Noun | 1. rheumatism weed - Canadian dogbane yielding a tough fiber used as cordage by Native Americans; used in folk medicine for pain or inflammation in jointsApocynum cannabinum, Indian hempdogbane - any of several poisonous perennial plants of the genus Apocynum having acrid milky juice and bell-shaped white or pink flowers and a very bitter root | | 2. rheumatism weed - North American perennial having pinkish flowers in loose cymes; used in folk medicine for pain or inflammation in jointsApocynum androsaemifolium, common dogbane, spreading dogbanedogbane - any of several poisonous perennial plants of the genus Apocynum having acrid milky juice and bell-shaped white or pink flowers and a very bitter root |