California pitcher plant
- noun
- Specialized
:
planta jarra de California
- A California pitcher plant can be recognized by its twisted green pitchers and pendulous yellow flowers.
Examples
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The California pitcher plant thrives in nutrient-poor bogs by trapping insects in its unique leaves.
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Botanists visited northern California to study the rare California pitcher plant in its natural habitat.
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The California pitcher plant is native to the wetlands.
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I saw a beautiful California pitcher plant at the botanical garden.
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The California pitcher plant thrives in nutrient-poor bogs by trapping insects in its unique leaves.
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Botanists visited northern California to study the rare California pitcher plant in its natural habitat.
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A California pitcher plant can be recognized by its twisted green pitchers and pendulous yellow flowers.
Synonyms
A plant that eats insects with hooded, tube-shaped leaves called the cobra lily
Surface Forms
Morphology
California + pitcher + plant
The phrase is compositionally built: 'pitcher plant' denotes a plant with pitcher-shaped leaves and 'California' simply specifies the region, so a learner who knows 'California', 'pitcher', and 'plant' can infer it refers to a pitcher-type plant found in California. This place + noun compound pattern is a regular, cross-linguistic composition in English, making the meaning predictable to a B1 learner.
Etymology
The plant California pitcher plant is named for its long, hanging pitcher-shaped leaves that look like small jugs. These cup-like leaves catch insects to give the plant food in poor 'bog' soil, so the name tells us it is a 'plant' that 'traps insects'.
