ragged robin

English

From ragged + robin, probably because of the untidy appearance of its petals.

ragged robin (plural ragged robins)

(UK) A type of wild campion (Silene flos-cuculi, syn. Lychnis flos-cuculi), in the family Caryophyllaceae, which grows across Europe and has pink flowers.
- 1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “chapter 6”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:
  Paul came back and threaded daisies in her jet black hair, big spangles of white and yellow, and just a pink touch of ragged robbin.
- 1919,Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, Duckworth, hardback edition, page 91:
  He had a suit of summer mufti, and a broad-brimmed blue beaver hat looped with leaves broken from the hedgerows in the lanes, and a Leander scarf tucked full of flowers: loosestrife, meadowrue, orchis, ragged-robin.

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