mountain balmn.
/ˌmaʊntᵻn ˈbɑːm/, U.S. /ˈmaʊnt(ə)n ˌbɑ(l)m/ Chiefly U.S.† 1. The plant Oswego tea, Monarda didyma. Cf. mountain mint n. 2. Obsolete.† 2. Bastard balm, Melittis melissophyllum. Obsolete. rare.Apparently only attested in dictionaries or glossaries.
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1819 Catal. Plants City of N.Y. 11 Common Mountain Balm.
1890 Cent. Dict. Mountain-balm,..the Oswego tea, Monarda didyma; so called in the drug trade.
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1857 R. G. Mayne Expos. Lexicon Med. Sci. (1860) Mountain Balm, common name for the Melittis melissophyllum.
3. A medicinal herb of the genus Eriodictyon (family Hydrophyllaceae), esp. E. californicum. Also called yerba santa. Cf. mountain balsam n. (a) at mountain n. and adj. Compounds 2d.
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular medicinal plants or parts > medicinal trees or shrubs > [noun] > non-British medicinal trees or shrubs > balm trees or plants
balsamc1000
balma1387
balsamuma1398
bdelliuma1398
balm-tree1601
balsam-tree1601
balsamum-tree1603
Balm of Gileada1701
opobalsamum1737
maria1745
Balm of Gilead shrub1754
hyawa1825
Balm of Gilead fir1833
balm-shrub1841
balsam-fir1865
balsam-poplar1882
mountain balm1887
1887 Overland Monthly Aug. 153/2 The low growth of shrubs..is made up of..herba santa, or ‘mountain balm’, from which a medicine is prepared for pulmonary affections.
1890 Cent. Dict. Mountain-balm, an evergreen plant, Eriodictyon glutinosum (probably also E. tomentosum).
1931 M. Grieve Mod. Herbal II. 865 Yerba Santa... Synonyms. Mountain Balm. Consumptive's Weed.
1996 J. Hegland Into Forest (1997) 222 Mountain balm, blue-eyed grass, and yarrow to bring down fever.
4. A white-flowering shrub, Ceanothus velutinus (family Rhamnaceae), of the western U.S., the leaves of which are used as a tobacco substitute by some North American Indians. Also called snowbrush.
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the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > non-British trees or shrubs > North American trees or shrubs > [noun] > other North American trees or shrubs
black-gum1709
white gum1709
red fir1722
Quebec oak1768
Pennsylvania fir tree1770
Pennsylvania dwarf mountain maple1785
Pennsylvania mountain laurel1785
pepperbush1785
pepperbush1785
southern pine1796
titi1827
palo blanco1829
mock orange1860
palo fierro1860
mountain laurel1866
Joshua1867
red cedar1872
porkwood1884
guajillo1886
mountain balm1924
1924 P. H. Hawkins Trees & Shrubs Yellowstone National Park 97 Mountain Balm (Ceanothus velutinus)..is common throughout the lodgepole pine belt... Its fragrance accounts for the common name.
1937 Range Plant Handbk. (U.S. Forest Service) b47 Snowbrush refers to the abundant fluffy masses of white flowers; mountain balm to its typically montane habitat and heavy balsamic odor.
1973 C. L. Hitchcock & A. Cronquist Flora Pacific Northwest 290 Mt balm, sticky-laurel, greasewood.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1819