moonflower
/ˈmuːnflaʊə/
Etymology
From moon + flower.
moonflower means any of several plants that flower at night:; An ox-eye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare). Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 88 out of 100.
moonflower is pronounced /ˈmuːnflaʊə/.
Why “moonflower” is a great word
MOONFLOWER — [Noun] Any of several night-blooming plants, most familiarly the fragrant vine Ipomoea alba, whose large, pale blossoms unfurl at dusk. From the English words moon (the Earth's natural satellite, associated with night) + flower (the blossom of a plant). Unlike "morning glory" (which greets the dawn and shuts by noon) or "nightshade" (which belongs to a different, often poisonous family), moonflower denotes a specific, ornamental nocturnality. It is the sudden, silent apparition of a white trumpet against a twilight trellis, the ghostly scent that arrives on the first cool breath of evening, and the pale, fleeting disc that mirrors its namesake in the terrestrial dark—a brief, fragrant performance staged solely for the stars, a quiet rebuttal to the tyranny of the sun.
noun
- Any of several plants that flower at night:; An ox-eye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare)
- Any of several plants that flower at night:; A corn marigold, Glebionis segetum.
- Any of several plants that flower at night:; Any of several vines of the genus Ipomoea, especially Ipomoea alba.“Hôtel Saint-George […] through whose exotic gardens of giant contorted euphorbia and sweet-smelling moonflowers Churchill and the titans of the Second World War strolled, laying plans for a world in which Anglo-Saxon predominance seemed assured in perpetuity.”
- Any of several plants that flower at night:; Any of species in genus Cereus and in (Stenocereus (syn. Hylocereus) spp.).
- Any of several plants that flower at night:; Any of species of Datura, including Datura inoxia.
- Any of several plants that flower at night:; Any of species of Mentzelia, including Mentzelia pumila.