from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. A widely cultivated plant (Euphorbia marginata) of the central United States, having white-margined leaves and showy white bracts. Also called ghostweed.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A white-flowered garden-plant. Arabis alpina, from southern Russia; also, Cerastium tomentosum, from eastern Europe. Britten and Holland, Eng. Plant Names.
- n. A plant. Euphorbia marginata. T. Meehan, Native Wild Flowers of the United States.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. annual spurge of western United States having showy white-bracted flower clusters and very poisonous milk
Sorry, no etymologies found.
The pasture was flooded with light; every clump of ironweed and snow-on-the-mountain threw a long shadow, and the golden light seemed to be rippling through the curly grass like the tide racing in.
The wild flowers disappeared, and only in the bottom of the draws and gullies grew a few of the very toughest and hardiest: shoestring, and ironweed, and snow-on-the-mountain.
In that singular light every little tree and shock of wheat, every sunflower stalk and clump of snow-on-the-mountain, drew itself up high and pointed; the very clods and furrows in the fields seemed to stand up sharply.
As juveniles, the caterpillars are yellow and black and voracious; they can defoliate a snow-on-the-mountain