antirrhinum

British  

/ ˌæntɪˈraɪnəm /

noun

1. any scrophulariaceous plant of the genus Antirrhinum, esp the snapdragon, which have two-lipped flowers of various colours

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Etymology

Origin of antirrhinum

C16: via Latin from Greek antirrhinon, from _anti- (imitating) + rhis nose; so called from a fancied likeness to an animal's snout

Example Sentences

He writes that “a snapdragon is now called an antirrhinum, a word no one can spell”—let alone pronounce—“without consulting a dictionary,” and that “forget-me-nots are coming more and more to be called myosotis.”

From The New Yorker

Flowers.—Blue; in terminal racemes; like those of Antirrhinum, but the tube furnished with a long, downward-pointing spur at base.

From Project Gutenberg

Thus the Antirrhinum, or snapdragon, is completely closed, and only a somewhat powerful insect can force its way in.

From Project Gutenberg

Scrophularia, skrof-ū-lā′ri-a, n. the figwort genus of herbs, type of the Scrophulariace� or Scrophularine�, a natural order containing almost 2000 known species, chiefly herbaceous and half-shrubby plants—Digitalis or Fox-glove, Calceolaria, Mimulus, Antirrhinum or Snap-dragon, Veronica or Speedwell, and Euphrasia or Eye-bright, &c.

From Project Gutenberg

He appears to have been a stranger to the particoloured variety now so generally cultivated as an ornamental annual in our gardens; in its wild state the flowers of this Antirrhinum are of a yellow hue, with little or no purple in them, such indeed are frequently produced from seeds sown in our gardens.

From Project Gutenberg