Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

vegetable

(Encyclopedia)vegetable, term originally used for any plant, now the name for many food plants, most of them annuals, and for their edible parts. There is no clear botanical distinction between vegetables and fruit...

oleaster

(Encyclopedia)oleaster ōˌlēăsˈtər [key], common name for members of the Elaeagnaceae, a family principally of shrubs with leathery leaves and a dense covering of glistening hairs. Most members of the family a...

Fortaleza

(Encyclopedia)Fortaleza fo͝ortəlĕˈzə [key], city, capital of Ceará state, NE Brazil, a port on the At...

Doncaster

(Encyclopedia)Doncaster dŏngˈkəstər [key], metropolitan borough, N central England, on the Don River. D...

dragon's blood

(Encyclopedia)dragon's blood, name for a red resin obtained from a number of different plants. It was held by early Greeks, Romans, and Arabs to have medicinal properties; Dioscorides and other early writers descri...

Arcimboldo, Giuseppe

(Encyclopedia)Arcimboldo, Giuseppe jo͞ozĕpˈpā ärchēmbôlˈdō [key], 1527–93, Italian painter. The son of an artist, he began as a traditional portrait painter. Later, as court painter to Hapsburg kings Max...

Suva

(Encyclopedia)Suva so͞oˈvä [key], city (1993 est. pop. 80,000), capital of Fiji, on the southeastern coast of Viti Levu island, S Pacific. It is a major shipping and commercial center of the S Pacific producing ...

agronomy

(Encyclopedia)agronomy əgrŏnˈəmē [key], branch of agriculture dealing with various physical and biological factors—including soil management, tillage, crop rotation, breeding, weed control, and climate—rel...

Po, river, Italy

(Encyclopedia)Po pō, It. pô [key], Latin Padus, longest river of Italy, c.405 mi (650 km) long, rising in the Cottian Alps of Piedmont, NW Italy. It winds generally east in a wide valley, past Turin, Pavia, Piace...

Khuzestan

(Encyclopedia)Khuzestan kho͞ozēstänˈ [key], province (1991 pop. 3,175,852), c.24,000 sq mi (62,160 sq km), SW Iran, bordering on Iraq in the west and the Persian Gulf in the south. Its major cities include Ahva...