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hyacinth
hyacinth any plant of the genus Hyacinthus, bulbous herbs of the family Liliaceae ( lily family) native to the Mediterranean region and South Africa. The common, or Dutch, hyacinth of house and garden culture (derived from H. orientalis of the NE Mediterranean) became so popular in the 18th ce...
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Hyacinthe Rigaud
Hyacinthe Rigaud (Hyacinthe Rigaud y Ros) , 1659-1743, French portrait painter, b. Perpignan. From 1688 he became almost exclusively the official painter of the French court. His sitters included most of the royal family and distinguished visitors at Versailles. Much of his portrait style is based...
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bluebell
bluebell common name for several plants belonging to completely different classes, particularly the bellflower and the Virginia cowslip, or Virginia bluebell, of the family Boraginaceae ( borage family) and the wood hyacinth, a squill of the family Liliaceae ( lily family). Bluebells of the for...
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pickerelweed
pickerelweed common name for the Pontederiaceae, a family of chiefly tropical perennial aquatic herbs found in freshwater. The pickerelweeds (genus Pontederia ) range north into temperate regions, including most of the E United States and Canada. The water hyacinth ( Eichhornia crassipes ), a nati...
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bulb
bulb thickened, fleshy plant bud, usually formed under the surface of the soil, which carries the plant over from one blooming season to another. It may have many fleshy layers (as in the onion and hyacinth) or thin dry scales (as in some lilies)—both of which are highly modified leaves. Many...
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squill
squill common name for two genera of Old World bulbous plants of the family Liliaceae ( lily family). The horticulturists' squill is any plant of the genus Scilla, mostly spring-blooming low herbs with commonly deep blue but also white, rose, or purplish flowers borne along a leafless stem; the ...
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iris
iris common name for members of the genus Iris of the Iridaceae, a family of perennial herbs that includes the crocuses, freesias, and gladioli. The family is characterized by thickened stem organs (bulbs, corms, and rhizomes) and by linear or sword-shaped leaves—small and grasslike in the ...
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Lake Victoria
Lake Victoria or Victoria Nyanza , largest lake of Africa and the world's second largest freshwater lake, c.26,830 sq mi (69,490 sq km), E central Africa, on the Uganda-Tanzania-Kenya border. Lake Victoria (c.255 mi/410 km long and c.155 mi/250 km wide) occupies a shallow depression (c.250 ft/75...
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Carracci
Carracci , family of Italian painters of the Bolognese school, founders of an important academy of painting. Lodovico Carracci, 1555-1619, a pupil of Tintoretto in Venice, was influenced by Correggio and Titian. He also studied in Bologna, Padua, and Parma. With his cousins, Agostino and Annibale,...
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garnet
garnet name applied to a group of isomorphic minerals crystallizing in the cubic system. They are used chiefly as gems and as abrasives (as in garnet paper). The garnets are double silicates; one of the metallic elements is calcium, magnesium, ferrous iron, or manganese and the other aluminum, ferr...
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