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owl's clover

Any of several North American hemiparasitic plants of the genera Castilleja and Orthocarpus of the figwort family, having spikes of variously colored tubular flowers enclosed in prominent, often pigmented bracts.

[From the resemblance of the flowers of some species to owls' faces.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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