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asclepiadaceous

[uh-sklee-pee-uh-dey-shuh s]
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adjective
  1. belonging to the Asclepiadaceae, the milkweed family of plants.
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Compare milkweed family.

Origin of asclepiadaceous

1875–80; < New Latin Asclepiadace(ae) (Asclepiad-, stem of Asclepias the type genus (Latin < Greek asklēpiás a plant, perhaps the swallowwort, derivative of Asklēpiós Asclepius) + -aceae -aceae) + -ous
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
British Dictionary definitions for asclepiadaceous

asclepiadaceous

adjective
  1. of, relating to, or belonging to the Asclepiadaceae, a family of mostly tropical and subtropical flowering plants, including the milkweed and swallowwort, having pollen in the form of a waxy mass (pollinium): now usually regarded as a subfamily of the Apocynaceae
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Word Origin

C19: from New Latin Asclēpias genus name, from Latin, from Greek asklēpias, named after Asclepius
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