asphodel

/as"feuh del'/, n.

1. any of various southern European plants of the genera Asphodelus and Asphodeline, of the lily family, having white, pink, or yellow flowers in elongated clusters.

2. any of various other plants, as the daffodil.

[1590-1600; < L asphodelus < Gk asphódelos the asphodel. See DAFFODIL]

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Any of several flowering plants belonging to the lily family.

This common name is variously applied and thus much misunderstood. The asphodel of the poets is often a narcissus; that of the ancients is either of two genera, Asphodeline or Asphodelus. Asphodels are hardy herbaceous perennials with narrow leaves and an elongated stem bearing a handsome spike of white, pink, or yellow flowers. Bog asphodel (Narthecium ossifragum) is a small herbaceous plant that grows in boggy places in Britain.

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▪ plant

      any of several flowering plants belonging to the family Asphodelaceae. It is a variously applied and thus much misunderstood common name. The asphodel of the poets is often a narcissus; that of the ancients is either of two genera, Asphodeline or Asphodelus, containing numerous species in the Mediterranean region.

      They are hardy herbaceous perennials with narrow leaves and an elongated stem bearing a handsome spike of white, pink, or yellow flowers. Asphodelus albus and A. fistulosus have white-to-pink flowers and grow from 45 to 60 cm (1 ¹/₂ to 2 feet) high.

      Bog asphodel (Narthecium ossifragum), of the family Nartheciaceae (order Dioscoreales), is a small herb growing in boggy places in Great Britain with rigid, narrow leaves and a stem bearing a raceme of small golden-yellow flowers.

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