ribbon-leaved water plantain
- noun
- Specialized
:
platanillo de hojas cinta
- The ribbon-leaved water plantain thrives in shallow ponds and slow-moving streams.
Examples
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You can spot ribbon-leaved water plantain by its long, slender leaves floating on the water.
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Botanists identified the aquatic species as ribbon-leaved water plantain during their field survey.
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The ribbon-leaved water plantain thrives in shallow ponds.
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I found a ribbon-leaved water plantain while kayaking.
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The ribbon-leaved water plantain thrives in shallow ponds and slow-moving streams.
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You can spot ribbon-leaved water plantain by its long, slender leaves floating on the water.
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Botanists identified the aquatic species as ribbon-leaved water plantain during their field survey.
Synonyms
A plant with broad leaves and small white or pink flowers that grows in wet places
Surface Forms
Morphology
ribbon-leaved + water + plantain
The phrase is a fully compositional noun phrase: 'water plantain' names an aquatic plant and 'ribbon-leaved' describes its leaves as ribbon-like, so the overall meaning (an aquatic plant with narrow, ribbon-shaped leaves) follows directly from the constituents. This modifier+noun pattern is a transparent descriptive construction and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows the relevant senses of 'ribbon', 'leaf', 'water' and the botanical sense of 'plantain'.
Etymology
The name ribbon-leaved water plantain comes from how the plant looks: its long, narrow leaves look like ribbons and it grows in water as a kind of plantain. That's why the name means 'a species of aquatic plant with narrow, ribbon-like leaves' today.
