Dictionary

noonflower en · NOUN

Etymology

From noon + flower.

Meanings

1. Referring to various species of flowers. ▸ Tragopogon, a type of aster that closes at midday.
   • Noon-flower, or Noon-tide, from its closing at midday, and marking the hour of noon, / Tragopogon pratensis, L. 1863, R. C. A. Prior, On the Popular Names of British Plants, Being an Explanation of the Origin and Meaning of the Names of Our Indigenous and Most Commonly Cultivated Species, London: Williams and Norgate, page 163:
   • ... especially the sultriness between noonflower and the four-o'clock's opening 2009, William Penn, Love in the Time of Flowers, page 84:
2. Referring to various species of flowers. ▸ Flowers of the family Aizoaceae, especially those of the genus Carpobrotus.
   • A more spectacular plant is the noonflower, which often forms huge swards of mauve flowers, from coastal salt marshes through to inland deserts. This is a more delicate-looking version of the pigface. 1972, Vincent Serventy, The Singing Land: 22 Natural Environments of Australia from Surging Ocean to Arid Desert, page 37:
   • Karkalla belongs to the noonflower or pigface family, Aizoaceae. 2001, David Meagher, Michele Kohout, A Field Guide to Wilson's Promontory, page 208:
   • Coastal noonflower (Carpobrotus glaucescens) is a succulent groundcover with deep-red fruit that has a refreshing taste. 2008, Robin Stewart, From Seeds to Leaves:
   • Along the seacoast from San Francisco to Patagonia, the trailing juicy stems and leaves of the noonflower hang curtains of vivid green over the sea cliffs or spread soft mats on the bare earth. 1927, “The National Geographic Magazine”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 51, page 607:
   • I find little low creeping things as in the hills: variable groundsel, small-leaved clematis, magenta noonflower that Nan calls pig's-face 1993, Barbara Hanrahan, The Scent of Eucalyptus, page 135:
3. Referring to various species of flowers. ▸ Flowers of the genus Bauhinia.
   • For isolated shrubs , and not too many at that, the lack of all appearance of striving after there would be the spreading noonflower, bauhinia, dracaumas with their warm-hued leaves, […] 1916, “The Homestead (So. Africa)”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), numbers 23-48, page 7:

Forms

Synonyms

salsify · goat's-beard · ice plant · Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon · pigface