Meanings
plural sweetroots
- countableuncountableliquorice
- countableuncountablewestern sweet cicely, western sweetroot (Osmorhiza occidentalis)
The plant is sometimes confused with Osmorhiza chilensis (western sweetroot), which often shares the same habitat. However, unlike red baneberry, sweetroot has a strong licorice-like odor.
2009, Ray S. Vizgirdas, Edna M. Rey-Vizgirdas, Wild Plants of the Sierra Nevada, page 641 more example
Like other members of this large family, sweetroot presents its tiny flowers in terminal, umbrella-shaped inflorescences that do little to assure us that the plant is not the deadly water hemlock (Cicula douglasii)
1997, Gregory L. Tilford, Edible and Medicinal Plants of the West, Sweetroot, Osmorrhiza occidentalis, page 142
Origin
Cite this entry
sweetroot. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sweetroot
“sweetroot.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sweetroot. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sweetroot,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sweetroot.
Source: sweetroot on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.