LUNGWORT • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Lungwort

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noun

Lungwort n. (Bot.)

(a)

An herb of the genus Pulmonaria (Pulmonaria officinalis), of Europe; so called because the spotted appearance of the leaves resembles that of a diseased lung.

(b)

Any plant of the genus Mertensia (esp. Mertensia Virginica and Mertensia Sibirica), plants nearly related to Pulmonaria. The American lungwort is Mertensia Virginica, Virginia cowslip.

Cow's lungwort mullein.

Sea lungwort, Mertensia maritima, found on the seacoast of Northern Europe and America.

Tree lungwort, a lichen (Sticta pulmonacea) growing on trees and rocks. The thallus is lacunose, and in appearance somewhat resembles the lungs, for diseases of which it was once thought a remedy.

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Etymology of 'Lungwort'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Lungwort" Quotes from Famous Books

... Lungwort, whose leaves bear a fancied resemblance to the surface of the lungs, was considered good for pulmonary complaints, and liverwort, having a leaf like the liver, cured liver diseases. Eye-bright was a famous application for eye diseases, because its flowers somewhat resemble the pupil ...

— Three Thousand Years of Mental Healing • George Barton Cutten

... a yellow oxlip, now paused at a purple lungwort; but most she went into the garden, and hovered, still as a humming-bird, among the rose-leaves and branches, especially those growing against the sun-bathed old wooden porch, and for so long that one wondered what she was doing there. She was licking up the "honey-dew," which, translated, ...

— The Way of the Wild • F. St. Mars