prairie gentian
- noun
- /ˈprɛəri ˈdʒɛnʃən/
- US
:
gentiana de pradera
- The fields were dotted with blooming prairie gentian during the early summer.
Examples
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We photographed a cluster of prairie gentian growing by the stream.
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Gardeners prize the prairie gentian for its striking blue and purple flowers.
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The prairie gentian blooms beautifully in the spring.
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Many prairie gentians can be found in the wetlands.
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The fields were dotted with blooming prairie gentian during the early summer.
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Gardeners prize the prairie gentian for its striking blue and purple flowers.
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We photographed a cluster of prairie gentian growing by the stream.
Synonyms
A wildflower that grows in moist grasslands with large bell-shaped blue or purple flowers
A wildflower with large blue bell-shaped flowers that grows in wet fields
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is directly compositional: 'prairie' specifies the habitat and 'gentian' names the flowering plant, so the phrase denotes a gentian that grows in prairies. This noun–noun modification pattern is common and predictable in English (and in many other languages), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would understand the meaning.
Etymology
Prairie gentian is a name made of two parts: prairie for the open grassland where it grows, and gentian for a group of blue, bell-shaped flowers whose name long ago came from a king who used the plant as 'medicine'. So, the name tells you it is a blue 'wildflower' of the prairie.
