snow plant


noun
  1. a leafless, parasitic plant, Sarcodes sanguinea, of the pine forests of the Sierra Nevada in California, having a stout spike of bright red flowers, a thickly scaled stem, and a corallike mass of roots.

Origin of snow plant

1
First recorded in 1840–50

Words Nearby snow plant

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use snow plant in a sentence

  • The snow-plant is a curiosity and attracts by its brilliancy of color.

    Your National Parks | Enos A. Mills
  • The snow plant (Sarcodes sanguinea) is more admired by tourists than any other in California.

    The Yosemite | John Muir
  • Most interesting of all is the snow-plant (sarcodes san-guinea Torrey).

    The Lake of the Sky | George Wharton James
  • Indian fire glowed red on the white expanse, blood on marble, and scarlet snow-plant sent up lurid spouts like flaming fountains.

    The Port of Adventure | Charles Norris Williamson and Alice Muriel Williamson

British Dictionary definitions for snow plant

snow plant

noun
  1. a saprophytic plant, Sarcodes sanguinea, of mountain pine forests of W North America, having a fleshy scaly reddish stalk, no leaves, and pendulous scarlet flowers that are often produced before the snow melts: family Monotropaceae

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012