medusa's head

noun

1

: an edible hedgehog mushroom (Hydnum caput-medusae) with interwoven hymenial spines

2

: an African euphorbia (Euphorbia caput-medusae) with numerous drooping slender branches

3

: a weedy rye grass (Elymus caput-medusae) having long bristling awns

Word History

Etymology

after Medusa, one of the three Gorgons, whose hair was said to have been turned into snakes

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