starwort
(ˈstɑːwɜːt)
Also 5–6 ster-, sterre-, 6–7 (? erron.) stir(e-.
[f. star n.1 + wort n.]
1. The genus Stellaria, with white starry flowers; esp. S. Holostea.
In the 15th c. quots. perhaps Alchemilla vulgaris.
| a 1400–50 Stockh. Med. MS. p. 156 Sterrewort: stellaria maior. a 1500 MS. Laud 553 lf. 19 Stellaria maior is an herbe þ{supt} me clepuþ sterwort... Stellaria minor is an herbe þ{supt} me clepuþ lasse sterrewort. 1845–50 A. H. Lincoln Lect. Bot. App. 173/2 Stellaria longifolia (long-leafed starwort). 1878 Susan Phillips On Seaboard 89 The poppy, like a scarlet flame, By snowy starwort blazes. 1899 Bridges New Poems, Idle Flowers, And in the shady lanes..Starwort and Celandine. |
2. A book-name for the genus Aster; esp. A. Tripolium, Sea Starwort; A. Amellus, Italian Starwort.
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. xxiv. 36 Aster Atticus..is called..in English Sharewurte or Sterrewurte. 1585 Higins Junius' Nomencl. 118/1 Aster atticus..stirwoort. 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. lxxxviii. 334 Aster Marinus, or Amellus Marinus: in English Sea Starwort,..of some Blew Daisies. Ibid. ii. cxxv. 391 There be diuers sorts of the Asters or Starwoorts. Ibid., Italian Starrewoort. 1647 Hexham i. (Herbs) Stirewort, sterren kruydt. 1693 Dale Pharmacol. 175 Aster Atticus..Golden Star-wort. 1728 Bradley Dict. Bot., Amellus..appears plainly to be the Flower call'd Asteratticus Italorum, call'd in English, Purple Italian Star⁓wort, or Purple Marygold. 1785 Martyn Lett. Bot. xxvi. (1794) 392 Large flowering or Catesby's Starwort (Aster grandiflorus Lin.), is one of the handsomest [of the American asters]. 1812 New Bot. Gard. I. 65 Aster Chinensis, China Aster, or Chinese Starwort. 1862 T. W. Harris Insects Injur. Vegetation (ed. 3) 620 Our native asters or star⁓worts. 1882 Garden 11 Feb. 90/1 The American Starworts. |
3. water starwort, the genus Callitriche.
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. cclxxxviii. 681 There is likewise another herbe of small reckoning that floteth vpon the water called Stellaria aquatica or water Starwoort. 1796 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 5 Callitriche verna..Water Starwort. 1861 S. Thomson Wild Flowers (ed. 4) i. 65 The water star-wort..has its anthers but one-celled. |
4. The name of a moth, Cucullia Asteris.
| 1819 G. Samouelle Entomol. Compend. 419 Noctua Asteris. The Starwort. 1832 J. Rennie Consp. Butterfl. & Moths 90 The Starwort (Cucullia Asteris). 1869 E. Newman Brit. Moths 433. |