Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) hawkweed, any species of the genus Hieracium of the family Asteraceae (aster family), widely distributed perennials, chiefly of open fields. The small, dandelionlike flower heads are borne in clusters...

(Encyclopedia) King's Lynn, town (1991 pop. 37,323), Norfolk, E England, on the Great Ouse River near its influx into The Wash, an inlet of the North Sea. Its large harbor serves foreign as well as coastal trade and...

(Encyclopedia) Sikorski, Władysław vlädĭˈswäf shēkôrˈskē [key], 1881–1943, Polish general and politician. He fought in World War I and later (1922–25) held various cabinet posts. Premier Piłsudski dis...

(Encyclopedia) snipe, common name for a shore bird of the family Scolopacidae (sandpiper family), native to the Old and New Worlds. The common, or Wilson's snipe (Capella gallinago), also called jacksnipe, is a game...

(Encyclopedia) benzoin bĕnzoinˈəm [key], balsamic resin, the dried exudation from the pierced bark of various species of the benzoin tree (Styrax) native to Sumatra, Java, and Thailand; appearing as red-brown to ...

(Encyclopedia) Yastrzemski, Carl Michael, 1939–, American baseball player, b. Southampton, N.Y. A career-long member of the Boston Red Sox, “Yaz” was signed in 1959, brought up to the majors in 1961 (replacing...

(Encyclopedia) Zao Wou-Ki or Chao Wu-chi, 1920–2013, Chinese-French painter who combined a traditional Asian sensibility with Western abstraction. He studied ink painting and calligraphy as well as Western art tec...

(Encyclopedia) Zinsser, Hans zĭnsˈər [key], 1878–1940, American bacteriologist, b. New York City, grad. Columbia (B.A., 1899; M.D., 1903). He was professor of bacteriology at Stanford (1911–13), Columbia (191...

(Encyclopedia) Swammerdam, Jan yän väˈmərdäm [key], 1637–80, Dutch naturalist. He was a pioneer in the use of the microscope. Before he turned to religious contemplation his chief interest was the study of in...

(Encyclopedia) Aden, Gulf of äˈdən, āˈ– [key], western arm of the Arabian Sea, 550 mi (885 km) long, lying between Yemen and Somalia; connected with the Red Sea by the Bab el Mandeb. The gulf is on the great ...