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Glite Dictionary
Lonicera dioica

Lonicera dioica

9.9
A climbing bush that loses its leaves and has small yellow-green flowers with purple tips native to eastern North America
  • noun
  • Specialized
: madreselva dioica
  • The Lonicera dioica in her garden produced clusters of purple-tinged flowers this spring.

Examples

  • Many birds are drawn to the berries that appear on Lonicera dioica in late summer.

  • Botanists found a healthy population of Lonicera dioica thriving in the forest understory.

  • The Lonicera dioica blooms beautifully in spring.

  • I saw a Lonicera dioica in the botanical garden.

  • Botanists found a healthy population of Lonicera dioica thriving in the forest understory.

  • Many birds are drawn to the berries that appear on Lonicera dioica in late summer.

  • The Lonicera dioica in her garden produced clusters of purple-tinged flowers this spring.

Surface Forms

Lonicera dioica singular
Lonicera dioicas plural

Morphology

Lonicera + dioica

This is a Linnaean binomial combining the genus name 'Lonicera' (honeysuckle) with the specific epithet 'dioica'; a learner who knows both constituents will straightforwardly infer it denotes a particular species of Lonicera (a honeysuckle). Taxonomic binomial formation is a regular, cross-linguistic compositional pattern, so the species meaning is transparent to someone who understands the parts.

Etymology

Lonicera dioica takes its first part, Lonicera, from the German herbalist Adam Lonicer, and its second part, dioica, comes from a Greek phrase meaning 'two houses'. This refers to the way the plant has male and female flowers on different plants, so the name helps you remember this honeysuckle's separate 'male and female' plants.