Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CHICK'-WEED, n.

The popular name of a species of Stellaria. The common chick-weed, with white blossoms, affords a remarkable instance of the sleep of plants; for, at night, the leaves approach in pairs; and inclose the tender rudiments of the young shoots. The leaves are cooling and nutritive, and are deemed excellent food for persons of a consumptive habit. They are deemed useful also for swelled breasts. – Encyc. Wiseman.