Eric Sykes: …slapstick comedy bit called “The Plank,” which he later expanded into a 1979 short film of the same title. The dialogue-free movie follows two construction workers’ bumbling attempts to carry a wooden floorboard through the streets of London.

Zuse computer: …first real computer programming language, Plankalkül (“Plan Calculus”), in 1944–45. Zuse’s language allowed for the creation of procedures (also called routines or subroutines; stored chunks of code that could be invoked repeatedly to perform routine operations such as taking a square root) and structured data (such as a record in…

tapestry: 17th and 18th centuries: …establish low-warp looms in Paris: François de La Planche (or Franz van den Planken; 1573–1627) and Marc de Comans (1563–before 1650). Satisfactory working conditions were found for them in the old Gobelins family dyeworks on the outskirts of the city, and so began the establishment commonly known by that name…

marine ecosystem: Plankton: However, most planktonic organisms, called plankters, are less than 1 millimetre (0.039 inch) long. These microbes thrive on nutrients in seawater and are often photosynthetic. The plankton include a wide variety of organisms such as algae, bacteria, protozoans, the larvae of some animals, and crustaceans. A large proportion of the…

bivalve: Ecology and habitats: …no pelagic bivalves, except for Planktomya hensoni, which is still benthic as an adult but has an unusually long planktonic larval stage. Some bivalves can swim, albeit weakly, when removed from the sediment, as can some file shells. True swimming is, however, seen only in the family Pectinidae (scallops) but…

plankton, marine and freshwater organisms that, because they are nonmotile or too small or weak to swim against the current, exist in a drifting state. The term plankton is a collective name for all such organisms—including certain algae, bacteria, protozoans, crustaceans, mollusks, and

undersea exploration: Collection of biological samples: …most commonly used samplers are plankton nets and midwater trawls. Nets have a mesh size smaller than the plankton under investigation; trawls filter out only the larger forms. The smaller net sizes can be used only when the ship is either stopped or moving ahead slowly; the larger can be…

water bloom, dense aquatic population of microscopic photosynthetic organisms produced by an abundance of nutrient salts in surface water, coupled with adequate sunlight for photosynthesis. The microorganisms or the toxic substances that they release may discolour the water, deplete its oxygen

Ludwig von Mises: Among his other books are Planned Chaos (1947), concerning socialist totalitarianism, and Human Action (1949; rev. ed. 1966), a treatise on economics.

command economy, economic system in which the means of production are publicly owned and economic activity is controlled by a central authority that assigns quantitative production goals and allots raw materials to productive enterprises. In such a system, determining the proportion of total

quasi-market, organizationally designed and supervised markets intended to create more efficiency and choice than bureaucratic delivery systems while maintaining more equity, accessibility, and stability than conventional markets. Quasi-markets are also sometimes described as planned markets or

industrial design: Modern design in the United States: …probably, came a tendency toward planned obsolescence. This term was supposedly coined after World War II by American industrial designers and writers to indicate industry’s desire to produce consumer items that would be replaced even before their actual utility expired. Although the concept is often linked with the second half…

Planned Parenthood, American organization that, since its founding in 1942, has worked as an advocate for education and personal liberties in the areas of birth control, family planning, and reproductive health care. Clinics operated by Planned Parenthood provide a range of reproductive health care

planned parenthood, practice of measures designed to regulate the number and spacing of children within a family. The history of concern over the uncontrolled growth of populations is as old as recorded history, but it was not until about the 1950s that fears over a rapidly expanding world

Planned Parenthood, American organization that, since its founding in 1942, has worked as an advocate for education and personal liberties in the areas of birth control, family planning, and reproductive health care. Clinics operated by Planned Parenthood provide a range of reproductive health care

Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, legal case, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1992, that redefined several provisions regarding abortion rights as established in Roe v. Wade (1973). Both Planned Parenthood v. Casey and Roe v. Wade were overturned by the Court in 2022.

accounting: Budgetary planning: The first major component of internal accounting systems for management’s use is the company’s system for establishing budgetary plans and setting performance standards. The setting of performance standards (see below Performance reporting) also requires a system for measuring actual results and reporting differences between…

Planning Commission, agency of the government of India established in 1950 to oversee the country’s economic and social development, chiefly through the formulation of five-year plans. The commission’s original mandate was to raise the standard of living of ordinary Indians by efficiently

public administration: Responses to incrementalism: …less successful, technique was the Planning, Programming, and Budgeting System (PPBS), introduced into the U.S. Department of Defense in 1961 and extended to the federal budget in 1965. According to PPBS, the objectives of government programs were to be identified, and then alternative means of achieving these objectives were to…

Plano, city, Collin and Denton counties, northern Texas, U.S., located about 16 miles (26 km) northeast of Dallas. It is situated in a region of blackland prairie and was first settled (1845–46) by a group called Peters’ Colony (named for William S. Peters, who had led investors in gaining land

Brazil: The Real Plan and Cardoso presidency: …Cardoso, who put forth the Real Plan, a financial program partly inspired by a successful Argentine plan. The program stopped the government from periodically raising prices (a practice known as indexing inflation), introduced a new currency (the real) and an exchange rate that was partially linked to that of the…

microscope: Types of magnifiers: …of two simple lenses, usually plano-convex (flat on one side, outward-curved on the other, with the curved surfaces facing each other). This type of magnifier is based upon the eyepiece of the Huygenian telescope, in which the lateral chromatic aberration is corrected by spacing the elements a focal length apart.…

mealybug: …of the Pseudococcidae are the citrus mealybug (Planococcus citri) and the citrophilus mealybug (Pseudococcus calceolariae). Biological control and insecticidal soaps, horticultural oils, and traditional insecticides have been effective against these pests.

planography, any printing technique in which the printing and nonprinting areas of the plate are in a single plane, i.e., at the same level. See offset

gastropod: Classification: Limpets (Ancylidae), ramshorns (Planorbidae), and pond snails (Physidae); all restricted to freshwater habitats. Superorder Stylommatophora Mantle cavity a pulmonary sac; gonopores with common opening on right side or at most narrowly separated; shell conical to vestigial, heavily to weakly calcified; eyes at tips of upper (usually) tentacles;

gastropod: Size range and diversity of structure: …in one plane, as in Planorbis; become globose with the whorls increasing rapidly in size, as in Pomacea; have the whorls become elongate and rapidly larger, as in Conus and Scaphella; have a few flatly coiled whorls that massively increase in width, as in Haliotis; become elongated and spike-shaped, as…

Planosol, one of the 30 soil groups in the classification system of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Planosols are characterized by a subsurface layer of clay accumulation. They occur typically in wet low-lying areas that can support either grass or open forest vegetation. They are poor

Robert Planquette was a French composer of operettas and other light music. After studying at the Paris Conservatoire, Planquette played and wrote songs for cafés concerts (cafés offering light music). He became famous with the operetta Les Cloches de Corneville (1887; “The Bells of Corneville”;

Robert Planquette was a French composer of operettas and other light music. After studying at the Paris Conservatoire, Planquette played and wrote songs for cafés concerts (cafés offering light music). He became famous with the operetta Les Cloches de Corneville (1887; “The Bells of Corneville”;

Death Cab for Cutie: Plans, the group’s major label debut, was released that year and yielded the hit singles “Soul Meets Body” and “I Will Follow You into the Dark.” It received the first in a string of Grammy Award nominations. In 2008 Death Cab for Cutie released Narrow…

Nayantara Sahgal: Three of Sahgal’s later novels—Plans for Departure (1985), Mistaken Identity (1988), and Lesser Breeds (2003)—are set in colonial India. When the Moon Shines by Day (2017) is a dystopian satire. In The Fate of Butterflies (2019), Sahgal focused on several people living under a repressive regime. She also wrote…

Owen Jones: …Islāmic design in his work Plans, Elevations, Sections and Details of the Alhambra (1842–45), treating the famous palace at Granada, an outstanding example of Moorish architecture.

control theory: Principles of control: …controlled, which is called the plant, in terms of its internal dynamical state. By this is meant a list of numbers (called the state vector) that expresses in quantitative form the effect of all external influences on the plant before the present moment, so that the future evolution of the…

plant, (kingdom Plantae), any multicellular eukaryotic life-form characterized by (1) photosynthetic nutrition (a characteristic possessed by all plants except some parasitic plants and underground orchids), in which chemical energy is produced from water, minerals, and carbon dioxide with the aid

Katherine Esau: Her textbook Plant Anatomy (1953) became the foremost text in the United States on plant structure and was widely adopted abroad. In 1957 she became the sixth woman elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

carnivorous plant: Trap types and digestion: …passive based on whether they move to capture prey. Pitfall traps, such as those found in pitcher plants, are among the most common types of traps and employ a hollow, lidded leaf filled with liquid to passively collect and digest prey. Flypaper traps can be active or passive and rely…

Montreal Botanical Garden: The Plant Biology Research Institute (Institut de Recherche en Biologie Végétale) of the University of Montreal uses some of the garden’s facilities, and, together, the two institutions form an important botanical research centre.

origins of agriculture: Known as cultigens, domesticated plants come from a wide range of families (groups of closely related genera that share a common ancestor; see genus). The grass (Poaceae), bean (Fabaceae), and nightshade or potato (Solanaceae) families have

plant breeding, application of genetic principles to produce plants that are more useful to humans. This is accomplished by selecting plants found to be economically or aesthetically desirable, first by controlling the mating of selected individuals, and then by selecting certain individuals among

plant bug, any member of two families of the insect order Heteroptera. The family Lygaeidae (see lygaeid bug) contains between about 3,000 and 5,000 species. One of the best-known members, the chinch bug, is an important crop pest. The members of the family Miridae, which is one of the largest

plant cell, the basic unit of all plants. Plant cells, like animal cells, are eukaryotic, meaning they have a membrane-bound nucleus and organelles. The following is a brief survey of some of the major characteristics of plant cells. For a more in-depth discussion of cells, see cell. Unlike animal

Don’t miss part one, “Plant Chemicals: Tasty and Terrifying”, and explore other Botanize! episodes. Welcome to Encyclopædia Britannica’s Botanize!, where I’m sharing stories of our planet’s plants, algae, and fungi to highlight just how important and amazing these often overlooked organisms are.

Explore other Botanize! episodes. Good day, listeners! You’ve tuned in to Botanize! with me, Melissa Petruzzello, your host and the plant and environmental science editor at Encyclopædia Britannica. Thanks for joining in. I think you are in for a treat today. Most of these episodes so far have been

plant development, a multiphasic process in which two distinct plant forms succeed each other in alternating generations. One form, the sporophyte, is created by the union of gametes (sex cells) and is thus diploid (contains two sets of similar chromosomes). At maturity, the sporophyte produces

plant disease, an impairment of the normal state of a plant that interrupts or modifies its vital functions. All species of plants, wild and cultivated alike, are subject to disease. Although each species is susceptible to characteristic diseases, these are, in each case, relatively few in number.

Native American: Prehistoric farmers: …way of life dependent on domesticated plants occurred about 1000 bce, although regional variation from this date is common.

fern: Surface structure: …consisting of hairs, known as trichomes, or scales; these are so distinctive that they are valuable in identification and classification. The indument includes such diverse types of epidermal emergences as simple glands (unbranched one- to several-celled trichomes with a headlike cluster of secretory terminal cells), simple (unbranched) nonglandular trichomes, dendroid…

plant hardiness zones, geographical regions demarcated by their average minimum winter temperatures. Maps of plant hardiness zones are useful to gardeners who seek to determine which perennial plants are best suited to their location and will likely survive the winter. The most widely used system

plant hopper, any member of several insect families of the order Homoptera, easily recognized because of the hollow, enlarged head extension that may appear luminous (see lanternfly). Plant hoppers feed on plant juices and excrete honeydew, a sweet by-product of digestion. Plant hoppers, ranging in

angiosperm: Evolution of the transport process: This internal circulation, usually called transport, is present in all vascular plants, even the most primitive ones.

aphid, (family Aphididae), any of a group of sap-sucking, soft-bodied insects (order Homoptera) that are about the size of a pinhead, most species of which have a pair of tubelike projections (cornicles) on the abdomen. Aphids can be serious plant pests and may stunt plant growth, produce plant

carnivorous plant: Trap types and digestion: …passive based on whether they move to capture prey. Pitfall traps, such as those found in pitcher plants, are among the most common types of traps and employ a hollow, lidded leaf filled with liquid to passively collect and digest prey. Flypaper traps can be active or passive and rely…

botany: Other subdisciplines: …particular reference to their identification; plant pathology deals with the diseases of plants; economic botany deals with plants of practical use to humankind; and ethnobotany covers the traditional use of plants by local peoples, now and in the distant past.

poison: Poisons of biological origin: , (2) phytotoxins, poisons produced by plants, and (3) zootoxins, poisons produced by animals. The geographic distribution of poisonous organisms varies greatly; poison-producing microorganisms tend to be ubiquitous in their distribution. Poisonous plants and animals are found in greatest abundance and varieties in warm-temperate and tropical regions.…

Dominion Arboretum and Botanic Garden, Central Experimental Farm: …Farm, Ottawa, part of the Plant Research Institute of Agriculture Canada (formerly Canada Department of Agriculture). Established in 1889, the arboretum is Canada’s oldest. It occupies 40 hectares (99 acres) and includes about 10,000 kinds of plants. Its special collections of flowering crabs, lilacs, lilies, and hedge plants are as…

botany, branch of biology that deals with the study of plants, including their structure, properties, and biochemical processes. Also included are plant classification and the study of plant diseases and of interactions with the environment. The principles and findings of botany have provided the

ecological succession, the process by which the structure of a biological community evolves over time. Two different types of succession—primary and secondary—have been distinguished. Primary succession occurs in essentially lifeless areas—regions in which the soil is incapable of sustaining life

Frederic Edward Clements: …in his most influential work, Plant Succession: An Analysis of the Development of Vegetation (1916). Clements described plant succession as a developmental process through which the community underwent a well-defined series of stages that ultimately resulted in a mature, or climax, community. The climax community was both an indicator and…

plant virus, any of a number of agents that can cause plant disease. Plant viruses are of considerable economic importance because many of them infect crop and ornamental plants. Numerous plant viruses are rodlike and can be extracted readily from plant tissue and crystallized. The majority of them

Tampa: Henry B. Plant’s South Florida Railroad arrived in 1884 and stimulated population growth and new industry. Plant developed port facilities extensively and promoted tourism, building the lavish, Moorish-style Tampa Bay Hotel in 1891. Cigar manufacturing was introduced in 1886 by Vicente Martinez Ybor, and Ybor…

Robert Plant is a British singer-songwriter best known as the lead singer for the rock band Led Zeppelin. Plant’s dynamic vocal range and flamboyant stage presence has distinguished him as a popular and influential rock and roll front man. Since the dissolution of Led Zeppelin, he has pursued an

Robert Plant is a British singer-songwriter best known as the lead singer for the rock band Led Zeppelin. Plant’s dynamic vocal range and flamboyant stage presence has distinguished him as a popular and influential rock and roll front man. Since the dissolution of Led Zeppelin, he has pursued an

Andreas Franz Wilhelm Schimper: …Pflanzen-Geographie auf physiologischer Grundlage (1898; Plant-Geography upon a Physiological Basis, 1903), a climatological and physiological study of the world’s vegetation. The first section of the book treats factors that affect plant life, the second gives his classification of world vegetation, and the third contains a systematic account of this vegetation.…

pharming: Plant-made pharmaceuticals (PMPs) differ from naturally occurring therapeutic plant compounds because pharmed plants are genetically engineered to express a gene that produces a therapeutic substance. This factor also distinguishes pharmed plants from plants genetically modified for agricultural purposes. PMPs can be extracted and purified from…

Stephen King: On Writing and nontraditional publishing: The Plant: Zenith Rising was released in 2000 solely as an e-book, distributed via the Internet, with readers asked but not required to pay for it. The novella UR was made available in 2009 only to users of the Kindle electronic reading device. The short…

Georg Jenatsch: …head of the Spanish party, Pompeius Planta, and had to flee abroad. In 1624 he achieved a French-Grisons alliance, which led to the expulsion of the Spaniards and Austrians from the Grisons. After the Franco-Spanish Treaty of Mozon (1626), however, the Valtellina was virtually abandoned to Spain; Jenatsch took service…

plant, (kingdom Plantae), any multicellular eukaryotic life-form characterized by (1) photosynthetic nutrition (a characteristic possessed by all plants except some parasitic plants and underground orchids), in which chemical energy is produced from water, minerals, and carbon dioxide with the aid

Edmund Plantagenet, 1st earl of Kent was the youngest brother of England’s King Edward II, whom he supported to the forfeit of his own life. He received many marks of favour from his brother, whom he steadily supported until the last act in Edward’s life opened in 1326. He fought in Scotland and

George Plantagenet, duke of Clarence was an English nobleman who engaged in several major conspiracies against his brother King Edward IV (ruled 1461–70 and 1471–83). He was the younger son of Richard, duke of York, whose struggle to gain power precipitated the Wars of the Roses (1455–85) between

Henry II was the duke of Normandy (from 1150), count of Anjou (from 1151), duke of Aquitaine (from 1152), and king of England (from 1154), who greatly expanded his Anglo-French domains and strengthened the royal administration in England. His quarrels with Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury,

house of Plantagenet, royal house of England, which reigned from 1154 to 1485 and provided 14 kings, 6 of whom belonged to the cadet houses of Lancaster and York. The royal line descended from the union between Geoffrey, count of Anjou (died 1151), and the empress Matilda, daughter of the English

John Plantagenet, duke of Bedford was a general and statesman who commanded England’s army during a critical period in the Hundred Years’ War (1337–1453) with France. Despite his military and administrative talent, England’s position in France had irreversibly deteriorated by the time he died. The

Richard, 3rd duke of York was a claimant to the English throne whose attempts to gain power helped precipitate the Wars of the Roses (1455–85) between the houses of Lancaster and York. He controlled the government for brief periods during the first five years of this struggle. He was the father of

King John: … (formerly Eleanor of Aquitaine), and Philip the Bastard, who supports the king and yet mocks all political and moral pretensions.

Thomas Plantagenet, duke of Clarence was the Duke of Clarence and the second son of Henry IV of England and aide to his elder brother, Henry V. He twice visited Ireland, where he was nominally lord lieutenant, 1401–13. For a short time, in 1412, he replaced his elder brother, afterward King Henry

Plantaginaceae, plantain family of flowering plants (order Lamiales), comprising 90 genera and about 1,900 species of herbs. Plantaginaceae is nearly cosmopolitan in distribution, though the majority of species are found in temperate areas. A few are of economic importance as ornamentals, weeds, or

Plantago, a genus in the family Plantaginaceae (order Lamiales) with about 265 species. The small plants usually have a dense tuft of basal leaves and long, leafless stalks bearing a terminal spike of small flowers. The greater plantain (Plantago major) provides seed spikes for bird food. Ribwort

Plantago: Ribwort and hoary plantain (P. lanceolata and P. media, respectively) are troublesome weeds. By contrast, psyllium and P. ovata have been useful in medical science; they produce mucilaginous seeds, which have been used, for example, in laxative preparations known as psyllium, ispaghul, or spogel seeds.

Plantago: The greater plantain (Plantago major) provides seed spikes for bird food. Ribwort and hoary plantain (P. lanceolata and P. media, respectively) are troublesome weeds. By contrast, psyllium and P. ovata have been useful in medical science; they produce mucilaginous seeds, which have been used, for example,…

Plantago: Ribwort and hoary plantain (P. lanceolata and P. media, respectively) are troublesome weeds. By contrast, psyllium and P. ovata have been useful in medical science; they produce mucilaginous seeds, which have been used, for example, in laxative preparations known as psyllium, ispaghul, or spogel seeds.

Plantago: By contrast, psyllium and P. ovata have been useful in medical science; they produce mucilaginous seeds, which have been used, for example, in laxative preparations known as psyllium, ispaghul, or spogel seeds.

plantain, major group of banana varieties (genus Musa) that are staple foods in many tropical areas. The edible fruit of plantain bananas has more starch than the common dessert banana and is not eaten raw. Because plantains have the most starch before they ripen, they are usually cooked green,

Plantago, a genus in the family Plantaginaceae (order Lamiales) with about 265 species. The small plants usually have a dense tuft of basal leaves and long, leafless stalks bearing a terminal spike of small flowers. The greater plantain (Plantago major) provides seed spikes for bird food. Ribwort

Plantaginaceae, plantain family of flowering plants (order Lamiales), comprising 90 genera and about 1,900 species of herbs. Plantaginaceae is nearly cosmopolitan in distribution, though the majority of species are found in temperate areas. A few are of economic importance as ornamentals, weeds, or

turaco, (order Musophagiformes), any of about 18 species in six genera of colourful, fruit-eating African birds. The green and iridescent turacos (Tauraco, Musophaga, and Corythaeola) are primarily residents of dense broad-leaved evergreen forest; the grayer forms (Crinifer), most of which are

pussy-toes: The plantain-leaved pussy-toes (A. plantaginifolia), also called ladies’ tobacco, has longer and broader basal leaves.

plantar fasciitis, swelling or degeneration of the plantar fascia, the thick band of connective tissue that runs across the bottom of the foot and connects the heel bone to the toes. Plantar fasciitis causes dull or stabbing pain, typically after a long period of rest, such as sleeping or sitting.

plantar fasciitis, swelling or degeneration of the plantar fascia, the thick band of connective tissue that runs across the bottom of the foot and connects the heel bone to the toes. Plantar fasciitis causes dull or stabbing pain, typically after a long period of rest, such as sleeping or sitting.

human behaviour: The newborn infant: …age; one example is the Babinski reflex, in which the infant bends his big toe upward and spreads his small toes when the outer edge of the sole of his foot is stroked.

passeriform: Musculature: …the condition of the deep plantar tendons. These narrow straps extend from the bellies of the two deep flexor muscles on the leg and down the back of the tarsometatarsus and attach to the toes. They act to close the toes (hence to grasp a perch). In the Eurylaimidae these…

childhood disease and disorder: Skin disorders: …rather flattened is called a plantar wart.

Ireland: The Reformation period: …gave statutory approval for the plantation (or resettlement of Irish lands by Englishmen) of Leix, Offaly, and other Irish lordships of the central plain. Her viceroy was Thomas Radcliffe, earl of Sussex, lord deputy (1556–59), who was soon, as lord lieutenant (1559–66) for Elizabeth I, to restore the state’s authority…

plantation, a usually large estate in a tropical or subtropical region that is cultivated by unskilled or semiskilled labour under central direction. This meaning of the term arose during the period of European colonization in the tropics and subtropics of the New World, essentially, wherever huge

Sugar Act, (1764), in U.S. colonial history, British legislation aimed at ending the smuggling trade in sugar and molasses from the French and Dutch West Indies and at providing increased revenues to fund enlarged British Empire responsibilities following the French and Indian War. Actually a

José Lins do Rego: …published in English translation as Plantation Boy (1966). The author returned to the plantation setting with Fogo morto (1943; “Dead Fire”), now considered to be his masterwork.

United States: The South of the United States: …(or Deep) South, Upland and Lowland South, or Yeoman and Plantation South.

Tennessee walking horse, breed of horse that derives its name from the state of Tennessee and from its distinctive gait—the running walk. In a broad sense, it originated from all the ancestors that could do a running walk. Allan F-I (foaled 1886), a Standardbred stallion with several crosses of

sugar: Plantation white sugar: Plantation white, or mill white, sugar is a white sugar commonly produced for local consumption in sugarcane-growing countries. It is produced at the factory without remelting and refining of the raw sugar. Instead, sulfur dioxide gas (produced by burning sulfur in air)…

plantcutter, any of three species of South American birds of the family Phytotomidae (order Passeriformes), with finely serrated, stout bills used for snipping off tender shoots, buds, and fruit. In some areas plantcutters do much harm to gardens and orchards. With their broad, squared tails, they