arabis
arabis Lexical Profile
• noun
Any herbaceous plant of the genus Arabis in the mustard family (Brassicaceae), native to temperate and alpine regions of the Northern Hemisphere, typically characterized by small, four-petaled white or pink flowers and commonly cultivated in rock gardens.
"The landscaper chose to plant arabis along the dry stone wall because its cascading white blooms thrive beautifully in rocky crevices."
Word Nuance & Usage
In strict botanical taxonomy, 'Arabis' is capitalized and italicized to denote the genus, but it is treated as a lowercase common noun when referring to the plants informally in gardening.
Word Origin & Etymology
From New Latin 'Arabis', designated by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, derived from 'Arabia', supposedly chosen because the plant's preference for dry, rocky soils mirrors Arabian desert conditions.