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rattlesnake plantain

noun

  1. any of several low, terrestrial orchids, as Goodyera repens, of northern temperate regions, having a basal rosette of leaves with white veins and a one-sided spike of white flowers.


rattlesnake plantain

noun

  1. any of various small temperate and tropical orchids of the genus Goodyera , having mottled or striped leaves and spikes of yellowish-white flowers
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Word History and Origins

Origin of rattlesnake plantain1

An Americanism dating back to 1770–80
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Example Sentences

Unlike most of its orchid relatives, rattlesnake plantain is almost always appreciated for its exquisitely patterned leaves as opposed to its flowers.

Some, like “liverwort,” “bloodroot,” “rattlesnake plantain” or even “nipplewort,” leave little to the imagination.

The rattlesnake plantain is frequently met under the coniferous trees of our northern woods.

Also the Indian pink, the rattlesnake plantain, the pink snake-mouth, monkshood, bloodroot, pitcher plant, and numerous others that formed a wonderful exhibit which it would take a long time to do justice to.

To the structural botanist the rattlesnake plantains form an interesting connecting link between orchids of d1stinct forms.

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