botterblom, noun

/ˈbɔtə(r)blɔm/
Forms:
Formerly also boter bloem, boterblom.
Plurals:
botterblomme /ˈbɔtə(r)blɔmə/.
Origin:
Afrikaans, DutchShow more Afrikaans (from Dutch boterbloem), botter butter + blom flower; see quotation 1966.
Any of several species of flowering plants of the Asteraceae, Iridaceae, or Ranunculaceae; now applied especially to species of Gazania, but also to Arctotis and Sparaxis; butter-bloem. Also attributive. See also gazania, gousblom, sparaxis.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 83Boter bloem,..Gazania pinnata var. integrifolia. The flower is yellow, and an infusion of the whole plant is used as a preventative of miscarriage.
1917 R. Marloth Dict. of Common Names of Plants 14Boterblom, Applied to a number of different plants. The Geel — (E: buttercup) is Ranunculus pinnatus, one of the few indigenous species of the genus. The Wit — is Dimorphotheca pluvialis. Some yellow composites bear the same name, e.g., Gazania pinnata.
1966 C.A. Smith Common Names 169Botterblom,..From the original Du. boterbloem...Although the common name was almost certainly prompted in Holland by the colour of the sepals, its application to the Arctotidae was almost certainly influenced at the Cape by the very old traditional belief that the normal presence of these plants in the natural pastures increased the butter yield of milk of cows grazing on them.
1968 F.G. Butler Cape Charade 46A botterblom. Does nothing in this magnificent setting of mountains and abysses impress you more than this common wild flower?
1986 N. Charton Informant, Grahamstown (now Makhanda, Eastern Cape)There are fields of yellow daisies — botterblomme we call them or Butter Flowers.
1987 S. Afr. Panorama Mar. 43From August to October South African and foreign visitors are attracted in their thousands to this spectacle to revel in the red splashes of Gazania krebsiana (botterblom).
1988 M. Branch Explore Cape Flora 14Botterblom sparaxis grows in marshy areas.
Any of several species of flowering plants of the Asteraceae, Iridaceae, or Ranunculaceae; now applied especially to species of Gazania, but also to Arctotis and Sparaxis; butter-bloem. Also attributive.
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Afrikaans
Dutch
botterbak, nounn.botterboom, nounn.
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