Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) evergreen, term commonly used as synonymous with conifer and applied also to all those broad-leaved plants that bear green leaves throughout the year. Of the latter, most are plants of the tropics, su...

(Encyclopedia) praseodymium prāˌzēōdĭmˈēəm, –sēō– [key] [Gr., =green twin], metallic chemical element; symbol Pr; at. no. 59; at. wt. 140.90765; m.p. 931℃; b.p. 3,512℃; sp. gr. about 6.8; valence +...

(Encyclopedia) Eocene epoch ēˈəsēnˌ [key], second epoch of the Tertiary period in the Cenozoic era of geologic time, from approximately 54.9 to 38 million years ago. The Eocene in North America was marked by th...

(Encyclopedia) Lyon, Mary līˈən [key], 1797–1849, American educator, founder of Mt. Holyoke College, b. Buckland, Mass. She attended three academies in Massachusetts; later she taught at Ashfield, Mass., London...

(Encyclopedia) Allouez, Claude Jean klōd zhäN älwāˈ [key], 1622–89, French Jesuit missionary in Canada and the American Midwest. After arriving (1658) in Canada he served at posts in the St. Lawrence region u...

(Encyclopedia) bloat, excessive accumulation of gases in the rumen, the first stomach of a cud-chewing animal. Bloat is probably formed to a large extent by bacterial action. It occurs in all ruminants, but is most ...

(Encyclopedia) Connelly, Marc (Marcus Cook Connelly) kŏnˈəlē [key], 1890–1981, American dramatist, b. McKeesport, Pa. He is best known for his Pulitzer Prize winning play The Green Pastures (1930), a fantasy o...

(Encyclopedia) quartzite, usually metamorphic rock composed of firmly cemented quartz grains. Most often it is white, light gray, yellowish, or light brown, but is sometimes colored blue, green, purple, or black by ...

(Encyclopedia) Richardson, Henry Handel, pseud. of Ethel Richardson Robertson, 1870–1946, Australian novelist, b. Melbourne. Her years of study at the Presbyterian Ladies' College, Melbourne, were reflected in her...

(Encyclopedia) eggplant, name for Solanum melongena, a large-leaved woody perennial shrub (often grown as an annual herb) of the family Solanaceae (nightshade family), and also cultivated for its ovoid fruit. Native...