pellitory

British  

/ -trɪ, ˈpɛlɪtərɪ /

noun

1. any of various urticaceous plants of the S and W European genus Parietaria, esp P. diffusa ( pellitory-of-the-wall or wall pellitory ), that grow in crevices and have long narrow leaves and small pink flowers

2. a small Mediterranean plant, Anacyclus pyrethrum, the root of which contains an oil formerly used to relieve toothache: family Asteraceae (composites)

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Etymology

Origin of pellitory

C16 peletre, from Old French piretre, from Latin pyrethrum, from Greek purethron, from pur fire, from the hot pungent taste of the root

Example Sentences

Two years after the army's evacuation, the entire perimeter wall of the barracks was covered with more than twenty different species: among them, capers, snapdragons, lots of spreading pellitory, and several small ferns.

From Salon • Mar. 22, 2020

I tried, however, taking botany as my guide; it suggested to me, as substitutes for the mulberry, the members of closely-related families: the elm, the nettle-tree, the nettle, the pellitory.

From More Hunting Wasps by Teixeira de Mattos, Alexander

Tufts of weeds outline the paving-stones; the walls are scored by enormous cracks, and the blackened coping is laced with a thousand festoons of pellitory.

From La Grande Breteche by Marriage, Ellen

At the end you come to a second gateway, a Gothic archway covered with simple ornament, now crumbling into ruin and overgrown with wildflowers—moss and ivy, wallflowers and pellitory.

From La Grenadiere by Marriage, Ellen

Yes, faith, she dwells in Sea-coal-lane,—did cure me, With sodden ale, and pellitory of the wall; Cost me but two-pence.

From The Alchemist by Jonson, Ben