pimpernel

noun7

1. •
   Any of various plants of the genus Anagallis, having small red, white or purple flowers, especially the scarlet pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis).

   • Common Pimpernel has diverse weak square stalks lying on the ground, beset all along with two small and almost round leaves at every joint [...]. — 1653
2. •
   (figurative) Someone resembling the fictional Scarlet Pimpernel; a gallant dashing resourceful man given to remarkable feats of bravery and derring-do in liberating victims of tyranny and injustice.

   • Lined up solidly with the Pimpernels and with the persecuted.
3. •
   Sanguisorba spp.
4. •
   Great burnet (Sanguisorba officinalis)
5. •
   Salad burnet (Sanguisorba minor).
6. •
   (US, Canada) A yellow pimpernel (Taenidia integerrima)
7. •
   (no longer used) A plant of the genus Pimpinella, especially burnet saxifrage (Pimpinella saxifraga).