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wasp

(Encyclopedia)wasp, name applied to many winged insects of the order Hymenoptera, which also includes ants and bees. Most wasps are carnivorous, feeding on insects, grubs, or spiders. They have biting mouthparts, a...

delta

(Encyclopedia)delta [from triangular shape of the Nile delta, like the Greek letter delta], a deposit of clay, silt, and sand formed at the mouth of a river where the stream loses velocity and drops part of its sed...

dogtooth violet

(Encyclopedia)dogtooth violet, originally a name for the Old World plant Erythronium denscanis, now applied also to several North American species of the same genus of the family Liliaceae (lily family). The most c...

forsythia

(Encyclopedia)forsythia fôrsĭthˈēə [key], common name for any member of the small genus Forsythia of the family Oleaceae (olive family), European and Asian shrubs with abundant bell-shaped yellow flowers that ...

amphibole

(Encyclopedia)amphibole ămˈfəbōlˌ [key], any of a group of widely distributed rock-forming minerals, magnesium-iron silicates, often with traces of calcium, aluminum, sodium, titanium, and other elements. The ...

Kaifeng

(Encyclopedia)Kaifeng kī-fŭng [key], city (1994 est. pop. 535,300), NE Henan prov., China, on the Longhai RR. It is a commercial, agricultural, and industrial center. Manufactures include agricultural machinery, ...

olivine

(Encyclopedia)olivine ŏlĭvˈēn [key], an iron-magnesium silicate mineral, (Mg,Fe)2SiO4, crystallizing in the orthorhombic system. It is a common constituent of magnesium-rich, silica-poor igneous rocks; metamorp...

arnica

(Encyclopedia)arnica ärˈnəkə [key], any plant of the genus Arnica, yellow-flowered perennials of the family Asteraceae (aster family), native to north temperate and arctic regions. In North America, arnicas gro...

Luks, George Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Luks, George Benjamin lo͞oks [key], 1867–1933, American portrait and genre painter, b. Williamsport, Pa., studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and in Düsseldorf. He worked as a new...

mignonette

(Encyclopedia)mignonette mĭnˌyənĕtˈ [key], common name for some members of the Resedaceae, a small family of herbs and a few shrubs inhabiting arid regions. The main genus, the mignonettes (genus Reseda), chie...