cankerweed

9.9

A wild plant with pale yellow flowers that hang in groups

noun

: cáncara

The fields were filled with cankerweed blooming in late summer alongside other wildflowers.

Examples

Gardeners often mistake cankerweed for a weed due to its vigorous growth.
Some traditional remedies use cankerweed for its purported medicinal properties.
The cankerweed blooms beautifully in the summer.
Have you seen any cankerweeds around here?
The fields were filled with cankerweed blooming in late summer alongside other wildflowers.
Some traditional remedies use cankerweed for its purported medicinal properties.
Gardeners often mistake cankerweed for a weed due to its vigorous growth.

Synonyms

Prenanthes alba

vscankerweed

Specialized

9.9

A herb with drooping white or pale yellow flowers that grows in northeastern North America

is the common name rather than the Latin name

white lettuce

vscankerweed

Specialized

9.9

A wild plant with hanging groups of small yellowish white flowers

is the botanical or formal reference rather than a casual label

Nabalus alba

vscankerweed

Specialized

9.9

A woodland plant from the northeastern United States and Canada with drooping yellowish-white flowers

omits the alternate name, focusing on the plant description and origin

Surface Forms

cankerweed singular

cankerweeds plural

Morphology

cankerweed = canker + weed (semi-transparent) = canker + weed

The components 'canker' and 'weed' are identifiable and signal a plant, but the specific referent (a particular herbaceous species) and the reason for 'canker' in the name are specialized and not predictable for an average learner.

Etymology

Cankerweed joins canker ('a sore or a disease in plants') and weed ('a wild or unwanted plant'), so you can picture a wild herb linked to sores or plant disease. That's why the name fits a common wild herb people often call a weed and that has been used in old remedies.