shellflower

shell·flow·er  (shlflour)

n.

1. A tall eastern Mediterranean plant (Molucella laevis) having flowers with a tiny corolla and a large, green, bell-shaped calyx that enlarges considerably in the fruit.

2. A tall tropical Asian plant (Alpinia zerumbet) having fragrant, showy, funnel-shaped, variously colored flowers.

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	shellflower - showy perennial of marshlands of eastern and central North America having waxy lanceolate leaves and flower with lower part creamy white and upper parts pale pink to deep purple Chelone glabra, shell-flower, snake-head, snakehead, turtlehead Chelone, genus Chelone - herbaceous perennials: shellflower bog plant, marsh plant, swamp plant - a semiaquatic plant that grows in soft wet land; most are monocots: sedge, sphagnum, grasses, cattails, etc; possibly heath
	2.	shellflower - cultivated for its shining oblong leaves and arching clusters of white flowers with pink shading and crinkled yellow lips with variegated magenta stripes Alpinia speciosa, Alpinia Zerumbet, Languas speciosa, shall-flower, shell ginger ginger - perennial plants having thick branching aromatic rhizomes and leafy reedlike stems Alpinia, genus Alpinia, genus Languas, genus Zerumbet - perennial rhizomatous herbs of Asia and Australia and Polynesia having ginger-scented rhizomes