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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.
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Origin of goatsbeard

1570–80; goat + -'s1 + beard
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for goatsbeard

Historical Examples of goatsbeard

  • The name “Goatsbeard” refer to the clusters of stiff hairy fruits.

    Flowers of Mountain and Plain

    Edith S. Clements

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

  • The flowers of the Goatsbeard have the curious habit of closing at midday, even when the sun is shining.

  • 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

British Dictionary definitions for goatsbeard

goatsbeard

goat's-beard

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
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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