Skip to main content
purple fringeless orchid

purple fringeless orchid

9.9
An orchid from North America with rosy purple flowers and finely toothed leaves
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : orquídea morada sin flecos
  • We spotted a rare purple fringeless orchid while hiking in the wet meadows of Vermont.

Examples

  • The vibrant flowers of the purple fringeless orchid attract many pollinators each summer.

  • Botanists are working to conserve the endangered purple fringeless orchid in its native habitats.

  • Look at that purple fringeless orchid!

  • The purple fringeless orchid blooms in late summer.

  • The vibrant flowers of the purple fringeless orchid attract many pollinators each summer.

  • Botanists are working to conserve the endangered purple fringeless orchid in its native habitats.

  • We spotted a rare purple fringeless orchid while hiking in the wet meadows of Vermont.

Synonyms

Habenaria peramoena
vspurple fringeless orchid
  • Specialized
9.9

A wild orchid with fringed rosy-purple or violet flowers that grows in wet meadows in eastern North America

has identical botanical description but uses the common English name instead
purple fringeless orchis
vspurple fringeless orchid
  • Specialized
9.9

A small wild plant with rosy-purple flowers that grows in wet meadows in eastern North America

has identical botanical description but differs in spelling and form

Surface Forms

Morphology

purple + fringeless + orchid

The phrase is fully compositional: 'purple' names the color, 'fringeless' is transparently 'without fringe' (built from fringe + the productive suffix -less), and 'orchid' is the plant. A B1 learner who knows these constituent meanings can infer it refers to a purple orchid that lacks a fringe on its flowers, so the overall meaning is directly derivable.

Etymology

Purple fringeless orchid is a name that comes from how the flower looks: it has purple petals and, unlike similar plants called 'fringed orchids', no fringe on the petal edges, so it is fringeless. So the name points to a purple orchid without the usual fringe, helping people tell this species apart.