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bittersweet

(Encyclopedia)bittersweet, name for two unrelated plants, belonging to different families, both fall-fruiting woody vines sometimes cultivated for their decorative scarlet berries. One, called also woody nightshade...

bulb

(Encyclopedia)bulb, thickened, fleshy plant bud, usually formed under the surface of the soil, which carries the plant over from one blooming season to another. It may have many fleshy layers (as in the onion and h...

Burbank, Luther

(Encyclopedia)Burbank, Luther bûrˈbănk [key], 1849–1926, American plant breeder, b. Lancaster, Mass. He experimented with thousands of plant varieties and developed many new ones, including new varieties of pr...

grafting

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Two methods of grafting grafting, horticultural practice of uniting parts of two plants so that they grow as one. The scion, or cion, the part grafted onto the stock or rooted part, may be a s...

fungicide

(Encyclopedia)fungicide fŭnˈjəsīdˌ, fŭngˈgə– [key], any substance used to destroy fungi. Some fungi are extremely damaging to crops (see diseases of plants), and others cause diseases in humans and other ...

cycad

(Encyclopedia)cycad sīˈkăd [key], any plant of the order Cycadales, tropical and subtropical palmlike evergreens. The cycads, ginkgoes, and conifers comprise the three major orders of gymnosperms, or cone-bearin...

nitrogen cycle

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Nitrogen cycle nitrogen cycle, the continuous flow of nitrogen through the biosphere by the processes of nitrogen fixation, ammonification (decay), nitrification, and denitrification. Nitrogen...

soil

(Encyclopedia)soil, surface layer of the earth, composed of fine rock material disintegrated by geological processes; and humus, the organic remains of decomposed vegetation. In agriculture, soil is the medium that...

loganberry

(Encyclopedia)loganberry, blackberrylike plant of the genus Rubus of the family Rosaceae (rose family). See bramble. ...

Parker Dam

(Encyclopedia)Parker Dam, at the Ariz.–Calif. line, on the Colorado River; completed 1938. It is 320 ft (98 m) high and 856 ft (261 m) long. The dam impounds water for Los Angeles and other coastal cities, has a ...