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blazing star

(Encyclopedia)blazing star or button snakeroot, any plant of the genus Liatris, showy North American perennials of the family Asteraceae (aster family). The blossoms, rosy purple or white, are in somewhat feathery ...

Malatesta

(Encyclopedia)Malatesta mälätĕˈstä [key], Italian family, ruling Rimini and nearby cities for almost 300 years from the 13th to 16th cent. Malatesta da Verucchio (d. 1312), a powerful Guelph leader, became (12...

goosefoot

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Lamb's-quarters Chenopodium album, a member of the goosefoot family goosefoot, common name for the genus Chenopodium, as well as for the goosefoot family, Chenopodiaceae, a family of widely di...

balm of Gilead

(Encyclopedia)balm of Gilead gĭlˈēəd [key], name for several plants belonging to different taxonomic families. The historic Old World balm of Gilead, or Mecca balsam, is a small evergreen tree (Commiphora gilea...

cedar

(Encyclopedia)cedar, common name for a number of trees, mostly coniferous evergreens. The true cedars belong to the small genus Cedrus of the family Pinaceae (pine family). All are native to the Old World from the ...

jaeger

(Encyclopedia)jaeger yāˈgər [key], common name for several members of the family Stercorariidae, member of a family of hawklike sea birds closely related to the gull and the tern. The skua is also a member of th...

aloe

(Encyclopedia)aloe ălˈō [key] [Gr.], any species of the genus Aloe, succulent perennials of the family Lilaceae (lily family), native chiefly to the warm dry areas of S Africa and also to tropical Africa, but cu...

perch

(Encyclopedia)perch, common name for some members of the family Percidae, symmetrical freshwater fishes of N Europe, Asia, and North America. The perches belong to the large order Perciformes (spiny-finned fishes) ...

Ater

(Encyclopedia)Ater āˈtər [key], in the Bible. 1 Ancestor of a family that returned with Zerubbabel. 2 Ancestor of a family of porters. ...

Iranian languages

(Encyclopedia)Iranian languages, group of languages belonging to the Indo-Iranian family of the Indo-European family of languages. See Indo-Iranian languages. ...