Definition of "bugbane" []

• Any of several plants of the genus Cimicifuga, native to northern temperate regions and including the black cohosh. (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.

• "A dark bugbane (formally known as Actaea racemosa or Cimicifuga), which grows almost three feet tall, is one of my favorites for its odd-shaped leaves and color."
• "In good soil and a partly shaded spot we have no handsomer plant in bloom than the tall bugbane (_Cimicifuga racemosa_); from a bunch of thrifty leaves arise a dozen scapes of racemes, creamy white, and six feet high."
• "_Cimicifuga_, meaning to drive away bugs, and the old folk-name of bugbane testify to a degree of offensiveness to other insects, where the flies 'enjoyment begins."