cape forget-me-not
- noun
- South African
- The cape forget-me-not blooms beautifully in spring.
Examples
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I planted several cape forget-me-nots along the walkway for a colorful border.
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The cape forget-me-not adds a splash of bright blue to many spring gardens.
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Gardeners often choose the cape forget-me-not for its vibrant flowers and easy maintenance.
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Look at that cape forget-me-not!
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Gardeners often choose the cape forget-me-not for its vibrant flowers and easy maintenance.
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I planted several cape forget-me-nots along the walkway for a colorful border.
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The cape forget-me-not adds a splash of bright blue to many spring gardens.
Synonyms
A flowering plant with bright blue flowers and white centers
Surface Forms
Morphology
cape + forget-me-not
This is a compositional place + species name: 'cape' specifies the geographic origin and 'forget-me-not' is a known plant name, so the phrase denotes a forget-me-not from the Cape region (southern Africa). Such place-modified plant names are cross-linguistically common and therefore predictable to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
The plant cape forget-me-not is named for the Cape area of South Africa, where it comes from, and the old flower name forget-me-not, used for small blue flowers people gave to ask someone to 'remember' them. So the name points to a bright garden flower from the Cape that reminds people to 'remember'.