umbrella plant

umbrella plant

n.1. A sedge (Cyperus involucratus syn. C. alternifolius) native to Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands and widely cultivated as an ornamental, having leafless stems with a terminal umbrellalike cluster of long narrow bracts.2. Any of various other plants having parts with an umbrellalike form.

umbrella plant

n (Plants) an African sedge, Cyperus alternifolius, having large umbrella-like whorls of slender leaves: widely grown as an ornamental water plant

umbrel′la plant`

n. an African plant, Cyperus alternifolius, of the sedge family, that has several stems growing directly upward and an umbrella-shaped cluster of leaves at the top of each stem. [1870–75]

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	umbrella plant - rhizomatous perennial herb with large dramatic peltate leaves and white to bright pink flowers in round heads on leafless stems; colonizes stream banks in the Sierra Nevada in CaliforniaDarmera peltata, Indian rhubarb, Peltiphyllum peltatumherb, herbaceous plant - a plant lacking a permanent woody stem; many are flowering garden plants or potherbs; some having medicinal properties; some are pestsDarmera, genus Darmera, genus Peltiphyllum, Peltiphyllum - one species
	2.	umbrella plant - late blooming perennial plant of shale barrens of Virginia having flowers in flat-topped clustersEriogonum alleniieriogonum - any plant of the genus Eriogonum with small clustered flowers
	3.	umbrella plant - African sedge widely cultivated as an ornamental water plant for its terminal umbrellalike cluster of slender grasslike leavesCyperus alternifolius, umbrella sedgesedge - grasslike or rushlike plant growing in wet places having solid stems, narrow grasslike leaves and spikelets of inconspicuous flowersCyperus, genus Cyperus - type genus of Cyperaceae; grasslike rhizomatous herbs; cosmopolitan except very cold regions