lousewort

[lous-wurt, -wawrt]

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.

lousewort

/ 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

Word History and Origins

Origin of lousewort¹

First recorded in 1570–80; louse + wort ²

Example Sentences

The very plants were unknown to them—pink lousewort with its sprays of hooked flowers, bog asphodel and the thin-stemmed blooms of the sundews, rising above their hairy, fly-catching mouths, all shut fast by night.

From Literature

In his autobiography, “On the Move,” Dr. Sacks wrote of walking a meadow in the Canadian Rockies with “three botanical ladies,” who taught him the names of the local flora: globe flowers, Indian paintbrush, contorted lousewort.

From New York Times

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

From Literature

An abundance of wildflowers — woolly lousewort, campion, lupine, buttercups, Arctic poppy –  create a carpet of color. 

From New York Times

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

From Time Magazine Archive