wax mallow
- noun
:
malvavisco
- The botanist explained how the wax mallow attracts hummingbirds with its brilliant, bell-shaped blossoms.
Examples
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The wax mallow in her garden bloomed with bright, drooping red flowers throughout the summer.
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Many gardeners value the wax mallow for its striking resemblance to the hibiscus, despite being a different genus.
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Look at that wax mallow blooming beautifully!
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The wax mallow produces beautiful flowers.
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The wax mallow in her garden bloomed with bright, drooping red flowers throughout the summer.
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The botanist explained how the wax mallow attracts hummingbirds with its brilliant, bell-shaped blossoms.
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Many gardeners value the wax mallow for its striking resemblance to the hibiscus, despite being a different genus.
Synonyms
A small plant with bright, bell-shaped hanging flowers like unopened hibiscus blooms
A small plant with hanging, bell-shaped flowers that stay partly closed
A group of small shrubs with bright red flowers like hibiscus from Central and South America
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is directly interpretable as a kind of mallow characterized by a waxy quality—so a learner who knows 'wax' (waxy, shiny substance) and 'mallow' (a flowering plant) can infer it is a mallow with wax-like flowers or texture. This attributive noun + noun composition is a regular, compositional pattern in English (and cross-linguistically common), making the meaning immediately derivable from the constituents.
Etymology
Wax mallow may come from its shiny, wax-like petals and its link to the mallow family. The bell-shaped, drooping flowers look like small, half-open 'hibiscus' blooms, so the name helps you remember this plant and its bright, showy flowers.
