cudweed
(ˈkʌdwiːd)
[f. cud n.: the plant being administered to cattle that had lost their cud.]
The common name for the genus Gnaphalium of composite plants, having chaffy scales surrounding the flower-heads; originally proper to G. sylvaticum; extended to other plants, of allied genera, or similar appearance.
| 1548 Turner Names of Herbes 25 Centunculus..maye be called in englishe Chafweede, it is called in Yorke shyre cudweede. 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. cxcv. 515 English Cudweed hath sundrie slender and vpright stalks. 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 76/1 The Cotton Weed or Cud-Weed. 1854 S. Thomson Wild Fl. iii. (ed. 4) 248 The little silvery-looking cudweeds, or Gnaphaliums. 1879 Prior Plant-n., Sea-Cudweed, Diotis maritima. 1884 Miller Plant-n., American Cud-weed, Antennaria margaritacea. Golden C., Pterocaulon virgatum. |