crowfoot n Also crow’s-foot
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4 A club moss n. chiefly C Atl
1869 NY Tribune (NY) 25 Dec 1/6, [Story by Rebecca Harding Davis:]The shops themselves had become nothing less than little Ali Baba caves of jewelry, or sparkling candies, or yellow turkeys wreathed about with feathery green crow’s-foot. 1878 Daily Gaz. (Wilmington DE) [20 Dec 4]/3, The Markets. . . Christmas trees from 15 to 50 cents; . . crow foot 5 cents per yard. 1887 Gardener’s Mth. & Horticulturist 29.156/2 sePA, “Pine wreathing” is Lycopodium dendroideum—and “crowfoot wreathing,” which is Lycopodium complanatum—these used to be called Ground Pine, and (the latter) festoon Ground Pine, but common names change every year or two. 1892 Jrl. Amer. Folkl. 5.105, Lycopodium dendroideum . . crowfoot. Chestertown, Md. 1900 Lyons Plant Names 233, L. complanatum. . . Crow-foot. . . L. obscurum. . . Crow-foot. 1927 Nature Mag. 10.302, Second in importance to laurel as a source of Christmas greens, particularly wreaths, is the charming little ground pine, or crowfoot, of which there are about a dozen native species that find their way to the Christmas market. 1950 York Dispatch (PA) 12 Dec 36/7, [Advt:] Crowfoot, 5 c. yd. 1968 DARE (Qu. T5, . . Kinds of evergreens, other than pine, . . around here) Inf NJ21, Ground pine or crow’s-foot. 2001 Daily Times (Salisbury MD) 16 Dec sec E 3/2 “A lot of people call running cedar ‘crow’s-foot,’ but it’s not. Crow’s-foot looks like the foot of a crow. . . For at least half a century, handmade crow’s-foot garlands and wreaths have been a holiday staple at Benedict the Florist in Salisbury. 2019 Daily Times (Salisbury MD) 23 Dec sec B 1/1, Whether you simply like to display it in your home or you’re the one who holds the tradition of doing the collecting, the local riches of mistletoe, crow’s foot, wild holly and fresh cut cedar boughs are abundant across the Shore.
5 = goldenglow n; freq in comb crowfoot greens. chiefly nwMO Cf sochan n
1867 MO Comm. Statistics Annual Rept. 1.109, The resin-weed, crow-foot, and wild sorghum, indicate as good soils on the prairies as do the elm, hickory, and walnut, in the timber. 1873 Holt Co. Sentinel (Oregon MO) 30 May [3]/3, Mr. H. found 35 of the number [of hogs] down sick and as blind as bats and frothing at the mouth. They had been eating crowfoot weeds, and it is supposed that that was the cause of their sickness. 1875 Missouri Valley Times (Oregon MO) [7 Apr 3]/2, Rhudbekia [sic] (commonly, though erroneously called “crowfoot”), has made its appearance. Great care should be used to prevent hogs from eating too much of it. It produces delirium, and where the animal has free access to water—death. 1878 Wyandott Herald (KS) 18 July [2]/4, Before these pods are tender enough to eat, they taste like the crow-foot greens we used to try and eat in old times in Kansas—”Indian cabbage,” as Mrs. Sarcoxie used to call it. 1880 Democrat (Savannah MO) 16 Apr [2]/4, He let them stop in the creek bottom where they ate some of the weed known as crow foot. The hogs . . began to run and buck, jump logs and ditches, and scatter through the woods. . . A gentleman passing told him the trouble was caused by the crow foot weed. . . It is a common thing for some families in early spring to use this weed for greens. 1910 St. Joseph News–Press (MO) 15 Apr 13/2, [Advt:] Crowfoot Greens, per peck 10ȼ. 1919 Plattsburg Leader (MO) [28 Mar 2]/3, B. O. Weller . . last week lost 35 nice hogs. They were thought to have been poisoned by eating “crow’s foot” in the pasture. 1924 Plattsburg Leader (MO) 9 May 1/1, R. Morgan, who was quite sick about a week ago, is much better now and able to be up most of the time now. . . Mr. Morgan’s illness was caused by eating crow-foot greens, it is thought. 1955 Ray Co. Conservator (Richmond MO) 11 Apr 1/6, To many persons crowfoot greens in the spring are a much anticipated delicacy but they know they must be cooked just right . . and when hogs happen to get in a patch of crowfoot which happens to be one of the first green things they find to eat in the spring the poison is just as great to them. 1984 Kansas City Times (MO) 21 Apr sec B 1/2, Some residents [of Richmond MO] argued that the city should instead capitalize on a lesser-known wild vegetable called crowfoot greens, harvested along the Missouri River. 2001 MO Folkl. Soc. Jrl. 23.74 cMO, Various nuts and greens—crowfoot, polk, lambsquarter, dandelion, and mustard—were prized. . . Crowfoot grew mainly in the creek bottom; eating it drove hogs mad. 2020 in 2024 DARE File—Internet, My grandmother cooked this [=Rudbeckia laciniata] when I was growing up in the 50’s. When I got married she gave me plants to start a patch in my back yard. . . She called them “crow’s foot” greens.
6 also crowtoes: A bittercress n, esp Cardamine concatenata. Note: Some of these quots may refer to other senses. chiefly sAppalachians, IN, OH Cf turkeyfoot n 4, turkey mustard n
1893 Jrl. Amer. Folkl. 6.137, Dentaria laciniata, crow’s foot. Anderson, Ind. 1896 Jrl. Amer. Folkl. 9.181, Dentaria laciniata . . crow-toes, Sulphur Grove, Ohio. 1906 Eve. Herald (Huntington IN) 14 Apr 1/4, The red maple is the harbinger of spring. . . Then comes the woods flowers of which the salt-and-pepper, Hepatica and crow’s foot or turkey foot are the earliest varieties. 1924 Notes Pine Mt. School 2.2.1 seKY, “In Aprile” we country folk make a sunshine holiday and search the woods for greens; plantain, crow-foot, bear’s lettuce, cow’s glory, woollen breeches, even spring beauties go into the basket. 1932 Crane Chronicle (MO) 19 May 5/5, The menu today for dinner is Crow’s Foot, Sour Dock, Square Weed, Woolen Breeches, Polk, Lady Finger, Lambs Quarter, Cow Parsley, Old Woman, Oxheart, Mustard and Tongue Grass cooked with hog jowl and served with sauer kraut. 1941 in 1992 Perdue Pigsfoot Jelly 29 swVA, Stagger Weed. . . Crowsfoot grows in the same locations and it is difficult for the average person to tell one from the other. 1955 St. Louis Post–Dispatch (MO) 26 June sec C 2/4 cnAR, We learned from her all about poke, narrow dock, wild lettuce, lamb’s quarter, tongue grass, wild mustard, deer’s tongue, crow’s foot, dandelion, green plantain, mouse’s ear, shonnie, sour vine, wild beet (speckled dock), and many more wild plants that make delicious greens. 1966–69 DARE (Qu. I28a, . . Things . . you call greens . . eaten raw) Infs KY66, NC44, Crow’s-foot; (Qu. I28b, . . Greens that are cooked) Infs KY28, 40, 44, Crow’s-foot. 1967 DARE Wildfl QR Pl.81a Inf OH14, Crowfoot. 1968 Indianapolis Star (IN) 26 Apr 10/5, “We called this crow’s foot,” said Iris . . . It’s a prettier name than toothwort by which I know it and it’s also called Crinkleroot or pepper root, the leaf spreads out like a bird’s foot. “You can use crow’s foot for greens,” said Iris. “It’s bitter, but you can use it!” 1968–69 DARE Tape IN14, Crow’s-foot is about the first flower that comes up in the hills and blooms; IN32, I get mountain sprouts, sour dock, wild beets, Shawnee, crowfoot, deer tongue, hen pepper, and oh so many others; KY50, Crow’s-foot—it was one of the earliest [plants]. . . It’s real flat and it’s got fancy-like leaves [and is used for greens]. 1973 Kingsport Times–News (TN) 22 Apr sec D 2/1, Mrs. Rosa Church, of the Beaver Dam, N. C. section was especially helpful, adding the following to my list: Crow’s foot—woods plant with foot-shaped leaf boiled and fried as greens. 1982 Mason Cannon Co. 37 TN, The women were in the woods before the leaves were on the trees . . picking what they called crow’s foot and the botanists call toothwort. It came up in broad green carpets in the sun-warmed leafy mold, and cooked in the pot with a hog’s jowl like turnip greens, it made excellent “sallit.” 1986 Asheville Citizen–Times (NC) 15 May 8/5, “Some folks call crow’s foot Indian mustard,” she said. “But all the old folks called it crow’s foot. If you’ll examine the leaves, you’ll see they look like crow’s feet. Now, the way to prepare crow’s foot is to take the tender leaves and scald ’em with hot grease . . and then pour vinegar over ’em.” 2020 in 2023 DARE File—Internet DC, Named for the shape of its toothed leaf, crowsfoot (dentaria) is a sturdy white wildflower common in the woods of Rock Creek Park.
7 Prob a cow parsnip n 1 (here: Heracleum maximum). chiefly MO Cf 5 above, cow parsley n
1945 Lyon Fresh from Hills 86 csMO, She had found cow cabbage, sometimes called crow’s-foot or cow parsley. This green has a larger, darker leaf and gets its name because cows love it, Donie said. 1994 Tipton Times (MO) 5 May 22/3, This is the time of year when the cow parsley or crow’s foot, carpenter square or square weed, sour dock, poke, lamb’s quarter, deer tongue, mouse ear, wild tomato and dandelion are just peeping through the ground and they make an exciting, gourmet dish. 1995 Index (Hermitage MO) 28 Dec sec A 2/4 swMO, [Letter:] I remember: . . Cow pasley (Crow’s foot) greens from the river bottom. 2010 Houston Herald (MO) 20 July 8/2, It was May and we had picked some mushrooms and some fresh cow-pasley greens, also known as crows-foot, which grew along the river bottoms.
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10 also pl: A string-figure made on the hands. Sth, S Midl
1873 Columbia Herald (TN) 15 Aug [3]/2, Some of our young beaux, when they get short for something to say to young ladies, amuse them by making “Job’s Coffin,” “Crow’s feet” etc., with their fingers and strings. 1908 DN 3.303 eAL, wGA, Crow’s-foot. . . A form made on the fingers with a string. 1915 Speck Nanticoke Comm. DE 28, Cat’s-cradles are generally well-known among these people. The figure known among the Southern Indians as “crowfoot” is common here also as “crow’s feet.” 1940 (1978) Still River of Earth 64 KY, “I made Green a string crow’s foot,” she explained, “and tore a page from the wish-book for him to rattle.” 1955 Henley Home Place 132 csNC (as of 1880s–1890s), I learned how to make a “crow’s foot” with string, looping it over the fingers of each hand in various ways till, with a twist of the wrists, the loops knotted near each end to make one long “leg” to two sets of “clawfeet.”
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14 A prybar, crowbar.
1770 Boston Gaz. & Country Jrl. (MA) [8 Jan 3]/2, [Advt:] To Be Sold . . Pick Axes, Nippers, a Crow Foot to draw Nails with, &c. 1843 NY Herald (NY) 8 June [2]/4, The stolen articles were traced to the possession of the accused, and also a small crow foot and a screw driver, which matched the marks on the desk of Mr. Adams. 1860 Public Ledger (Philadelphia PA) 4 Aug 1/3, James B. Conroy was held . . upon the charge of robbing the house of Mr. Ouram, which was entered by means of a crows-foot. 1887 Pittenger Daring & Suffering 132, We had only one iron bar to drive out our spikes; a bent “crow’s foot” would have been worth more than its weight in gold; but we hammered away with what we had, and spike after spike was drawn. 1968–69 DARE (Qu. L39, An iron bar with a bent end, used for pulling nails, opening boxes, and so on) Infs MD26, PA207, Crowfoot.