lygodium palmatum
NounOpen English WordNet
Noun (1)
- delicate fern of the eastern United States having a twining stem and palmately-lobed sterile fronds and forked fertile frondsSynonyms: creeping fernHartford fernType of climbing fern
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Webster's Dictionary (1913)
“lygodium palmatum” is listed under Fern.
Origin: AS. fearn; akin to D. varen, G. farn, farnkraut; cf. Skr. parṇa wing, feather, leaf, sort of plant, or Lith. papartis fern.
Botany An order of cryptogamous plants, the Filices, which have their fructification on the back of the fronds or leaves. They are usually found in humid soil, sometimes grow epiphytically on trees, and in tropical climates often attain a gigantic size.
☞ The plants are asexual, and bear clustered sporangia, containing minute spores, which germinate and form prothalli, on which are borne the true organs of reproduction. The brake or bracken, the maidenhair, and the polypody are all well known ferns.
Christmas fern. See under Christmas. — Climbing fern Botany, a delicate North American fern (Lygodium palmatum), which climbs several feet high over bushes, etc., and is much sought for purposes of decoration. — Fern owl. Zoology (a) The European goatsucker. (b) The short-eared owl. dialect (England) — Fern shaw, a fern thicket. British Robert Browning
Origin: NL., fr. Gr. … flexible; … a willow twig + εἶδος form.
Botany A genus of ferns with twining or climbing fronds, bearing stalked and variously-lobed divisions in pairs.
☞ Lygodium palmatum, much prized for indoor ornament, inhabits shaded and moist grassy places, from Massachusetts to Virginia and Kentucky, and sparingly southwards.
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54