lobster plant
- noun
- US
:
poinsettia
- Although beautiful, the lobster plant contains a poisonous milky sap and should be handled with care.
Examples
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Gardeners appreciate the lobster plant for attracting hummingbirds with its bright flowers.
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The lobster plant is popular in gardens for its striking red bracts and unusual shape.
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The lobster plant is known for its vibrant colors.
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I saw a beautiful lobster plant at the botanical garden.
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Although beautiful, the lobster plant contains a poisonous milky sap and should be handled with care.
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Gardeners appreciate the lobster plant for attracting hummingbirds with its bright flowers.
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The lobster plant is popular in gardens for its striking red bracts and unusual shape.
Synonyms
3
7.0
A tropical plant with bright red leaves that people put on tables at Christmas
A tropical American plant with poisonous sap and bright red leaf-like bracts surrounding small yellow flowers
A tropical American shrub with poisonous milky sap and bright red leaf-like parts around small yellow flowers
A plant with bright red leaves often used as a Christmas decoration
A plant with red leaves like a poinsettia that people use to decorate at Christmas
A tropical plant with bright red leaves and poisonous milky sap
Surface Forms
Morphology
lobster + plant
A B1 learner who knows 'lobster' and 'plant' can reliably infer that this is a kind of plant related in some way to a lobster (e.g., by colour or shape), so the basic category is transparent. However, the detailed meaning (a specific tropical plant with poisonous milky sap and showy scarlet bracts) is not predictable from the constituents alone, so the relation is only partially transparent.
Etymology
The name lobster plant may come from the plant's bright red, pointed flower parts that look like the shell or claws of a lobster, so the whole plant looks like a small red lobster. That's why people started calling this showy but poisonous plant a lobster plant.