What is "galega officinalis"

Goat \Goat\ (g[=o]t), n. [OE goot, got, gat, AS. g[=a]t; akin to D. geit, OHG. geiz, G. geiss, Icel. geit, Sw. get, Dan. ged, Goth. gaits, L. haedus a young goat, kid.] (Zo["o]l.) A hollow-horned ruminant of the genus Capra, of several species and varieties, esp. the domestic goat ( Capra hircus), which is raised for its milk, flesh, and skin. Note: The Cashmere and Angora varieties of the goat have long, silky hair, used in the manufacture of textile fabrics. The wild or bezoar goat ( Capra [ae]gagrus), of Asia Minor, noted for the bezoar stones found in its stomach, is supposed to be one of the ancestral species of the domestic goat. The Rocky Mountain goat ( Haplocercus montanus) is more nearly related to the antelopes. See Mazame. Goat antelope (Zo["o]l), one of several species of antelopes, which in some respects resemble a goat, having recurved horns, a stout body, large hoofs, and a short, flat tail, as the goral, thar, mazame, and chikara. Goat fig (Bot.), the wild fig. Goat house.

1. A place for keeping goats.

2. A brothel. [Obs.]

   Goat moth (Zo["o]l.), any moth of the genus Cossus, esp. the large European species ( Cossus ligniperda), the larva of which burrows in oak and willow trees, and requires three years to mature. It exhales an odor like that of the he-goat.

   Goat weed (Bot.), a scrophulariaceous plant, of the genus Capraria ( Capraria biflora).

   Goat's bane (Bot.), a poisonous plant ( Aconitum Lucoctonum), bearing pale yellow flowers, introduced from Switzerland into England; wolfsbane.

   Goat's foot (Bot.), a kind of wood sorrel ( Oxalis caprina) growing at the Cape of Good Hope.

   Goat's rue (Bot.), a leguminous plant ( Galega officinalis of Europe, or Tephrosia Virginiana in the United States).

   Goat's thorn (Bot.), a thorny leguminous plant ( Astragalus Tragacanthus), found in the Levant.

   Goat's wheat (Bot.), the genus Tragopyrum (now referred to Atraphaxis).

Galega officinalis, commonly known as galega, goat's-rue, French lilac, Italian fitch, or professor-weed, is an herbaceous plant in the Faboideae subfamily. It is native to the Middle East, but it has been naturalized in Europe, western Asia, and western Pakistan. The plant has been extensively cultivated as a forage crop, an ornamental, a bee plant and as green manure. However, the plant has proved too toxic for widespread agricultural use, with the potential to induce tracheal frothing, pulmonary oedema, hydrothorax, hypotension, paralysis and death.

Its name derives from gala ( milk) and ago (to bring on), as Galega has been used as a galactogogue in small domestic animals (hence the name "Goat's rue"). Galega bicolor is a synonym. It is a hardy perennial that blooms in the summer months.

G. officinalis is used as a food plant by the larva of Coleophora vicinella, a species of moth.