| 单词 | common sunflower |
| 释义 | > as lemmascommon sunflower a. Originally (more fully annual sunflower, common sunflower, †Indian sunflower): a tall annual plant having large flower heads with bright yellow ray florets surrounding dark disc florets, Helianthus annuus (family Asteraceae) ( Compositae), native to North America but widely cultivated elsewhere for its showy flowers and oil-rich seeds. In later use also (frequently with distinguishing word): any of the other plants of the genus Helianthus. Occasionally also: a flower head of one of these plants.The resemblance of the flower head to an image of the sun is the most likely reason for the application of the name to these plants, but they also exhibit some degree of heliotropism (cf. sense 1).Occasionally also in figurative and allusive contexts with reference to the height of the common sunflower. Cf. also sense 1b. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > composite flowers > sunflower golden flower of Peru1578 Indian sun1578 girasola1586 flower of the sun1597 marigold of Peru1597 marigold sunflower1597 sunflower1597 turnsole1725 sun-seeker1847 1597 J. Gerard Herball ii. 614 Some haue called it Corona Solis, and Sol Indianus, the Indian Sun flower; other haue called it Chrysanthemum Peruuianum, or the golden flower of Peru; in English the flower of the Sunne, or Sunne flower. 1688 P. Pett Happy Future State of Eng. 74 Popery can never run up to any height more then the Sun-flower without a supporter. 1705 N. Tate tr. A. Cowley Of Plants iv, in A. Cowley Wks. (1711) III. 395 The Sun-Flow'r, thinking 'twas for him foul Shame To nap by Day-light, strove t' excuse the Blame; It was not Sleep that made him nod, he said, But too great Weight and Largeness of his Head. 1785 T. Martyn in tr. J.-J. Rousseau Lett. Elements Bot. xxvi. 401 The annual Sun-flower..is a flower of wonderful magnificence. 1824 W. Irving Tales of Traveller II. 286 Gigantic sun-flowers lolled their broad jolly faces over the fences. 1870 Amer. Naturalist 4 581 It is a popular belief that the sunflower always turns its flowers to the sun, but in reality so numerous are the exceptions to this rule in our garden sunflowers and in our common wild species of the East, that few observing people regard it doubtless as otherwise than an idle whim. 1908 Amer. Botanist 14 97 The true sunflowers, members of the genus Helianthus are supposed to include both annual and perennial species, but..there are very few of the latter among them. 1925 D. H. Lawrence in Cal. Mod. Lett. Dec. 269 The camera will visualize the sunflower far more perfectly than Van Gogh can. 1979 Kokomo (Indiana) Tribune 25 Oct. 33/2 He has 23 acres of sunflowers planted on his 150 acre farm. 2010 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 14 Sept. d2/2 Two widespread species, the common sunflower and prairie sunflower, have combined at least three times to give rise to three hybrid species: the sand sunflower, the desert sunflower, and the puzzle sunflower. 2012 Sunday Mirror (Nexis) 14 Oct. 31 Mixed lilies and sunflowers were summer's most popular bouquet. < as lemmas |
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