northern dune tansy

9.9

A plant that lives for many years with feathery leaves and small yellow flowers in sand dunes

noun

: tanaceto de dunas del norte

The northern dune tansy thrives in the sandy soils along Washington’s coastal dunes.

Examples

She identified the fragrant, feathery leaves as those of the northern dune tansy.
Botanists are working to protect remaining northern dune tansy populations due to habitat loss.
The northern dune tansy thrives in sandy soil.
I spotted a northern dune tansy during my walk on the beach.
Botanists are working to protect remaining northern dune tansy populations due to habitat loss.
She identified the fragrant, feathery leaves as those of the northern dune tansy.
The northern dune tansy thrives in the sandy soils along Washington’s coastal dunes.

Synonyms

Tanacetum douglasii

vsnorthern dune tansy

Specialized

9.9

A perennial plant with scented feathery leaves and small yellow flowers that grows in sand dunes along the Pacific coast

is the common everyday name rather than the scientific label

Surface Forms

northern dune tansy singular

northern dune tansies plural

Morphology

northern + dune + tansy

The phrase is fully compositional: 'tansy' names a plant and the modifiers 'dune' and 'northern' specify its typical habitat and region, so the overall meaning ('a tansy that grows on northern dunes') follows directly from the parts. This adjective+noun and noun-modifier pattern is regular in English (and common cross-linguistically), so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Northern dune tansy is a name that tells you about the plant: northern means it lives 'in the north', dune means it grows on 'sand hills' by the coast, and tansy is 'a type of yellow, feathery-flowered plant'. So the name helps you picture a small, fragrant plant with button-like yellow flowers living on coastal sand dunes.