eryngium
(ɪˈrɪndʒɪəm)
[mod.L., f. L. ēryngion, a. Gr. ἠρύγγιον: see eryngo. Adopted by Linnæus (Systema Naturæ 1735) and earlier botanists as a genus name.]
A hardy herbaceous perennial plant of the genus so called, belonging to the family Umbelliferæ, and bearing blue or white flowers.
| [1548 see sea-holly.] 1578 H. Lyte tr. Dodoen's Herb. iv. 518 Two kindes of Eryngium, the one called the great Eryngium, or Eryngium of the Sea, and the other is called but Eryngium onely. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 203 Eringium groweth in an vntilled, rough, and drie ground. 1626 Bacon Sylva (1631) §53 Some few Slices of Eryngium Roots. 1861 Miss Pratt Flower Pl. III. 4 Eryngium (Eryngo). Flowers in a dense prickly head. 1899 G. Jekyll Wood & Garden xi. 138 Sometimes a Poppy or an Eryngium comes up with one thick root, impossible to divide. 1900 W. D. Drury Bk. Gard. 270 Eryngiums are handsome plants with..large branching heads of Thistle-like flowers. 1962 Amat. Gardening 17 Mar. 5/3 Echinops and eryngiums..are others which need little attention. |