night-scentedadj.
/ˈnʌɪtˌsɛntᵻd/, U.S. /ˈnaɪtˌsɛn(t)əd/ Of a plant or flower: fragrant at night.
ΚΠ
1811 D. Hosack Hortus Elginensis (ed. 2) 20/2 (table) Dianthus..superbus L. Pink..night scented or fringed.
1849 J. H. Balfour Man. Bot. §687 The white flowers of Lychnis vespertina are also night-scented.
a1918 W. Owen Poems (1983) I Its skin is coloured like the twilight Alp; And odoured like the pale, night-scented flowers.
1971 Country Life 25 Feb. 438/1 The white flowers [sc. of the hosta] are sizable trumpets held horizontally and heavily night scented.
1998 Guardian 17 Oct. (Weekend Suppl.) 80/1 We grow brugmansias..for their night-scented blooms.
Compounds
night-scented stock n. either of two plants of the family Brassicaceae ( Cruciferae), Hesperis tristis and (now chiefly) Matthiola longipetala subsp. bicornis, with flowers which are scentless by day but strongly fragrant at night.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > shrubs > stock-gillyflower and allies > [noun]
stock-gillyflower1530
castle-gilliflower1578
Guernsey violet1578
stock1664
Brompton1724
ten-week stock1785
night-scented stock1849
1824 H. Phillips Flora Hist. I. 336 We have no plant that exhales so delightful a fragrance in the night as the..Night-smelling Rocket, or Night Odorous Stock.]
1849 J. H. Balfour Man. Bot. §687 Hespiris tristis, or night-scented stock.
1870 W. Robinson Wild Garden ii. 54 Night-scented stock..may be established on the sunny sides of old ruins and walls.
1914 E. A. Bowles My Garden in Summer xiv. 259 The old Night-scented Stock of one's great-grandmother, is another half-hardy indispensable.
1996 Chiltern Seeds Catal. 159 Night-scented stock... Nothing else can equal the effect of its exquisite fragrance on the warm night air in summer.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1811