I think your neighbor is probably not aware of the plant's full name. Wort is simply an old English way of saying 'plant'. If you google 'wort' plant, you will come up with several types of plants. Perhaps it's best to post a photo to get people to help identify it.

Ianna.

Here's a picture of the plant

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:533970}}

Butterworts are insect eating plants. It could be in this family.

Nancy

St John's wort?

Possibly a spleenwort aka Asplenium. This is a fern and there are many species. Yours might be hart's tongue fern. Do a Google image search for Asplenium or spleenwort and you should be able to identify yours.

Janet's Garden

Thanks for the suggestions but I have figured out the name of my plant. It's called persicaria bistorta superba, or just bistort though the ornamental variety not the weed. It's also called a million other different names, two being dragonwort and adderwort, which is what my neighbor must have been grasping for when she told me it was called wort.