woolly thistle
- noun
- Specialized
:
cardo lanoso
- The woolly thistle grows abundantly in the rocky hills of California.
Examples
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A botanist carefully examined the white leaves of the woolly thistle.
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The woolly thistle thrives in dry, sunny areas.
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Gardeners often admire the unique texture of the woolly thistle in their native plant collections.
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Have you seen a woolly thistle before?
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The woolly thistle is easily recognized by its distinctive white woolly leaves that adorn the landscape.
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In her garden, she grows a variety of native plants, including the beautiful woolly thistle.
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As we hiked through the mountains, we spotted the striking woolly thistle clinging to the rocky soil.
Synonyms
A prickly plant with white woolly leaves that grows in western North America
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a simple adjective+noun composition: 'woolly' describes the texture/appearance and 'thistle' names the plant, so the meaning (a thistle that is woolly) is directly derivable from the parts. Modifier+noun descriptive patterns are cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Woolly thistle: In western North America people used the name woolly thistle for a local thistle whose white, hairy leaves look woolly, and thistle means a prickly plant, so the name tells you it is a prickly plant with wool-like leaves.
