scarlet pimpernel

British  

noun

1. Also called: poor man's weatherglass.   shepherd's weatherglass.  a weedy primulaceous plant, Anagallis arvensis, of temperate regions, having small red, purple, or white star-shaped flowers that close in bad weather

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Example Sentences

Her hands shielded from the gusts of February air by a well-worn pair of gardening gloves, Rachel carefully places tree spinach and scarlet pimpernel seeds into brown plastic pots.

From BBC • Mar. 15, 2020

A scarlet pimpernel is not, as U. S. cinemaddicts may suppose, either a childhood disease or a disgraceful occupation.

From Time Magazine Archive

Peter K. Grimes had neither the cloak, the dagger nor the devil-may-care air of a scarlet pimpernel.

From Time Magazine Archive

Sensitive flowers, the scarlet pimpernel, the African mimosa, close their delicate petals, and a sense of hushed expectancy deepens with the darkness.

From The Story of Eclipses by Chambers, George F. (George Frederick)

Then there would be some wrangling as to whether ugliness was the test of weeds, till Socrates would make it clear that this would involve omitting speedwell and the scarlet pimpernel from the list.

From The Pleasures of Ignorance by Lynd, Robert