devil's-bit

Another species, devil's-bit scabious, has evolved to germinate only in spring after a long period of winter chilling.

Kew unveils native flower seed bank 2011

One of the species worked on this year is the devil's-bit scabious, a medicinal plant native to the UK.

Kew unveils native flower seed bank 2011

The Scotch argus butterflies were flitting over the bog myrtle, ling and devil's-bit scabious.

Country diary: Loch Ruthven 2010

The root of the barberry gave wool a beautiful yellow, as did the leaves of the devil's-bit.

Home Life in Colonial Days Alice Morse Earle 1881

We may see a pretty illustration of this in the little wild flower known as the devil's-bit (_Chamælirium luteum, _), whose long, white, tapering spire of feathery bloom may often be seen rising above the sedges in the swamp.

My Studio Neighbors William Hamilton Gibson 1873

They were idle; and when we will not sow corn, the devil will be sure to sow weeds, night-shade, henbane, and devil's-bit.

Literary Remains, Volume 1 Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1803

As these roots increase in size the central part I suppose changes like the internal wood of a tree and does not possess any vegetable life, and therefore gives out no fibres or rootlets, and hence appears bitten off, as in valerian, plantain, and devil's-bit.

The Botanic Garden A Poem in Two Parts. Part 1: the Economy of Vegetation Erasmus Darwin 1766

I looked in vain for a single stigmatic plant or flower; but far across the swamp, a thousand feet distant, I at length discovered a single spire, composed entirely of pistillate flowers, as shown in A (Fig. 8), and my magnifying-glass clearly revealed the pollen upon their stigmas -- doubtless a welcome message brought from the isolated affinity afar by some winged sponsor, to whom the peculiar fragrance of the flower offers a special attraction, and thus to whom the fortunes of the devil's-bit have been committed.

My Studio Neighbors William Hamilton Gibson 1873