striped coral root
- noun
- US
- The striped coral root blooms in shaded woodlands during late spring.
Examples
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We photographed a cluster of striped coral root near the forest trail.
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I found a striped coral root while hiking.
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Botanists are studying how the striped coral root adapts to different soil conditions.
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The striped coral root blooms in early spring.
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The striped coral root blooms in shaded woodlands during late spring.
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We photographed a cluster of striped coral root near the forest trail.
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I found a striped coral root while hiking in the mountains.
Synonyms
A nearly leafless orchid with reddish stems and pale pink and brown striped flowers that gets food from fungi
A wildflower without leaves that gets food from fungi and grows from a hard mass of roots underground
A group of leafless orchids that get food from other plant roots and have small purple or yellow flowers
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is compositionally descriptive: 'striped' denotes a banded pattern, 'coral' specifies a pinkish/coral color, and 'root' signals a plant part/name, so a learner who knows these words can infer it refers to a plant (or plant part) with coral-coloured stripes. Adjective + noun plant names are cross-linguistically common and follow straightforward compositional patterns, making the meaning accessible to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Striped coral root gets its name from the plant's look: the pale pink and brown flowers have thin lines, so striped fits. The knobby underground parts look like coral and a root, so the name describes this small wildflower with few leaves.