richweedn.
/ˈrɪtʃwiːd/, U.S. /ˈrɪtʃˌwid/ North American.
1. Black snakeroot, Cimicifuga racemosa. Cf. rich root n. Now rare.
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the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Ranunculaceae (crowfoot and allies) > [noun] > baneberry
herb Christophera1450
rattlesnake herb1737
baneberry1755
richweed1762
redberry1785
1762 J. F. Gronovius & L. T. Gronovius Flora Virginica (new ed.) 79 Actæa racemis longissimis..Nostratibus Rich-weed & aliquibus Black-Snake-root.
1788 M. Cutler Let. 12 Nov. in W. P. Cutler & J. P. Cutler Life, Jrnls. & Corr. M. Cutler (1888) II. 285 I likewise wish particularly to know what you find the May-apple, Rich~weed, and Buffalo-clover to be.
1827 Philadelphia Monthly Jrnl. Med. & Surg. Sept. 154 It [sc. Cimicifuga racemosa] delights in broken rocky situations, remarkable for the fertility of the soil; hence the vulgar name rich weed.
1892 C. F. Millspaugh Medicinal Plants 11-1 Cimicifuga racemosa... Com[mon] Names..Rich weed.
1919 Encycl. Americana XXII. 202/2 Black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa), also known locally as black snake root.., rich-weed and squaw root.
2. Clearweed, Pilea pumila.
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the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Urticaceae (nettle and allies) > [noun]
nettleeOE
dock-nettlea1300
Greekish nettlec1450
Roman nettle1578
red nettle1611
ettle1688
urtica1706
bur-nettle1714
pill nettle1714
nettle plant1764
richweed1814
clearweed1822
sting-nettle1822
ongaonga1842
nettlewort1846
urtical1846
jinny1876
1814 J. Bigelow Florula Bostoniensis 220 Urtica pumila, Richweed.
1848 A. Gray Man. Bot. Northern U.S. 437 P[ilea] pumila. (Richweed. Clearweed.)
1885 J. U. Lloyd & C. G. Lloyd Drugs & Med. of N. Amer. I. 244 Richweed..is now used by botanists to designate a very different plant (Pilea pumila) which has no place in medicine.
1914 H. Garman Some Kentucky Weeds & Poisonous Plants 279 Rich Weed, Clear Weed (Pilea pumila). This is another obscure plant found in odd corners about premises, but easily got rid of.
1943 M. L. Fernald & A. C. Kinsey Edible Wild Plants Eastern N. Amer. 166 It has been suggested that the common Richweed may be an available potherb.
1994 G. G. Whitney From Coastal Wilderness Fruited Plain (1996) 171 Enchanter's nightshade (Circaea quadrisulcata) and richweed (Pilea pumila), for example, were native, nitrophyllous species which thrived on the dung-enriched soils of the grazed woodlot.
3. Horse-balm, Collinsonia canadensis.
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the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > non-British plants or herbs > [noun] > North American > other plants
bear grass1750
gardenia1756
sisyrinchium1767
heartsease1785
blazing star1789
nondo1791
unicorn-plant1796
screw-stem1802
American centaury1803
wild ginger?1804
pinweed1814
sabbatia1814
mountain mint1817
orange-root1817
richweed1818
goldenseal1828
pipeweed1837
snow plant1846
lopseed1850
devil's claw1876
turkey's beard1884
richweed1894
blue star grass1999
1818 A. Eaton Man. Bot. (ed. 2) ii. 210 Collinsonia..canadensis..horse-balm, rich-weed.
1856 A. Gray Man. Bot. Northern U.S. (ed. 2) 309 C[ollinsonia] Canadensis, L. (Rich-weed. Stone-root.)
1872 M. S. De Vere Americanisms 399 The Stone-Root (Collinsonia canadensis), the flowers of which have an odor like lemons, is also known as Rich Weed from this fragrance.
1920 H. C. Fuller Chem. Anal. Drugs & Medicines 442 Collinsonia canadensis (Labiatæ), horse or ox-balm, citronella, or rich-weed, a perennial aromatic herb growing in moist woods.
1930 A. F. Sievers Amer. Medicinal Plants 23 Citronella horsebalm..richweed, richleaf... The entire flowering herb possesses a pleasant lemonlike odor.
2004 Chron.-Telegram (Elyria, Ohio) 29 Feb. g6/4 The other plant is richweed, also known as horse-balm. Its aroma is really citronella so the plant probably is better for smelling than for cooking.
4. White snakeroot, Ageratina altissima (family Asteraceae), which contains a toxic alkaloid (cf. milk sickness n. at milk n.1 and adj. Compounds 3a). Now rare. Ageratina altissima was formerly known as Eupatorium rugosum, E. ageratoides, or E. urticaefolium.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > non-British plants or herbs > [noun] > North American > other plants
bear grass1750
gardenia1756
sisyrinchium1767
heartsease1785
blazing star1789
nondo1791
unicorn-plant1796
screw-stem1802
American centaury1803
wild ginger?1804
pinweed1814
sabbatia1814
mountain mint1817
orange-root1817
richweed1818
goldenseal1828
pipeweed1837
snow plant1846
lopseed1850
devil's claw1876
turkey's beard1884
richweed1894
blue star grass1999
1894 Jrnl. Amer. Folk-lore 7 92 Eupatorium ageratoides, richweed.
1918 Amer. Jrnl. Vet. Med. 358/2 Eupatorium ageratoides, commonly known as snake-root and locally known in North Carolina as richweed, had previously been claimed by Mosley to cause trembles in animals.
1941 C. L. Roadhouse & J. L. Henderson Market-milk Industry iv. 65 In animals this disease is known as ‘the trembles’. Richweed or white snakeroot, Eupatorium urticaefolium, and jimmyweed, or rayless goldenrod..are the principal plants involved.
1965 E. P. Claus & V. E. Tyler Pharmacognosy (ed. 5) xvii. 505/2 Eupatorium rugosum Houtt. (White Snakeroot or Richweed) is a showy, herbaceous, erect perennial.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1762