Cenchrus tribuloides
- noun
- Specialized
:
Cenchrus tribuloides
- Children sometimes get Cenchrus tribuloides burs stuck to their shoes while playing outdoors.
Examples
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Farmers often struggle to remove Cenchrus tribuloides from their fields due to its sharp burs.
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The spread of Cenchrus tribuloides can impact native plant communities in sandy soils.
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The Cenchrus tribuloides thrives in sandy soils.
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Did you see the Cenchrus tribuloides growing near the beach?
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Children sometimes get Cenchrus tribuloides burs stuck to their shoes while playing outdoors.
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Farmers often struggle to remove Cenchrus tribuloides from their fields due to its sharp burs.
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The spread of Cenchrus tribuloides can impact native plant communities in sandy soils.
Synonyms
A grass from eastern US and tropical America with small spiky seed burs that stick to feet and fur
A grass with small spiky seed balls that stick to fur or clothes
A grass with small sharp seed pods that stick to skin or clothing
Surface Forms
Morphology
Cenchrus + tribuloides
This is a scientific Latin binomial rather than a compositional English phrase; knowing the genus name 'Cenchrus' might suggest a grass but the full species meaning (spikelets in prickly burs) cannot be derived from the parts. The second element 'tribuloides' is not a common English word and its Latin morphology (e.g. -oides) is not predictable to a B1 learner, so the expression is idiomatic/technical and not transparent.
Etymology
Cenchrus tribuloides gets its name from the plant's hard, prickly seed pods. The tiny burs are full of spikes that stick to shoes and animal fur, so the grass is remembered as 'a prickly plant whose seeds cling and spread'.
