Definition of "witchweed" [witchweed]

• Any of several flowering plants, of the genus Striga, from Africa and Asia; some of them are parasitic to crops (noun)

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• "Scientists identify gene for resistance to parasitic 'witchweed'"
• "The parasitic flowering plant Striga, or "witchweed," attacks the roots of host plants, draining needed water and nutrients and leaving them unable to grow and produce any grains."
• "He is happy to concede some significant weedy problems, such as the loss of arable productivity caused by striga, or witchweed, the "pretty but parasitic" plant that made its way let's be honest: somebody gave it a ride in 1956 from its native Kenya to the eastern United States, where the weed "reduced hundreds of thousands of acres of corn to stubble.""