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(Encyclopedia)plum, common name for a tree of any of many species of the genus Prunus of the family Rosaceae (rose family) and for its fruit, a drupe. The plum is generally cultivated in the temperate zones, though...

pod, in botany

(Encyclopedia)pod or legume, dehiscent fruit of a member of the family Leguminosae (pulse family). At maturity the pod splits along its two seams and releases the enclosed seeds. ...

berry, in botany

(Encyclopedia)berry: see fruit.

bitterroot, in botany

(Encyclopedia)bitterroot: see purslane.

Sachs, Julius von

(Encyclopedia)Sachs, Julius von fə zäks [key], 1832–97, German botanist. A professor at the Univ. of Würzburg from 1868, he was a founder of experimental plant physiology. He demonstrated the importance of tra...

mountain ash, in botany

(Encyclopedia)mountain ash, name for any species of the genus Sorbus of the family Rosaceae (rose family), hardy ornamental trees and shrubs native to the Northern Hemisphere, not related to the true ashes. They ar...

wandering jew, in botany

(Encyclopedia)wandering jew, common name for several creeping plants of the genus Tradescantia (including Zebrina) in the spiderwort family. T. pendula is most commonly cultivated in window boxes and hanging pots. ...

Gray, Asa

(Encyclopedia)Gray, Asa, 1810–88, one of America's leading botanists and taxonomists, b. Oneida co., N.Y. As professor of natural history at Harvard from 1842, he was the teacher of many eminent botanists. Throug...

Clark, William Smith

(Encyclopedia)Clark, William Smith, 1826–86, American educator, b. Ashfield, Mass., grad. Amherst, 1848, and studied chemistry and botany at Göttingen (Ph.D., 1852). He taught at Amherst until the Civil War, fou...