calla lily

Variant of calla

calla definition

calla (kal′ə)

noun

  1. any of several plants (genus Zantedeschia) of the arum family, with a conspicuous white, yellow, or pink spathe surrounding a club-shaped, yellow spadix; specif., a plant (Z. aethiopica), having a large, showy, white spathe enclosing a yellow spadix
    also calla lily
  2. the wild calla (Calla palustris), a bog plant of the arum family, having greenish-white spathes and bearing bright-red berries

Etymology: ModL < L calla, calsa, a plant (of uncert. kind): so named by Carolus Linnaeus

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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