'starry-flowered' originates from English, specifically from the adjective 'starry' (from Old English 'steorra') and the noun 'flower' with the adjectival/past-participial suffix '-ed' (Old English 'flōwer'), where 'steorra' meant 'star' and 'flōwer' meant 'flower'.

'starry-flowered' developed in Modern English as a compound of 'starry' (Middle English/early Modern English forms such as 'starri') and 'flowered' (the noun 'flower' plus '-ed'), forming a descriptive compound meaning 'having star-like flowers'.

Initially, the elements meant 'star' and 'flower' separately; over time the compound came to be used specifically to describe plants that bear star-shaped or star-like flowers.