birthwort

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun creeping plant having curving flowers thought to resemble fetuses; native to Europe; naturalized Great Britain and eastern North America

From birth + wort, as it was formerly used medicinally to treat mothers suffering illnesses associated with childbirth.

And, as in divers plants and trees there are two sexes, male and female, which is perceptible in laurels, palms, cypresses, oaks, holms, the daffodil, mandrake, fern, the agaric, mushroom, birthwort, turpentine, pennyroyal, peony, rose of the mount, and many other such like, even so in this herb there is a male which beareth no flower at all, yet it is very copious of and abundant in seed. — Gargantua and Pantagruel, François Rabelais

Aristolochia clematitis

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