Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) hyssop hĭsˈəp [key], aromatic, perennial, somewhat woody herb (Hyssopus officinalis) of the family Labiatae (mint family), native to the Old World but partially naturalized in North America. The pl...

(Encyclopedia) Fens, the, district, E England, a flat lowland, W and S of The Wash. Extending c.70 mi (110 km) from north to south and c.35 mi (60 km) from east to west, it is traversed by numerous streams. The area...

(Encyclopedia) Henderson, Richard, 1735–85, American colonizer in Kentucky, b. Hanover co., Va. An associate justice of the North Carolina superior court (1769–73), Henderson was long interested in Western lands...

(Encyclopedia) Khabarovsk Territory, administrative division (1989 est. pop. 1,800,000), 305,000 sq mi (789,950 sq km), Russian Far East. Situated in the eastern and northeastern extremity of Siberia, the territory ...

(Encyclopedia) bellflower or bluebell, name commonly used as a comprehensive term for members of the Campanulaceae, a family of chiefly herbaceous annuals or perennials of wide distribution, characteristically found...

(Encyclopedia) Spokan or Spokane both: spōkănˈ [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Salishan branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). In the early...

(Encyclopedia) Fraser, Simon, 1776–1862, Canadian explorer and fur trader. Born in Bennington, Vt., he was taken to Canada as a child. He entered the service of the North West Company in 1792, and in 1801 he was m...

(Encyclopedia) Meuse myo͞oz, Fr. möz [key], Du. Maas, river, c.560 mi (900 km) long, rising in the Langres Plateau, NE France and flowing N past Sedan (the head of navigation) and Charleville-Mézières into S Bel...

(Encyclopedia) marmot, ground-living rodent of the genus Marmota, of the squirrel family, closely related to the ground squirrel, prairie dog, and chipmunk. Marmots are found in Eurasia and North America; the best-k...

(Encyclopedia) bramble, name for plants of the genus Rubus [Lat.,=red, for the color of the juice]. This complex genus of the family Rosaceae (rose family), with representatives in many parts of the world, includes ...