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monkey-puzzle tree

(Encyclopedia)monkey-puzzle tree, evergreen tree (Araucaria araucana) native to Chile and widely cultivated elsewhere as an ornamental. The symmetrical branches have an unusual angularity and are completely covered...

Leyte

(Encyclopedia)Leyte lāˈtē, –tā [key], island (1990 pop. 1,689,756), 2,785 sq mi (7,213 sq km), one of the Visayan Islands, the Philippines, between Luzon and Mindanao. A fertile agricultural land, it is the n...

Lusatia

(Encyclopedia)Lusatia lo͞osāˈshə [key], Ger. Lausitz, Pol. Łużyce, region of E Germany and SW Poland. It extends N from the Lusatian Mts., at the Czech border, and W from the Oder River. The hilly and fertile...

Nacogdoches

(Encyclopedia)Nacogdoches năkˌədōˈchĭs [key], city (1990 pop. 30,872), seat of Nacogdoches co., E Tex., in a pine and hardwood forest area; settled 1779. Industries in the city include lumbering, livestock an...

frogmouth

(Encyclopedia)frogmouth, common name for small, owllike birds of the family Podargidae, ranging in size from 9 to 21 in. (22.5–52.5 cm). Their soft plumage is a mottled gray-brown in color with little distinction...

kagu

(Encyclopedia)kagu käˈgo͞o [key], common name for a long-legged, heronlike bird, Rhynochetos jubatus. It has a loose, gray plumage with darker bandings; broad, rounded wings marked with white, black, and red; an...

Bowman, Isaiah

(Encyclopedia)Bowman, Isaiah bōˈmən [key], 1878–1950, American geographer, b. Waterloo, Ont., B.S. Harvard, 1905, Ph.D. Yale, 1909. He taught geography at Yale (1905–15) and was director (1915–35) of the A...

Tallahassee

(Encyclopedia)Tallahassee tăləhăsˈē [key], city (1990 pop. 124,773), state capital and seat of Leon co., NW Fla.; inc. 1825. Tallahassee is a wholesale trade and distribution center for the surrounding lumber,...

Biosphere 2

(Encyclopedia)Biosphere 2, privately funded ecological research project in which eight people lived sealed in a 3.15-acre (1.28-hectare) structure for two years (Sept. 26, 1991–Sept. 26, 1993). Located in Oracle,...

weed

(Encyclopedia)weed, common term for any wild plant, particularly an undesired plant, growing in cultivated ground, where it competes with crop plants for soil nutrients and water. In their natural habitat, wildflow...