Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A genus of liliaceous plants, natives of northern temperate regions, commonly known as the dog-tooth violet.
  • noun [lowercase] A name sometimes given to vanadate of lead.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Chem.), rare A name originally given (from its red acid) to the metal vanadium.

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

  • noun obsolete An early proposed name for vanadium.

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

  • noun perennial bulbous herbs most of northern United States: dogtooth violet; adder's tongue; trout lily; fawn lily

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Ancient Greek ἐρυθρός (erythrós, "red"), since most of the salts turned red when heated.

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Examples

  • They include the erythronium (or dog's tooth violets), trillium, and the tuberous rooted Anemone nemorosa.

    Light up your garden with bulbs 2010

  • He later renamed this compound erythronium meaning red, a reference that this material turned red when heated.

    Vanadium 2008

  • The first erythronium out today in the forest or at least that I have seen so far.

    Sproing! intertext 2006

  • Doug this afternoon with doggies, and when I could manage to stop them trampling them, took some shots of the erythronium, so here they are, as promised.

    erythronium intertext 2006

  • In a sheltered, sunny nook, she found a single erythronium, lured forth in advance of its proper season, and gathered it as a relic of the spot, which she might keep without blame.

    The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 10, No. 57, July, 1862 Various

  • The most noticeable and abundant flower on all slopes is the avalanche lily (_erythronium montanum_).

    The Mountain that was 'God' Being a Little Book About the Great Peak Which the Indians Named 'Tacoma' but Which is Officially Called 'Rainier' John H. Williams

  • The same may be said of the erythronium, or dog's-tooth violet or adder's tongue, and of very many other early wild flowers.

    Manual of Gardening (Second Edition) 1906

  • The evergreens of various kinds supply the note of colour which alone gives hope and promises relief from neutral brown and grey, and underneath what once was a leafy forest arcade are all the roots of spring -- the spotted erythronium, the hepatica, the delicate uvularia, the starry trientalis.

    Ringfield A Novel 1897

  • They were growing in a small, nestlike opening between the rock and the bushes, and both the erythronium and the fritillaria were in full flower.

    Steep Trails John Muir 1876

  • The fritillaria has five or six linear, obtuse leaves, put on irregularly near the bottom of the stem, which is usually terminated by one large bell-shaped flower; but its more beautiful companion, the erythronium, has two radical leaves only, which are large and oval, and shine like glass.

    Steep Trails John Muir 1876

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