Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) flowering almond, name for several species of ornamental shrubs of the genus Prunus, of the family Rosaceae (rose family), chiefly those which also include the true almond, peach, plum, cherry, and ap...

(Encyclopedia) Head, Bessie, 1937–86, South African writer. Born in South Africa to a white mother and black father, she was placed in foster homes and orphanages as a child. After 1964, she lived in exile in Bots...

(Encyclopedia) Kulmbach, town (1994 pop. 28,260), Bavaria, central Germany, on the White Main River. Known in 1035, Kulmbach became (1340) the residence of the margraves of Kulmbach (later known as the margraves of ...

(Encyclopedia) Smith, Hoke, 1855–1931, American political leader, b. Newton, N.C. A successful lawyer in Atlanta, he acquired the Atlanta Journal in 1887. He served (1893–96) in President Cleveland's cabinet as ...

(Encyclopedia) snakeroot, name for several plants, among them black snakeroot (see bugbane), button snakeroot or blazing star, senega snakeroot (see milkwort), and white snakeroot. ...

(Encyclopedia) Vaasa väˈsä [key], Swed. Vasa, city (1998 pop. 56,587), Western Finland prov., W Finland, on the Gulf of Bothnia. It is a port and agricultural market. Timber, iron, and steel are produced. Charter...

(Encyclopedia) scalawags skălˈəwăgz [key], derogatory term used in the South after the Civil War to describe native white Southerners who joined the Republican party and aided in carrying out the congressional R...

(Encyclopedia) Tassie, James, 1735–99, Scottish gem engraver and modeler. At first a stonemason, he went to Dublin, where he assisted the gem engraver Dr. Henry Quin. With him Tassie invented an especially hard an...

(Encyclopedia) tendon, tough cord composed of closely packed white fibers of connective tissue that serves to attach muscles to internal structures such as bones or other muscles. Sometimes when the muscle involved ...

(Encyclopedia) burnet, hardy perennial herb of the family Rosaceae (rose) found in temperate regions, usually with white or greenish flowers. The European species are sometimes cultivated for the leaves, which are u...