Also erron. -turf. [f. CANDY sb.2 = Candia, name of the island + TUFT.] A plant, Iberis umbellata, originally brought from Candia; and, by extension, the genus Iberis (N. O. Cruciferæ), consisting of herbaceous plants or small undershrubs with white, pink or purple flowers in flat corymbs or ‘tufts.’
[1578. Lyte, Dodoens, V. lxiii. 629. Candie Thlaspi is in complexion lyke to the other Thlaspies.]
1664. Evelyn, Kal. Hort. (1729), 200. Sow divers Annuals … Candy Tufts.
1727. Bradley, Fam. Dict., Candy Tuft, serves for an Ornament to great Parterres.
1741. Compl. Fam.-Piece, II. iii. 362. Hardy annual Flowers, as … dwarf Lychnis, Candy Turf.
1858. Glenny, Gard. Every-day Bk., 146/1. The smaller kinds [of hardy annuals] … such as Larkspur, Candy Tuft.
