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Cornus obliqua

Cornus obliqua

9.9
A shrub from eastern North America with bright autumn leaves that often attracts birds
  • noun
  • Specialized
: cornis obliqua
  • Botanists identified the shrub growing along the riverbank as Cornus obliqua, noting its similarity to silky cornel.

Examples

  • The wetland restoration project included planting Cornus obliqua to attract local birds and pollinators.

  • Gardeners value Cornus obliqua for its resilience and vibrant autumn foliage.

  • The Cornus obliqua thrives in moist, shady areas.

  • I saw a beautiful Cornus obliqua in the botanical garden.

  • Botanists identified the shrub growing along the riverbank as Cornus obliqua, noting its similarity to silky cornel.

  • Gardeners value Cornus obliqua for its resilience and vibrant autumn foliage.

  • The wetland restoration project included planting Cornus obliqua to attract local birds and pollinators.

Surface Forms

Morphology

Cornus + obliqua

This is a Latin binomial: 'Cornus' identifies the genus and 'obliqua' functions as the species epithet, so a learner who knows the constituents and understands taxonomic naming can infer it denotes a particular Cornus shrub species. Binomial nomenclature is cross-linguistically regular and compositional rather than idiomatic, making the meaning directly derivable from the parts.

Etymology

The plant name Cornus obliqua comes from Latin. Cornus is the old name for the 'dogwood' or 'cornel', and obliqua means 'slanted' or 'at an angle', probably describing the way its leaves or branches grow, so the name points to a 'slanted dogwood' shrub.