chaff-weed
(ˈtʃɑːfwiːd, -æ-)
[app. orig. the same as chafeweed (written chafweed by Turner), but in later times referred to chaff.
Turner applied chafweed to his ‘Centunculus’, which was Gnaphalium sylvaticum, and to this or the allied Filago the name continued to be applied. But later botanists applied Centunculus to an entirely different plant, to which chaffweed is now attached as an English book-name.]
† 1. = chafeweed. Obs.
2. Centunculus or Bastard Pimpernel.
| 1776 Withering Bot. Arrangem. (1796) II. 199 Bastard Pimpernel. Pimpernel Chaffweed. 1848 C. A. Johns Week Lizard 290 Small Chaff-weed, frequents the gravelly banks. 1878 Britten & Holl. Plant-n. s.v., Chaffweed, Centunculus minimus, L.—With. Generally applied to this plant by authors subsequent to Withering. |