Bot. and Herb. [mod.L. agēratum, ad. (by Linnæus) cl. L. agēraton, a. Gr. ἀγήρᾰτον name of a plant in Dioscorides and Pliny, prop. neuter of ἀγήρατος not growing old, f. ἀ priv. + γήρας, -ατος old age. Formerly also in the Gr. form.]

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  † 1.  Herb. Some kind of ‘everlasting’ flower, known to the ancients. Obs.

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1567.  Maplet, Greene Forest, 31. Ageraton … is like Origan or Marigolde.

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1601.  Holland, Pliny (1634), II. 271. Ageraton, it is an herb of the Ferula kind … the flowers resemble buttons or brooches of gold.

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1706.  Phillips, Ageraton, an Herb call’d Everlasting; Mothwort, Cotton-weed, or Maudlin.

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1753.  Chambers, Cycl. Supp., Ageratum bears a near resemblance to the costmary.

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1879.  Syd. Soc. Lex., Ageraton … was probably the Achillea ageratum.

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  2.  A genus of plants (N.O. Compositæ, Div. Eupatoriæ), of which one species (A. Mexicanum), with lavender-blue flowers in dense clustered capitules, is a favorite garden annual.

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1866.  W. Thompson, in Treas. Bot., 30. The Cœlestina ageratoides, a half-hardy perennial with blue ageratum-like flowerheads, much employed in bedding, must not be confounded with the true Ageratums.

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