a one-seeded fruit with a flat leathery or membranous winglike appendage that is dispersed by air currents. Samaras are borne by the birch, elm, ash, and maple (two-winged fruit).
(also Samarka), a river in Orenburg and Kuibyshev oblasts, RSFSR; a left tributary of the Volga. The Samara is 594 km long and drains an area of 46,500 sq km. It originates on the Obshchii Syrt upland and empties into the Saratov Reservoir. It is fed primarily by snow. The mean flow rate 236 km from the mouth is 47.2 cu m per sec. High water occurs in April and early May. The Samara freezes in November or early December, and the ice breaks up in April. The Bol’shoi Kinel’, a right tributary, is the main tributary. The cities of Sorochinsk and Buzuluk are on the Samara, and the city of Kuibyshev is at its mouth. There are petroleum deposits in the basin of the Samara.
(also Samar’), a river in the Ukrainian SSR, a left tributary of the Dnieper. The Samara is 320 km long and drains an area of 22,600 sq km. It originates in the western spurs of the Donets Ridge and empties into the Lake Lenin reservoir. It is fed primarily by snow. The mean flow rate measured 48 km from the mouth is approximately 17 cu m per sec. The upper Samara is usually dry from late July to early November; it sometimes freezes completely to the bottom in the winter. The Samara freezes between November and January, and the ice breaks up in the second half of March or early April. The Samara is navigable from the city of Novomoskovsk.