liverwort
Appearance
English
Etymology
From Middle English lyverwort, liverwort, from Old English liferwyrt, equivalent to liver + wort, from the belief that some species looked like livers and were useful for treating the liver medicinally.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈlɪv.ə.wɜːt/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈlɪv.ɚ.wɝːt/, /ˈlɪv.ɚ.wɔːɹt/
Audio (US): (file)
Noun
liverwort (countable and uncountable, plural liverworts)
- A type of bryophyte with a leafy stem or leafless thallus characterized by a dominant gametophyte stage and a lack of stomata on the sporophyte stage of the life cycle.
- 1929, Shiv Ram Kashyap, Liverworts of the Western Himalayas and the Panjab Plain, volume I, page 1:
- The liverworts are either thallose, without any differentiation into stem and leaves, or leafy.
- 1985, W. B. Schofield, Introduction to Bryology, page 135:
- Since the thallus of some liverworts resembled a liver, such plants were considered useful in making a concoction that would aid in curing liver ailments. Hence the name "liver-plant," or liverwort. Unfortunately, there is no evidence that liverworts possess curative properties.
- 2000 — Barbara Crandall-Stotler & Raymond E. Stotler, "Morphology and classification of the Marchantiophyta". pages 21-70 in A. Jonathan Shaw & Bernard Goffinet (Eds.), Bryophyte Biology, page 21.
- Like other bryophytes, liverworts are small, herbaceous plants of terrestrial ecosystems.
- A common flowering perennial herb of northern woodlands, Hepatica nobilis (syn. Anemone hepatica), used in traditional European herbal medicine.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Related terms
- lungwort (Pulmonaria spp.)
- spleenwort (Asplenium spp.)
- toothwort (Cardamine subg.Dentaria spp.)
- woundwort (Stachys spp. etc.)
Translations
bryophyte with a leafy stem
|
See also
References
- “liverwort”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Middle English
Noun
liverwort
- Alternative form of lyverwort
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English compound terms
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- en:Anemoneae tribe plants
- en:Spore plants
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English nouns