Meaning of manita | Babel Free

Definitions

The tree Chiranthodendron pentadactylon, or the red, hand-like flower this tree produces.

rare

Equivalents

Examples

“[…] The manita tree,* so named from the singular formation of its flower, a drawing of which is placed as the frontispiece of this book, is a species of plant almost unknown in the catalogues of botanists. Manita means a little hand.”

“Tradition states, that though the Indians did not actually worship the manita tree, yet they regarded the flower with a sort of religious veneration.”

“The curious manita, or ‘hand tree,’ near the city of Mexico, is another of these curiosities.”

“[…] with high walls on every side but open at the top and certainly not exceeding 80 feet square, and this is the botanic garden of the palace of Mexico; a few shrubs and plants and the celebrated manita tree, are all that it contains.”

“Close by was a plant of the manita, a flower which the Aztecs used to worship ; it is in the form of a hand, with four fingers and a thumb : this they imagined to be the hand of one of their most powerful deities, and adored it ; its colour is a brilliant scarlet.”

“Here one finds among remedies for every organ and ailment, manita, whose red flower, shaped like thumb and four fingers gives its name “the little hand.””

“A sign nailed to a manita tree read “Jardín Botánica.” Edmund surveyed this pathetic place in disbelief. The botanic garden of the Palace of Mexico was cramped, airless, light-starved, and populated with meager, untended specimens — […]”

CEFR level