Also 6 sneesewoort, 7 -wort, 8–9 sneeze-wort. [f. SNEEZE v.]
1. The plant Achillea Ptarmica, bastard or wild pellitory, the dried leaves of which are powdered and used as a sternutatory.
1597. Gerarde, Herball, II. clxxviii. 484. The small Sneese woort hath many rounde and brittle braunches…. The smell of this plant procureth sneezing. Ibid. Sneesewoort is called of some Ptarmica.
1629. Parkinson, Parad., 288. We vsually call it double wilde Pelletorie, and some Sneesewort, but Elleborus albus is vsually so called.
1712. trans. Pomet’s Hist. Drugs, I. 47. There is also a Pseudopyrethrum which is call’d Ptarmica or Sneezewort which grows in Meadows.
1786. Abercrombie, Arr., in Gard. Assist., 48. (Ptarmica) or sneezewort double flowered.
1858. R. Hogg, Veget. Kingdom, 455. Ptarmica vulgaris, or Sneezewort, is also a native of Great Britain.
1901. Scotsman, 12 Nov., 8/1. The sneezewort is remarkable for its pungent qualities.
attrib. 1855. Miss Pratt, Flower. Pl., III. 323. Sneeze-wort Yarrow.
1861. S. Thomson, Wild Fl., III. (ed. 4), 306. The sneeze-wort yarrow (Achillea ptarmica).
2. Applied to other plants: a. The white hellebore, Veratrum album [cf. NEEZE-WORT].
1629. [see 1].
1671. Skinner, Etymol. Ling. Angl., Bot., Neese, or Sneese-wort, Helleborus albus.
1799. W. Tooke, View Russian Emp., I. 383. Wolf’s bane and sneeze-wort [note, Veratrum] are taken against almost all accidents.
b. American, Austrian sneezewort (see quots.).
1611. [see SNEEZING vbl. sb. 3 b].
1760. J. Lee, Introd. Bot., App. 317. Sneeze-wort, Austrian, Xeranthemum.
1846–50. A. Wood, Class-bk. Bot., 342. Helenium autumnale, American Sneeze-wort.
