fragrant wood fern
- noun
- UK
:
helecho fragante
- The fragrant wood fern can thrive in both North American and Eurasian climates.
Examples
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Many gardeners appreciate the subtle scent of the fragrant wood fern's foliage.
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The fragrant wood fern grows well in shaded areas.
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The fragrant wood fern grows well in shaded forest gardens.
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I found a beautiful fragrant wood fern in the garden.
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The fragrant wood fern is often found in damp, shaded areas of the forest.
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When hiking, I love to admire the fragrant wood fern growing alongside the trail.
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The gardener planted fragrant wood ferns to add a lovely scent to the garden.
Synonyms
A small fern with sweet-smelling leaves that grows in cold northern regions
A green plant with divided leaves that smell pleasant
A fern with fragrant leaves that grows on rocky cliffs in cold regions
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is transparently compositional: a B1 learner who knows 'fragrant' (pleasant smell), 'wood' (wooded area) and 'fern' (a type of plant) can infer this refers to a fern associated with wooded areas that has a pleasant scent. The adjective + noun + noun compound follows standard English noun-modifying patterns and is cross-linguistically straightforward, so the meaning is directly derivable from its parts.
Etymology
Fragrant wood fern is a simple descriptive name: it is a fern that grows in the wood and has a light fragrant smell from its leaves. That's why the name means a woodland fern known for its pleasant 'scent'.
