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aphid

(Encyclopedia)aphid or plant louse, tiny, usually green, soft-bodied, pear-shaped insect injurious to vegetation. It is also called greenfly and blight. Aphids are mostly under 1⁄4 in. (6 mm) long. Some are wingl...

halophyte

(Encyclopedia)halophyte hălˈəfītˌ [key], any plant, especially a seed plant, that is able to grow in habitats excessively rich in salts, such as salt marshes, sea coasts, and saline or alkaline semideserts and...

Pfeffer, Wilhelm

(Encyclopedia)Pfeffer, Wilhelm vĭlˈhĕlm pfĕˈfər [key], 1845–1920, German plant physiologist. He was professor of botany successively at the universities of Bonn, Basel, Tübingen, and Leipzig (from 1887). W...

Aiken

(Encyclopedia)Aiken, city (2020 pop. 32,025), seat of Aiken co., W S.C.; inc. 1835. A resort and polo center and a training area for Thoroughbreds, Aiken has apparel, printing and publishing, drug, and ...

saprophyte

(Encyclopedia)saprophyte săpˈrəfītˌ [key], any plant that depends on dead plant or animal tissue for a source of nutrition and metabolic energy, e.g., most fungi (molds) and a few flowering plants, such as Ind...

Clemens, Roger

(Encyclopedia)Clemens, Roger (William Roger Clemens) klĕmˈənz [key], 1962–, American baseball player, b. Dayton, Ohio. Noted for his competitive fire and nicknamed “Roger the Rocket,” Clemens became one of...

fluorescence

(Encyclopedia)fluorescence flo͝orĕsˈəns [key], luminescence in which light of a visible color is emitted from a substance under stimulation or excitation by light or other forms of electromagnetic radiation or ...

Lasorda, Tommy

(Encyclopedia)Lasorda, Tommy, 1927-2021, American baseball pitcher and manager, b. Norristown, Pa., as Thomas Charles Lasorda. Lasorda first pitched for the farm tea...

star-of-Bethlehem, in botany

(Encyclopedia)star-of-Bethlehem, in botany, low, spring-blooming bulbous plant (Ornithogalum umbellatum) of the family Liliaceae (lily family), native to the Mediterranean region but naturalized in North America an...

blight

(Encyclopedia)blight, general term for any sudden and severe plant disease or for the agent that causes it. The term is now applied chiefly to diseases caused by bacteria (e.g., bean blights and fire blight of frui...