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squawroot

squawroot

9.9
A tall plant from eastern North America and Asia with blue berries and a thick root used as medicine
  • noun
  • /ˈskwɔˌrut/
  • Specialized
translation icon : raíz de squaw
  • Many herbalists appreciate squawroot for its unique medicinal properties and its blue, berry-like fruit.

Examples

  • The squawroot plant is known for its thick, knotty rootstock that was used for medicinal purposes.

  • Walking fern hitched across boulders, and atop the bluff, squawroot burst through oak leaves, the cones bristling with yellow scales edged in brown.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • In the forest, I discovered a squawroot that was growing near the base of a tall pine tree.

Synonyms

Caulophyllum thalictroides
vssquawroot
  • Specialized
9.9

Tall forest herb with blue berries and thick roots once used in traditional medicine

is the common ordinary name rather than the scientific label
blue cohosh
vssquawroot
  • US
9.9

A tall plant with blue berries and thick roots once used as medicine

is a broader common name rather than a specific botanical label
Caulophyllum thalictrioides
vssquawroot
  • Specialized
9.9

A tall woodland plant with blue berries and a thick root once used in medicine

is the everyday common form rather than the botanical label
squaw root
vssquawroot
  • NSFW
9.9

A tall herb with blue berries and a thick knotty root once used as medicine

is written as a single word rather than as two separate words
papoose root
vssquawroot
  • US
9.9

A tall plant with blue berries and a thick root used as medicine

is stated without mentioning perennial life cycle
papooseroot
vssquawroot
  • US
9.9

A tall plant that lives many years and has blue berries and thick knotted roots once used as medicine

is described more neutrally without stressing traditional use
blueberry root
vssquawroot
  • US
7.7

A thick root from the blueberry plant once used in traditional medicine

is framed as an herb not a general plant

Surface Forms

squawroot singular
squawroots plural

Morphology

squawroot = squaw + root (semi-transparent) = squaw + root

The parts 'squaw' and 'root' are identifiable, but the cultural reference and specialized botanical usage make the compound not fully obvious to learners.

Etymology

Squawroot combines squaw, an old word settlers used for 'Native American woman' and now seen as offensive, with root, because people used the plant's root as 'medicine'. So, the name remembers the link between the plant and the people who used it for healing.