lily family Family Liliaceae (order Liliales), which contains about 4,000 species of flowering herbs and shrubs in 280 genera. The genus Lilium includes the true lilies. Native primarily to temperate and subtropi¬ cal regions, these monocots (see cotyledon) usually have six-segmented flowers, three-chambered capsular fruits, and leaves with parallel veins. Among the oldest cultivated plants, true lilies are erect perennials with leafy stems, scaly bulbs, usually narrow leaves, and solitary or clustered flowers, some quite fragrant, in a variety of colours. Most species store nutrients underground in a bulb, corm, or tuber. Important garden orna¬ mentals and houseplants in the family include aloe, bluebell, crocus, day- lily, hosta, Solomon's seal, and tulip. Food-producing members include ONION, GARLIC, and ASPARAGUS.
lily of the valley Fragrant perennial herb and sole species ( Conval- laria majalis ) of the genus Convallaria (lily family), native to Eurasia and eastern North America. White, bell-shaped flowers droop in a row from one side of a leafless stalk, which bears usually two glossy leaves at its base. The fruit is a single red berry. Lily of the valley is cultivated in shaded garden areas in many temperate parts of the world.
Lima Vle-moX City (pop., 1996 est.: city, 316,332; 1998 est.: metro area, 7,060,600), capital of Peru. It is located inland from the Pacific Ocean port of Callao and near the Andes Mountains. Its nickname, El Pulpo (“The Octopus”), refers to its sprawling metropolitan area. It was founded by Francisco Pizarro in 1535 on the feast of the Epiphany, prompting the name Ciudad de los Reyes (“City of Kings”), but the name never took. Lima later became the capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru. The city was destroyed by an earthquake in 1746 but was rebuilt. It grew rapidly dur¬ ing the 20th century and now accounts for nearly one-third of Peru’s total population. It is the country’s economic and cultural centre. Historic sites include the cathedral (begun in the 16th century) and the National Uni¬ versity of San Marcos (1551).
Lima, Jose Lezama See Jose Lezama Lima
Liman von Sanders \ , le-man-f6n- l zan-dors\, Otto (b. Feb. 17, 1855, Stolp, Pomerania—d. Aug. 22, 1929, Munich, Ger.) German general. He entered the German army in 1874 and rose to lieutenant general. He reor¬ ganized the Turkish army and made it an effective fighting force in World War I. In command of the Turkish army at Gallipoli, he and the Turkish commanders forced the Allies to end the Dardanelles Campaign and pre¬ vented the seizure of Constantinople.
Limavady \,li-m3-'va-de\ Town (pop., 1991: 10,350), seat of Limavady district (pop., 2001: 32,422), Northern Ireland. The town is on the River Roe east of the old city of Londonderry. It dates from the Plantation of Ulster in the early 17th century; it was later settled by Protestant Scots. The district is primarily agricultural.
limb darkening In astrophysics, the gradual decrease in observed brightness of the disk of a star from its centre to its edge (limb). This phenomenon, readily apparent in photographs of the Sun, occurs because the solar atmosphere’s temperature increases with depth. Looking at the Sun’s centre, an observer sees the deepest, hottest layers, which emit the most light. At the limb, only the upper, cooler layers, which produce less light, are visible. Observations of solar limb darkening are used to deter¬ mine the temperature structure of the Sun’s atmosphere.
limbo In Roman Catholicism, a region between heaven and hell, the dwell¬ ing place of souls not condemned to punishment but deprived of the joy of existence with God in heaven. The concept probably developed in the Middle Ages. Two distinct kinds of limbo were proposed: the limbus patrum (“fathers’ limbo”), where Old Testament saints were confined until
Queen Liliuokalani.
COURTESY OF THE BERNICE P. BISHOP MUSEUM, HONOLULU
29, 1894, Toronto, Ont., Can.—d.
Beatrice Lillie
BROWN BROTHERS
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Limbourg brothers ► Limon I 1115
liberated by Jesus in his “descent into hell”; and the limbus infantum or limbuspuerorum (“children’s limbo”), the abode of those who died with¬ out actual sin but whose original sin had not been washed away by bap¬ tism or whose free will was restricted by mental deficiency. Today the Catholic church downplays the notion of limbo, and it is not an official part of church doctrine.
Limbourg Vlim-.burkA brothers or Limburg brothers (fl. c. MOO- 1416) Flemish illuminators. Sons of a sculptor, the three brothers—Pol, Herman, and Jehanequin de Limbourg—learned the goldsmith’s art in Paris and entered the service of the duke de Berry, for whom they pro¬ duced one of the most famous of all illuminated manuscripts, a book of hours (private prayer book) known as the Tres riches heures du due de Berry (c. 1410-16). Since the brothers worked together, it is difficult to distin¬ guish individual styles. They synthesized the achievements of their con¬ temporaries into a style characterized by tall, aristocratic figures with lavish, curvilinear draperies and by highly naturalistic seasonal landscapes and scenes of peasant life. Their art did much to determine the course of early Netherlandish art. Their deaths in the same year suggest that they died of plague.
lime Small shrublike tree ( Citrus aurantifolia ), widely grown in tropi¬ cal and subtropical areas, and its edible acidic fruits. Stiff branches and twigs leave the thorny stem at irregular intervals and end in green leaves. Clusters of small white flow¬ ers produce small oval fruits with a thin, pale greenish yellow rind. The juicy pulp is more acidic and sweet than that of the lemon. Limes are used to flavour many foods. High in vitamin C, they were formerly used in the British navy to prevent scurvy; hence the nickname “Limey” for British sailors.
lime or quicklime or calcium oxide Inorganic compound, white or grayish white solid, chemical for¬ mula CaO, made by roasting limestone (calcium carbonate, CaC0 3 ) until all the carbon dioxide (C0 2 ) is driven off. One of the four most impor¬ tant basic chemical commodities, it is used as a refractory, as a flux in steel manufacture, as a C0 2 absorbent, to remove contaminants from stack gases, to neutralize various acids, in pulp and paper, in insecticides and fungicides, in sewage treatment, and in the manufacture of glass, calcium carbide, and sodium carbonate. Adding water to lime yields calcium hydroxide (slaked lime, calcium hydrate, hydrated lime, or caustic lime), which is used in mortar, plasters, cements, whitewash, hide dehairing, and water softening and purification and as a source of other calcium salts.
limelight Early form of theatrical lighting. The incandescent calcium light invented by Thomas Drummond in 1816 was first employed in a theatre in 1837 and was widely used by the 1860s. Its soft, brilliant light enabled it to be focused for spotlighting and to create effects such as sun¬ light and moonlight. The expression “in the limelight” referred to the most desirable acting area on the stage, the front and centre, which was illu¬ minated by limelights. Electric lighting replaced limelight in the late 19th century.
limerick Popular form of short, humorous verse, often nonsensical and frequently ribald. It consists of five lines, rhyming aabba, and the domi¬ nant metre is anapestic, with two feet in the third and fourth lines and three feet in the others. The origin of the term is obscure, but a group of poets in County Limerick, Ire., wrote limericks in Irish in the 18th cen¬ tury. The first collections in English date from c. 1820. Among the most famous are those in Edward Lear’s Book of Nonsense (1846).