Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A small genus of ornamental plants belonging to the natural order Liliaceæ.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun botany Any member of the genus Agapanthus of flowering plants.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any of various plants of the genus Agapanthus having umbels of showy blue to purple flowers

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin Agapanthus, genus name : Greek agapē, love + Greek anthos, flower.]

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Examples

  • Even the succulent blue lilies -- a variety of the agapanthus which is so familiar to us in English greenhouses -- hung their long trumpet-shaped flowers and looked oppressed and miserable, beneath the burning breath of the hot wind which had been blowing for hours like the draught from a volcano.

    Jess Henry Rider Haggard 1890

  • Photographs by Simon Upton Roses, foxgloves, agapanthus, ox-eye daisies and lilies grow in the garden, complemented by planters made by Haslam.

    House of Haslam 2011

  • We enter his home, past a neat front lawn framed by white roses and purple agapanthus.

    Boutique buds: What underground mom-and-pop growers did while we debated legalization Adrian Higgins 2010

  • I discovered that some Shasta daisies and one agapanthus grew out of season for this purpose.

    When Animals Speak Penelope Smith 2009

  • The agapanthus cluster, stalk upright, bloomed freshly, as if growing from his grave, and stayed that way for months!

    When Animals Speak Penelope Smith 2009

  • Good morning Frances, I totally agree with you… my garden is the result of my hard work and I have been doing it step by step and I love playing around with seeds, antirrinos, cosmos, hollyhocks, etc and dividing my agapanthus, and reproducing from the cuttings many of my roses.

    Did You Really Think I Bought All Of These Plants? « Fairegarden 2009

  • Your agapanthus is just magnificent too, your hard labor shows through in the beauty of your own gardens.

    Did You Really Think I Bought All Of These Plants? « Fairegarden 2009

  • There were signs of a savage struggle -- blood ran halfway down the red Spanish tile of the sloping, 15-foot front walk lined with blue agapanthus.

    He Could Run... ...But He Couldn't Hide 2008

  • This is bordered with huge oil jars and with statuary mounted on classical columns interspersed between plantings of agapanthus, campanulas and roses.

    Architect of a Lovely Garden 2008

  • This is bordered with huge oil jars and with statuary mounted on classical columns interspersed between plantings of agapanthus, campanulas and roses.

    Architect of a Lovely Garden 2008

Comments

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  • Agapanthus, I learn, is a flower, but, this being Ash Wednesday, if I had had to guess at its meaning I would have thought it named some appliance worn by a desert eremite to promote mortification of the flesh – specifically the flesh of the lower body.

    As the solemn season of Lent advances
    Rejoice in the burdens God grants us.
    Your mortification
    Needs amplification:
    Your hair shirt extend to agapanthus.

    This would be particularly stimulating to the gentials, and thereby hangs a tale.

    For context see live baiting.

    February 18, 2015