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

When the butterflies emerged, the students added balls of toilet paper soaked in honey water to their cages, in addition to deerweed, so they’d have plenty of energy to mate and lay eggs.

From Los Angeles Times • May 25, 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