painted cup

American  

noun

1. any of several semiparasitic plants of the genus Castilleja, of the figwort family, having highly colored dilated bracts about the flowers.

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Etymology

Origin of painted cup

First recorded in 1780–90

Example Sentences

Among the wild flowers, only the columbine, with an almost parallel blooming season, rivals the painted cup for the bird's beneficent attentions.

From Wild Flowers An Aid to Knowledge of Our Wild Flowers and Their Insect Visitors by Blanchan, Neltje

Then come the meadow lilies and the painted cup and so on, until in late October you can not see the old fence for the goldenrod, asters and gentians.

From Green Valley by Reynolds, Katharine

"This," he says, "is the prayer-book I was in the habit of using; here is the painted cup in which I used to drink tea," and so on through the whole list.

From The International Monthly, Volume 5, No. 3, March, 1852 by Various

The painted cup has faded from rosy pink to a dull, ashy color, and the few wild roses which are still to be seen in the shaded places have paled to a pastel shade.

From The Next of Kin Those who Wait and Wonder by McClung, Nellie L.

It is in every way a larger, more showy flower than the closely allied species—C. coccinea, Spreng.—of the East, commonly known as the "painted cup."

From The Wild Flowers of California: Their Names, Haunts, and Habits by Parsons, Mary Elizabeth