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Buckwheat (genus Fagopyrum), broad-leaved, erect annual belonging to the buckwheat family (Polygonaceae).

Turtles are egg-laying, toothless reptiles with limb girdles roofed over by a wide rib cage and fused to bony plates in the skin.

Mayflower, common name for the trailing arbutus (Epigaea repens), a creeping, woody, evergreen plant belonging to the heath family.

Infrequent attacks on humans have been made by grizzly (or brown), black or polar bears. Bears can run at speeds exceeding 50 km/h, are significantly stronger than people and can inflict serious injury.

Bearberry, or kinnickinnick, trailing, evergreen shrub of heather family. Flexible, rooting branches grow up to 2 m long, are covered with reddish, shreddy bark and bear alternate, dark green, oval leaves.

Uranium oxide was first identified in 1789 by M.H. Klaproth in the MINERAL pitchblende, but its distinctive property of radioactivity was discovered much later (1896) by Henri Becquerel.

A star is a large, self-luminous sphere of hot gas held together by its own gravitational force.

The name asbestos comes from a Greek word meaning "inextinguishable" (often mistaken to mean "incombustible"). Asbestos is a collective term that is used to designate 2 separate groups of silicates: the serpentine group and the amphibole group.

Brachiopoda, phylum of bivalved marine invertebrates, sometimes called lamp shells.

Bluebird is a common name for 3 species of thrushes occurring in North and Central America.

Harvestmen are Arachnids of the order Opiliones. Harvestmen is the preferred term but they are commonly called daddy-long-legs - even though many have short legs.

Anemone, or wind flower, perennial, herbaceous plant of genus Anemone, family Ranunculaceae.

Some historians have noted that the City Beautiful Movement in Canada was hampered by the lack of an integrated philosophy and the absence of an articulate national spokesperson. However, the amateur side of the movement was lively and active on the local scene.

Aspen, deciduous, hardwood tree in genus Populus of Willow family. Trembling (quaking) aspen (P. tremuloides) and largetooth aspen (P. grandidentata) are native to Canada.

Alcidae is a family of highly specialized seabirds that contains auks (including the now extinct great auk), auklets, murres, murrelets, razorbills, dovekies, guillemots and puffins.

In spring and summer the most abundant substance in leaves is chlorophyll, which gives them their green colour. Chlorophyll is essential for photosynthesis, the process which converts the energy of sunlight into sugar. Sunlight is also necessary for the synthesis of chlorophyll itself.

Aster [Lat, "star"], the common name applied mainly to 2 herbaceous genera (Aster and Callistephus) of flowering plants in family Compositae or Asteraceae. Over 250 species of true Aster are known worldwide. Of 52 Aster species native to Canada, about 40 have been brought under cultivation. A.

Alder, tree or shrub of genus Alnus of birch family. The 30 known species are found mainly in the northern hemisphere; 3 are native to Canada.

Lake Agassiz was the largest glacial lake in North America. It was formed 11 500 years ago in front of the northeastwardly retreating Laurentide Ice Sheet, which acted as a dam.

Alderfly, small (13-18 mm), dark, soft-bodied insect of order Megaloptera, family Sialidae, found in freshwater habitats bordered by alder.