spring cress
- noun
- Specialized
- The wet meadow was dotted with delicate, white-flowered spring cress.
Examples
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We found patches of spring cress growing near the edge of the stream.
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Botanists are studying how spring cress thrives in marshy habitats.
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The spring cress blooms beautifully in the spring.
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I found some spring cresses by the riverbank.
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The wet meadow was dotted with delicate, white-flowered spring cress.
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We found patches of spring cress growing near the edge of the stream.
-
Botanists are studying how spring cress thrives in marshy habitats.
Synonyms
A small plant with white flowers that grows in wet places in eastern North America
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is a straightforward combination of 'spring' (the season) and 'cress' (a small salad/leafy plant), so its meaning as a type of cress associated with or flowering in spring is directly derivable from the constituents. Season+plant naming is a common, cross-linguistic pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily understand this MWE.
Etymology
Spring cress probably comes from the simple picture of a small cress that appears in the 'spring' season or near a water 'spring'. That's why the name means a little white-flowered plant that grows in wet places by streams and marshes.