Crossword clues for alyssum
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Alyssum \A*lys"sum\ ([.a]*l[i^]s"s[u^]m), n. [NL., fr. Gr. 'a`lysson, name of a plant, perh. fr. 'a priv. + ly`ssa raging madness.] (Bot.) A genus of cruciferous plants; madwort. The sweet alyssum ( Alyssum maritimum), cultivated for bouquets, bears small, white, sweet-scented flowers.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
genus name for plants of the mustard family, 1550s, from Latin alysson, from Greek alysson, which is perhaps the neuter of adjective alyssos "curing madness," from privative prefix a- + lyssa "madness, martial rage, fury, rabies," literally "wolf-ness," related to lykos "wolf" (see wolf (n.)).
Wiktionary
n. Any of several plants, of the genus ''Alyssum'', mostly of Eurasian origin, that have racemes of white or yellow flowers.
WordNet
n. any garden plant of the genus Alyssum having clusters of small yellow or white flowers [syn: madwort]
a genus of the family Cruciferae [syn: genus Alyssum]
Wikipedia
Alyssum is a genus of about 100–170 species of flowering plants in the family Brassicaceae, native to Europe, Asia, and northern Africa, with the highest species diversity in the Mediterranean region. The genus comprises annual and perennial herbaceous plants or (rarely) small shrubs, growing to 10–100 cm tall, with oblong-oval leaves and yellow or white flowers (pink to purple in a few species).
The genera Lobularia and Aurinia are closely related to Alyssum and were formerly included in it. The widely cultivated species popularly known as "sweet alyssum" is Lobularia maritima. The common rockery plant is Aurinia saxatilis.
Alyssum foliage is used as food by the caterpillars of certain Lepidoptera, including the Gem (Orthonama obstipata). However, rabbits will not eat it.
Usage examples of "alyssum".
The front yard was rich green lawn worthy of Dublin, edged with beds of flowers-taller plantings of camellias, azaleas, hydrangeas, agapanthus, backing impatiens, begonia, and a white fringe of alyssum.
Yellow celandines showed out from the hedge-bottoms, and in the cottage gardens of Willey Green, currant-bushes were breaking into leaf, and little flowers were coming white on the grey alyssum that hung over the stone walls.
Alyssum House is prized for its modesty, but I have never seen any of the Night Court maintain a more trembling decorum than these two, who kept their gazes steadily downcast as they guided me inside.
Drawing their palms over grass, goldenrod, and white alyssum, they walked toward the common line, fourteen of them, their yellow silk cassocks whipped by wind and fiery convections, the five snakes about each of their throats outstretched, like the spokes of a candelabra, searching every direction.
I come from, the alyssum is a small flower that grows despite the most adverse conditions, and since we were cast on this place, lost and forgotten, and have survived, we and the planet deserve this name.
An artist of scent as well as form, it would seem, since caught in the center of the lower, sculpted shapes were mounds of sweet alyssum punctuated with occasional sprigs of verbena.
Bright greenswards and paths crisscross the courthouse square, and baskets of trailing geraniums, ivy, and sweet alyssum make it resemble a set forThe Music Man.
Yellow celandines showed out from the hedge-bottoms, and in the cottage gardens of Willey Green, currant-bushes were breaking into leaf, and little flowers were coming white on the grey alyssum that hung over the stone walls.
Royale-les-Eaux, backed by trim lawns emblazoned at intervals with tricolour beds of salvia, alyssum and lobelia, was bright with nags and, on the longest beach in the north of France, the gay bathing tents still marched prettily down to the tide-line in big, money-making battalions.
In the ditches twixt wall and road wild flowers bloomed in scented tangles, red poppies, white alyssum, dark violets.
Marilyn beetled about between the car and the yard, planting multiple flats of petunias, daisies and white alyssum.
Brightly coloured flowers were growing all around the rockery, pale pink rock jasmine, golden bloomed alyssum, white and yellow bellflowers, with their delicate, drooping blooms.
The cold winds of early May had given way to milder breezes heralding the onset of summer, and along the brick-paved pedestriansonly Old Courthouse Street mall tubs and hanging baskets of sweet alyssum, ivy-leafed geranium, and rose moss bloomed in bold disregard for the suffering of those unable to fully appreciate their glory.