Brodiaea elegans
- noun
- Specialized
:
Brodiaea elegans
- The field was covered in Brodiaea elegans, their violet flowers swaying in the spring breeze.
Examples
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Hikers in California can often spot Brodiaea elegans blooming along grassy hillsides.
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The Brodiaea elegans blooms beautifully in the spring.
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Botanists documented the range of Brodiaea elegans from Oregon to southern California.
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Can you identify the Brodiaea elegans in this garden?
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Botanists documented the range of Brodiaea elegans from Oregon to southern California.
-
Hikers in California can often spot Brodiaea elegans blooming along grassy hillsides.
-
The field was covered in Brodiaea elegans, their violet flowers swaying in the spring breeze.
Synonyms
A wildflower from western North America with violet or blue-violet flowers on a leafless stalk
Surface Forms
Morphology
Brodiaea + elegans
This is a taxonomic binomial (genus + descriptive epithet); if a learner knows 'Brodiaea' as a genus of plants and recognizes 'elegans' as meaning 'elegant' or descriptive, the overall meaning (an elegant/particular Brodiaea species) is directly derivable from the parts. Binomial Latin names are compositional and follow a descriptive pattern common across languages, so the species sense is transparent to someone who knows both constituents (though many learners may not know Latin epithets without exposure).
Etymology
Brodiaea elegans is a scientific name made of a person's name and a Latin word: Brodiaea is named after the botanist Brodie, and elegans means 'elegant'. The name gives a simple image of a graceful violet flower on a bare stalk, which helps explain why this pretty plant has that name.
