deerweed

American  

[deer-weed] / ˈdɪərˌwid /

Or deer weed

noun

1. any of several shrubby Californian plants belonging to the genus Lotus, of the legume family, especially L. scoparious, having pinnate leaves and clusters of yellow flowers.

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Etymology

Origin of deerweed

An Americanism dating back to 1910–15; deer + weed ¹

Example Sentences

There are plugs of grasses and gallon pots of white sage, purple sage, California buckwheat, long-stem buckwheat, deerweed, narrow leaf milkweed and coyote bush.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 26, 2026

Meanwhile, the Presidio Trust and other organizations worked to restore the butterflies’ native dunes, planting deerweed — a preferred host plant of the Xerces Blue and the Silvery Blue butterflies.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 15, 2024

While there can be variations, in the South Bay, look for sea cliff buckwheat with clumps of white and pink flowers; rattlepod and deerweed have peapod or bell-shaped green-and-white and yellow-and-red flowers, respectively.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 26, 2023

More than a century ago, a bluish butterfly flitted among the sand dunes of the Sunset District in San Francisco and laid its eggs on a plant known as deerweed.

From New York Times • Jul. 21, 2021

And though the Xerces blue is long gone, the deerweed it once needed has recently been replanted in the sand dunes in the Presidio, awaiting a somewhat familiar future butterfly.

From New York Times • Jul. 21, 2021