poinciana
NounOpen English WordNet
Noun (2)
- small subgenus of ornamental tropical shrubs or trees; not recognized in some classificationsSynonyms: subgenus PoincianaType of rosid dicot genusMember of Caesalpinia, genus Caesalpinia
- a tropical flowering shrub having bright orange or red flowers; sometimes placed in genus PoincianaSynonyms: bird of paradiseCaesalpinia gilliesiiPoinciana gilliesiiType of flowering shrubMember of Caesalpinia, genus Caesalpinia
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Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Poin′ci·a′na noun
Origin: NL. Named after M. de Poinci, a governor of the French West Indies.
Botany A prickly tropical shrub (Cæsalpinia, formerly Poinciana, pulcherrima), with bipinnate leaves, and racemes of showy orange-red flowers with long crimson filaments.
☞ The genus Poinciana is kept up for three trees of Eastern Africa, the Mascarene Islands, and India.
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54