filaria

Meanings

Plural: filariae, filarias

Noun

• European weed naturalized in southwestern United States and Mexico having reddish decumbent stems with small fernlike leaves and small deep reddish-lavender flowers followed by slender fruits that stick straight up; often grown for forage
• slender threadlike roundworms living in the blood and tissues of vertebrates; transmitted as larvae by biting insects
• Any of the parasitic nematode worms of superfamily Filarioidea that lives in the blood of vertebrates and is transmitted by insects: the cause of filariasis.

Synonyms

alfilaria, alfileria, clocks, Erodium cicutarium, filaree, pin clover, pin grass, redstem storksbill