pyrethrum

plural pyrethrums

1. countableuncountableAny of several daisy-like perennial African plants of the genus Tanacetum, especially Tanacetum cinerariifolium.First known use 10th c.

   A common beverage credited with aphrodisiac virtue was old wine containing the pungent root of the plant pyrethrum or pellitory.

   1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 250

   1 more example

   We children would re-tell the stories the following day to other children who worked in the fields picking the pyrethrum flowers, tea-leaves or coffee beans of our European and African landlords.

   1986, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Decolonising the Mind, Heinemann, published 2005, page 10

2. countableuncountableAnacyclus pyrethrum (pellitory of Spain)
3. countableuncountablechemistryAny of several insecticides obtained from these plants; pyrethrin.