Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) lettuce, annual garden plant (Lactuca sativa and varieties) of the family Asteraceae (aster family), probably native to the East Indies or Asia Minor, possibly as a derivative of the widespread weed c...

(Encyclopedia) parrotfish, common name for a member of a large group of colorful reef fishes of warm seas, resembling the wrasses but of a larger size. Long considered a separate family, Scaridae, they are now group...

(Encyclopedia) Cinco de Mayo, May 5, the anniversary of Mexico's victory over France in 1862 in the Battle of Puebla, in which Gen. Ignacio Zaragoza's small, ill-equipped Mexican forces defeated a much larger French...

(Encyclopedia) Menéndez de Avilés, Pedro pāˈᵺrō mānānˈdĕth dā ävēlāsˈ [key], 1519–74, Spanish naval officer and colonizer, founder of Saint Augustine, Fla. He went to sea as a youth and so distingu...

(Encyclopedia) Worcester, industrial city (1990 pop. 169,759), seat of Worcester co., central Mass., on the Blackstone River; inc. 1722. The canalization (1828) of the Blackstone River marked the beginning of Worces...

(Encyclopedia) Athens. 1 City (2020 population 25406), seat of Limestone co., N Al; inc. 1818. One of the first incorporated cities in Alabma, the city was established a year before the state was ...

(Encyclopedia) Nicholson, James William Augustus, 1821–87, American naval officer, b. Dedham, Mass.; grandson of Samuel Nicholson. He was appointed a midshipman in 1838, served under Commodore Perry in East Asia (...

(Encyclopedia) Okeechobee Waterway or Cross-Florida Waterway, 155 mi (249 km) long, across S Fla., from Stuart on the Atlantic Ocean to Fort Myers on the Gulf of Mexico. Its main segments are the St. Lucie Canal, La...

(Encyclopedia) Oswego, river, 23 mi (37 km) long, formed by the confluence of the Oneida and the Seneca rivers, central N.Y., NW of Syracuse and flowing NW to Lake Ontario at Oswego. It has been canalized and incorp...

(Encyclopedia) Geneva, city (2020 pop. 12,812), Ontario co., W central N.Y., in the Finger Lakes region; inc. as a city 1897. Located in a farm area, Geneva's manufact...