Tenshō Kōtai Jingū-kyō, (“Dancing Religion”), one of the “new religions” of Japan that have emerged in the post-World War II period. It was founded by Kitamura Sayo (1900–67), a peasant of Yamaguchi Prefecture, whose charismatic preaching took the form of rhythmic singing and dancing. She had a

odour, the property of certain substances, in very small concentrations, to stimulate chemical sense receptors that sample the air or water surrounding an animal. In insects and other invertebrates and in aquatic animals, the perception of small chemical concentrations often merges with perception

Richard Axel: …has only one type of odour receptor, which is specialized to recognize a limited number of odours. After odorant molecules bind to receptors, the receptor cells send electrical signals to the olfactory bulb in the brain. The brain combines information from several types of receptors in specific patterns, which are…

chemoreception: Movement toward an odour source: This mechanism is called odour-modulated anemotaxis. It is used by male moths to locate females, by moths flying to a flower odour to obtain nectar, and by cabbage root flies flying toward a cabbage plant to lay eggs.

Odoacer was the first barbarian king of Italy. The date on which he assumed power, 476, is traditionally considered the end of the Western Roman Empire. Odoacer was a German warrior, the son of Idico (Edeco) and probably a member of the Sciri tribe. About 470 he entered Italy with the Sciri; he

Odoacer was the first barbarian king of Italy. The date on which he assumed power, 476, is traditionally considered the end of the Western Roman Empire. Odoacer was a German warrior, the son of Idico (Edeco) and probably a member of the Sciri tribe. About 470 he entered Italy with the Sciri; he

Antarctica: The surrounding seas: …began in 1985 with the Ocean Drilling Program, using the new drilling vessel JOIDES Resolution to expand earlier Glomar Challenger studies. Studies in the Weddell Sea (1986–87) suggested that surface waters were warm during Late Cretaceous to early Cenozoic time and that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet did

Jan Kochanowski: …tragedy, Odprawa posłów greckich (1578; The Dismissal of the Grecian Envoys). With a plot from Homer’s Iliad and written in blank verse, it was performed at the royal court in Ujazdów near Warsaw in 1578 and was regarded as a political commentary on the contemporary situation in the country, which…

Odisha, state of India. Located in the northeastern part of the country, it is bounded by the states of Jharkhand and West Bengal to the north and northeast, by the Bay of Bengal to the east, and by the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to the south and Chhattisgarh to the west. Before India

Oder River, river of east-central Europe. It is one of the most significant rivers in the catchment basin of the Baltic Sea, second only to the Vistula in discharge and length. For the first 70 miles (112 kilometres) from its source, it passes through the Czech Republic. For a distance of 116 miles

Manuel A. Odría was the president of Peru from 1948 to 1956. Odría was born into a family that had a tradition of military service, which he extended by becoming a career army officer. He graduated from military school in 1919 and from the War College in 1930. Promoted to brigadier general in 1946,

Manuel A. Odría was the president of Peru from 1948 to 1956. Odría was born into a family that had a tradition of military service, which he extended by becoming a career army officer. He graduated from military school in 1919 and from the War College in 1930. Promoted to brigadier general in 1946,

Balkans: Illyrians and Thracians: …Thracian tribes together in the Odrysian kingdom, which fell under Macedonian influence in the 4th century bce. The Illyrians, ethnically akin to the Thracians, originally inhabited a large area from the Istrian peninsula to northern Greece and as far inland as the Morava River. During the 4th century bce they…

Václav Klaus: …1991, Klaus cofounded the centre-right Civic Democratic Party (CDP), serving as its leader until 2002. In 1992 Klaus became premier of the Czech Republic, then (with Slovakia) one of the two constituent republics of Czechoslovakia.

Daniel Oduber Quirós was the president of Costa Rica (1974–78), a member of the founding junta of its Second Republic (1948), and a founder of the National Liberation Party (PLN). Oduber worked his way through law school in San José and then opened a law firm there. Later he studied at McGill

Oyo empire: …great Yoruba ancestor and hero, Oduduwa, who likely migrated to Ile-Ife and whose son became the first alaafin (alafin), or ruler, of Oyo. Linguistic evidence suggests that two waves of immigrants came into Yorubaland between 700 and 1000, the second settling at Oyo in the open country north of the…

Yukaghir language, language spoken by not more than a few hundred persons in the Kolyma River region of Sakha (Yakutiya) republic of Russia. Yukaghir was traditionally grouped in the catchall category of Paleo-Siberian languages with a number of languages that are not genetically related or

Yukaghir, remnant of an ancient human population of the tundra and taiga zones of Arctic Siberia east of the Lena River in Russia, an area with one of the most severe climates in the inhabited world. Brought close to extinction by privation, encroachment, and diseases introduced by other groups,

Howard W. Odum was an American sociologist who was a specialist in the social problems of the southern United States and a pioneer of sociological education in the South. He worked to replace the Southern sectionalism with a sophisticated regional approach to social planning, race relations, and

Howard W. Odum was an American sociologist who was a specialist in the social problems of the southern United States and a pioneer of sociological education in the South. He worked to replace the Southern sectionalism with a sophisticated regional approach to social planning, race relations, and

Audrey Tautou: …Tautou appeared in L’Odyssée (The Odyssey), a biopic about Jacques Cousteau. Her later films included the family comedy Santa & Cie (2017; Christmas & Co.) and En liberte! (2018; The Trouble with You), in which she played the wife of a man wrongfully imprisoned. She played a free-spirited hairdresser…

Odysseus, hero of Homer’s epic poem the Odyssey and one of the most frequently portrayed figures in Western literature. According to Homer, Odysseus was king of Ithaca, son of Laertes and Anticleia (the daughter of Autolycus of Parnassus), and father, by his wife, Penelope, of Telemachus. (In later

Max Bruch: …Ellen (1867; Beautiful Ellen) and Odysseus (1872). These were favourites with German choral societies during the late 19th century. These works failed to remain in the concert repertoire, possibly because, despite his sound workmanship and effective choral writing, he lacked the depth of conception and originality needed to sustain large…

Tethys: …notable feature is the crater Odysseus, which measures 400 km (250 miles) across and has a large central peak. The density of impact craters on Tethys is high, suggesting that the surface is ancient. Nevertheless, the surface is very bright, particularly on Tethys’s leading face, and reflects nearly all incident…

Arnold Böcklin: Such spectral scenes as his Odysseus and Calypso (1883) and The Pest (1898) reveal the morbid symbolism that anticipated the so-called Freudian imagery of much 20th-century art.

lipogram: …certain letter (such as the Odyssey of Tryphiodorus, which had no alpha in the first book, no beta in the second, and so on). The French writer Georges Perec composed his novel La Disparition (1969; A Void) entirely without using the letter e; his English translator, Gilbert Adair, succeeded in…

Odyssey, epic poem in 24 books traditionally attributed to the ancient Greek poet Homer. The poem is the story of Odysseus, king of Ithaca, who wanders for 10 years (although the action of the poem covers only the final six weeks) trying to get home after the Trojan War. On his return, he is

Western painting: Pagan Roman paintings: Such are the Odyssey paintings found in a Roman house on the Esquiline (now in the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vatican City), which consist of a continuous flow of episodes that unfold, filmlike, beyond a colonnade of pilasters, with vertical, bird’s-eye-view perspective and human figures strictly subordinated to their…

Greek literature: Literature after 1922: …published his 33,333-line Odísia (1938; Odyssey), an epic poem taking up the story of Odysseus where Homer had left off. Pandelís Prevelákis published a number of philosophical novels set in his native Crete, the most successful being O ílios tou thanátou (1959; The Sun of Death), which shows a boy…

Harry Mark Petrakis: …Lion at My Heart (1959); The Odyssey of Kostas Volakis (1963); A Dream of Kings (1966) and its sequel, Ghost of the Sun (1990); The Hour of the Bell (1976) and its sequel, The Shepherds of Shadows (2008); Nick the Greek (1979); Days of Vengeance (1983); and The Orchards of…

Bernard Kops: …of Dominick Shapiro (1966), and The Odyssey of Samuel Glass (2012). He also wrote the autobiographies The World Is a Wedding (1963) and Shalom Bomb (2000) as well as several radio and television plays. Barricades in West Hampstead (1988) and Love, Death and Other Joys (2018) were among Kops’s many…

Audrey Tautou: …Tautou appeared in L’Odyssée (The Odyssey), a biopic about Jacques Cousteau. Her later films included the family comedy Santa & Cie (2017; Christmas & Co.) and En liberte! (2018; The Trouble with You), in which she played the wife of a man wrongfully imprisoned. She played a free-spirited hairdresser…

Lucius Livius Andronicus: His main work, the Odyssia, a translation of Homer’s Odyssey, was possibly done for use as a schoolbook. Written in rude Italian Saturnian metre, it had little poetic merit, to judge from the less than 50 surviving lines and from the comments of Cicero (Brutus) and Horace (Epistles); according…

Republic of the Congo: Plant and animal life: …plant and tree species, and Odzala-Kokoua, which is an important elephant and gorilla sanctuary.

Republic of the Congo: Plant and animal life: …plant and tree species, and Odzala-Kokoua, which is an important elephant and gorilla sanctuary.

Marīcī, in Mahāyāna Buddhist mythology, the goddess of the dawn. Marīcī (Sanskrit: “Ray of Light”) is usually shown riding on seven pigs and with three heads, one of which is that of a sow. In Tibet she is invoked at sunrise and, though not as popular a goddess as Tārā, has many shrines dedicated

Ōe Kenzaburō was a Japanese novelist whose works express the disillusionment and rebellion of his post-World War II generation. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1994. Ōe came from a family of wealthy landowners who lost most of their property with the occupation-imposed land reform

Tripoli, capital city of Libya. Situated in northwestern Libya along the Mediterranean coast, it is the country’s largest city and chief seaport. The city was known as Oea in ancient times and was one of the original cities (along with Sabratha and Leptis Magna) that formed the African Tripolis, or

stinkbug: The rice stinkbug (Oebalus pugneax) causes severe losses to the rice crop in North America.

Jean-François Oeben was an influential French cabinetmaker noted for his outstanding marquetry and for his ingenious mechanical devices. Oeben came to France at an unknown date and in 1751 entered the workshop of Charles-Joseph Boulle, a son of the famous cabinetmaker André-Charles Boulle, in the

cricket: Tree crickets (subfamily Oecanthinae) are white or green in colour and have transparent wings. Although tree crickets are beneficial to humans because they prey on aphids, the female injures twigs during egg placement. The song of most tree crickets is a long trill. The snowy…

cricket: The snowy tree cricket (Oecanthus fultoni) is popularly known as the thermometer cricket because the approximate temperature (Fahrenheit) can be estimated by counting the number of chirps in 15 seconds and adding 40. Tree- and bush-inhabiting crickets usually sing at night, whereas weed-inhabiting crickets sing both…

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, international organization founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade. Current members are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland,

Johann Oecolampadius was a German humanist, preacher, and patristic scholar who, as a close friend of the Swiss reformer Huldrych Zwingli, led the Reformation in Basel. A student at Heidelberg, Oecolampadius left in 1506 to become tutor to the sons of the Palatinate’s elector and in 1510 became

Johann Oecolampadius was a German humanist, preacher, and patristic scholar who, as a close friend of the Swiss reformer Huldrych Zwingli, led the Reformation in Basel. A student at Heidelberg, Oecolampadius left in 1506 to become tutor to the sons of the Palatinate’s elector and in 1510 became

Johannes Eugenius Bülow Warming: …to plant ecology, Plantesamfund (1895; Oecology of Plants). The book was an attempt to group and characterize plant communities (by which Warming meant a group of species growing in the same locality) that are subject to the same external conditions arising from the interaction of ecological factors.

rice rat: …to as rice rats, including arboreal rice rats (Oecomys), dark rice rats (Melanomys), small rice rats (Microryzomys), and pygmy rice rats (Oligoryzomys), among others. All belong to the subfamily Sigmodontinae of the “true” mouse and rat family Muridae within the order Rodentia.

Emanuel Swedenborg: Swedenborg’s philosophy of nature: …called Oeconomia Regni Animalis (1740–41; The Economy of the Animal Kingdom), and in November 1740 he was back in Stockholm.

Xenophon: Socratic works: In Oeconomicus Socrates discusses agriculture and household management. Leadership (“a harder skill than agriculture”) is often the real subject. The most famous section is an account of how the rich Ischomachus trains his ingenuous young wife for an important role in running their home. That there…

Sebastian Hofmeister was a Swiss religious Reformer who was a prominent figure in the debates of the early Reformation. Hofmeister entered the Franciscan order at Schaffhausen, and he then studied for several years in Paris, where he received a doctorate in theology (1519). In 1520 he was sent as a

lepidopteran: Annotated classification: Family Oecophoridae (oecophorid moths) More than 3,100 small species worldwide; adults tend to be flat-bodied and somewhat broader-winged than related groups; related families: Elachistidae, Xylorictidae. Superfamily Papilionoidea (butterflies) 14,000 species, all families worldwide; adults with clubbed but

lepidopteran: Annotated classification: Family Oecophoridae (oecophorid moths) More than 3,100 small species worldwide; adults tend to be flat-bodied and somewhat broader-winged than related groups; related families: Elachistidae, Xylorictidae. Superfamily Papilionoidea (butterflies) 14,000 species, all families worldwide; adults with clubbed but

Rudolf Kjellén: …arise from its geographic features; oecopolitik, the economic factors that affect the power of the state; and demopolitik, the nation’s racial elements and the problems that they create. Late in his life he analyzed the different kinds of national constitutions. Kjellén served several terms as a conservative member of the…

Antigua and Barbuda: History of Antigua and Barbuda: …Commonwealth membership and joined the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States. Bird’s Antigua Labour Party (ALP) won again in 1984 and 1989 by overwhelming margins, giving the prime minister firm control of the islands’ government.

The Oxford English Dictionary, definitive historical dictionary of the English language, originally consisting of 12 volumes and a 1-volume supplement. The dictionary is a corrected and updated revision of A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (NED), which was published in 10 volumes

The Oxford English Dictionary, definitive historical dictionary of the English language, originally consisting of 12 volumes and a 1-volume supplement. The dictionary is a corrected and updated revision of A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (NED), which was published in 10 volumes

edema, in medicine, an abnormal accumulation of watery fluid in the intercellular spaces of connective tissue. Edematous tissues are swollen and, when punctured, secrete a thin incoagulable fluid. This fluid is essentially an ultrafiltrate of serum but also contains small amounts of protein. Minor

oedemerid beetle, (family Oedemeridae), any of approximately 1,500 species of beetles (insect order Coleoptera) that are slender, soft-bodied, and usually pale with blue, yellow, orange, or red markings. They range from 5 to 20 mm (up to 45 inch) in length and have long antennae. The adults are

oedemerid beetle, (family Oedemeridae), any of approximately 1,500 species of beetles (insect order Coleoptera) that are slender, soft-bodied, and usually pale with blue, yellow, orange, or red markings. They range from 5 to 20 mm (up to 45 inch) in length and have long antennae. The adults are

Oedipus complex: He said the stage usually ended when the child identified with the parent of the same sex and repressed its sexual instincts. If previous relationships with the parents were relatively loving and nontraumatic, and if parental attitudes were neither excessively prohibitive nor excessively stimulating, the stage is passed…

Voltaire: Heritage and youth: …1718, after the success of Oedipe, the first of his tragedies, he was acclaimed as the successor of the great classical dramatist Jean Racine and thenceforward adopted the name of Voltaire. The origin of this pen name remains doubtful. It is not certain that it is the anagram of Arouet…

Antonio Sacchini: …have his new French opera Oedipe à Colone (“Oedipus at Colonus”) performed in 1785; the work was ultimately given a posthumous production in February 1787.

Henry Bauchau: Œdipe sur la route (1990; Oedipus on the Road) is a post-Freudian version of the Greek tragic hero’s transformation in the 20 years that elapse between Sophocles’ accounts of events at Thebes and Colonus. Diotime et les lions (1991; “Diotima and the Lions”) and Antigone…

Caudata: Locomotion: Batrachoseps, Oedipina, and Lineatriton have reduced limbs and rely mainly on body movements for rapid locomotion. Species of the genus Aneides have arboreal (tree-dwelling) tendencies, and their long legs and digits, expanded toe tips, and prehensile (grasping) tails make them effective climbers. Some salamanders of the…

short-horned grasshopper: The band-winged grasshoppers, subfamily Oedipodinae, produce a crackling noise during flight. When they are not in flight, their conspicuous, brightly coloured hind wings are covered by their forewings, which blend into surrounding vegetation. The band-winged grasshoppers are the only type of short-horned grasshoppers that can produce…

Oedipus, in Greek mythology, the king of Thebes who unwittingly killed his father and married his mother. Homer related that Oedipus’s wife and mother hanged herself when the truth of their relationship became known, though Oedipus apparently continued to rule at Thebes until his death. In the

John Dryden: Writing for the stage: Dryden offered his tragedy Oedipus, a collaboration with Nathaniel Lee, to a rival theatre company and ceased to be a Killigrew shareholder.

Sophocles: Oedipus at Colonus: In Oedipus at Colonus (Greek: Oidipous epi Kolōnō) the old, blind Oedipus has spent many years wandering in exile after being rejected by his sons and the city of Thebes. Oedipus has been cared for only by his daughters Antigone and Ismene.…

Oedipus complex, in psychoanalytic theory, a desire for sexual involvement with the parent of the opposite sex and a concomitant sense of rivalry with the parent of the same sex; a crucial stage in the normal developmental process. Sigmund Freud introduced the concept in his Interpretation of

Max Ernst: Oedipus II (1934), for example, was cast from a stack of precariously balanced wooden pails to form a belligerent-looking phallic image.

Henry Bauchau: Œdipe sur la route (1990; Oedipus on the Road) is a post-Freudian version of the Greek tragic hero’s transformation in the 20 years that elapse between Sophocles’ accounts of events at Thebes and Colonus. Diotime et les lions (1991; “Diotima and the Lions”) and Antigone…

Oedipus Rex, play by Sophocles, performed sometime between 430 and 426 bce, that marks the summit of classical Greek drama’s formal achievement, known for its tight construction, mounting tension, and perfect use of the dramatic devices of recognition and discovery. It examines the story of

oratorio: Oratorio after 1750: Igor Stravinsky’s opera-oratorio Oedipus Rex (1927), with a Latin text, was most successful in the opera house. The Swiss Frank Martin was one of the most active oratorio composers in the mid-20th century. A number of large-scale works, generally secular in content, have come out of the Soviet…

Oedipus Rex, play by Sophocles, performed sometime between 430 and 426 bce, that marks the summit of classical Greek drama’s formal achievement, known for its tight construction, mounting tension, and perfect use of the dramatic devices of recognition and discovery. It examines the story of

Percy Bysshe Shelley: Late that year, Oedipus Tyrannus; or, Swellfoot the Tyrant, his satirical drama on the trial for adultery of Caroline (estranged wife of King George IV), appeared anonymously but was quickly suppressed. In 1821, however, Shelley reasserted his uncompromising idealism. Epipsychidion (in couplets) mythologizes his infatuation with Teresa (“Emilia”)…

Woody Allen: The 1980s: …triptych New York Stories (1989)—“Oedipus Wrecks,” about an attorney whose nagging mother (Mae Questel) transmogrifies into an omniscient spectre—was widely acknowledged to be the film’s strongest segment. Allen’s next project, Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989), ranks among his finest films. An ambitious Fyodor Dostoyevsky-like meditation on the nature of evil…

Oedogonium, genus of filamentous green algae (family Oedogoniaceae), commonly found in quiet bodies of fresh water. They often are attached to other plants or exist as a free-floating mass. Oedogonium filaments are typically unbranched and only one cell thick. Each cylindrical cell of the filament,

Organisation for European Economic Co-operation, organization set up by a convention signed in Paris in April 1948 to coordinate efforts to restore Europe’s economy under the European Recovery Program (Marshall Plan). Among its many functions, the OEEC helped abolish quantitative trade restrictions

cephalopod: Annotated classification: Suborder Oegopsida Eye open to water, completely surrounded by free eyelid; open-ocean animals living from the surface down to at least 3,000 m. Order Vampyromorpha Purplish-black gelatinous animals with 1 or 2 pairs of paddle-shaped fins at various stages of growth; 8 arms and 2 small…

Cape Coast, town in the center of the seaboard of Ghana. It lies on a low promontory jutting into the Gulf of Guinea of the Atlantic Ocean about 75 miles (120 km) southwest of the Ghanaian capital of Accra. In the 15th century the Portuguese established a post on the site, and in the 16th century

Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger was a poet and dramatist who was a leader of the Romantic movement in Denmark and traditionally has been considered the great Danish national poet. Oehlenschläger’s father was organist and then steward at Frederiksberg castle near Copenhagen. In his youth Oehlenschläger

oeil-de-boeuf window, in architecture, a small circular or oval window, usually resembling a wheel, with glazing bars (bars framing the panes of glass) as spokes radiating outward from an empty hub, or circular centre. In French, oeil-de-boeuf means “eye of the steer,” and, in the French chateau of

Marquis de Pombal was a Portuguese reformer and virtual ruler of his country from 1750 to 1777. Sebastião was the son of Manuel de Carvalho e Ataíde, a former cavalry captain and former nobleman of the royal house. The elder Carvalho died relatively young, and Sebastião’s mother remarried.

Michael Strange was an American writer and performer who produced poetry and plays, acted onstage, and did readings for radio. Oelrichs was of a well-to-do and socially prominent family. She was the reigning debutante of Newport society until her marriage in 1910 to Leonard M. Thomas, a rising

wheatear, (genus Oenanthe), any of a group of approximately 20 species of thrushes belonging to the family Muscicapidae. (Some classifications place these birds in family Turdidae.) They resemble wagtails in having pied plumage and the tail-wagging habit (with body bobbing). Wheatears are about 15

wheatear: The common wheatear (O. oenanthe) breeds also in Alaska, Iceland, Greenland, and northeastern Canada.

Oeneus, in Greek legend, king of Calydon in Aetolia, husband of Althaea, and father of Meleager, Deianeira, and Gorge. (In some accounts Ares is the father of Meleager and Dionysus is the father of Deianeira.) Because, according to Homer’s Iliad, Book IX, Oeneus neglected to sacrifice the first

Celtic religion: The Celtic gods: Maponos (“Divine Son” or “Divine Youth”) is attested in Gaul but occurs mainly in northern Britain. He appears in medieval Welsh literature as Mabon, son of Modron (that is, of Matrona, “Divine Mother”), and he evidently figured in a myth of the infant god carried…

Saint Oengus ; feast day March 11) was a monk who was the author of the Félire, the first known Irish martyrology and calendar. He was associated with a movement that aimed at the reform of Irish monasticism. The reformed monks called themselves Culdees—i.e., Companions of God. What little is known

Saint Oengus ; feast day March 11) was a monk who was the author of the Félire, the first known Irish martyrology and calendar. He was associated with a movement that aimed at the reform of Irish monasticism. The reformed monks called themselves Culdees—i.e., Companions of God. What little is known

Anius: Anius’s three daughters, Oeno, Spermo, and Elais—that is, Wine, Grain Seed, and Oil—were granted by Dionysus the gift of bringing these three crops to fruition. In Ovid’s Metamorphoses the Greek army tries to force Anius’s daughters to come to Troy, whereupon Dionysus turns them into doves, the sacred…

palm: Economic importance: …Jessenia and the closely related Oenocarpus is reported to have a protein content similar to that of meat. Large-scale production of such genera has been advocated.

oinochoe, wine jug from the classical period of Greek pottery. A graceful vessel with delicately curved handle and trefoil-shaped mouth, the oinochoe was revived during the Renaissance and again during the Neoclassical period of the 18th

Pelops: …of Hippodamia, daughter of King Oenomaus of Pisa in Elis. Oenomaus, who had an incestuous love for his daughter, had previously killed 13 suitors. He challenged Pelops to a chariot chase, with Hippodamia the prize of victory and death the price of defeat. Though Oenomaus’ team and chariot were the…

Oenone, in Greek mythology, a fountain nymph of Mount Ida, the daughter of the River Cebren, and the beloved of Paris, a son of King Priam of Troy. Oenone and Paris had a son, Corythus, but Paris deserted her for Helen. Bitterly jealous, Oenone refused to aid the wounded Paris during the Trojan

Earth sciences: The origin of the Nile: Oenopides of Chios (flourished c. 475 bce) thought that heat stored in the ground during the winter dries up the underground veins of water so that the river shrinks. In the summer the heat disappears, and water flows up into the river, causing floods. In…

evening primrose, any of various species of herbaceous plants of the genus Oenothera, of the family Onagraceae, noted for their showy flowers. The name is especially applied to O. biennis (see photograph), which occurs widely throughout North America and has been introduced into Europe. The true

evening primrose: …herbaceous plants of the genus Oenothera, of the family Onagraceae, noted for their showy flowers. The name is especially applied to O. biennis (see photograph), which occurs widely throughout North America and has been introduced into Europe. The true primrose belongs to the family Primulaceae.

nectar: At least one plant species, Oenothera drummondii, can increase the sugar content of its nectar within three minutes of the flower being vibrated by buzzing bees.

Hugo de Vries: …of the evening primrose (Oenothera lamarckiana) that differed markedly from the cultivated species. This suggested to de Vries that evolution might be studied by a new, experimental method rather than by the old method of observation and inference. He discovered in his cultivation of the evening primrose new forms…