goatsbeard

American  

[gohts-beerd] / ˈgoʊtsˌbɪərd /

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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goatsbeard British  

/ ˈɡəʊtsˌbɪəd /

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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Etymology

Origin of goatsbeard

1570–80; goat + -'s 1 + beard

Example Sentences

Drooping hemlocks, festooned with goatsbeard lichen, keep the spot in cool, somber gloom even on the hottest midday.

From Glacier National Park [Montana] by Interior, United States Dept. of the

At 3 A.M. the yellow meadow goatsbeard awakes--also brides--and then, too, the stable-boy begins rattling and feeding the horses under the lodger.

From Flower, Fruit, and Thorn Pieces; or, the Wedded Life, Death, and Marriage of Firmian Stanislaus Siebenkaes, Parish Advocate in the Burgh of Kuhschnappel. by Jean Paul