snow plant

American  

noun

1. a leafless, parasitic plant, Sarcodes sanguinea, of the pine forests of the Sierra Nevada in California, having a stout spike of bright red flowers, a thickly scaled stem, and a corallike mass of roots.

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snow plant British  

noun

1. a saprophytic plant, Sarcodes sanguinea, of mountain pine forests of W North America, having a fleshy scaly reddish stalk, no leaves, and pendulous scarlet flowers that are often produced before the snow melts: family Monotropaceae

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Etymology

Origin of snow plant

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

She knew the high home of the rare and precious snow plant.

From Her Father's Daughter by Stratton-Porter, Gene

From oak and chaparral to pines and bear clover, silver fir, and nature-made gardens of columbine, red snow plant, and cyclamen we mounted, and then still higher to a silent tamarack country.

From In the Oregon Country Out-Doors in Oregon, Washington, and California Together with some Legendary Lore, and Glimpses of the Modern West in the Making by Putnam, George Palmer

The stones at the bottom of the centre of the pools were incrusted by the red snow plant whose rich colors gave a sense of life to the near-by shallows.

From True Tales of Arctic Heroism in the New World by Greely, Adolphus W.