ASTRAGALUS • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Astragalus

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noun

Astragalus n.

(Anat.) The ankle bone, or hock bone; the bone of the tarsus which articulates with the tibia at the ankle.

(Bot.) A genus of papilionaceous plants, of the tribe Galegeae, containing numerous species, two of which are called, in English, milk vetch and licorice vetch. Gum tragacanth is obtained from different oriental species, particularly the Astragalus gummifer and Astragalus verus.

(Arch.) See Astragal, 1.

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Etymology of 'Astragalus'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Astragalus" Quotes from Famous Books

... of in Dr. Anderson's Essays on Agriculture, under the mistaken name of Astragalus glycophyllos, p. 489; but a truly practical account is given of it by Ellis in his Husbandry, p. 89, by the ...

— The Botanist's Companion, Vol. II • William Salisbury

... distal end. The tibia (ti the radius) is fused for the distal half of its length with the fibula (fb. ulna). A tarsus (tarsalia) equals the carpus.* Two of the proximal tarsalia may be noted: one working like a pulley under the tibia, is the astragalus (as.); one forming the bony support of the heel, is the calcaneum (ca.). There is a series of metatarsals, and then come four digits ...

— Text Book of Biology, Part 1: Vertebrata • H. G. Wells

... month in the calendar and are now at the place where "winter lingers in the lap of spring." Snowdrops, crocuses, and little purple grape-hyacinths are blooming at the edge of the drifts. The thorny shrubs and bushes, and spiny herbs like astragalus and cousinia, are green-stemmed but leafless, and the birds that flutter among them are still in the first rapture of vernal bliss, the gay music that follows mating and precedes nesting. Big dove-coloured ...

— Out-of-Doors in the Holy Land - Impressions of Travel in Body and Spirit • Henry Van Dyke

... number of genera. The lemon and wild vine are also here met with, but are more common on the northern mountains. The walnut and oak (evergreen, holly-leaved and kermes) descend to the secondary heights, where they become mixed with alder, ash, khinjak, Arbor-vitae, juniper, with species of Astragalus, &c. Here also are Indigoferae rind ...

— Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia

... tussilago farfara, gum arabic, mimosa nilotica, gum tragacanth, astragalus tragacantha. Decoction of barley, hordeum distichon. Expressed oils. Spermaceti, soap. Extract of liquorice, ...

— Zoonomia, Vol. II - Or, the Laws of Organic Life • Erasmus Darwin