cruciferous

[ kroo-sif-er-uh s ]

/ kruˈsɪf ər əs /

adjective

bearing a cross.

Botany. belonging to the Cruciferae, the mustard family of plants.

Nearby words

Compare mustard family.

Origin of cruciferous

1650–60; < Late Latin crucifer crucifer; see -ous

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for cruciferous

Eight hundred fathoms broad at this point, the Niger flowed between banks richly grown with cruciferous plants and tamarind-trees.
Five Weeks in a Balloon|Jules Verne
The soil is clayey, and thinly bestrewed with alpine grass, intermingled with syngenesious and cruciferous plants.
Travels in Peru, on the Coast, in the Sierra, Across the Cordilleras and the Andes, into the Primeval Forests|J. J. von Tschudi
Anastatica, a genus of cruciferous plants, including the Rose of Jericho (A. hierochuntica).
The New Gresham Encyclopedia. Vol. 1 Part 2|Various
The Cruciferous plants form so natural an order, that when one of them has been described the others may be easily recognised.
Botany for Ladies|Jane Loudon

Woad is a cruciferous plant, Isatis tinctoria, used for dyeing.
The High Deeds of Finn and other Bardic Romances of Ancient Ireland|T. W. Rolleston

British Dictionary definitions for cruciferous

cruciferous

/ (kruːˈsɪfərəs) /

adjective

of, relating to, or belonging to the plant family CruciferaeSee crucifer (def. 1)

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

Word Origin and History for cruciferous

cruciferous

adj.

1650s, from Late Latin crucifer "cross-bearing," from Latin crux (genitive crucis) "stake, cross" (see cross (n.)). Originally in literal senses; botanical use (in reference to a symmetrical arrangement of four petals) is from 1851.