Definition of "ragged robin" [ragged robin]

• A European perennial plant (Lychnis flos-cuculi) having opposite clasping leaves and panicles of reddish or white flowers with deeply lobed petals. Also called cuckooflower. (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.

• "For few innocent minded persons would ever guess that Alyssum saxatile meant golden basket, or that Lychnis flos-cuculi and ragged robin were one and the same."