| 释义 |
dahlia|ˈdeɪlɪə, properly ˈdɑːlɪə|
[Named 1791 in honour of Dahl, a Swedish botanist.]
1. A Genus of Composite plants, natives of Mexico, introduced into Europe in 1789, and commonly cultivated in gardens.
In the wild plant the flowers are ‘single’ with a dull scarlet ray and yellow disk; in the cultivated forms the varieties of colour are very numerous, and the ‘double’ varieties are distinguished by the remarkable regularity of their flowers, in which florets of the ray completely cover the disk.
1804Curtis's Bot. Mag. XIX. 762 Of the genus Dahlia there are three species described by Cavanilles. 1840Hood Kilmansegg, Her Honeymoon ix, A double dahlia delights the eye. 1863Longfellow Wayside Inn, Student's Tale 182 Among the dahlias in the garden walk.
b. blue dahlia: fig. something impossible or unattainable (no blue variety of the dahlia having been produced by cultivation).
1880Daily News 17 Dec. 5/4 Whether the colonisation of Gilead be a blue dahlia or not.
2. Name for a particular shade of red.
1846Art Union Jrnl. Jan. 26 Their Mazarine blue, their puce, their dahlia, their Turkey red, or their azure. 1892Pall Mall G. 29 Sept. 1/3 One of the many ugly shades that are to be worn this season is dahlia. |