Pestilence

1. Specifically, the disease known as the plague; hence, any contagious or infectious epidemic disease that is virulent and devastating.
2. Fig.: That which is pestilent, noxious, or pernicious to the moral character of great numbers.
Pestilence weed (Bot.),
the butterbur coltsfoot (Petasites vulgaris), so called because formerly considered a remedy for the plague.