love vine

9.9

A vine without leaves that wraps around and harms plants like clover, with small white bell-shaped flowers on orange-yellow stems

noun

: vid del amor

Clusters of small white flowers grow in dense bunches on the love vine, which wraps around host plants like clover.

Examples

Clusters of white flowers dotted the orange stems of the love vine growing by the roadside.
The love vine wrapped itself tightly around the clover in the field.
Botanists studied the spread of love vine and its impact on native plants.
The love vine bloomed beautifully in the garden.
Have you seen the love vine growing on the fence?
The bright orange-yellow stems of the love vine twined around the flax in the sunny field.
In spring, the love vine can be seen climbing over other plants, adorned with delicate white flowers.

Synonyms

Cuscuta gronovii

vslove vine

Specialized

9.9

A leafless vine that grows on other plants with orange-yellow stems and many small white bell-shaped flowers

is the general common name rather than the specific species name

Surface Forms

love vine singular

love vines plural

Morphology

love + vine

The compound is a conventional plant name referring to a specific parasitic vine; the lexical item 'love' (even if understood as the emotion) gives no clue about the plant's leafless, parasitic habit or flower clusters, so the full meaning cannot be composed from the parts. Plant names are often lexicalized and language-specific, so a B1 learner who knows 'love' and 'vine' would not reliably infer this botanical sense.

Etymology

Love vine may come from the way the vine twines tightly around other plants as if in an 'embrace', and the word love makes us think of holding something close. That's why the name fits a plant that grows around a host plant.