Fleabane

//ˈfliːbeɪn// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Any of various species of flowering plants in certain genera in family Asteraceae, that typically repel insects:; mostly in two tribes of subfamily Asteroideae

    "On a sunny September morning, with the trees still green, but the asters and fleabanes already taking over in ditch and dalk, Van set out for Ladoga, N.A."

  2. 2
    common North American weed with linear leaves and small discoid heads of yellowish flowers; widely naturalized throughout temperate regions; sometimes placed in genus Erigeron wordnet
  3. 3
    Any of various species of flowering plants in certain genera in family Asteraceae, that typically repel insects:; mostly in two tribes of subfamily Asteroideae; in tribe Astereae; Conyza spp. (butterweeds or horseweed)
  4. 4
    any of several North American plants of the genus Erigeron having daisylike flowers; formerly believed to repel fleas wordnet
  5. 5
    Any of various species of flowering plants in certain genera in family Asteraceae, that typically repel insects:; mostly in two tribes of subfamily Asteroideae; in tribe Astereae; Erigeron spp., especially Erigeron acre (blue fleabane)
Show 5 more definitions
  1. 6
    hairy perennial Eurasian herb with yellow daisylike flowers reputed to destroy or drive away fleas wordnet
  2. 7
    Any of various species of flowering plants in certain genera in family Asteraceae, that typically repel insects:; mostly in two tribes of subfamily Asteroideae; in tribe Inuleae; Inula spp. (yellowheads)
  3. 8
    Any of various species of flowering plants in certain genera in family Asteraceae, that typically repel insects:; mostly in two tribes of subfamily Asteroideae; in tribe Inuleae; Pluchea spp. (camphorweeds)
  4. 9
    Any of various species of flowering plants in certain genera in family Asteraceae, that typically repel insects:; mostly in two tribes of subfamily Asteroideae; in tribe Inuleae; Pulicaria spp. (false fleabane), especially common fleabane (Pulicaria dysenterica subsp. dysenterica, formerly Inula dysenterica)
  5. 10
    Any of various species of flowering plants in certain genera in family Asteraceae, that typically repel insects:; Also, in subfamily Cichorioideae, Vernonia spp. (ironweeds).

Example

More examples

"On a sunny September morning, with the trees still green, but the asters and fleabanes already taking over in ditch and dalk, Van set out for Ladoga, N.A."

Etymology

From flea + bane.

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.