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Glite Dictionary
Cyclamen purpurascens

Cyclamen purpurascens

9.8
A small flowering plant often grown indoors with silver-marked leaves and downward pink, white, or red flowers
  • noun
  • Specialized
: ciclámen purpurascens
  • Many collectors prize Cyclamen purpurascens for its attractive silver-patterned foliage and delicate pink blossoms.

Examples

  • The florist recommended Cyclamen purpurascens as a long-lasting houseplant that blooms even in the winter months.

  • Cyclamen purpurascens thrives in moist, shaded woodland gardens where its flowers brighten the ground in late summer.

  • The Cyclamen purpurascens is a beautiful houseplant.

  • Do you have a Cyclamen purpurascens in your collection?

  • Cyclamen purpurascens is often chosen for indoor gardens due to its beautiful, reflexed petals and unique silver-mottled leaves.

  • As a popular houseplant, Cyclamen purpurascens adds color to homes with its nodding flowers that bloom in various shades of pink.

  • The stunning display of Cyclamen purpurascens can brighten any room during the colder months when many plants are dormant.

Synonyms

cyclamen
vsCyclamen purpurascens
1 8.4

A small indoor plant with dark green leaves and flowers that hang down in pink, red, or white

is the specific species term used rather than the general plant name

Surface Forms

Cyclamen purpurascens singular
Cyclamen purpurascenses plural

Morphology

cyclamen + purpurascens

This is a Latin binomial: knowing 'cyclamen' tells a learner it names a plant, but 'purpurascens' is a Latin adjective (literally 'becoming purple' / 'purplish') not part of everyday English. Most B1 learners who know the constituent English word would grasp that this refers to a type/species of cyclamen but would not fully derive the specific descriptive sense from the unfamiliar Latin element, so the meaning is only partially predictable.

Etymology

Cyclamen purpurascens comes from old Greek and Latin words: Cyclamen links to the plant's round bulb, from a word for a 'circle', and purpurascens means 'becoming purple'. So the name points to the plant's round underground bulb and its purple-tinged flowers.