flora

plural floras · plural florae · plural floræ

1. countableuncountablePlants considered as a group, especially those of a particular country, region, time, etc.

   Thirdly, I continue to attempt to interdigitate the taxa in our flora with taxa of the remainder of the world.

   1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page viii

2. countableuncountableA book describing the plants of a country, region, time, etc.

   The garden is also involved in producing floras of North and Central America, Madagascar, and various countries in South America and Africa.

   1990 August, Boyd Gibbons, “Missouri's Garden of Consequence”, in National Geographic, volume 178, number 2, pages 138-140

   2 more examples

   He intended to publish a flora of the island, and drafted out a synonymic catalogue, into which he inserted from time to time elaborate descriptions drawn up from living specimens of the species which he was able to procure.

   1999, J. G. Baker, Flora of Mauritius and the Seychelles

   Nowhere was the victory of Linnaeanism more complete than in Britain. When William Hudson's Flora Anglica, organized in the Linnaean manner, appeared in 1762, it displaced all previous floras.

   2000, Daniel R. Headrick, When Information Came of Age, page 26

3. countableuncountableThe microorganisms that inhabit some part of the body.

   gut flora, intestinal flora

   2 more examples

   The host effects upon the flora of both the small intestine and the large intestine must be examined.

   1977, United States Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs, Hearings, Reports and Prints of the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs, page 191

   Approximately 3% of healthy adults harbor C. difficile in the intestinal tract. […] In contrast, the flora of the cecum is predominantly gram negative, with Bacteroides and Selenomonas being the major constituents.

   2003 December 11, Moselio Schaechter, Desk Encyclopedia of Microbiology, Elsevier, →ISBN, page 520

   Synonyms: microflora

1. Romanhuman sciencesthe goddess of flowers, nature and spring; she is also the wife of Favonius and the mother of Karpos. She is the Roman counterpart of Chloris.
2. astronomy8 Flora, a main-belt asteroid.
3. A female given name from Latin.

   What lovely names for girls there are! / There's Stella like the Evening Star, / And Sylvia like a rustling tree, / And Lola like a melody, / And Flora like a flowery morn, […]

   1933, Eleanor Farjeon, “Girls' Names”, in Over the Garden Wall, Faber and Faber, page 91

4. A surname.
5. A number of places in the United States:
   1. A former community in Alachua County, Florida, annexed by Gainesville.
   2. A city in Clay County, Illinois.
   3. A township in Boone County, Illinois.
   4. A town in Monroe Township, Carroll County, Indiana; named for founder John Flora.
   5. A township in Dickinson County, Kansas.
   6. An unincorporated community in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana.
   7. A township in Renville County, Minnesota.
   8. A town in Madison County, Mississippi; named for early resident Flora Mann Jones.
   9. A ghost town in Meigs County, Ohio.
   10. An unincorporated community in Wallowa County, Oregon.
6. Other places elsewhere:
   1. A resort in Suriname.
   2. A municipality of the Philippines.
   3. A village in Selbu municipality, Trøndelag county, Norway.
   4. A former municipality in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway.