scarlet gilia

[ jil-ee-uh ]

noun

1. skyrocket.

Word History and Origins

Origin of scarlet gilia¹

1840–50, Americanism; gilia < New Latin, a genus name, after Felipe Gil, 18th century Spanish botanist; -ia

Example Sentences

“Maybe the week the scarlet gilia flowers are in bloom, hummingbirds are better able to learn and distinguish red colors.”

From Seattle Times

Ken Paige, an evolutionary ecologist also at he University of Illinois and principal investigator of the study, first observed overcompensation in the scarlet gilia in 1987.

From New York Times

If plants could be stars in a cowboy film, the scarlet gilia would be one of the meanest wildflowers west of the Mississippi.

From New York Times

The scarlet Gilia is a familiar flower in the Sierras in late summer, growing everywhere in dry places.

From Project Gutenberg

The surrounding commons, the marshy levels of the Jordan, and dry, gravelly lake benches on the slopes of the Wahsatch foothills are now gay with wild flowers, chief among which are a species of phlox, with an abundance of rich pink corollas, growing among sagebrush in showy tufts, and a beautiful papilionaceous plant, with silky leaves and large clusters of purple flowers, banner, wings, and keel exquisitely shaded, a mertensia, hydrophyllum, white boragewort, orthocarpus, several species of violets, and a tall scarlet gilia.

From Project Gutenberg