bastard feverfew
A gardener carefully removes a patch of bastard feverfew from the flower bed.
Noun: 1. A tropical American annual weed: A plant species, specifically an annual herb, originating in tropical regions of the Americas but now found as an introduced or adventive species in other areas, such as the southern United States. It is characterized by small flower heads with white, radiating petals.
- The field was overrun with bastard feverfew, its small white flowers spreading rapidly.
- Botanists are studying the spread of bastard feverfew as an adventive species in new ecosystems.
- To control it, you must identify bastard feverfew correctly, noting its radiate white flower heads.
- As a subject of botanical study: The term is used in scientific, agricultural, or ecological contexts to discuss invasive species, plant identification, or weed management.
- The paper detailed the competitive impact of bastard feverfew on native flora.
- Scientific Name: (This is the formal botanical name for the plant commonly called bastard feverfew).
- Common Names: Santa Maria feverfew, carrot grass, congress grass. (These are regional common names for the same species).
- Feverfew (): A different, unrelated medicinal herb from Europe. The modifier "bastard" in "bastard feverfew" indicates it is a different, often inferior or unrelated, plant that resembles true feverfew.
- Weed
- Adventive plant
- Invasive species (in contexts where it is non-native and spreading)
The meaning of "bastard feverfew" is highly specific and technical. It refers to one particular plant species (Parthenium hysterophorus). The word "bastard" here is used in its archaic botanical sense meaning "spurious" or "not genuine," indicating it is not the true feverfew herb. It is not a colloquial term and carries no modern vulgar connotation in this context. Its usage is almost entirely confined to botany, agriculture, and ecology.
A gardener carefully removes a patch of bastard feverfew from the flower bed.
- tropical American annual weed with small radiate heads of white flowers; adventive in southern United States