Brassica oleracea gemmifera
- noun
- Specialized
:
col de Bruselas
- Botanists classify Brussels sprouts under the species Brassica oleracea gemmifera.
Examples
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The Brassica oleracea gemmifera is widely grown in Europe for its nutritious sprouts.
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I love eating Brassica oleracea gemmifera with my dinner.
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Farmers planted rows of Brassica oleracea gemmifera to harvest in the autumn months.
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The Brassica oleracea gemmifera is a popular vegetable in Europe.
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Farmers planted rows of Brassica oleracea gemmifera to harvest in the autumn months.
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The Brassica oleracea gemmifera is widely grown in Europe for its nutritious sprouts.
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Botanists classify Brussels sprouts under the species Brassica oleracea gemmifera.
Synonyms
20
2.8
A small green vegetable like a tiny cabbage
1
2.0
Small green vegetables that look like tiny cabbages
Surface Forms
Morphology
Brassica + oleracea + gemmifera
Although 'Brassica' signals the cabbage/vegetable genus, the Latin epithets 'oleracea' and 'gemmifera' are not English words a B1 learner would know, and the binomial scientific name does not transparently yield the common name 'Brussels sprout'. Scientific Latin names are conventional labels rather than compositional phrases, so the overall meaning is not predictable from the parts.
Etymology
Brassica oleracea gemmifera is a descriptive plant name: the parts Brassica and oleracea show it is like a small cabbage, and gemmifera means 'bud-bearing', referring to the many tiny bud-like heads on the stem. That's why the name points to the little cabbage heads we eat as Brussels sprouts.