Milk vetch \Milk" vetch`\ (Bot.) A leguminous herb (Astragalus glycyphyllos) of Europe and Asia, supposed to increase the secretion of milk in goats.

Note: The name is sometimes taken for the whole genus Astragalus, of which there are about two hundred species in North America, and even more elsewhere.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Astragalus \As*trag"a*lus\, n. [L. See Astragal.]

1. (Anat.) The ankle bone, or hock bone; the bone of the tarsus which articulates with the tibia at the ankle.

2. (Bot.) A genus of papilionaceous plants, of the tribe Galege[ae], containing numerous species, two of which are called, in English, milk vetch and licorice vetch. Gum tragacanth is obtained from different oriental species, particularly the A. gummifer and A. verus.

3. (Arch.) See Astragal, 1.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)