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Vavilov, Nikolai Ivanovich

(Encyclopedia)Vavilov, Nikolai Ivanovich nyĭkəlīˈ ēväˈnəvĭch vəvēˈləf [key], 1887–1943?, Russian botanist and geneticist. He is reported to have died in a Soviet concentration camp after losing polit...

vegetative propagation

(Encyclopedia)vegetative propagation, the ability of plants to reproduce without sexual reproduction, by producing new plants from existing vegetative structures. Some plants, such as the Canada thistle and most ba...

Puntland

(Encyclopedia)Puntland, semiautonomous region (2009 est. pop. 3,900,000), c.82,050 sq mi (212,500 sq km), extreme NE Somalia. It is bordered on the N by the Gulf of Aden, on the E by the Indian Ocean, on the S by t...

Gaspé Peninsula

(Encyclopedia)Gaspé Peninsula or Gaspésie gäspāzēˈ [key], tongue of land, E Que., Canada, between the estuary of the St. Lawrence River on the north and Chaleur Bay on the south, and extending eastward into t...

Jenin

(Encyclopedia)Jenin jĕˈnēn [key], town (2003 est. pop. 34,000), West Bank, at the southern entrance to the Esdraelon Valley and on the northern edge of the Samarian Highlands. It is an important crossroads, urba...

Halifax, Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st earl of

(Encyclopedia)Halifax, Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st earl of, 1881–1959, British statesman. He entered the House of Commons (1910) as a Conservative and was president of the Board of Education (1922–24) an...

Swat

(Encyclopedia)Swat swät [key], district of the Malakand division, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly North-West Frontier Province), Pakistan. Saidu Sharif is the capital. The largely inaccessible region is reached by ai...

calcium oxide

(Encyclopedia)calcium oxide, chemical compound, CaO, a colorless, cubic crystalline or white amorphous substance. It is also called lime, quicklime, or caustic lime, but commercial lime often contains impurities, e...

Waco

(Encyclopedia)Waco wāˈkō [key], city (1990 pop. 103,590), seat of McLennan co., E central Tex., on the Brazos River, just below the mouth of the Bosque; inc. 1856. It is a rail junction and a trading, shipping, ...

Walloons

(Encyclopedia)Walloons wŏlo͞onzˈ [key], group of people living in S Belgium who traditionally spoke a dialect of French called Walloon, but who today for the most part speak standard French. The Walloons, number...