Definition of "woundwort" [wound•wort]

• See betony. (noun)
• Any of several plants formerly used to treat wounds. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "There are five singletons and two couples of woundwort shieldbug, which are quite small and rather drab – though the sun makes the dark spot on their back shine ruby-like – with a ruff of lace around their shoulders."
• "Today I am searching for shieldbugs, and there they are sunning themselves on the wood woundwort."
• "It might have been a bitter root, such as Patroclus later used on a similar wound; an ancient commentator suggested Achillea (woundwort) or Aristolochia (birthwort)."