prickly poppy
- noun
- /ˈprɪkli ˈpɑpi/
- Specialized
:
argemona
- The desert landscape was dotted with prickly poppy, their yellow flowers bright under the sun.
Examples
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She carefully avoided the prickly poppy plants while hiking, not wanting to touch their spiny stems.
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Researchers studied the medicinal properties of prickly poppy extracts.
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Look at the prickly poppy!
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The prickly poppy blooms beautifully in the summer.
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While walking through the garden, he admired the prickly poppy with its stunning yellow flowers and sharp leaves.
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Careful not to get hurt, she stepped around the prickly poppy growing near the entrance of the botanical garden.
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In spring, the fields are alive with prickly poppy, showcasing their large white flowers against the green foliage.
Synonyms
A prickly plant with large white or yellow flowers
A prickly plant with large white or yellow flowers that grows in tropical America
A prickly plant with large white or yellow flowers that grows in warm parts of America
How Spiny
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and compositionally derived from 'prickly' (having thorns/spines) modifying 'poppy' (a flowering plant), so a learner who knows both words will infer it denotes a poppy with prickly leaves/stems. This adjective+noun composition is a common, cross-linguistic pattern and therefore immediately predictable to a B1 learner even if they do not know the specific botanical genus.
Etymology
Prickly poppy is a simple name: the word prickly points to the sharp spines on its leaves and stems and the word poppy to its large white or yellow flower. Walkers and gardeners often avoid touching these spiny plants, so the name means 'a poppy with sharp spines'.