Squawroot (Noun)
Meaning
Tall herb of eastern North America and Asia having blue berrylike fruit and a thick knotty rootstock formerly used medicinally.
Classification
Nouns denoting plants.
Examples
- The forest floor was carpeted with the distinctive leaves of the squawroot plant, its blue berries a favorite of local wildlife.
- Squawroot was traditionally used by indigenous communities to treat a variety of ailments, although its efficacy is not supported by modern scientific evidence.
- In early spring, the squawroot's broad leaves push through the forest floor, a welcome sight after a long winter.
- For centuries, squawroot was valued for its supposed medicinal properties, but today it is mainly of interest to botanists and naturalists.
- The thick rootstock of the squawroot plant can be difficult to dig up, but it was a task undertaken by many an enterprising herbalist in days gone by.
Synonyms
- Blueberry Root
- Blue Cohosh
- Papoose Root
- Squaw Root
- Papooseroot
- Caulophyllum Thalictrioides
- Caulophyllum Thalictroides