Cercis occidentalis
- noun
- Specialized
:
Cercis occidentalis
- The Cercis occidentalis blooms with bright pink flowers every spring in California's hills.
Examples
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Gardeners often use Cercis occidentalis to create natural thickets in drought-prone landscapes.
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The vibrant flowers of Cercis occidentalis attract bees and butterflies to the garden.
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The Cercis occidentalis blooms beautifully in spring.
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Many gardeners love Cercis occidentalis for its striking flowers.
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Gardeners often use Cercis occidentalis to create natural thickets in drought-prone landscapes.
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The Cercis occidentalis blooms with bright pink flowers every spring in California's hills.
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The vibrant flowers of Cercis occidentalis attract bees and butterflies to the garden.
Synonyms
A shrub from the western United States with bright pink or crimson flowers that grows in dense groups
A small bush from the western United States with pink or red flowers that often grows in thick groups
Surface Forms
Morphology
Cercis + occidentalis
The binomial is compositional: Cercis names the genus (redbud) and occidentalis is a Latin epithet meaning 'western', so a learner who knows both constituents can infer 'the western Cercis' (a western redbud/shrub). Although occidentalis is Latin and may be unfamiliar in everyday English, its cognates (occident/occidental) meaning 'western' are common across languages, making the overall meaning directly derivable from the parts.
Etymology
Cercis occidentalis comes from two old words. Cercis may come from a Greek word for a 'weaver's shuttle' because the plant's long seed pods look like that small tool, and occidentalis means 'western', so the name helps you remember it is a western shrub with bright pink flowers.
