Adjacent Words

Snakeroot definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SNA'KEROOT, n. [snake and root.] A plant, a species of birth-wort, growing in North Am merica the Aristolochia serpentaria.
SNA'KE'SHEAD Iris, n. A plant with a lily shaped flower, or one leaf, shaped like an iris; the hermodactyl, or Iris tuberosa.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a plant of the genus Sanicula having palmately compound leaves and unisexual flowers in panicled umbels followed by bristly fruit; reputed to have healing powers [syn: sanicle, snakeroot]
2: any of various North American plants of the genus Liatris having racemes or panicles of small discoid flower heads [syn: blazing star, button snakeroot, gayfeather, gay- feather, snakeroot]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 1635 any of various plants (as seneca snakeroot and Virginia snakeroot) most of which have roots sometimes believed to cure snakebites; also the root of such a plant

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. any of various N. American plants, esp. Cimicifuga racemosa, with roots reputed to contain an antidote to snake's poison.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Snakeroot Snake"root`, n. (Bot.) Any one of several plants of different genera and species, most of which are (or were formerly) reputed to be efficacious as remedies for the bites of serpents; also, the roots of any of these. Note: The Virginia snakeroot is Aristolochia Serpentaria; black snakeroot is Sanicula, esp. S. Marilandica, also Cimicifuga racemosa; Seneca snakeroot is Polygala Senega; button snakeroot is Liatris, also Eryngium; white snakeroot is Eupatorium ageratoides. The name is also applied to some others besides these.