sea spurry
- noun
- UK
:
spergularia
- The sea spurry thrives on sandy dunes along the northern coastline.
Examples
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Gardeners sometimes struggle to control sea spurry in coastal lawns due to its rapid spread.
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Botanists observed patches of sea spurry near the heath, adding to the area's floral diversity.
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The sea spurry blooms beautifully in coastal areas.
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I found sea spurry growing near the beach.
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Botanists observed patches of sea spurry near the heath, adding to the area's floral diversity.
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Gardeners sometimes struggle to control sea spurry in coastal lawns due to its rapid spread.
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The sea spurry thrives on sandy dunes along the northern coastline.
Synonyms
A low plant with small pink flowers that often grows as a weed in sandy places
A small low-growing weed with tiny pink flowers that grows on sandy ground
A group of small plants that grow on sandy coasts in Europe and Asia
Surface Forms
Morphology
sea + spurry
The phrase combines the modifier 'sea' with the head noun 'spurry' to indicate a type of spurry associated with the sea; this is a regular compositional noun phrase and the coastal meaning is directly derivable from the constituents. Although 'spurry' is a rare lexical item (and may be unknown to many learners), if a B1 learner knows both words the overall meaning of a coastal/sea-growing plant is transparent.
Etymology
The name sea spurry may come from a simple picture: a small, low plant that spreads on sandy shores, where sea shows where it lives and spurry was an old word for this kind of little, spreading plant. So, the name now means 'a small coastal plant with pink flowers that lives on sand and dunes'.
