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

Our way lay first through some castor-oil plantations, and then along the side of a stream, fringed with rare ferns, scarlet begonias, and grey ageratum.

From A Voyage in the 'Sunbeam' Our Home on the Ocean for Eleven Months by Brassey, Annie

Roses, violets, honeysuckle, pansies, cosmos, phlox, balsams, sunflowers, zinnias, blue Michaelmas daisies, dianthus, nasturtiums, &c., are on common ground with purely tropical plants, while ageratum has become a pestiferous weed.

From My Tropic Isle by Banfield, E. J. (Edmund James)

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

"We've decided on ageratum for the border and larkspur and monkshood for the back," said Ethel Brown.

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