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Roanoke Island

(Encyclopedia)Roanoke Island, 12 mi (19 km) long and 3 mi (4.8 km) wide, NE N.C., off the Atlantic coast between Croatan (W) and Roanoke (E) sounds in the Outer Banks. Manteo is the chief town, and tourism and fish...

Evans, Sir Arthur John

(Encyclopedia)Evans, Sir Arthur John, 1851–1941, English archaeologist. He was (1884–1908) keeper of the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. From 1900 to 1935 he conducted excavations on the Greek island of Crete, prin...

Johnson, Denis

(Encyclopedia)Johnson, Denis, 1949–2017, American writer, b. Munich, Germany, where his father was a diplomat; B.A. Univ. of Iowa, 1971, M.F.A. Iowa Writers' Workshop, 1974. Years of drinking and taking drugs end...

loquat

(Encyclopedia)loquat lōˈkwŏt [key], small ornamental evergreen tree (Eriobotrya japonica) and its fruit. It belongs to the family Rosaceae (rose family) and is probably indigenous to China. It has been grown fro...

Parks, Gordon

(Encyclopedia)Parks, Gordon (Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks), 1912–2006, African-American photographer, filmmaker, writer, and composer, b. Fort Scott, Kans. Parks purchased his first camera in 1938 and be...

nut, in botany

(Encyclopedia)nut, in botany, a dry one-seeded fruit which is indehiscent (i.e., does not split open along a definite seam at maturity). Among the true nuts are the acorn, chestnut, and hazelnut. Commonly the word ...

liana

(Encyclopedia)liana lēänˈ [key], name for any climbing plant that roots in the ground. The term is most often used for the woody vines that form a characteristic part of tropical rain-forest vegetation; they are...

cerrado

(Encyclopedia)cerrado, tropical ecological region, c. 770,000 sq mi (2 million sq km), Brazil, encompassing several states and the federal district and extending into Bolivia and Paraguay. Located in the central pl...

borage

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Forget-me-not, Myosotis virginica, a member of the borage family borage bŏrˈəj, bŭrˈ– [key], common name for the Boraginaceae, a family of widely distributed herbs and some tropical shr...

caoutchouc

(Encyclopedia)caoutchouc kouˈcho͝ok [key], natural rubber obtained as a latex from various tropical plants, e.g., the Pará rubber tree. It is much more elastic than balata or gutta-percha. It is the most familia...