chocolate root
- noun
- UK
:
raíz de chocolate
- The chocolate root is often admired in gardens for its striking nodding flowers.
Examples
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She photographed a patch of chocolate root blooming in the woodland preserve.
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Botanists studied the chocolate root for its unique combination of orange and pink petals.
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The chocolate root has beautiful flowers.
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I found a chocolate root in the garden.
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Gardeners often plant chocolate root because of its attractive orange-pink flowers.
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In spring, the chocolate root adds vibrant color to the flower beds with its nodding blossoms.
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The chocolate root is a perennial herb valued for its unique brown-purple calyx and delicate petals.
Synonyms
A plant that lives for many years with divided leaves and brown-purple and orange flowers that hang down
A long-lived wildflower that grows in wet meadows with nodding brown-purple flower cups and orange-pink petals
A small wild plant with nodding orange-pink flowers that grows in wet places
Surface Forms
Morphology
The modifier 'chocolate' and the noun 'root' together cue a plant-related referent (likely a root or plant part that is chocolate-colored or associated with chocolate), so a B1 learner would infer a botanical sense from the known words. However, the specific, conventional botanical sense (a particular perennial herb with pinnate leaves and distinctive flowers) is not fully predictable from the constituents alone, so the expression is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Chocolate root The plant name chocolate root may come from the dark brown look of some flower parts or the roots, so the words chocolate and root make a clear picture of a plant with chocolate-coloured parts. That's why today the name is used for this small woodland 'plant'.
