pearlwortn.
/ˈpəːlwəːt/, U.S. /ˈpərlwərt/, /ˈpərlˌwɔrt/ Any of various small tufted or mat-forming plants with inconspicuous white or apetalous flowers, constituting the genus Sagina (family Caryophyllaceae) and found in north temperate regions; esp. (more fully procumbent pearlwort) S. procumbens, a plant of bare stony or sandy places, walls, etc.
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the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Caryophyllaceae (chickweeds and allies) > [noun] > pearlwort
pearlwort1650
seal-wort1837
pearl weed1887
sagina1962
1650 W. How Phytologia Britannica 109 Saxifraga Anglicana alsinefolia, Pearle-wort, Chickeweed, Break-stone.
1660 J. Ray Catalogus Plantarum Cantabrigiam 151 Saxifraga Anglica Occidentalium..Pearlwort, Chickweed-Breakstone.
1744 J. Wilson Synopsis Brit. Plants 228 Pearlwort, Chickweed, Breakstone. Common in moist barren pastures, and the walks in gardens.
1777 W. Curtis Flora Londinensis I. Pl. 12 Sagina procumbens. Procumbent Pearlwort.
1787 W. Withering Brit. Plants (1796) II. 215 Sagina [procumbens]... Chickweed-Breakstone. Trailing Pearlwort. Walls, roofs, sandy, and also boggy places.
1822 A. Eaton Man. Bot. (ed. 3) 20 Sagina..procumbens, (pearl-wort).
1854 S. Thomson Wanderings among Wild Flowers (ed. 4) III. 186 Pearlworts, inconspicuous plants, with narrow leaves.
1900 W. Robinson Eng. Flower Garden (ed. 8) 787/2 The only species worthy of culture is the Lawn Pearlwort (S. glabra), a plant very generally known in consequence of being much talked of a few years since as a substitute for lawn Grass.
1943 R. Morse Bk. Wildflowers vii. 59 In company with the whitlow-grass on old dry walls you may often find the pearlwort, the thyme-leaved sandwort,..and the wall speedwell.
2003 Independent (Nexis) 17 May On the island, an earth-sculpted sleeping figure lies covered in pearlwort.
Compounds
pearlwort spurrey n. †(a) an alpine pearlwort, Sagina saginoides, resembling, and formerly classified as, a kind of spurrey (genus Spergula) (obsolete); (b) a kind of spurrey, Spergula morisonii, introduced to arable land in parts of the British Isles from central Europe.
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1777 W. Curtis Flora Londinensis I. Pl. 139 Spergula saginoides. Pearlwort Spurrey.
1797 Encycl. Brit. XVII. 688/1 [Spergula] Saginoides, pearlwort spurrey, has smooth, linear, opposite leaves.
1842 Penny Cycl. XXII. 333/2 Spergula saginoides, pearl-wort spurrey, and S. subulata, awl-shaped spurrey, are also natives of Great Britain.
1997 C. Stace New Flora Brit. Isles (ed. 2) 210 S. morisonii Boreau—Pearlwort Spurrey.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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