CLUB encyclopedia topics

CLUB - 14 reference results

devil's-club or devil's-walking-stick: see ginseng.

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California Club Info
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Beverly Hills Club
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club rush

club rush: see cattail; sedge.

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club moss

club moss, name generally used for the living species of the class Lycopodiopsida, a primitive subdivision of vascular plants. The Lycopodiopsida were a dominant plant group in the Carboniferous period, when they attained the size of trees, and contributed to the coal deposits then being formed. They are now considered relictual. Although they resemble the mosses, they are considered to be evolutionarily more advanced because they are vascular, that is they have specialized fluid-conducting tissues. Club mosses are usually creeping or epiphytic and often inhabit moist places, especially in tropical and subtropical forests. They reproduce by means of spores, either clustered into small cones or borne in the axils of the small scalelike leaves. The principal genera are Lycopodium and Selaginella. Some species of Lycopodium are called ground pine or creeping cedar, especially those that resemble miniature hemlocks with flattened fan-shaped branches, and are often used for Christmas decorations. The spores of L. clavatum are gathered and sold as lycopodium powder, or vegetable sulfur, a highly inflammable yellow powder sometimes used for pharmaceutical purposes (e.g., as an absorptive powder) and in fireworks. Selaginella species, often incorrectly called Lycopodium, are occasionally grown as ornamentals. One of the best known is a resurrection plant. Club mosses constitute the division Lycopodiophyta, class Lycopodiopsida.

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Sierra Club

Sierra Club, national organization in the United States dedicated to the preservation and expansion of the world's parks, wildlife, and wilderness areas. Founded (1892) in California by a group led by the Scottish-American conservationist John Muir, the Sierra Club is made up of more than 630,000 people devoted to the exploration, enjoyment, and protection of the natural environment. The club was instrumental in helping to create the National Park Service and the National Forest Service, as well as in the formation of individual recreation areas, such as Olympic and Redwood national parks. The group has also led efforts to obtain new parklands in Alaska. Through a program of court litigation and congressional action, the Sierra Club has opposed strip mining, the use of DDT, offshore oil drilling, hazardous wastes, and most other forms of chemical or aesthetic pollution. The Sierra Club has also broadened its program to include activities dealing with the urban environment, protection of tropical forests, and overpopulation. Through its almost 300 local groups, the Sierra Club sponsors a series of nature outings, and its national office, located in San Francisco, publishes a monthly bulletin as well as numerous books about ecology and the environment.

See Sierra Club, Guide (1989).

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Scriblerus Club

Scriblerus Club, English literary group formed about 1713 to satirize "all the false tastes in learning." Among its chief members were Arbuthnot, Gay, Thomas Parnell, Pope, and Swift. Meetings of the club were discontinued after 1714. The club's major production, "Memoirs of … Martinus Scriblerus," was published in Pope's prose works in 1741, although it is considered to be primarily the work of Arbuthnot. The influence of the club is seen in Swift's Gulliver's Travels and Pope's Dunciad.

See A. Pope et al., Memoirs of the Extraordinary Life, Works and Discoveries of Martinus Scriblerus (ed. by C. Kerby-Miller, 1950; repr. 1966).

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Kit-Cat Club

Kit-Cat Club, London political and literary club, active c.1700-1720. The membership of some four dozen included leading Whig politicians and London's best young writers. Among them were Charles Seymour, 6th duke of Somerset; Sir Robert Walpole; Thomas Pelham-Holles, duke of Newcastle; William Congreve; Joseph Addison; Sir Richard Steele; and Sir Godfrey Kneller, who did portraits of the members. The club was the center of opposition during Queen Anne's Tory ministry (1710-14).

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Hercules'-club

Hercules'-club, common name for several small, thorny trees, chiefly the devil's-walking-stick of the family Aralaceae (ginseng family) and the prickly ash of the family Rutaceae (orange family). The families are classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliopsida, orders Apiales and Sapindales, respectively.

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Carlton Club

Carlton Club, British political and social club (founded 1832). Located in London, it was long the center of the Conservative party organization. Since World War II the club has been primarily social.

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American Kennel Club

American Kennel Club (AKC), national organization in the United States devoted to the advancement and welfare of pure-bred dogs. It is comprised of approximately 500 autonomous clubs. A delegate represents each club in the AKC's legislative body, which votes on the rules and regulations that govern dog shows and obedience and field trials. The AKC keeps a registry of recognized breeds and records the ancestry of registered pure-bred dogs in its stud book. It also provides educational materials for dog owners and sponsors rescue groups for each breed.

See the official publications of the American Kennel Club, including The Complete Dog Book (18th ed. 1992).

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club moss

Any of about 200 species of primitive vascular plants that constitute the genus Lycopodium (order Lycopodiales), mainly native to tropical mountains but also common in northern forests of both hemispheres. They are evergreen plants with needlelike leaves and, often, conelike clusters of small leaves (strobili; see cone), each with a kidney-shaped spore capsule at its base. Representative species include running pine, or stag's horn moss (L. clavatum), ground cedar (L. complanatum ‘flabelliforme'), shining club moss (L. lucidulum), fir club moss (L. selago), ground pine (L. obscurum), and alpine club moss (L. alpinum).

Learn more about club moss with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

book club

Marketing service that offers books to subscribers through the mail, often at reduced prices. The first U.S. book club, the Book-of-the-Month Club, was founded in 1926; the rival Literary Guild appeared a year later. By the 1980s nearly 100 book clubs existed in the U.S., most of them specialized (e.g., for history books, mysteries, etc.). A common incentive for attracting new members is the offer of several free or heavily discounted books; long-standing members often receive bonuses.

Learn more about book club with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Sierra Club

U.S. organization for the conservation of natural resources, headquartered in San Francisco. It was founded in 1892 by a group of Californians, including John Muir, who wanted to sponsor wilderness outings in Pacific Coast mountain regions. As its first president, Muir initiated the club's involvement in political action on behalf of nature conservation. With branches in all 50 states, it works to educate the public on environmental issues and lobbies local, state, and federal agencies for environmental legislation.

Learn more about Sierra Club with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Jacobin Club

or Jacobins

Political group of the French Revolution, identified with extreme radicalism and violence. Formed in 1789 as the Society of the Friends of the Constitution, it was known as the Jacobin Club because it met in a former convent of the Dominicans (known in Paris as Jacobins). It was originally formed by deputies of the National Assembly to protect the Revolution's gains against a possible aristocratic reaction. Although it did not have a direct role in overthrowing the monarchy in 1792, the club later changed its name to Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Liberty and Equality. It admitted leftist Montagnard deputies of the National Convention and agitated for the king's execution and the overthrow of the Girondins. In 1793, with about 8,000 clubs and 500,000 members, the Jacobins became instruments of the Reign of Terror. The Parisian club supported Maximilien Robespierre, but it closed after his fall in 1794. Although officially banned, some local clubs lasted until 1800.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.