swamp cabbage

2 definitions found

swamp cabbage - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Skunk \Skunk\, n. [Contr. from the Abenaki (American Indian)
     seganku.] (Zool.)
     Any one of several species of American musteline carnivores
     of the genus Mephitis and allied genera. They have two
     glands near the anus, secreting an extremely fetid liquid,
     which the animal ejects at pleasure as a means of defense.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: The common species of the Eastern United States
           (Mephitis mephitica) is black with more or less white
           on the body and tail. The spotted skunk (Spilogale putorius
           ), native of the Southwestern United States
           and Mexico, is smaller than the common skunk, and is
           variously marked with black and white.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     Skunk bird, Skunk blackbird (Zool.), the bobolink; -- so
        called because the male, in the breeding season, is black
        and white, like a skunk.
  
     Skunk cabbage (Bot.), an American aroid herb (Symplocarpus  f[oe]tidus
        ) having a reddish hornlike spathe in earliest
        spring, followed by a cluster of large cabbagelike leaves.
        It exhales a disagreeable odor. Also called swamp  cabbage
        .
  
     Skunk porpoise. (Zool.) See under Porpoise.
        [1913 Webster]

  Swamp \Swamp\, n. [Cf. AS. swam a fungus, OD. swam a sponge, D.
     zwam a fungus, G. schwamm a sponge, Icel. sv["o]ppr, Dan. &
     Sw. swamp, Goth. swamms, Gr. somfo`s porous, spongy.]
     Wet, spongy land; soft, low ground saturated with water, but
     not usually covered with it; marshy ground away from the
     seashore.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           Gray swamps and pools, waste places of the hern.
                                                    --Tennyson.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           A swamp differs from a bog and a marsh in producing
           trees and shrubs, while the latter produce only
           herbage, plants, and mosses.             --Farming
                                                    Encyc. (E.
                                                    Edwards,
                                                    Words).
     [1913 Webster]
  
     Swamp blackbird. (Zool.) See Redwing
     (b) .
  
     Swamp cabbage (Bot.), skunk cabbage.
  
     Swamp deer (Zool.), an Asiatic deer (Rucervus Duvaucelli)
        of India.
  
     Swamp hen. (Zool.)
     (a) An Australian azure-breasted bird (Porphyrio bellus);
         -- called also goollema.
     (b) An Australian water crake, or rail (Porzana Tabuensis);
         -- called also little swamp hen.
     (c) The European purple gallinule.
  
     Swamp honeysuckle (Bot.), an American shrub (Azalea  viscosa
         syn. Rhododendron viscosa or Rhododendron  viscosum
        ) growing in swampy places, with fragrant flowers
        of a white color, or white tinged with rose; -- called
        also swamp pink and white swamp honeysuckle.
  
     Swamp hook, a hook and chain used by lumbermen in handling
        logs. Cf. Cant hook.
  
     Swamp itch. (Med.) See Prairie itch, under Prairie.
  
     Swamp laurel (Bot.), a shrub (Kalmia glauca) having small
        leaves with the lower surface glaucous.
  
     Swamp maple (Bot.), red maple. See Maple.
  
     Swamp oak (Bot.), a name given to several kinds of oak
        which grow in swampy places, as swamp Spanish oak
        (Quercus palustris), swamp white oak (Quercus  bicolor
        ), swamp post oak (Quercus lyrata).
  
     Swamp ore (Min.), bog ore; limonite.
  
     Swamp partridge (Zool.), any one of several Australian game
        birds of the genera Synoicus and Excalfatoria, allied
        to the European partridges.
  
     Swamp robin (Zool.), the chewink.
  
     Swamp sassafras (Bot.), a small North American tree of the
        genus Magnolia (Magnolia glauca) with aromatic leaves
        and fragrant creamy-white blossoms; -- called also sweet  bay
        .
  
     Swamp sparrow (Zool.), a common North American sparrow
        (Melospiza Georgiana, or Melospiza palustris), closely
        resembling the song sparrow. It lives in low, swampy
        places.
  
     Swamp willow. (Bot.) See Pussy willow, under Pussy.
        [1913 Webster]