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Glite Dictionary
madder family

madder family

8.4
A group of mostly tropical plants like coffee and gardenia
  • noun
  • /ˈmædər ˈfæmɪli/
  • Specialized
translation icon : familia de las rubiáceas
  • The madder family includes economically important plants such as coffee and quinine-yielding trees.

Examples

  • Gardenias, which belong to the madder family, are popular ornamental shrubs in many gardens.

  • Researchers studied the medicinal properties of several herbs in the madder family.

  • The madder family includes many tropical plants.

  • Did you know that coffee belongs to the madder family?

  • Gardenias, which belong to the madder family, are popular ornamental shrubs in many gardens.

  • Researchers studied the medicinal properties of several herbs in the madder family.

  • The madder family includes economically important plants such as coffee and quinine-yielding trees.

Synonyms

Rubiaceae
vsmadder family
  • Specialized
9.9

A family of plants that includes coffee and gardenia

is the common name used instead of the scientific name

Surface Forms

madder family singular
madder families plural

Morphology

madder + family

The phrase is a straightforward taxonomic noun phrase: combining 'madder' (a plant) with 'family' (a grouping) yields 'the family of plants related to madder.' This compositional pattern (X family = the group of species related to X) is cross-linguistically common and thus readily understandable to a learner who knows both constituents.

Etymology

Madder family comes from the dye plant madder, a plant people used to make red dye. Plant scientists grouped many similar trees and shrubs together and called them a family, so madder family now means a group of related plants like coffee and gardenia.