flora
(ˈflɔərə)
Pl. floræ; also floras.
[a. L. Flōra the goddess of flowers, f. flōr-, flōs flower.]
1. In Latin mythology, the goddess of flowers; hence, in modern poetical language, the personification of nature's power in producing flowers.
| 1508 Dunbar Goldyn Targe 74 Thare saw I..The fresch Aurora, and lady Flora schene. 1667 Milton P.L. v. 16 With voice Milde, as when Zephyrus or Flora breathes. 1762 Falconer Shipwr. iii. 235 Indulgent Flora breathed perpetual May. 1812 Crabbe Tales x. 116 Here a grave Flora scarcely deigns to bloom. 1851 Carpenter Man Phys. 65 The empire of Flora has no limit. |
2. A descriptive catalogue of the plants of any geographical area, geological period, etc.
[From the use of the name Flora in Latin titles of works of this kind. The earliest known example is Simon Paulli's Flora Danica 1647; other early instances are Rupp's Flora Jenensis 1718, and Linnæus' Flora Suecica 1745.]
| [1665 Ray (title), Flora, seu de Florum Cultura. Or, a complete Florilege.] 1777 Lightfoot Flora Scotica Pref. 17 It comprehends by far the greatest part, which is as much as the Flora of any country can pretend to. 1799 J. Hull (title), The British Flora. 1829 G. Johnston (title), A Flora of Berwick-upon-Tweed. 1870 Hooker Stud. Flora Pref. v, I have consulted the usual British and Continental Floras. |
3. a. The plants or plant life of any particular region or epoch. Cf. fauna 1.
| 1778 G. White Let. in Selborne (1877) I. 217 Chalks, clays, sands..woodlands, and champaign fields, cannot but furnish an ample Flora. 1830 Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 92 The flora of a country is peculiarly influenced by temperature. 1859 Darwin Orig. Spec. xii. (1873) 329 The floras of distant continents would not by such means become mingled. |
b. The plants or plant life of any particular type of environment.
| 1874 D. Brandis (title) The forest flora of North-West and Central India. 1880 A. R. Wallace Island Life ii. xxiv. 507 The discussion of a series of typical Insular Faunas and Floras with a view to explain the interesting phenomena they present. 1908 Jrnl. Biol. Chem. V. 285 The gas ratio is not an especially important characteristic in mixed fecal flora. Ibid. 296 The influence of these organisms upon the intestinal flora of mice. 1909 Groom & Balfour tr. Warming's Oecol. Plants ix. lxvii. 257 In depressions lying within the subglacial tract where snow remains for a long time, one finds characteristic, greasy mud, which sustains a vegetation of its own—Öttli's snow-patch flora. 1939 A. Huxley After Many a Summer i. v. 65 He began to talk..about fatty alcohols and the intestinal flora of carp. 1971 Nature 8 Jan. 120/1 The resident flora of the external auditory canal. |
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Add: [1.] b. [Supposed by some to be the origin of furry n.2] = furry n.2 In Comb., as Flora('s) dance, flora day.
| 1790 Gentl. Mag. June 520/1 At Helstone..in Cornwall, it is customary to dedicate the 8th of May to revelry... It is called the Furry day, supposed Flora's day. 1840 Penzance Gaz. 13 May 4/1 Helston Flora-day (8th May).—The weather being most propitious for the celebration of this ancient festival, vehicles of every description continued to arrive from an early hour till mid-day. 1880 M. A. Courtney in Courtney & Couch Gloss. Words Cornwall 20/2 Fuddy, Flora, Furry-day, a feast held at Helstone on the 8th May, when all ranks..dance through the town, to a peculiar tune called ‘The Flora or Furry’. 1907 Daily Chron. 1 May 8/2 Of its ancient customs perhaps the Furry dance is the most noted, held on Flora Day—May 8. 1935 Chambers's Encycl. V. 636/2 Helston..has long been noted for its Furry or Flora Dance, held on the 8th May. 1969 H. Halpert in Halpert & Story Christmas Mumming in Newfoundland 36 The dance procession or ‘running’ (e.g., the Helston Flora Dance or Furry Dance). |