Plants & CreaturesGreek → English
Hydrangea
/haɪˈdreɪndʒə/noun
A garden shrub carrying big domed or flat heads of small flowers.
The Greek roots
ὕδωρ
hýdōr
water
ἄγγος
ángos
vessel, jar
Literally: “water vessel”
The story of the word
Linnaeus named the genus in 1753 for the seed capsule, which is shaped like a little cup, not for the plant's famous thirst. Gardeners who assume the name means water-drinker are right about the plant and wrong about the word. Flower colour works as a soil test: acid ground with aluminium available turns the blue varieties blue, alkaline ground turns the same plant pink.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Modern Latin → English
- First recorded
- 18th century
Same family
hydranthydrogendehydrateangiosperm
In a sentence
The hydrangea by the porch went pink the year they limed the bed.