any of various hairy plants of the boraginaceous genus Lithospermum, esp L. officinale, having small greenish-white, yellow, or blue flowers, and smooth nutlike fruits
See also puccoon (sense 1)
Word origin
C13: from Old French gromil, from gres sandstone + mil millet, from Latin milium
gromwell in American English
(ˈgrɑmˌwɛl; ˈgrɑmwəl)
noun
any of a genus (Lithospermum) of plants of the borage family, with yellow or orange flowers and hard, stonelike nutlets
Word origin
altered < ME gromil < OFr < ML gruinum milium, kind of millet < gruinus, of a crane (< L grus, crane) + L milium, millet