lychnis

American  

[lik-nis] / ˈlɪk nɪs /

noun

1. any showy-flowered plant belonging to the genus Lychnis, of the pink family.

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lychnis British  

/ ˈlɪknɪs /

noun

1. any caryophyllaceous plant of the genus Lychnis, having red, pink, or white five-petalled flowers See also ragged robin

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Etymology

Origin of lychnis

1595–1605; < Latin < Greek lychnís red flower, akin to lýchnos lamp

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

lychnis

The scarlet lychnis and its many varieties are nearly past, but the large-flowered, Haag's, and others of that section, are in their prime, and showy plants they are.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 299, September 24, 1881 by Various

Pliny and St. Isidore speak of a certain stone lychnis, of a scarlet or flame colour, which, when warmed by the sun or between the fingers, attracts straws or leaves of papyrus.

From On the magnet, magnetick bodies also, and on the great magnet the earth a new physiology, demonstrated by many arguments & experiments by Gilbert, William

In the lychnis of the high Alps, the red and white have a kind of sugary bloom, as rich as it is delicate.

From Lectures on Art Delivered before the University of Oxford in Hilary term, 1870 by Ruskin, John

The grass is long and yet sparse; here and there a few flowers cling, hardy geraniums, lychnis, and the like, but they seem strangely out of place.

From Melody : the Story of a Child by Richards, Laura Elizabeth Howe

Amid festuca and other tufted grasses twinkled the purple lychnis, and the white star of the chickweed; and, not without its pleasing associations, I recognised a solitary hesperis—the Arctic representative of the wallflowers of home.”

From The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism. Volume 3 by Whymper, Frederick