Jacob's staff
- noun
- Specialized
:
ocotillo
- The vibrant red flowers of the Jacob's staff appear soon after the rains in the desert.
Examples
-
During spring hikes, we spotted several Jacob's staff shrubs blooming along the trail.
-
Botanists studied the adaptive features of Jacob's staff to survive arid conditions.
-
Look at that stunning Jacob's staff!
-
I saw a beautiful Jacob's staff blooming in the desert.
-
During spring hikes, we spotted several Jacob's staff shrubs blooming along the trail.
-
The vibrant red flowers of the Jacob's staff appear soon after the rains in the desert.
-
Botanists studied the adaptive features of Jacob's staff to survive arid conditions.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A desert shrub with thin spiny stems that grow leaves and red flowers after rain
A spiny desert shrub with long stems and red flowers after rain
A desert shrub with thin spiny branches that makes red flowers after rain in the southwestern United States and Mexico
Surface Forms
Morphology
Jacob's + staff
The phrase combines a proper name ('Jacob's') with 'staff' (a stick), which does not transparently convey ‘a desert shrub’; the botanical meaning is a conventional common-name usage rather than a predictable composition. A B1 learner who knows the parts would not reliably infer a species of plant from these constituents, so the expression is idiomatic/lexicalized in this sense.
Etymology
Jacob's staff may come from the Bible because the plant's long, straight, spiny branches look like a staff or 'walking stick' used by Jacob. That's why the name is used for this desert shrub.