Cortaderia richardii
- noun
- Specialized
:
Cortaderia richardii
- Cortaderia richardii is commonly planted in gardens for its striking, feather-like plumes.
Examples
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The tall stalks of Cortaderia richardii sway beautifully in the New Zealand wind.
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Many landscapers value Cortaderia richardii for its decorative appearance and hardiness.
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The Cortaderia richardii swayed gently in the breeze.
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Can you identify the Cortaderia richardii in this garden?
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Cortaderia richardii is a popular choice for gardeners due to its impressive plume-like flowers.
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In the spring, Cortaderia richardii transforms gardens with its tall, feathery flower heads.
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Cortaderia richardii adds a unique texture to landscape designs with its elegant, waving stalks.
Synonyms
A tall New Zealand grass with large feathery flower heads
A tall grass from New Zealand with soft feathery flower heads
A tall grass from New Zealand with feathery flower heads
A tall grass with feathery flower heads from New Zealand used for decoration and for making roofs
A tall New Zealand grass with feathery flower heads that Māori use to cover roofs
A large New Zealand grass with tall flower stems that Maori use to cover roofs
Surface Forms
Morphology
Cortaderia + richardii
This is a binomial scientific name formed from the genus 'Cortaderia' plus a species epithet; a learner who knows 'Cortaderia' can transparently infer it denotes a particular species of that grass. The element 'richardii' is a proper-name epithet with no independent lexical meaning, and Linnaean naming conventions are cross-linguistically recognizable, so the overall meaning is compositional and clear.
Etymology
Cortaderia richardii may come from the Spanish word Cortaderia linked to 'to cut' because the grass has long, sharp leaves, and the second part, richardii, was 'named for' a person called Richard who studied plants. That's why the name fits a tall, garden grass with feather-like plumes.
