death camas
- noun
- US
:
camas de la muerte
- Botanists warn hikers not to handle or eat any part of the death camas due to its toxicity.
Examples
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The delicate white flowers of death camas can be mistaken for edible plants by foragers.
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Many livestock deaths in the region have been traced to accidental ingestion of death camas.
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The death camas plant is highly toxic.
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Many hikers unknowingly encounter death camas in the wild.
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Botanists warn hikers not to handle or eat any part of the death camas due to its toxicity.
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Many livestock deaths in the region have been traced to accidental ingestion of death camas.
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The delicate white flowers of death camas can be mistaken for edible plants by foragers.
Synonyms
A North American plant with grass-like leaves and white poisonous flowers
A group of poisonous plants called death camas that grow mostly in North America
A poisonous plant of western North America and Mexico that kills animals that eat grass
Poisonous wildflower from western North America that can make animals that eat grass very sick
A poisonous plant from western North America with long thin leaves and pale greenish-white flowers
A highly poisonous plant called death camas that grows in parts of the central United States
A poisonous plant from eastern and central North America with creamy white flowers that can harm grazing animals
A poisonous plant with grass-like leaves that kills grazing animals
A wild plant whose bulbs look like wild onions and can make animals or people sick
A North American plant with white flowers that is poisonous to animals that eat grass
How Deadly
- US
2
3.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
death + camas
The compound is compositionally built: 'death' modifies the plant name 'camas', so a learner who knows both words can infer it denotes a camas associated with death — i.e., a poisonous or deadly plant. Although 'camas' is a rare lexical item, the modifier 'death' transparently signals lethal/toxic quality, making the overall meaning predictable from the constituents.
Etymology
The plant name death camas pairs death, meaning deadly, with camas, an edible flower it looks like. Because people and animals who ate it could 'die', the name death camas is a simple warning not to eat the plant.