anchusa

[ ang-kyoo-suh, -zuh, an-choo- ]

noun

any plant of the genus Anchusa, of the borage family, several species of which are cultivated for their blue or purplish flowers that resemble forget-me-nots.

Origin of anchusa

<New Latin, Latin anchūsa dyer's bugloss <Greek ánchousa

Also called alkanet.

Words Nearby anchusa

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use anchusa in a sentence

The two British Alkanets (anchusa) are interesting plants, though not very common.
Field and Woodland Plants | William S. Furneaux
That when French ladies coloured their faces with an ointment containing anchusa the colour did not last long.
The Old English Herbals | Eleanour Sinclair Rohde
My garden is at present amazingly blue with Dropmore Alkanet (anchusa).
The Healthy Life, Vol. V, Nos. 24-28 | Various
She gazed at the bushes of blue anchusa; the gardener had planted pink monthly roses a little too thickly among them.
The Second Fiddle | Phyllis Bottome
In this specimen a raceme of small flowers was included within the enlarged pericarp of a species of anchusa.
Vegetable Teratology | Maxwell T. Masters

British Dictionary definitions for anchusa

anchusa

/ (æŋˈkjuːsə) /

noun

any Eurasian plant of the boraginaceous genus Anchusa, having rough hairy stems and leaves and blue flowers: See also alkanet (def. 3), bugloss

Origin of anchusa

C18: from Latin

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

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