noonflower

Noun

noonflower (plural noonflowers)

1. 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...
   • ... especially the sultriness between noonflower and the four-o'clock's opening2009, William Penn, Love in the Time of Flowers, page 84

   Synonyms:

   goat's-beard, Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon, salsify

2. Flowers of the family Aizoaceae, especially those of the genus Carpobrotus.
   • 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
   • 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

   Synonyms:

   ice plant, pigface

3. 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