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horse chestnut

(Encyclopedia)horse chestnut, common name for some members of the Hippocastanaceae, a family of trees and shrubs of the north temperate zones and of South America. The horse chestnut tree, Aesculus hippocastanum, a...

groundsel

(Encyclopedia)groundsel groundˈsəl [key], any plant of the very large genus Senecio, widely distributed herbs and (in the tropics) shrubs or trees of the family Asteraceae (aster family). Many grow as vines. Most...

guayule

(Encyclopedia)guayule wīyo͞oˈlē, gwä– [key], multibranched flowering evergreen shrub, Parthenium argentatum, native to the deserts of the SW United States and N Mexico. Growing to 3 ft (1 m) in height, the g...

gutta-percha

(Encyclopedia)gutta-percha gŭtˈə-pûrˈchə [key], natural latex obtained from Palaquium gutta and several other evergreen trees of East Asia. The latex, collected by felling or girdling the tree, is allowed to ...

hay fever

(Encyclopedia)hay fever, seasonal allergy causing inflammation of the mucous membranes of the nose and eyes. It is characterized by itching about the eyes and nose, sneezing, a profuse watery nasal discharge, and t...

burial

(Encyclopedia)burial, disposal of a corpse in a grave or tomb. The first evidence of deliberate burial was found in European caves of the Paleolithic period. Prehistoric discoveries include both individual and comm...

dating

(Encyclopedia)dating, the determination of the age of an object, of a natural phenomenon, or of a series of events. There are two basic types of dating methods, relative and absolute. In relative dating, the tempor...

oak

(Encyclopedia)oak, any tree or shrub of the genus Quercus of the family Fagaceae (beech family). This complex genus includes as many as 600, found chiefly in north temperate zones and also in Polynesia. The more so...

kangaroo

(Encyclopedia)kangaroo, name for a variety of hopping marsupials, or pouched mammals, of the family Macropodidae, found in Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea. The term is applied especially to the large kangaroos ...

plum, in botany

(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...