Hottentot's bread vine
- noun
- NSFW
:
planta del pan de Hottentot
- The Hottentot's bread vine produces a huge tuber that was once an important food source for local communities.
Examples
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Botanists have studied the Hottentot's bread vine for its unique adaptations to arid climates.
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We saw a Hottentot's bread vine while hiking in the semi-desert region of South Africa.
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The Hottentot's bread vine grows in arid regions of South Africa.
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Have you ever seen a Hottentot's bread vine in the wild?
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The Hottentot's bread vine produces a huge tuber that was once an important food source for local communities.
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Botanists have studied the Hottentot's bread vine for its unique adaptations to arid climates.
-
We saw a Hottentot's bread vine while hiking in the semi-desert region of South Africa.
Synonyms
A South African climbing plant with a large woody base that looks like a turtle shell
A climbing plant from South Africa with a large rough root like an elephant's foot
A climbing plant from South Africa with a large woody root and rough cracked bark
A plant that grows in different regions, often with blue or purple flowers
Surface Forms
Morphology
Hottentot's + bread + vine
The components 'bread' and 'vine' give a learner a reasonable clue that this is a plant (vine) associated with an edible part (bread = edible), and 'Hottentot's' signals a regional or ethnonymic link (South Africa) that some learners may infer. However, the precise botanical description (massive rootstock, deeply fissured bark, large underground tuber) and the archaic/obscure nature of the proper name are not fully predictable from the parts, so the meaning is only partially recoverable.
Etymology
Hottentot's bread vine got its name from early European visitors who saw local people eating the plant's large underground root like bread. Because the plant is a vine above ground with a huge edible root below, the name now refers to a South African vine with a large underground root.
