noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A floating aquatic plant, of species Pistia stratiotes, with green rosettes of leaves and inconspicuous flowers.
2. 2
   cultivated for its shining oblong leaves and arching clusters of white flowers with pink shading and crinkled yellow lips with variegated magenta stripes wordnet
3. 3
   A plant in the mint family grown for its distinctive circular green calyxes.
4. 4
   showy perennial of marshlands of eastern and central North America having waxy lanceolate leaves and flower with lower part creamy white and upper parts pale pink to deep purple wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

alpinia speciosaalpinia zerumbetbells of irelandchelone glabralanguas speciosamolucca balm

Etymology

From shell + flower.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.