Anemone sylvestris

9.0

A small plant that lives for several years with white, sweet-smelling, nodding flowers often found in woods and gardens

noun

: anémona silvestre

The Anemone sylvestris blooms in spring with its delicate, nodding white flowers.

Examples

In the wild, Anemone sylvestris thrives in woodland clearings and meadows.
Gardeners often plant Anemone sylvestris for its fragrance and early-season color.
The Anemone sylvestris blooms beautifully in the spring.
Look! An Anemone sylvestris is blooming!
Gardeners often plant Anemone sylvestris for its fragrance and early-season color.
In the wild, Anemone sylvestris thrives in woodland clearings and meadows.
The Anemone sylvestris blooms in spring with its delicate, nodding white flowers.

Synonyms

snowdrop anemone

vsAnemone sylvestris

9.2

A small garden plant with white, nodding flowers in spring

is commonly wild in woodlands rather than only garden grown

snowdrop windflower

vsAnemone sylvestris

9.9

A small plant with white, nodding flowers that smell sweet and bloom in early spring

is framed by its perennial woodland and garden occurrence rather than taxonomy

Surface Forms

Anemone sylvestris singular

Anemone sylvestris plural

Morphology

anemone + sylvestris

The compound is compositional: 'anemone' names the plant and 'sylvestris' is a botanical/Latin adjective meaning 'of the woods', so the phrase literally denotes a woodland anemone and matches the given definition. Note that 'sylvestris' is a Latin species epithet and not a common English word, so while the form is fully transparent if the learner knows the epithet, an average B1 learner would probably not know that Latin term without exposure.

Etymology

Anemone sylvestris comes from two old words: anemone from Greek for the 'wind' and sylvestris from Latin meaning 'of the woods'. So the name paints a picture of a delicate 'wind-flower' that grows in woodland clearings, which fits this white, nodding, fragrant plant.