dryas

[ drahy-uhs ]

noun

, plural dry·as.

1. any creeping plant belonging to the genus Dryas, of the rose family, having solitary white or yellow flowers, comprising the mountain avens.

Word History and Origins

Origin of dryas¹

< New Latin, named after species of wood nymphs; dryad

Example Sentences

By studying these layers of remains, the scientists were able to discern the types of plants that were being collected in the warmer, humid days before the climate changed and in the cooler, drier days after the onset of what we know now as the Younger Dryas cool period.

From Science Daily

Drought-resistant plants, both edible and inedible, become more prominent in the record as well, reflecting a drier climate that followed the sudden impact winter at the onset of the Younger Dryas.

From Science Daily

The black mat layer, nanodiamonds and melted minerals have also been found at about 50 other sites across North and South America and Europe, the collection of which has been called the Younger Dryas strewnfield.

From Science Daily

"And we did this because we wanted to compare it with what we have in the shock-fractured quartz in the Younger Dryas Boundary, to see if there was any comparison or similarities between what we see at the Trinity atomic test site and other atomic bomb explosions."

From Science Daily

The papers are the latest results in the investigation of the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis, the idea that an anomalous cooling of the Earth almost 13 millennia ago was the result of a cosmic impact.

From Science Daily