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Glite Dictionary
woolly manzanita

woolly manzanita

9.9
An upright California bush with young twigs covered in fuzzy hairs
  • noun
  • /ˈwʊli ˌmænzəˈniːtə/
  • US
translation icon : manzanita lanuda
  • The young branches of woolly manzanita are covered in a dense, fuzzy coating.

Examples

  • The woolly manzanita thrives in the dry hills of California.

  • We saw several woolly manzanitas along the hiking trail.

  • The woolly manzanita thrives in California's coastal regions.

  • I spotted a woolly manzanita while hiking in the hills.

  • The woolly manzanita grows well in the dry, rocky soil of California.

  • During our hike, we admired the beautiful woolly manzanita with its soft, fuzzy branches.

  • In the spring, the woolly manzanita produces small white flowers that attract pollinators.

Synonyms

Arctostaphylos tomentosa
vswoolly manzanita
  • Specialized
9.9

A shrub with young hairy stems that grows in California

is the everyday common name for the same shrub
downy manzanita
vswoolly manzanita
  • US
9.5

A shrub native to California that grows upright with open branches and soft, hairy young twigs

is the same shrub but emphasizes denser, fluffier hairs on young twigs

Surface Forms

woolly manzanita singular
woolly manzanitas plural

Morphology

woolly + manzanita

This is a straightforward adjective + noun combination: given 'woolly' (covered with wool-like hairs) and 'manzanita' (a small tree/shrub), a B1 learner can infer it is a manzanita with woolly hairs. The pattern is a standard descriptive NP (adj + noun) and is cross-linguistically common, so the meaning is directly derivable from the parts.

Etymology

Woolly manzanita gives a clear picture: woolly means covered in soft, fuzzy hairs and manzanita comes from Spanish for 'little apple' because the plant makes small round fruits. So the name means a California shrub with fuzzy young twigs and apple-like berries.