Definition

Noun: * A common perennial garden plant: "Granny's bonnets" is the common name for Aquilegia vulgaris, a species of flowering plant in the buttercup family. It is characterized by its distinctive, nodding flowers with backward-pointing spurs, which are thought to resemble the traditional bonnets worn by older women.

Usage

• The term "granny's bonnets" is used specifically to refer to this particular species of columbine, especially in a gardening or informal botanical context.
• It is often used in the plural form.

Examples

• Noun:
  • The cottage garden was filled with old-fashioned flowers like lupins, foxgloves, and granny's bonnets.
  • She planted a row of granny's bonnets along the shady path.

Advanced Usage

• The name is part of a tradition of folk names for plants, often based on visual resemblance. Other names for the same plant include "columbine" (from the Latin for "dove," due to the flower's shape) and "aquilegia."

Variants and Related Words

• Columbine (n): The more general common name for plants in the genus .
• Aquilegia (n): The scientific genus name.
• Aquilegia vulgaris (n): The full scientific name for the specific species.

Synonyms

• Common columbine
• European columbine

Notes on Meaning

• The primary meaning is botanical. The name is a compound noun where "granny's" is a possessive form indicating the style of bonnet, and "bonnets" refers to the headwear. The term as a whole functions as a single common name for the plant.

Noun

1. common European columbine having variously colored (white or blue to purple or red) short-spurred flowers; naturalized in United States