groundsel

¹ American  

[ground-suhl] / ˈgraʊnd səl /

noun

1. any composite plant of the genus Senecio, especially S. vulgaris, a common weed having clusters of small yellow disk flowers without rays.

---

groundsel ² American  

[ground-suhl] / ˈgraʊnd səl /

noun

1. groundsill.

---

groundsel British  

/ ˈɡraʊnsəl /

noun

1. any of certain plants of the genus Senecio, esp S. vulgaris, a Eurasian weed with heads of small yellow flowers: family Asteraceae (composites) See also ragwort

2. a shrub, Baccharis halimifolia, of E North America, with white plumelike fruits: family Asteraceae

---

Etymology

Origin of groundsel

before 900; Middle English grundeswili ( e ), groundeswel, Old English grundeswelge, gundeswelge; compare Old English gund pus, swelgan to swallow, absorb (from its use in medicine); the -r- is by folk etymology from association with ground ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

groundsel

It ripped off every groundsel leaf, leaving the limbs bare.

From "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George

He crashed into a hill of groundsel bushes and wedged his way into their dense center.

From "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George

It may be added that it is known that the fungus can go on being reproduced by the uredospores on the groundsel plants which live through the winter.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 664, September 22,1888 by Various

“I can do with a little groundsel too,” she said, as though the other subject had been threshed out.

From The Rustle of Silk by Cosmo Hamilton

The flowers are like those of our English groundsel and yellow in colour—little "composite" knobs, each built up of many tubular "florets" packed side by side.

From More Science From an Easy Chair by Sir E. Ray (Edwin Ray) Lankester