candytuft
(ˈkændɪtʌft)
Also erron. -turf.
[f. candy n.2 = Candia, name of the island (now Crete) + tuft.]
A plant, Iberis umbellata, originally brought from Candia; and, by extension, the genus Iberis (family Cruciferæ), consisting of herbaceous plants or small undershrubs with white, pink, or purple flowers in flat corymbs or ‘tufts’.
| [1578 Lyte Dodoens v. lxiii 629 Candie Thlaspi is in complexion lyke to the other Thlaspies.] 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1729) 200 Sow divers Annuals..Candy Tufts. 1727 Bradley Fam. Dict., Candy Tuft, serves for an Ornament to great Parterres. 1741 Compl. Fam.-Piece ii. iii. 362 Hardy annual Flowers, as..dwarf Lychnis, Candy Turf. 1858 Glenny Gard. Everyday Bk. 146/1 The smaller kinds [of hardy annuals]..such as Larkspur, Candy Tuft. |