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Glite Dictionary
🌤️ A beam of sunlight 💡 Artificial UV light 🌼 A yellow plant
sunray

sunray

9.6
A desert plant with low leaves and a single bright yellow flower
  • noun
  • /ˈsʌnˌreɪ/
  • Specialized
translation icon : sunray
  • Each stalk of the sunray plant supports a single, bright yellow blossom.

Examples

  • The sunray thrives in the arid landscapes of the American Southwest.

  • Hikers were delighted to spot a blooming sunray on the trail near Arizona.

  • I found a beautiful sunray while hiking in Arizona.

  • The sunray is often mistaken for other desert plants.

  • The sunray plant is known for its large, vibrant yellow flower that attracts pollinators.

  • In the desert, the unique characteristics of the sunray make it an important part of the ecosystem.

  • As we wandered through the rocky terrain, we were thrilled to discover a sunray flourishing amid the dry soil.

Synonyms

Enceliopsis nudicaulis
vssunray
  • Specialized
9.9

A desert plant with grey green leaves and tall leafless stems each with one large yellow flower

is the everyday descriptive name rather than the formal scientific label

Compounds

sunray lamp
  • Specialized
6.8

A lamp that makes light like the sun for medical or beauty treatment

sunray pleat
  • Specialized
8.9

A narrow fold in cloth cut across at an angle that fans out like sun rays

Surface Forms

sunray singular
sunrays plural

Morphology

sunray = sun + ray (semi-transparent) = sun + ray

The name is a metaphorical compound referring to the plant's radiating yellow petals; the parts are recognizable but the referent (a plant species) is not directly derivable.

Etymology

Sunray is also the name of a plant with a single bright yellow flower, and the word joins sun ('the star that gives light and heat') and ray ('a beam of light'). The flower looks like a small sun or a sun's ray, which is why people called the plant a sunray.