Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various plants of the genus Grindelia in the composite family, native to the Americas, having yellow, rayed flower heads and sticky leaves, stems, and bracts.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The gum-plant. Grindelia (which see; also Grindelia).
  • noun A weed of the Great Plains, Lygodesmia juncea, of the Cichoriaceæ. It is a rigid, branching, skeleton-like plant with most of the leaves very small or reduced to scales.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun any of various Western American plants of the genus Grindelia having resinous leaves and stems formerly used medicinally; often poisonous to livestock.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any of various western American plants of the genus Grindelia having resinous leaves and stems formerly used medicinally; often poisonous to livestock

Etymologies

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Examples

  • The gummy feature is shared by many members of this genus and has given rise to the common name gumweed or resinweed as a collective term.

    Museum Blogs 2009

  • For instance, there’s a flower here known to botanists as Grindelia squarrosa I had to look that up, but when you pick one of the small yellow blooms and it sticks to your fingers, you’ll understand why it’s commonly called gumweed.

    Fool’s Paradise John Gierach 2008

  • For instance, there’s a flower here known to botanists as Grindelia squarrosa I had to look that up, but when you pick one of the small yellow blooms and it sticks to your fingers, you’ll understand why it’s commonly called gumweed.

    Fool’s Paradise John Gierach 2008

  • For instance, there’s a flower here known to botanists as Grindelia squarrosa I had to look that up, but when you pick one of the small yellow blooms and it sticks to your fingers, you’ll understand why it’s commonly called gumweed.

    Fool’s Paradise John Gierach 2008

  • For instance, there’s a flower here known to botanists as Grindelia squarrosa I had to look that up, but when you pick one of the small yellow blooms and it sticks to your fingers, you’ll understand why it’s commonly called gumweed.

    Fool’s Paradise John Gierach 2008

  • Other plants include giant helleborine orchid Epipactis gigantea, button cactus Epithelantha micromeris, Guadalupe jewelflower Streptanthus sparsiflorus, Havard's gumweed Grindelia havardii and resurrection plant Selaginella pilifera.

    Carlsbad Caverns National Park, United States 2009

  • When the gumweed growing along the road starts to look pretty, it's getting bad.

    grouse Diary Entry grouse 2004

  • Then I added two herbs used by American Indians: the rich, dark-green leaves of plantain for relieving irritated skin and sticky grindelia flowers, or “gumweed,” with their light, fresh scent, to treat the itch of poison ivy and poison oak.

    The Last Chance Dog D.V.M. Donna Kelleher 2003

  • Then I added two herbs used by American Indians: the rich, dark-green leaves of plantain for relieving irritated skin and sticky grindelia flowers, or “gumweed,” with their light, fresh scent, to treat the itch of poison ivy and poison oak.

    The Last Chance Dog D.V.M. Donna Kelleher 2003

  • But when they or their rivals, silverweed, burdock, false ragweed, thistles, gumweed, and others usurp the landscape and seem to choke up the very earth and the very air with ceaseless monotony and repetition, then they become an offence to the eye and a reproach to those who tolerate them.

    Over Prairie Trails Frederick Philip Grove

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