Talk:bullweed

RFV discussion: November 2021

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bullweed

In the 1863 book On the popular names of British Plants by Richard Chandler Alexander Prior as a mention. A few hits for pissing bulls... MooreDoor (talk) 07:30, 7 November 2021 (UTC)

cited. A number of dictionaries and herbals also say that it is a synonym of wild pansy (Viola tricolor), but I could only find one cite for this meaning (on citations page). Kiwima (talk) 21:01, 7 November 2021 (UTC)

The first cite is wrong for this definition: knapweed doesn't have berries. I would note that there are nightshades (genus Solanum) that go by the name of "bull nettle", and those have berries. I wrote that before looking at the context in the original source, where it seems that "bullweed" is referring back to an earlier mention of "bull nettle", so it looks like I guessed right. The bull nettle is so called because of really nasty spines on the stems, so perhaps the writer didn't consider it the same as the "nightshade" that was described as growing side by side with it. Either that, or the writer meant the nightshade for the berries and got them mixed up. In fact, the Solanum carolinense has green berries that ripen to yellow, so it would fit. Most of the weed nightshades have dark purple/black berries. Chuck Entz (talk) 22:56, 7 November 2021 (UTC)

RFV-passed Kiwima (talk) 19:48, 15 November 2021 (UTC)