[ noun ] low-growing sticky subshrub of southwestern United States having narrow linear leaves on many slender branches and hundreds of tiny yellow flower heads <noun.plant>
Snakeweed \Snake"weed`\, n. (Bot.) (a) A kind of knotweed ({Polygonum Bistorta}). (b) The Virginia snakeroot. See {Snakeroot}.
In parts of Texas and other rangeland areas of the West, snakeweed and other unwanted brush is a costly and persistent problem for livestock producers.
A weevil named Heilipodus ventralis and a moth called Carmenta haematica attack the roots of snakeweed, a plant that infests 143 million acres in western states.