ageratum

American  

[aj-uh-rey-tuhm, uh-jer-uh-] / ˌædʒ əˈreɪ təm, əˈdʒɛr ə- /

noun

1. any of several composite plants of the genus Ageratum, especially A. houstonianum, having heart-shaped leaves and small, dense, blue, lavender, or white flower heads, often grown in gardens.

2. any of various other composite plants, as the mistflower, having blue or white flowers.

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ageratum British  

/ ˌædʒəˈreɪtəm /

noun

1. any tropical American plant of the genus Ageratum, such as A. houstonianum and A. conyzoides, which have thick clusters of purplish-blue flowers

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Etymology

Origin of ageratum

1560–70; < New Latin; Latin agēraton < Greek agḗraton, neuter of agḗratos unaging, equivalent to a- a- ⁶ + gērat- (stem of gêras ) old age + -os adj. suffix

Example Sentences

Taking a different approach, Entomologist William Bowers, of the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, has isolated two substances from ageratum, a flowering plant, that interfere with an insect's production of juvenile hormones.

From Time Magazine Archive

Along the walks ageratum was planted in the following manner to serve as a border.

From The Library of Work and Play: Gardening and Farming. by Shaw, Ellen Eddy

Often one sees a border of ageratum about such a one.

From The Library of Work and Play: Gardening and Farming. by Shaw, Ellen Eddy

Almost all the bedding plants, like the geranium, begonia, ageratum, lobelia, etc., have white species.

From The Garden, You, and I by Wright, Mabel Osgood

"I should think a low-growing plant like ageratum would be pretty in a vase of that sort."

From Ethel Morton's Enterprise by Smith, Mabell S. C. (Mabell Shippie Clarke)