Pellaea ornithopus
- noun
- Specialized
:
Pellaea ornithopus
- The rocky slopes were covered with Pellaea ornithopus, its distinctive purple-brown stems standing out against the stone.
Examples
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Botanists documented several colonies of Pellaea ornithopus along the Baja California coastline.
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The gardener was excited to add Pellaea ornithopus to the native fern collection.
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Look at the Pellaea ornithopus!
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The Pellaea ornithopus thrives in rocky environments.
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Botanists documented several colonies of Pellaea ornithopus along the Baja California coastline.
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The gardener was excited to add Pellaea ornithopus to the native fern collection.
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The rocky slopes were covered with Pellaea ornithopus, its distinctive purple-brown stems standing out against the stone.
Synonyms
A small fern with purple-brown stalks and divided leaves like a bird's foot
A type of fern with purple-brown leaf stalks that grows on cliffs in California and Baja California
A small fern with dark shiny stems that grows on rocks
A small fern that grows on cliffs and walls with dark shiny stems
A small fern that grows on rocks or cliffs
A small fern that grows on rocks
Surface Forms
Morphology
Pellaea + ornithopus
This is a Latin binomial scientific name (taxonomic label) rather than a compositional English phrase; its parts function as arbitrary labels. 'Pellaea' may indicate a genus of ferns but 'ornithopus' is not an English word and would be unknown to a B1 learner, so the specific species meaning cannot be derived from the constituents. Therefore the overall meaning is not predictable from the parts for an average learner.
Etymology
Pellaea ornithopus comes from old Greek words: ornitho- meaning 'bird' and -pus meaning 'foot'. The fern's divided leaves look like a small bird's foot on rocky cliffs, so the name helps you remember this cliff fern.
