figwort

figwort, (genus Scrophularia), any of about 200 species of coarse herbs of the figwort family (Scrophulariaceae), native to open woodlands in the Northern Hemisphere. The common name refers to an early use of these plants in treating hemorrhoids, an ailment once known as “figs.” They are rather tall, frequently fetid plants with purple, greenish, or yellow flowers in large branched spikes. Among the common species widely naturalized in eastern North America is the British Scrophularia nodosa, with pea-sized flowers. S. chrysantha, of the Caucasus, with green-yellow flowers, is sometimes grown in flower borders. Maryland figwort (S. marilandica), up to 3 metres (10 feet) tall, has greenish purple flowers; it is also called carpenter’s square because of its four-sided grooved stems. At least one species, S. auriculata, is cultivated as an ornamental.