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BOG - 6 reference results

bog lime: see marl.

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bog iron ore: see limonite.

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Licensed from Columbia University Press

bog, very old lake without inlet or outlet that becomes acid and is gradually overgrown with a characteristic vegetation (see swamp). Peat moss, or sphagnum, grows around the edge of the open water of a bog (peat is obtained from old bogs) and out on the surface. With its continued growth, the moss forms a mat on the water in which other bog plants find a foothold, and humus and soil are slowly built up on the body of the water. Because of this formation bogs are sometimes treacherous (quaking bogs shake under the weight of a man) and have occasionally resulted in fatalities when a man or animal breaks through the vegetative crust. Because of their extreme acidity, bogs form a natural preservative and have been found to be a valuable repository of animals and plants of earlier times. Typical bog plants of today include, besides sphagnum, many orchids, the pitcher plant, the sundew, and the cranberry (old bogs are utilized for cranberry cultivation). Because of the reclamation of old bog lands by drainage and by their natural filling in, bogs in America are becoming rare, and with them their unique flora and fauna. One example of the latter is the bog turtle, Clemmys muhlenbergi, a tiny animal with a black, sculptured shell and orange head markings. The bog turtle has disappeared from most of its original habitat in the middle Atlantic states. Another consequence of the drainage and filling of bogs is the decreased water-holding capacity of the land, resulting in rapid run-off during rains and the increased siltation of rivers and streams.

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Allen, Bog of

Allen, Bog of, area of several peat bogs c.375 sq mi (971 sq km), with patches of cultivable land, in the central lowlands, E Republic of Ireland. The bog is crossed by the Grand and Royal canals. It is a source of fuel and contains peat-fired electrical generating stations.

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Licensed from Columbia University Press

jack-in-the-pulpit

North American plant (Arisaema triphyllum) of the arum family, noted for the unusual shape of its flower. One of the best-known perennial wildflowers of late spring in the eastern U.S. and Canada, it grows in wet woodlands and thickets from Nova Scotia to Minnesota and south to Florida and Texas. Three-part leaves on each of two long stalks overshadow the flower, which consists of a conspicuous green- and purple-striped structure called a spathe (“pulpit”) that rises on a separate stalk. The spathe curves in a hood over a club-shaped spadix (“jack”) that, at its base, bears minute flowers. In late summer the plant produces a cluster of brilliant red berries that are poisonous to humans but are eaten by many wild animals.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.