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Glite Dictionary
🌿 Silvery leaves 🌱 A plant or disease
silverleaf

silverleaf

8.1
A plant with silvery leaves or a disease that makes leaves look silvery
  • noun
  • /ˈsɪlvərˌliːf/
translation icon : planta de hoja plateada
  • Farmers struggled with the effects of silverleaf, which turned the leaves of their crops a dull gray.
  • silverleaf whitefly

Examples

  • Called squash silverleaf, it often affected entire fields.

    Academic text (1997)

  • The studies also confirmed why squash silverleaf is now recognized worldwide as a sign of the new pest.

    Academic text (1997)

  • The new strain of whitefly has recently been named B. argentifolii, silverleaf whitefly.

    Academic text (1995)

  • Lettuce chlorosis is among the newly emerging viruses carried by silverleaf whiteflies.

    Academic text (1997)

  • Silverleaf whiteflies wreak havoc simply by feeding on leaves and stems.

    Academic text (1997)

  • In 1992, scientists with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, universities, state departments of agriculture, and industry adopted a national 5-year plan of research and action against the silverleaf whitefly, Bemisia argentifolii.

    Academic text (1997)

  • Thomas Perring and Thomas Bellows at the University of California (UC) Riverside identified the pest as a new species, B. argentifolii, and named it "silverleaf whitefly."

    Academic text (1997)

  • PHOTO (COLOR): The silvering and netting of veins in leaves caused by the feeding of certain whitefly nymphs led scientists to name this new biotype "silverleaf whitefly."

    Academic text (1997)

  • The silverleaf plant is known for its striking, silvery leaves that shimmer in the sunlight.

  • Many garden enthusiasts love to cultivate silverleaf because of its unique appearance and ease of care.

Surface Forms

silverleaf singular
silverleaves plural

Morphology

silverleaf = silver + leaf (semi-transparent) = silver + leaf

As a plant name the compound is transparent, but the additional technical sense referring to a specific fungal disease is specialized and less obvious to learners.

Etymology

The word silverleaf comes from silver ('a shiny, pale metal') and leaf ('a plant leaf'), so imagine leaves dusted or turned silver. As a noun, silverleaf can mean a plant with silvery leaves or a disease that makes leaves turn silvery.