Ursa Major, in astronomy, a constellation of the northern sky, at about 10 hours 40 minutes right ascension and 56° north declination. It was referred to in the Old Testament (Job 9:9; 38:32) and mentioned by Homer in the Iliad (xviii, 487). The Greeks identified this constellation with the nymph

bivalve: Food and feeding: …bivalve ctenidium into a septum—the “septibranch” ctenidium—that creates pressure changes within the mantle cavity and produces sudden inrushes of water, carrying prey into a funnellike inhalant siphon (Cuspidaria). Food is then pushed into the mouth by the palps and foot. Others evert the inhalant siphon, like a hood, over the…

bivalve: Critical appraisal: …into their own order, the Septibranchoida.

septic arthritis, acute inflammation of one or more joints caused by infection. In septic arthritis the joints are swollen, hot, sore, and pus-filled; the condition may occur following infection by such bacteria as Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Pneumococcus, Gonococcus, or Meningococcus. Pus

septic shock, severe and potentially life-threatening condition characterized particularly by dangerously low blood pressure, confusion and disorientation, and organ dysfunction. Septic shock is the third and final stage of sepsis—a systemic inflammatory condition that occurs as a complication of

septic tank, sewage treatment and disposal unit used principally for single residences not connected to municipal sewerage systems. It consists ordinarily of either a single- or double-compartment concrete or fibreglass tank buried in the ground. Solids settle to the bottom of the tank and are

septicemia, infection resulting from the presence of bacteria in the blood (bacteremia). The onset of septicemia is signaled by a high fever, chills, weakness, and excessive sweating, followed by a decrease in blood pressure. The typical microorganisms that produce septicemia, usually gram-negative

plague: Nature of the disease: forms: bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic. Bubonic plague is the best-known form in popular lore, and indeed it constitutes about three-fourths of plague cases. It is also the least dangerous form of plague, accounting today for virtually no deaths and in the past killing only half of its victims (at…

Simancas, town, Valladolid provincia (province), in the Castile-León comunidad autónoma (autonomous community), north-central Spain. It lies on the right bank of the Pisuerga River, just southwest of Valladolid city. The town originated as the Roman Septimanca, and its most important landmark is a

Septimania, ancient territory in what is now southwestern France, between the Garonne and Rhône rivers and between the mountains of the Pyrenees and the Cévennes. During the reign of the Roman emperor Augustus, it was settled by a colony of veterans of the Seventh Legion (Septimani); hence probably

Septimania, ancient territory in what is now southwestern France, between the Garonne and Rhône rivers and between the mountains of the Pyrenees and the Cévennes. During the reign of the Roman emperor Augustus, it was settled by a colony of veterans of the Seventh Legion (Septimani); hence probably

Zenobia was the queen of the Roman colony of Palmyra, in present-day Syria, from 267 or 268 to 272. She conquered several of Rome’s eastern provinces before she was subjugated by the emperor Aurelian (ruled 270–275). Zenobia’s husband, Odaenathus, Rome’s client ruler of Palmyra, had by 267

Septimius Severus was a Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He founded a personal dynasty and converted the government into a military monarchy. His reign marks a critical stage in the development of the absolute despotism that characterized the later Roman Empire. The son of an equestrian from the

Caracalla was a Roman emperor, ruling jointly with his father, Septimius Severus, from 198 to 211 and then alone from 211 until his assassination in 217. His principal achievements were his colossal baths in Rome and his edict of 212, giving Roman citizenship to all free inhabitants of the empire.

Jean-Baptiste Greuze: …large, rather dreary historical painting, Septimius Severus Reproaching Caracalla, which he hoped would gain him admission to the academy as a history painter. But the academy would admit him to membership only as a genre painter, and so the resentful artist exhibited his works to the public only in his…

Western architecture: Stylistic development: In the arches of Septimius Severus (c. 200 ce), for instance, light and shadow—not the masses of the forms of the motifs—formed the design. Especially in Africa, illogical composition of the elements of entablatures robbed them of structural significance. In the Palace of Diocletian (c. 300 ce), extensive use…

cytoskeleton: Examples include septins, which can assemble into filaments and form attachment sites for certain types of proteins, and spectrin, which assembles along the intracellular surface of the cell membrane and helps maintain cell structure.

Ioánnis Antónios, Komis Kapodístrias: …and organized them into the Septinsular Republic. Kapodístrias participated in writing the new state’s second constitution (adopted 1803) and became its secretary of state (1803). France regained control of the islands (1807), however, and Kapodístrias entered the Russian foreign service (1809). He became an expert on Balkan affairs, which earned…

fungus: Annotated classification: Order Septobasidiales Parasitic on plants, some members parasitic on or symbiotic with scale insects (order Homoptera); basidiospores germinate on insects, with haustoria coiled inside insect; example genera include Septobasidium and Auriculoscypha. Order Pachnocybales Parasitic on plants; uninucleate basidiospores;

fungus: Parasitism in plants and insects: For example, the fungal genus Septobasidium is parasitic on scale insects (order Homoptera) that feed on trees. The mycelium forms elaborate structures over colonies of insects feeding on the bark. Each insect sinks its proboscis (tubular sucking organ) into the bark and remains there the rest of its life, sucking…

Septuagint, the earliest extant Greek translation of the Old Testament from the original Hebrew. The Septuagint was presumably made for the Jewish community in Egypt when Greek was the common language throughout the region. Analysis of the language has established that the Torah, or Pentateuch (the

aggressive behaviour: Neuroendocrine influences: …of the limbic system—specifically the septum, which lies above the hypothalamus and has an inhibitory effect on aggression, and the amygdala, found deep in the temporal lobes and having the opposite effect.

human eye: The fibrous layer: …two together are called the septum orbitale. When the lids are closed, the whole opening of the orbit is covered by this septum. Two ligaments, the medial and lateral palpebral ligaments, attached to the orbit and to the septum orbitale, stabilize the position of the lids in relation to the…

Church of the Holy Sepulchre, church built on the traditional site of Jesus’ Crucifixion and burial. According to the Bible (John 19:41–42), his tomb was close to the place of the Crucifixion, and so the church was planned to enclose the site of both the cross and the tomb. The Church of the Holy

Castel Sant’Angelo, structure in Rome, Italy, that was originally the mausoleum of the Roman emperor Hadrian and became the burial place of the Antonine emperors until Caracalla. It was built in ad 135–139 and converted into a fortress in the 5th century. It stands on the right bank of the Tiber

New Zealand: The Chris Hipkins government (2023– ): At the same time, Carmel Sepuloni was sworn in as deputy prime minister. She became the first person of Pacific Island heritage to take that role.

Bartolomé de Las Casas: Adviser to Charles V: …direct confrontation with the learned Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, an increasingly important figure at court by reason of his Democrates segundo; o, de las justas causas de la guerra contra los indios (“Concerning the Just Cause of the War Against the Indians”), in which he maintained, theoretically in accordance with…

Seqenenre was a king of ancient Egypt whose reign (c. 1545 bce) was contemporaneous with the last portion of the Hyksos dynasty, the west-Semitic conquerors who ruled much of Egypt in the 17th century bce (see ancient Egypt: The Second Intermediate period). As shown by a literary tale of later

Seqenenre was a king of ancient Egypt whose reign (c. 1545 bce) was contemporaneous with the last portion of the Hyksos dynasty, the west-Semitic conquerors who ruled much of Egypt in the 17th century bce (see ancient Egypt: The Second Intermediate period). As shown by a literary tale of later

Sequani, Celtic people in Gaul, who in the 1st century bc occupied the territory between the Saône, Rhône, and Rhine rivers, with their chief city at Vesontio (modern Besançon). Quarrels with the Aedui (q.v.) led them to call in the German Ariovistus, who defeated the Aedui but occupied Sequanian

Sequatchie River, river that rises in the Crab Orchard Mountains in east-central Tennessee, U.S., and flows approximately 80 miles (130 km) southwest to join the Tennessee River near Jasper, near the state’s southern border. Its valley divides Walden Ridge from the southern part of the Cumberland

Walt Whitman: Civil War years: The Sequel to Drum-Taps, published in the autumn of 1865, contained “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d,” his great elegy on Pres. Abraham Lincoln. Whitman’s horror at the death of democracy’s first “great martyr chief ” was matched by his revulsion from the barbarities of…

sequence, in music, a melodic or chordal figure repeated at a new pitch level (that is, transposed), thus unifying and developing musical material. The word sequence has two principal uses: the medieval sequence in the liturgy of the Latin mass and the harmonic sequence in tonal music. In medieval

epeirogeny: …North America have been called sequences and have been given formal names. The most widely recognized of these are the Sauk Sequence (Late Precambrian to mid-Ordovician; about 650 to 460 million years ago), the Tippecanoe Sequence (mid-Ordovician to Early Devonian; about 460 to 400 million years ago), the Kaskaskia Sequence…

sequence: …two principal uses: the medieval sequence in the liturgy of the Latin mass and the harmonic sequence in tonal music.

analysis: The limit of a sequence: …of the limit of a sequence was obtained.

computer programming language: Control structures: Sequence is the default control structure; instructions are executed one after another. They might, for example, carry out a series of arithmetic operations, assigning results to variables, to find the roots of a quadratic equation ax2 + bx + c = 0. The conditional IF-THEN…

dating: Determination of sequence: Relative geologic ages can be deduced in rock sequences consisting of sedimentary, metamorphic, or igneous rock units. In fact, they constitute an essential part in any precise isotopic, or absolute, dating program. Such is the case because most rocks simply cannot be isotopically dated.…

typology: A seriation technique, called sequence dating, based on shared typological features, enabled Sir Flinders Petrie to establish the temporal order of a large number of Egyptian graves.

1000 Genomes Project: …developed technologies capable of deep-coverage sequencing, in which DNA segments were read rapidly multiple times to ensure that the determined order of bases was accurate. The two projects based on deep coverage, which enhanced the ability to detect low-frequency mutations, involved genome sequencing of a small number of trios (a…

dating: Determination of sequence: Relative geologic ages can be deduced in rock sequences consisting of sedimentary, metamorphic, or igneous rock units. In fact, they constitute an essential part in any precise isotopic, or absolute, dating program. Such is the case because most rocks simply cannot be isotopically dated.…

1000 Genomes Project: …developed technologies capable of deep-coverage sequencing, in which DNA segments were read rapidly multiple times to ensure that the determined order of bases was accurate. The two projects based on deep coverage, which enhanced the ability to detect low-frequency mutations, involved genome sequencing of a small number of trios (a…

historical geography: …through the valuable studies in sequent occupance—i.e., the study of the human occupation of a specific region over intervals of historic time—initiated by Derwent S. Whittlesey and Carl O. Sauer. The establishment of the Journal of Historical Geography (1975) and historical-geography research groups by the Institute of British Geographers (1973)…

graphic novel: The academic study of comics: …Will Eisner used the term sequential art to describe the medium in his influential book Comics and Sequential Art, and in 1993 critic Scott McCloud offered this definition in his book Understanding Comics: comics are “juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or produce an…

materials science: Radioactive waste: …plan is to interpose three barriers between the waste and human beings by first encapsulating it in a solid material, putting that in a metal container, and finally burying that container in geologically stable formations. The first step requires an inert, stable material that will hold the radioactive atoms trapped…

steel: Casting procedures: In sequential casting, on the other hand, the yield from liquid steel to acceptable strand approaches 100 percent, compared with perhaps 93 percent when turning the caster around after each ladle or to 86 percent in an ingot-casting operation that uses a blooming or slabbing mill…

statistics: Decision analysis: …can be extremely helpful in sequential decision-making situations—that is, situations in which a decision is made, an event occurs, another decision is made, another event occurs, and so on. For instance, a company trying to decide whether or not to market a new product might first decide to test the…

sequential estimation, in statistics, a method of estimating a parameter by analyzing a sample just large enough to ensure a previously chosen degree of precision. The fundamental technique is to take a sequence of samples, the outcome of each sampling determining the need for another sampling. The

computer science: Information management: Sequential files are generally stored in some sorted order (e.g., alphabetic) for printing of reports (e.g., a telephone directory) and for efficient processing of batches of transactions. Banking transactions (deposits and withdrawals), for instance, might be sorted in the same order as the accounts file,…

oyster: …edulis exhibits a phenomenon called sequential hermaphroditism, in which an individual alternates sexes seasonally or with changes in water temperature. Oysters breed in the summer. The eggs of some species are released into the water before fertilization by the sperm; the eggs of others are fertilized within the female. The…

automata theory: Finite transducers: The most important transducers are the finite transducers, or sequential machines, which may be characterized as one-way Turing machines with output. They are the weakest with respect to computing power, while the universal machine is the most powerful. There are also transducers of…

computer science: Information management: Many file systems are sequential, meaning that successive records are processed in the order in which they are stored, starting from the beginning and proceeding to the end. This file structure was particularly popular in the early days of computing, when files were stored on reels of magnetic tape…

information processing: Recording media: …of its location, while in serial-access media the access time depends on the data’s location and the position of the read-write head. The typical serial-access medium is magnetic tape. The storage density of magnetic tape has increased considerably over the years, mainly by increases in the number of tracks packed…

Luciano Berio: His Sequenza series (1958–2002) includes solo pieces for flute, harp, female voice (Sequenza III [1966] was written for performance by his former wife, soprano Cathy Berberian), piano, and violin that incorporate aleatory elements. Other compositions include Laborintus II (1965) and Sinfonia

food additive: Processing agents: Chelating, or sequestering, agents protect food products from many enzymatic reactions that promote deterioration during processing and storage. These agents bind to many of the minerals that are present in food (e.g., calcium and magnesium) and are required as cofactors for the activity of certain…

sequestration, in its broadest legal sense, the removal of property from a person in possession of the property. In international law, sequestration denotes the seizure of property of an individual by a government, which uses it to its own benefit. A judicial sequestration involves a court decree

Barack Obama: The 2012 election: …nonmilitary programs required by the Budget Control Act of 2011, which came to be known as sequestration. Although the president and the speaker of the House were unable to reach a workable compromise, Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell cobbled together a last-minute agreement that passed the Senate 89–8…

Spain: Opposition movements, 1898–1923: Although CNT leaders Salvador Seguí and Angel Pestaña shared the anarchist contempt for political action, they wished to build unions powerful enough to challenge the employers by direct action. They mistrusted the libertarian tradition of spontaneous revolution as a means of toppling the bourgeois state. The great Barcelona…

Sequoia, genus of conifers of the bald cypress family (Taxodiaceae), comprising one species, Sequoia sempervirens (redwood). The big tree, or giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum), historically was included in this genus. The redwood is native in the fog belt of the Coast Ranges from southern

Sequoyah was the creator of the Cherokee writing system (see Cherokee language). Sequoyah was probably the son of a Virginia fur trader named Nathaniel Gist. Reared by his Cherokee mother, Wuh-teh of the Paint clan, in the Tennessee country, he never learned to speak, read, or write English. He was

giant sequoia, (Sequoiadendron giganteum), coniferous evergreen tree of the cypress family (Cupressaceae), the largest of all trees in bulk and the most massive non-clonal organism by volume. The giant sequoia is the only species of the genus Sequoiadendron and is distinct from the coast redwoods

Sequoia National Forest and Giant Sequoia National Monument, large natural region of mountains and forestland in east-central California, U.S. The area is noted for its more than three dozen groves of big trees, or giant sequoias (Sequoiadendron giganteum), for which the national forest and the

Sequoia National Park, forested area of 629 square miles (1,629 square km) in the Sierra Nevada, east-central California, U.S. Adjoining it to the north and northwest is Kings Canyon National Park, and on the eastern boundary is Mount Whitney (14,494 feet [4,418 metres]), the highest mountain in

coast redwood, (Sequoia sempervirens), coniferous evergreen timber tree of the cypress family (Cupressaceae), the tallest of all living trees. They are endemic to the fog belt of the coastal range from southwestern Oregon to central California, U.S., at elevations up to 1,000 metres (3,300 feet)

forestry: Occurrence and distribution: and giant sequoias (Sequoia and Sequoiadendron). Certain southern pines such as the California Monterey pine (Pinus radiata) grow poorly in their native habitat but exceptionally fast when planted in subtropical Europe, Africa, New Zealand, and Australia.

giant sequoia, (Sequoiadendron giganteum), coniferous evergreen tree of the cypress family (Cupressaceae), the largest of all trees in bulk and the most massive non-clonal organism by volume. The giant sequoia is the only species of the genus Sequoiadendron and is distinct from the coast redwoods

Sequoyah was the creator of the Cherokee writing system (see Cherokee language). Sequoyah was probably the son of a Virginia fur trader named Nathaniel Gist. Reared by his Cherokee mother, Wuh-teh of the Paint clan, in the Tennessee country, he never learned to speak, read, or write English. He was

Sequoyah was the creator of the Cherokee writing system (see Cherokee language). Sequoyah was probably the son of a Virginia fur trader named Nathaniel Gist. Reared by his Cherokee mother, Wuh-teh of the Paint clan, in the Tennessee country, he never learned to speak, read, or write English. He was

smooth endoplasmic reticulum (SER), meshwork of fine disklike tubular membrane vesicles, part of a continuous membrane organelle within the cytoplasm of eukaryotic cells, that is involved in the synthesis and storage of lipids, including cholesterol and phospholipids, which are used in the

Seraband rug, handwoven floor covering made in the Ser-e Band locality, southwest of Arāk in west-central Iran. These 19th- and early 20th-century rugs, noted for their sturdiness and unobtrusive charm, have a characteristic pattern (known commercially as the mīr design) of small, complex leaf

crevasse: …jagged pinnacles of ice called seracs. Crevasses may be bridged by snow and become hidden, and they may close up when the glacier moves over an area with less gradient.

Soninke, a people located in Senegal near Bakel on the Sénégal River and in neighbouring areas of West Africa. They speak a Mande language of the Niger-Congo family. Some Senegalese Soninke have migrated to Dakar, but the population in the Bakel area remain farmers whose chief crop is millet. The

Rudolfo Anaya: …stories, such as those in Serafina’s Stories (2004) and The Man Who Could Fly and Other Stories (2006); and a number of children’s books, as well as plays and poems. An advocate of multiculturalism and bilingualism, he translated, edited, and contributed to numerous anthologies of Hispanic writing. In 2002 he…

Jan Lechoń was a poet, editor, diplomat, and political propagandist, considered one of the foremost Polish poets of his generation. A member of the Skamander group of poets, Lechoń published in 1920 his first mature collection of poems, Karmazynowy pemat (“The Poem in Scarlet”), making himself

harem, in Muslim countries, the part of a house set apart for the women of the family. The word ḥarīmī is used collectively to refer to the women themselves. Zanāna (from the Persian word zan, “woman”) is the term used for the harem in India, andarūn (Persian: “inner part” [of a house]) in Iran.

Topkapı Palace Museum, museum in Istanbul that exhibits the imperial collections of the Ottoman Empire and maintains an extensive collection of books and manuscripts in its library. It is housed in a palace complex that served as the administrative centre and residence of the imperial Ottoman court

Soninke, a people located in Senegal near Bakel on the Sénégal River and in neighbouring areas of West Africa. They speak a Mande language of the Niger-Congo family. Some Senegalese Soninke have migrated to Dakar, but the population in the Bakel area remain farmers whose chief crop is millet. The

Saraikela, town, northern Jharkhand state, northeastern India. It lies on the Kharkai River about 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Jamshedpur. Saraikela was the capital of a former princely state that was founded by Bikram Singh of the Porahat Raj family in the 17th century. It was a sanad (patent, or

Siraiki language, Indo-Aryan language spoken in Pakistan. The Siraiki-speaking region spreads across the southwestern districts of Punjab province, extending into adjacent regions of the neighbouring provinces of Sindh, Balochistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. There were probably at least 20 million

Seraing, municipality, Liège province, Wallonia region, eastern Belgium. It lies along the Meuse River, 6 miles (10 km) upstream from Liège. Seraing is a historic hub of Belgium’s iron, steel, and machine-building industries. In 1817 the English industrialist John Cockerill founded in Seraing what

Cyprus: Drainage and soils: …eastward toward Famagusta Bay; the Serakhis flows northwestward and the Karyotis northward to Morphou Bay; and the Kouris flows southward to Episkopi Bay. The rivers are fed entirely from the runoff of winter precipitation; in summer they become dry courses. The island’s major soil types consist of imperfect, gravelly lithosols…

Soninke, a people located in Senegal near Bakel on the Sénégal River and in neighbouring areas of West Africa. They speak a Mande language of the Niger-Congo family. Some Senegalese Soninke have migrated to Dakar, but the population in the Bakel area remain farmers whose chief crop is millet. The

Ceram, island, part of the Moluccas (Maluku) archipelago, eastern Indonesia. It is located between the Ceram Sea (north) and the Banda Sea (south) and is west of New Guinea and east of Buru Island, across the Manipa Strait. Ceram has an area of 6,621 square miles (17,148 square km) and is

Shrirampur, city, southeastern West Bengal state, northeastern India. It is located just west of the Hugli (Hooghly) River and is part of the Kolkata (Calcutta) urban agglomeration. Originally a Danish settlement founded in the 18th century and called Frederiksnagar, the town was acquired by the

Christianity: Missions to Asia: Joshua Marshman, and William Ward—the Serampore trio—worked just north of Calcutta (now Kolkata). Their fundamental approach included translating the Scriptures, establishing a college to educate an Indian ministry, printing Christian literature, promoting social reform, and recruiting missionaries for new areas as soon as translations into that area’s language were ready.…

Shrirampur, city, southeastern West Bengal state, northeastern India. It is located just west of the Hugli (Hooghly) River and is part of the Kolkata (Calcutta) urban agglomeration. Originally a Danish settlement founded in the 18th century and called Frederiksnagar, the town was acquired by the

Ceram, island, part of the Moluccas (Maluku) archipelago, eastern Indonesia. It is located between the Ceram Sea (north) and the Banda Sea (south) and is west of New Guinea and east of Buru Island, across the Manipa Strait. Ceram has an area of 6,621 square miles (17,148 square km) and is

Ceram, island, part of the Moluccas (Maluku) archipelago, eastern Indonesia. It is located between the Ceram Sea (north) and the Banda Sea (south) and is west of New Guinea and east of Buru Island, across the Manipa Strait. Ceram has an area of 6,621 square miles (17,148 square km) and is

Matilde Serao was a Greek-born novelist and journalist who was the founder and editor of the Neapolitan daily Il giorno. Born in Greece of a Neapolitan father and a Greek mother, Serao returned to Naples with her family; she studied there and worked in a telegraph office and then on the staff of

Serapeum, either of two temples of ancient Egypt, dedicated to the worship of the Greco-Egyptian god Serapis (Sarapis). The original elaborate temple of that name was located on the west bank of the Nile near Ṣaqqārah and originated as a monument to the deceased Apis bulls, sacred animals of the

seraph, in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic literature, celestial being variously described as having two or three pairs of wings and serving as a throne guardian of God. Often called the burning ones, seraphim in the Old Testament appear in the Temple vision of the prophet Isaiah as six-winged

dance: Expressionism: …a single character, as in Seraphic Dialogue (1955). Groups of dancers formed sculptural wholes, often to represent social or psychological forces, and there was little of the hierarchical division between principals and corps de ballet that operated in ballet.

seraph, in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic literature, celestial being variously described as having two or three pairs of wings and serving as a throne guardian of God. Often called the burning ones, seraphim in the Old Testament appear in the Temple vision of the prophet Isaiah as six-winged

Saint Seraphim of Sarov ; canonized 1903; feast day January 2) was a Russian monk and mystic whose ascetic practice and counseling in cases of conscience won him the title starets (Russian: “spiritual teacher”). He is one of the most renowned monastic figures in Russian Orthodox history. He took

ombres chinoises: …shows of the French puppeteer Dominique Séraphin, who presented the first popular ombres chinoises in Paris in 1776. In 1781 he moved his show to Versailles, where he entertained the French court, and three years later he established a highly successful puppet theatre in Paris.

Dominica: Independence of Dominica: …ensued, and in May 1979 Oliver Seraphine emerged as the new prime minister.

Heriz carpet: …specific village names, such as Sarāb (or Serapi), which has light, rather bright colour schemes; Gorevan, in darker colours; Bakshāyesh; and Mehrabān. Heriz carpets are symmetrically knotted on a cotton foundation. From time to time there has been experimentation in the production of silk rugs—again influenced by the Tabrīz rug…

Serapias, genus of orchids (family Orchidaceae) containing about 25 species native to the Mediterranean region and the British Isles. Serapias species are perennial terrestrial orchids and usually die back after flowering. The plants feature two oval-shaped to ovoid tubers, and the waxy sheathing

Serapias: The heart-flowered serapias (S. cordigera) has purple flowers with blackish purple lips that often have a tonguelike lobe. S. stenopetala features pale yellow flowers and is endemic to Algeria and Tunisia; the plant is listed as critically endangered by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Serapias: … is commonly known as the tongue orchid. It has a reddish lip, lance-shaped leaves, and a stem up to 30 cm (12 inches) long. The heart-flowered serapias (S. cordigera) has purple flowers with blackish purple lips that often have a tonguelike lobe. S. stenopetala features pale yellow flowers and is…