spearwort

American  

[speer-wurt, -wawrt] / ˈspɪərˌwɜrt, -ˌwɔrt /

noun

1. any of several buttercups having lance-shaped leaves and small flowers, as Ranunculus ambigens, of the eastern U.S., growing in mud.

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spearwort British  

/ ˈspɪəˌwɜːt /

noun

1. any of several Eurasian ranunculaceous plants of the genus Ranunculus, such as R. flammula ( lesser spearwort ) and R. lingua ( great spearwort ), which grow in wet places and have long narrow leaves and yellow flowers See also buttercup

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Etymology

Origin of spearwort

before 1000; Middle English sperewort, Old English sperewyrt. See spear ¹, wort ²

Example Sentences

The adder's-tongue spearwort is only found in two places in the UK - Badgeworth, near Gloucester, and on Inglestone Common, near Bristol.

From BBC

And Miss Anney, turning the bouquet about and examining it, said: "An apple-blossom is in the middle,--the good-for-nothing girl plucked it from some little tree, for which she must be reprimanded; these are spearwort, those primroses, and those pennyroyal, which are now coming out."

From Project Gutenberg

The following purely Caucasian species also grow on the coast—five species of spearwort, three of saxifrage, Aster caucasica, Dioscorea caucasica, Echinops raddeanus, Hedera colchica, Helleborus caucasica and Peucedanum caucasicum.

From Project Gutenberg

Stems prostrate and trailing, rooting at the joints; fruits tipped with a minute short beak Spearwort, Ranunculus flammula var. reptans. 12a.

From Project Gutenberg

They had been walking uphill all the time, and, as soon as they were clear of the woods, found they had reached a high table-land, covered with pastures, through the midst of which flowed a stream, whose rushy banks were gay with purple loosestrife, Ragged Robin, and yellow spearwort.

From Project Gutenberg