lousewort

American  

[lous-wurt, -wawrt] / ˈlaʊsˌwɜrt, -ˌwɔrt /

noun

1. any plant belonging to the genus Pedicularis, of the figwort family, as the wood betony, formerly supposed to cause lice in sheep feeding on it: one species, P. furbishiae Furbish lousewort, of parts of Maine and New Brunswick, Canada, having finely toothed leaves and a cluster of yellow flowers, is endangered and was thought to be extinct until specimens were discovered in 1946 and again in 1976.

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lousewort British  

/ ˈlaʊsˌwɜːt /

noun

1. any of various N temperate scrophulariaceous plants of the genus Pedicularis, having spikes of white, yellow, or mauve flowers See also betony

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Etymology

Origin of lousewort

First recorded in 1570–80; louse + wort ²

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

lousewort

The lousewort is expected to become one of the first plants included in the Interior Department's endangered-species list, and if environmental concerns prevail, Dickey-Lincoln may have to be redesigned or perhaps even scrapped.

From Time Magazine Archive

It is the Dickey Lincoln Dam that will be the weed, not the lousewort.

From Time Magazine Archive

But one threat to the project was a problem that seemed downright silly: the discovery of a few clumps of a greenish-yellow wild flower called the Furbish lousewort growing near the dam site.

From Time Magazine Archive

Shirley Lontz Moorhead, Minn. Regarding your reference to the Furbish lousewort as a weed.

From Time Magazine Archive

A meal of frozen possum stewed with lichens, snakeweed, and lousewort.

From "My Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George