evening-primrose family
- noun
- Specialized
- Members of the evening-primrose family are known for their distinctive four-petaled flowers.
Examples
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Many species in the evening-primrose family bloom at night.
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The evening-primrose family includes many species found throughout North America.
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Botanists often study the evening-primrose family to learn about plant evolution and adaptation.
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The evening-primrose family includes many beautiful plants.
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Botanists often study the evening-primrose family to learn about plant evolution and adaptation.
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Members of the evening-primrose family are known for their distinctive four-petaled flowers.
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The evening-primrose family includes many species found throughout North America.
Synonyms
A family of flowering plants that includes evening primrose and fuchsia
Surface Forms
Morphology
evening-primrose + family
The phrase is compositionally built: 'evening-primrose' names a plant and the pattern 'X family' conventionally means the taxonomic/grouping that contains X, so the overall meaning ('a family of flowering plants that includes the evening primrose') is directly derivable from the parts. This X + family construction is a regular, cross-linguistic pattern in scientific and everyday naming, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will understand it.
Etymology
Evening-primrose family is named after the plant evening-primrose, whose flowers open in the evening and look like small primroses. The word family means a 'group of related plants', so the name tells you it is a group of flowering plants that includes the evening primrose.