Nicandra physaloides
- noun
- Specialized
:
Nicandra physaloides
- I planted Nicandra physaloides for its distinctive blue-and-white blossoms and interesting fruits.
Examples
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The garden featured Nicandra physaloides among several other unusual flowering plants.
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The garden is full of Nicandra physaloides this season.
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Researchers studied the medicinal properties of Nicandra physaloides in traditional South American remedies.
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Have you seen the Nicandra physaloides blooming?
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I planted Nicandra physaloides for its distinctive blue-and-white blossoms and unique fruits that resemble small lanterns.
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In the botanical garden, Nicandra physaloides draws visitors with its captivating blue-and-white flowers.
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The unique Nicandra physaloides is often admired for its attractive flowers and unusual fruit structure.
Synonyms
A South American herb with blue and white flowers and a papery round fruit
A tall tropical plant that grows quickly, smells strong, has large trumpet-shaped flowers, and prickly poisonous fruit
Surface Forms
Morphology
Nicandra + physaloides
This is a Latin botanical binomial (a species name) rather than an English idiomatic or compositional phrase; its parts are not ordinary English words and one constituent ('physaloides') is not even found in the dictionary provided. A B1 learner who knows basic English vocabulary would not be able to derive the plant description from these Latinized elements, so the meaning is not predictable from the constituents.
Etymology
Nicandra physaloides may come from a Greek writer called Nicander, and the second part, physaloides, means 'like a bladder'. This fits the plant because it has a papery, balloon-like fruit, so the name helps you remember its bladderlike seed pod.
