Hippeastrum puniceum

9.7

A bulb plant with large bright red or white flowers often grown indoors

noun

Specialized

: Hippeastrum puniceum

My grandmother's windowsill is lined with pots of Hippeastrum puniceum in full bloom.

Examples

Gardeners recommend planting Hippeastrum puniceum bulbs in well-drained soil to encourage flowering.
The Hippeastrum puniceum brightened the living room with its vibrant red blooms.
The Hippeastrum puniceum blooms beautifully in the spring.
I bought a Hippeastrum puniceum for my living room.
Gardeners recommend planting Hippeastrum puniceum bulbs in well-drained soil to encourage flowering.
My grandmother's windowsill is lined with pots of Hippeastrum puniceum in full bloom.
The Hippeastrum puniceum brightened the living room with its vibrant red blooms.

Surface Forms

Hippeastrum puniceum singular

Hippeastrum puniceums plural

Morphology

Hippeastrum + puniceum

This is a Linnaean binomial combining the genus name 'Hippeastrum' with a specific epithet; knowing the genus allows a learner to infer it names a particular species of Hippeastrum. However, the epithet 'puniceum' is Latin and not transparent to a typical B1 learner, and details like native range or flower colour are not fully derivable from the constituents, so the phrase is only partially predictable.

Etymology

Hippeastrum puniceum comes from old Greek and Latin words: Hippeastrum joins 'horse' and 'star' to make a picture of a large star-like flower, and puniceum means 'red'. So the name is a handy image for remembering a showy houseplant with big red blooms.