Rugel's plantain

9.9

A North American wild plant with red leaf stalks and wide leaves that grows in wet places

noun

: plátano de Rugel

The reddish stems helped us identify the Rugel's plantain growing in the meadow.

Examples

We spotted several Rugel's plantain plants along the damp edge of the trail.
Gardeners sometimes cultivate Rugel's plantain for its attractive foliage.
I found a beautiful Rugel's plantain near the river.
Have you seen a Rugel's plantain in the park?
The reddish stems helped us identify the Rugel's plantain growing in the meadow.
We spotted several Rugel's plantain plants along the damp edge of the trail.
Gardeners sometimes cultivate Rugel's plantain for its attractive foliage.

Synonyms

plantain

vsRugel's plantain

1 5.8

A small common weed with broad leaves and small flower spikes that grows by paths and lawns

is a specific North American type that prefers moist habitats with reddish stalks

Plantago rugelii

vsRugel's plantain

Specialized

9.9

A small wild plant from North America with broad leaves and red leaf stalks

is the same species but noted for living in moist habitats

Surface Forms

Rugel's plantain singular

Rugel's plantains plural

Morphology

Rugel's + plantain

This is a possessive proper-name + noun construction: it denotes a plantain associated with (or named after) someone called Rugel, so the meaning is simply a particular species/variety of plantain. The composition is fully derivable from the constituents and follows a common naming pattern, so a learner who knows 'Rugel' as a name and 'plantain' would understand it refers to that type of plant.

Etymology

Rugel's plantain is named after a plant collector called Rugel who first found or described this low, broad-leaved plant, and the word plantain is an old name for simple, flat leaves. So the name simply means 'the plantain Rugel found', which is why we use it for this particular North American species.