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Glite Dictionary
prairie smoke

prairie smoke

9.9
A wildflower with purple flowers and feathery seed plumes found on grassland
  • noun
  • /ˈprɛəriˌsmoʊk/
  • US
translation icon : humo de pradera
  • Each spring, prairie smoke adds a touch of purple and silver to the grasslands.

Examples

  • The prairie smoke blooms beautifully in spring.

  • The wildflowers in the meadow included prairie smoke, its feathery plumes swaying in the breeze.

  • Gardeners value prairie smoke for both its unique flowers and its drought resistance.

  • I saw a patch of prairie smoke by the trail.

  • The garden was filled with colorful flowers, including prairie smoke that swayed gently in the breeze.

  • During the summer, prairie smoke adds beauty to the landscape with its unique plume-tipped fruits.

  • I spotted prairie smoke blooming on my hike, its purple flowers standing out against the green foliage.

Synonyms

Geum triflorum
vsprairie smoke
  • Specialized
9.9

A North American plant with hairy divided leaves, purple flowers, and fluffy seed heads

is the common name used in everyday speech rather than the scientific name

Surface Forms

prairie smoke singular
prairie smokes plural

Morphology

prairie + smoke

The phrase evokes the image of 'smoke' on a 'prairie', so there is a visible, descriptive relation between the constituents and the referent (the plant’s plume-like fruits). However, knowing 'prairie' and 'smoke' alone does not reliably lead a B1 learner to identify it specifically as a species of perennial plant rather than as actual smoke or a landscape phenomenon, so full compositional predictability is lacking.

Etymology

Prairie smoke is a plant with feathery seed heads that float above the grass and look like thin smoke on the prairie. That's why people call the plant 'prairie smoke'.