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ceanothus

[see-uh-noh-thuh s]
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noun, plural ce·a·no·thus·es.
  1. any North American shrub or small tree of the largely western genus Ceanothus, having clusters of small white or blue flowers.
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Origin of ceanothus

< New Latin (Linnaeus) < Greek keánōthos a species of thistle
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for ceanothus

Historical Examples

  • The genus Ceanothus is well known from the beautiful C. azureus.

    Botany for Ladies

    Jane Loudon

  • It is our holly, as the Ceanothus is our lilac, and the poison-oak is our autumn-red sumac.

    Insect Stories

    Vernon L. Kellogg

  • It led far up the ridge into an open place surrounded by a hedge-like growth of ceanothus chaparral.

  • Blue myrtle (Ceanothus thyrsiflorus) is a California species, sometimes called wild lilac or blue blossoms.

    American Forest Trees

    Henry H. Gibson

  • Its ample bright-green, highly varnished leaves and large white flower-clusters make this a very beautiful species of Ceanothus.

British Dictionary definitions for ceanothus

ceanothus

noun
  1. any shrub of the North American rhamnaceous genus Ceanothus: grown for their ornamental, often blue, flower clusters
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Word Origin

C19: New Latin, from Greek keanōthos a kind of thistle
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