Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A liliaceous garden-plant, Fritillaria imperialis, cultivated for its beautiful flowers. Also called
crown-thistle .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Bot.) A spring-blooming plant (
Fritillaria imperialis ) of the Lily family, having at the top of the stalk a cluster of pendent bell-shaped flowers surmounted with a tuft of green leaves.
Etymologies
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Examples
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Then take a considerable number of bulbs of the crown-imperial, the narcissus, the hyacinth, the tulip, the crocus, and others; let the leaves of each have sprouted to about an inch, more or less according to the size of the bulb; put all these, pretty promiscuously, but pretty thickly, on the top of the box.
Highways & Byways in Sussex E.V. Lucas
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It was not the simplicity of the hedge-row any more than of the hothouse; it was rather that of some classic flower, lavender or crown-imperial, growing from an ancient stock in some dignified, long-tended garden.
The Street Called Straight Basil King 1893
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It was thus a simplicity closely allied to sturdiness -- the inner sturdiness not inconsistent with an outward semblance of fragility -- the tenacity of strength by which the lavender scents the summer and the crown-imperial adorns the spring, after the severest snows.
The Street Called Straight Basil King 1893
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The striped Jalappa, the crested Sedum, the fasciated crown-imperial, white strawberries, red gooseberries and many others were known to Munting.
Species and Varieties, Their Origin by Mutation Hugo de Vries 1891
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The two younger princesses, the flower crown-imperial.
Letters of Horace Walpole 01 Walpole, Horace 1890
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Though the old garden had many fragrant leaves and flowers, their delicate perfume was sometimes fairly deadened by an almost mephitic aroma that came from an ancient blossom, a favorite in Shakespeare's day -- the jewelled bell of the noxious crown-imperial.
Home Life in Colonial Days Alice Morse Earle 1881
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A bird of our own country called a willow-wren (Motacilla) runs up the stem of the crown-imperial (Frittillaria coronalis) and sips the pendulous drops within its petals.
The Botanic Garden A Poem in Two Parts. Part 1: the Economy of Vegetation Erasmus Darwin 1766
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