chamois cress
- noun
- UK
:
berro de gamuza
- Hikers are sometimes surprised by the delicate flowers of the chamois cress in Alpine meadows.
Examples
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The chamois cress thrives in rocky areas at high altitudes.
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I saw a chamois cress blooming in the Alps.
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Botanists studied the chamois cress for its adaptation to harsh mountain climates.
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The chamois cress thrives in rocky mountain areas.
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Hikers are sometimes surprised by the delicate flowers of the chamois cress in Alpine meadows.
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The chamois cress thrives in rocky areas at high altitudes.
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I saw a chamois cress blooming in the Alps.
Synonyms
A small plant that grows in clumps in mountain meadows and has very small flowers
A small mountain plant with very small flowers and few leaves
A small flowering plant in the mustard family with small white flowers that grows on rocky mountain ground
Surface Forms
Morphology
chamois + cress
The phrase clearly denotes a kind of cress (so knowing 'cress' lets a learner infer it is a plant), and the modifier 'chamois' plausibly points to an attributive quality (e.g. association with the chamois/mountains or a colour), so the basic category (‘a cress related to chamois’) is derivable. However, the specific botanical sense (small tufted perennial native to mountain rocks) is lexicalized and not fully predictable from the parts, and the input shows 'chamois' is not listed in the dictionary which would hinder many B1 learners.
Etymology
Chamois cress may come from the wild mountain goat called chamois and the word cress, which means a small herb. One popular story says the tiny plant grows on rocky slopes where chamois eat, so the name points to a little 'mountain herb'.
