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mango

(Encyclopedia)mango măngˈgō [key], evergreen tree of the Anacardiaceae (sumac family), native to tropical E Asia and now grown in both hemispheres. The chief species, Mangifera indica, is believed to have been c...

Jordaens, Jacob

(Encyclopedia)Jordaens, Jacob or Jacques yäˈkôp yôrˈdäns, zhäk [key], 1593–1678, Flemish baroque painter, b. Antwerp. After the deaths of Rubens and Van Dyck, by whom he was influenced, he became the leadi...

rocket, in botany

(Encyclopedia)rocket, in botany, popular name for several plants of the family Cruciferae (or Brassicaceae; mustard family). The dame's, or damask, violet, damewort, or sweet rocket is Hesperis matronalis, a hardy,...

Barragán, Luis

(Encyclopedia)Barragán, Luis, 1902–88, Mexican architect. Trained as an engineer, he traveled in France and Spain in the 1920s, and in France again in the early 30s when he met and was influenced by Le Corbusier...

Brady, Tom

(Encyclopedia)Brady, Tom (Thomas Edward Patrick Brady, Jr.), 1977–, American football player, b. San Mateo, Calif. One of the greatest professional quarterbacks of all time, he attended the Univ. of Michigan (199...

staff tree

(Encyclopedia)staff tree, common name for some temperate members of the Celastraceae, a family of trees and shrubs (many of them climbing forms), widely distributed except in polar regions. These plants typically b...

Permian Basin

(Encyclopedia)Permian Basin or West Texas Basin, extensive sedimentary basin, West Texas and SE New Mexico. Covering an area of more than 75,000 sq mi (194,000 sq km), its main components are the Midland Basin on t...

Jalpaiguri

(Encyclopedia)Jalpaiguri jəlpīˈgo͝orē [key], town (1991 pop. 68,732), West Bengal state, NE India, on the Tista River. It is the administrative center for a district that produces tea, rice, jute, tobacco, tim...

Red River Settlement

(Encyclopedia)Red River Settlement, agricultural colony in present Manitoba, North Dakota, and Minnesota. It was the undertaking of Thomas Douglas, 5th earl of Selkirk. Wishing to relieve the dispossessed and impov...

Saint John's, city, Antigua and Barbuda

(Encyclopedia)Saint John's, city (1991 pop. 21,514), capital of Antigua and Barbuda, in the West Indies. St. John's, at the head of a harbor formed by an inlet, is the commercial center of the country. Tourism is i...