oakleaf hydrangea

Partial calque of taxonomic name Hydrangea quercifolia. The specific epithet quercifolia comes from Latin quercus (“oak”) + Latin folia (“leaf”), referring to the leaves' similarity in shape to those of oak trees, which belong to the unrelated genus Quercus.

oakleaf hydrangea (plural oakleaf hydrangeas)

A type of deciduous shrub native to the southeastern United States, often cultivated as an ornamental plant, of species Hydrangea quercifolia.
- 2007 August 30, Anne Raver, “Vistas and Close-Ups, Staged by a Filmmaker”, in New York Times‎:
  There were callicarpas full of pale lavender berries, which would turn purple in the fall; viburnums and shrub dogwoods; and lacy elderberries juxtaposed against dense evergreens or the large, floppy leaves of an oakleaf hydrangea.

Hydrangea quercifolia

English