rooiblom, noun

Forms:
Also rooibloem, rooi-bloom.
Origin:
AfrikaansShow more Afrikaans, rooi red + blom flower.
obs.
The witchweed, Striga asiatica. Also attributive, and occasionally rooibloemtje [see -ie.]
1904 Times (U.K.) 25 July 12Complaints..were constantly being received..of damage done..to the mealie..crop by..rooi-bloom or witchweed.
1911 E. London Dispatch 13 Apr. 6 (Pettman)The plant disease...is that known as witch-weed or rooi-bloemtje.
1912 Dept of Agric. Report (UG54–1912) 255The investigation must be based upon a knowledge of the conditions of germination of the Rooibloem seed and by [sic] those affecting the penetration of the Mealie Root by the Rooibloem seedling.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 411Rooibloem,..The parasitic Striga lutea, Lour., which attaches itstelf to the roots of wild grasses and also to cultivated crops of the grass family, especially mealies; by absorbing the juice of the plant it prevents its maturing.
1939 S. Cloete Watch for Dawn 97She was like a weed that spread over the land; like the Rooiblom that was so beautiful, but which lived by sucking the sap from the mealies.
The witchweed, Striga asiatica. Also attributive, and occasionally rooibloemtje [see -ie.]
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obsolete or obsolescent
rooibekkie, nounn.rooibok, nounn.
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