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Glite Dictionary
foxglove family

foxglove family

7.2
A family of flowering plants that includes foxgloves and snapdragons
  • noun
  • /ˈfɑksˌɡlʌv ˈfæmɪli/
  • Specialized
translation icon : familia de las dedaleras
  • Snapdragons, a popular garden flower, belong to the foxglove family.

Examples

  • Researchers have discovered new medicinal compounds in members of the foxglove family.

  • Did you know the foxglove family has over 200 species?

  • The foxglove family contains a wide variety of colorful garden plants.

  • The foxglove family includes many beautiful plants.

  • Researchers have discovered new medicinal compounds in members of the foxglove family.

  • Snapdragons, a popular garden flower, belong to the foxglove family.

  • The foxglove family contains a wide variety of colorful garden plants.

Synonyms

Scrophulariaceae
vsfoxglove family
  • Specialized
9.9

A group of flowering plants that includes snapdragons and foxgloves

is the common name for that plant group rather than the scientific label
figwort family
vsfoxglove family
  • Specialized
9.5

A group of flowering plants including foxglove and snapdragon

is a related common name that highlights one genus instead of formal classification

Surface Forms

foxglove family singular
foxglove families plural

Morphology

foxglove + family

The phrase is fully compositional: 'foxglove' names a plant and 'family' denotes a group of related species, so 'foxglove family' straightforwardly refers to the family containing foxgloves and related plants. This noun+noun pattern for biological groupings is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituent words can reliably infer the meaning.

Etymology

The name foxglove family may come from an old story: people thought the bell-shaped flowers looked like tiny gloves, and some called them a 'folk's glove' meaning a fairy's glove, so the parts fox and glove were joined. That's why the name now means a family of similar flowering plants.