Definition of "burnet" [bur•net]

• A perennial plant of the genus Sanguisorba, having pinnately compound leaves and apetalous flowers. The young leaves are sometimes added to salads as a garnish. (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 small bird called a burnet made friends with him and lived in his cell, ate from his fingers and his trencher, and only left him at the breeding season, after which it brought its fledged family back with it."
• "VIOLA _palustris_, the STATICE _armeria_, or sea pink, a kind of burnet, the RANUNCULUS _lapponicus_, the HOLCUS _odoratus_, the common celery, with the ARABIS _heterophylla_."
• "Last week I saw burnet roses in the dunes of Northumberland: low scrubby sticks scythed by North Sea winds blooming with constellations of white flowers."