Yes, kids, landscaping. But not my yard. Nor even Earth.
I need to ask my online Master Mind (that would be you) to help me come up with an alternate term for ground cover.
This, basically.
Specifically, is there another term for it?
See, I’m rewriting The Dinosaur Lords, and while there’s grass on Paraiso, there’s also a lot of other ground covers, like ferns and other low-growing, sprawly plants.
And I’ve finally hit the saturation point on writing “ground cover” all the freaking time. It doesn’t sound that … well, organic.
“Low vegetation” might serve. Occasionally. But it doesn’t seem quite right for me as a general-purpose term.
Suggestions do not need to be accepted landscaping or botanical ones. “Short and sufficiently descriptive” will, well, suffice.
So – ideas? Please?
In other news – WordPress, what did you do with the ability to add a snarky comment visible by mouseover, á la xkcd? I miss that. For I am a smartass.
You might move from outside to inside… carpet, for instance, such as verdant carpet. Or some variation of shag rug… shaggy growth, or some such.
Or look for terms in other languages – you’ll have to do your own research there.
Bon chance.
Hey, Bill! Welcome, and thanks for the suggestions!
“Carpet” could work.
Foreign terms (especially, in this case, Spanish) appeal to me strongly enough I’m a little surprised I didn’t think of them. Unfortunately my editor has an allergy to them, and I have agreed to cut back on their usage.
Dammit anyway.
Vic, we gardeners often use, ‘creepers or creeping, trailing or running, for plants that cover by rooting new plants as they spread. Mosses are often referred to as mats or patches, other good words are swaths, glades, depends on whither you are referring to a single type of plant growing by itself or to a short meadow of companionable plants. All indicate an open low growth of itself or in a space between taller trees or growths. Cold places are often, steppes or tundras, high places referred to as Alpine glens, flats, while lower areas can be prairies, grasslands, etc. Use a good verb and make your own too, bamboos can be a run, a clump, or a mat. Beds are usually cultivated same plant areas. http://landscaping.about.com/cs/lazylandscaping/a/glossary.htm is a good place to look, but it is alphabetized so you have to wander a bit.
The first thing that came to mind for me was “foliage”. That may be going too generic, though.
vegetation,bog,green things, green leaves with bright flowers, meadow, sward,park, greenery, use species name (latin) when referring to plants and then just add modifiers (a half mile of low green Cypripedium (lady’s slippers) with dainty white flowers,blossoms, undergrowth, savannah, forest floor, underbrush, moor,primitive jungle floor, pasture, mat,
undergrowth, understory (that one’s probably fraught with confusion…), lawn, pasturage? Silage? OK, I’m wandering too far afield….
The first word that comes to mind is “herbage.” After all, plants that grow low to the ground, without rigid stems, are called “herbs.” There is also a more specialized word, “forb” (from Greek phorbe, pasture or fodder), meaning an herbaceous plant that is not a grass. Perhaps one of these would do?
Wow! More great suggestions.
Many thanks, Angela, Andrew, Roger, Larry, and William. And welcome aboard, everybody!
Hope you all keep coming back.
Ground flora, low-lying or low-growing greenery/vegetation, ground hugging, creeping or crawling floor vines, sprawling green and say this five times: forest floor flora… Earth embracing, and the ever popular when translating Latin poetry – verdant bed. Runners and vines and dense green – oh my! How about a botanic blanket?
Well, look who’s here!
Welcome, Wanda! Definitely hope to see you around a bunch.
And thanks, my Latin-major friend. More good advice.