an asteroid discovered in 1936 by the Belgian astronomer E. Delport. At its perihelion, its distance from the sun is 0.435 astronomical units and at its aphelion, 3.50 astronomical units. It may approach within 2 million km of the earth.
a genus of annual or perennial herbaceous plants of the family Ranunculaceae. The leaves are highly incised, and the flowers solitary and large. There are about 20 species, which grow wild in Central and Southern Europe, Siberia, and Eastern Asia. About 15 species are found in the USSR. Spring adonis (Adonis vernalis), the most widespread species, is a perennial with a short rhizome and large yellow flowers; it grows in the forest-steppe and steppe zones of the European USSR, Siberia, and Western Europe. Since the herbage contains cardiac glycosides, it is used in medicine, as are some other species of adonis (A. amurensis, A. turkestanicus, and so on). There are weeds (for example, the annual species A. flammeus). A. vernalis, propagated by seeds and rhizomes, is cultivated in the USSR. An aqueous infusion of the herbage and flowers of A. vernalis (adoniside) is used on a doctor’s prescription for chronic cardiac insufficiency and cardiovascular neuroses. Adonis must not be used when there are sharp organic changes in the heart and blood vessels.