oakleaf hydrangea
nounEtymology Partial calque of taxonomic name Hydrangea quercifolia. The specific epithet quercifolia comes from Latin quercus (“oak”) + Latin folia (“leaf”), referring to the leaves' similarity in shape to those of oak trees, which belong to the unrelated genus Quercus.
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A type of deciduous shrub native to the southeastern United States, often cultivated as an ornamental plant, of species Hydrangea quercifolia.
- There were callicarpas full of pale lavender berries, which would turn purple in the fall; viburnums and shrub dogwoods; and lacy elderberries juxtaposed against dense evergreens or the large, floppy leaves of an oakleaf hydrangea.2007 August 30, Anne Raver, “Vistas and Close-Ups, Staged by a Filmmaker”, in New York Times: