calceolaria

American  

[kal-see-uh-lair-ee-uh] / ˌkæl si əˈlɛər i ə /

noun

1. any plant of the genus Calceolaria, of the figwort family, various species of which are cultivated for their slipperlike flowers.

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calceolaria British  

/ ˌkælsɪəˈlɛərɪə /

noun

1. Also called: slipperwort.  any tropical American scrophulariaceous plant of the genus Calceolaria: cultivated for its speckled slipper-shaped flowers

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Etymology

Origin of calceolaria

1840–50; < New Latin, equivalent to Latin calceol ( us ) small shoe ( calce ( us ) shoe + -olus -ole ¹ ) + -āria -aria

Example Sentences

She has had a hybrid amaryllis and a yellow calceolaria named in her honor.

From Time Magazine Archive

Upright flowering plants,--Abutilons, browallias, calceolaria "Lincoln Park," begonias, bouvardias, euphorbias, scarlet sage, richardia or calla, heliotropes, fuchsias, Chinese hibiscus, jasmines, single petunias, swainsona, billbergia, freesias, geraniums, eupheas.

From Manual of Gardening (Second Edition) by Bailey, L. H. (Liberty Hyde)

I travel, like a social pariah, Without a single calceolaria!

From The Motley Muse (Rhymes for the Times) by Graham, Harry

Pocket, who had been expelled from the company by common consent, went sulkily away towards her hammock, for she was the fairy of the calceolaria, and looked rather wicked.

From Phantastes, a Faerie Romance for Men and Women by MacDonald, George

In some corollas the two lips become hollowed out in a remarkable manner, as in calceolaria, assuming a slipper-like appearance, similar to what occurs in the labellum of some orchids, as Cypripedium.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 5 "Fleury, Claude" to "Foraker" by Various