goatsbeard

[ gohts-beerd ]

noun
  1. any of several composite plants of the genus Tragopogon, especially T. pratensis, having yellow flower heads.

  2. a plant, Aruncus dioicus, of the rose family, having pinnate leaves and long, slender spikes of small white flowers.

Origin of goatsbeard

1
1570–80; goat + -'s1 + beard

Words Nearby goatsbeard

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use goatsbeard in a sentence

  • Drooping hemlocks, festooned with goatsbeard lichen, keep the spot in cool, somber gloom even on the hottest midday.

    Glacier National Park [Montana] | United States Dept. of the Interior
  • The name “goatsbeard” refer to the clusters of stiff hairy fruits.

    Flowers of Mountain and Plain | Edith S. Clements
  • The flowers of the goatsbeard have the curious habit of closing at midday, even when the sun is shining.

  • The goatsbeard or Salsify bears large purple flower-heads with yellow centers at the tips of stiff, straight stems, 2-4 ft. tall.

    Flowers of Mountain and Plain | Edith S. Clements

British Dictionary definitions for goatsbeard

goatsbeard

goat's-beard

/ (ˈɡəʊtsˌbɪəd) /


noun
  1. Also called: Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon a Eurasian plant, Tragopogon pratensis, with woolly stems and large heads of yellow rayed flowers surrounded by large green bracts: family Asteraceae (composites)

  2. an American rosaceous plant, Aruncus sylvester, with long spikes of small white flowers

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012