large genus Solidago of the family Asteraceae (aster family), chiefly North American weedy herbs. They have small yellow flowers clustered, often in panicles, along a wan...

groundsel

(Encyclopedia)groundsel groundˈsəl [key], any plant of the very large genus Senecio, widely distributed herbs and (in the tropics) shrubs or trees of the family Asteraceae (aster family). Many grow as vines. Most...

guayule

(Encyclopedia)guayule wīyo͞oˈlē, gwä– [key], multibranched flowering evergreen shrub, Parthenium argentatum, native to the deserts of the SW United States and N Mexico. Growing to 3 ft (1 m) in height, the g...

jungle fowl

(Encyclopedia)jungle fowl, common name for small, terrestrial wild fowl comprising four species in the genus Gallus. Most important of these is the red jungle fowl, which Charles Darwin determined to be the ancesto...

jewelweed

(Encyclopedia)jewelweed, common name for the Balsaminaceae, a family of widely distributed annual and perennial herbs. The principal genus is Impatiens, so named because of the sudden bursting of the mature seed ca...

opal

(Encyclopedia)opal ōˈpəl [key], a mineral consisting of poorly crystalline to amorphous silica, SiO2·nH2O; the water content is quite variable but usually ranges from 3% to 10%. Common opal is usually colorless...