lousewort

American  

[laus-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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

lousewort

In Maine, construction of the Dickey-Lincoln Dam was almost held up because of environmentalists' concern for a plant called the Furbish 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

But it reckoned without the mighty Furbish lousewort, a plant thought extinct until some 30 specimens were discovered last year in an area destined for flooding by the proposed Dickey-Lincoln dam project.

From Time Magazine Archive

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

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 "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams

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