consumption weed

9.9

A bush that grows in salt marshes with fruit surrounded by white feathery hairs

noun

: hierba de consumo

Botanists have studied the unique hairy fruit of the consumption weed.

Examples

The consumption weed thrives in the salty marshes along the Atlantic Coast.
Migrating birds play a role in spreading the seeds of consumption weed.
The consumption weed thrives in wet, salty environments.
I found some consumption weeds growing near the shore.
The consumption weed grows abundantly in the salty marshes of the coast.
Scientists have discovered that the consumption weed can survive in saline conditions.
During our hike, we encountered patches of consumption weed flourishing in the wetland area.

Synonyms

Baccharis halimifolia

vsconsumption weed

Specialized

9.9

A shrub that grows in salty coastal marshes with seeds in white fluffy tufts

is the common name used in everyday speech rather than the scientific term

groundsel bush

vsconsumption weed

9.9

A shrub that grows in salt marshes and has white feathery tufts on its fruit

is the alternative common name used instead of the scientific label

groundsel tree

vsconsumption weed

9.9

A shrub with white fluffy seeds that grows in salt marshes

is the name that keeps shrub wording and avoids suggesting larger size

cotton-seed tree

vsconsumption weed

Specialized

9.5

A small bush that grows in salt marshes and has fruit with white fluffy tufts

is the general common name that does not stress seed appearance

Surface Forms

consumption weed singular

consumption weeds plural

Morphology

consumption + weed

Knowing 'consumption' (an old word for a wasting disease) and 'weed' (a wild plant) does not let a B1 learner predict a specific salt‑marsh shrub with plumelike tufts; the compound name is idiosyncratic or historical rather than compositionally descriptive. The relation between the disease sense of 'consumption' and this plant is not transparently inferable without prior cultural or etymological knowledge, so learners would not derive the meaning from the parts.

Etymology

Consumption weed may come from an old belief that consumption, the old word for 'tuberculosis', could be helped by this salt marsh shrub. People called it a weed because it grew as a 'wild plant', so the name stuck and now refers to that marsh shrub with fluffy, hairy fruits.