Idria columnaris
- noun
- Specialized
- The creamy yellow flowers of Idria columnaris are famous for their sweet, honey-like scent.
Examples
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The distinctive Idria columnaris stands tall in the Baja California desert.
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The Idria columnaris is often used in landscaping.
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Botanists were amazed by the size and unique structure of Idria columnaris.
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Have you ever seen an Idria columnaris in bloom?
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The creamy yellow flowers of Idria columnaris are famous for their sweet, honey-like scent.
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The distinctive Idria columnaris stands tall in the Baja California desert.
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Have you ever seen an Idria columnaris in bloom?
Synonyms
A tall desert tree with a thick trunk, spines and creamy yellow flowers
A tall desert tree with creamy yellow flowers that smell like honey
A tall column-shaped plant from Mexico with creamy yellow flowers that smell like honey
Surface Forms
Morphology
Idria + columnaris
This is a Latin binomial (scientific species name) whose parts are not English lexical items in the provided data; a B1 learner who ‘knows’ the constituent tokens as words would still not be able to derive the botanical meaning. Taxonomic names encode classification rather than compositional, transparent meaning in ordinary English, so the species identity and attributes are not predictable from the parts.
Etymology
Idria columnaris may come from the Latin word columnaris, meaning 'column-like'. The image of tall, straight stems like a column or candle helps explain why this species is a tall candlewood with creamy, honey-scented flowers.