candytuft

American  

[kan-dee-tuhft] / ˈkæn diˌtʌft /

noun

1. a plant of the genus Iberis, of the mustard family, especially I. umbellata, an ornamental plant with tufted pink, violet, purple, or red flowers, originally from the island of Crete.

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candytuft British  

/ ˈkændɪˌtʌft /

noun

1. either of two species of Iberis grown as annual garden plants for their umbels ("tufts") of white, red, or purplish flowers See iberis

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Etymology

Origin of candytuft

1570–80; Candy (variant of Candia ) + tuft

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

candytuft

A colonel stood in a Tunisian valley sniffing at a handful of candytuft and Arabis and crimson poppies and yellow marguerites.

From Time Magazine Archive

Then on a fine spring morning he paid a visit to the old woman who sold penny packets of seeds, and bought nasturtiums, mignonette, Virginia stocks and candytuft, twelve pansy roots and twelve daisy roots.

From Sinister Street, vol. 1 by MacKenzie, Compton

She had white verbenas, sweet alyssum, candytuft, daisies and gillyflowers.

From Dew Drops, Vol. 37, No. 15, April 12, 1914 by Various

In the beds were asters, celosia, balsam, nasturtiums, marigold, zinnia, carnation, schizanthus, sweet peas, dahlias, gladiolus, candytuft, lilies, scabiosa, stocks, salvia, snapdragon, phlox, mignonette, four o'clocks and petunias.

From The Library of Work and Play: Gardening and Farming. by Shaw, Ellen Eddy

In places, wild candytuft in blossom spreads a quilt of palest lavender in every direction on a wide circling horizon.

From The Black Opal by Prichard, Katharine Susannah