squirreltail grass
- noun
- Specialized
:
hierba cola de ardilla
- The squirreltail grass in the meadow shimmered in the breeze, its silky awns catching the sunlight.
Examples
-
Native to North America, squirreltail grass is valued both ornamentally and ecologically.
-
Gardeners often plant squirreltail grass for its attractive, feathery flower heads.
-
The squirreltail grass adds beauty to the garden.
-
Many gardeners love squirreltail grasses for their unique appearance.
-
Gardeners often plant squirreltail grass for its attractive, feathery flower heads.
-
The squirreltail grass in the meadow shimmered in the breeze, its silky awns catching the sunlight.
-
Native to North America, squirreltail grass is valued both ornamentally and ecologically.
Synonyms
A grass with long soft feathery flower heads often grown to look nice
A grass with long, silky flower heads often grown in gardens
A grass with long, silky seed heads like a fox tail, often grown for decoration or seen as a weed
A grass with a long, bushy seed head that looks like a squirrel's tail
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is directly compositional: 'squirreltail' denotes a bunchgrass with a bushy, tail-like seedhead and 'grass' denotes the plant, so 'squirreltail grass' straightforwardly refers to a grass of that kind. This noun+noun naming pattern is regular in English (and cross-linguistically common for plant names), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
The plant name squirreltail grass comes from a simple picture: its long, silky flower heads look like a squirrel's bushy tail. That's why the name refers to this grass with feathery, tail-like flowers.
