Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

tendril

(Encyclopedia)tendril, slender, sensitive structure of many climbing plants that by a response to contact (see auxin) supports the plant. Tendrils are modified stems, leaves, or leaf parts or roots. Most young tend...

Cahokia Mounds

(Encyclopedia)Cahokia Mounds, approximately 85 surviving Native American earthworks, most in Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, SW Ill., near East St. Louis; largest group of mounds N of Mexico. Monks' Mound, a re...

Cambrai

(Encyclopedia)Cambrai käNbrāˈ [key], city, Nord dept., N France, a port on the Escaut (Scheldt) River. I...

Ussachevsky, Vladimir

(Encyclopedia)Ussachevsky, Vladimir vlədyēˈmĭr o͞osəchĕfˈskē [key], 1911–90, Russian-American composer, b. Manchuria. Ussachevsky emigrated to the United States in 1931 and studied at the Eastman School....

maple

(Encyclopedia)maple, common name for the genus Acer of the Aceraceae, a family of deciduous trees and shrubs of the Northern Hemisphere, found mainly in temperate regions and on tropical mountain slopes. Acer, the ...

tracery

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Types of tracery tracery, bands or bars of stone, wood, or other material, either subdividing an opening or standing in relief against a wall and forming an ornamental pattern of solid members...

beech

(Encyclopedia)CE5 American beech Fagus grandifolia beech, common name for the Fagaceae, a family of trees and shrubs mainly of temperate and subtropical regions in the Northern Hemisphere. The principal genera�...

forestry

(Encyclopedia)forestry, the management of forest lands for wood, water, wildlife, forage, and recreation. Because the major economic importance of the forest lies in wood and wood products, forestry has been chiefl...

Mĕstrović, Ivan

(Encyclopedia)Mĕstrović, Ivan ēˈvän mĕshˈtrōvyĭch [key], 1883–1962, Croatian-American sculptor, b. Vrpolje, Croatia (then in Austria-Hungary). He was a shepherd and then an apprentice to a marble cutter,...

McIntire, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)McIntire, Samuel măkˈəntīrˌ [key], 1757–1811, American architect and woodcarver, b. Salem, Mass. He developed high skill as a joiner and housewright and in wood sculpture. McIntire's opportunit...