lungwort

[ luhng-wurt, -wawrt ]

noun
  1. a European plant, Pulmonaria officinalis, of the borage family, having blue flowers.

  2. any of various related plants of the genus Mertensia, as the North American M. virginica(Virginia bluebell ), having nodding clusters of blue flowers.

Origin of lungwort

1
First recorded before 1000; Middle English long-wort, lung-wort “hellebore,” Old English lungen-wyrt; see origin at lung, wort2

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British Dictionary definitions for lungwort

lungwort

/ (ˈlʌŋˌwɜːt) /


noun
  1. any of several Eurasian plants of the boraginaceous genus Pulmonaria, esp P. officinalis, which has spotted leaves and clusters of blue or purple flowers: formerly used to treat lung diseases

  2. any of various boraginaceous plants of the N temperate genus Mertensia, such as Mertensia maritima (sea lungwort), having drooping clusters of tubular usually blue flowers

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012