noun
in some classification systems placed in family Polypodiaceae
• Syn: ↑genus Asplenium
• Hypernyms: ↑fern genus
• Member Holonyms: ↑Aspleniaceae, ↑family Aspleniaceae
• Member Meronyms:
↑spleenwort, ↑bird's nest fern, ↑Asplenium nidus, ↑hart's-tongue, ↑hart's-tongue fern, ↑Asplenium scolopendrium, ↑Phyllitis scolopendrium, ↑scale fern, ↑scaly fern, ↑Asplenium ceterach, ↑Ceterach officinarum
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\\-_əm\ nounUsage: capitalized
Etymology: New Latin, alteration of Latin asplenum spleenwort, from Greek asplēnon, irregular from splēn spleen — more at spleen
: a widely distributed genus of ferns (family Polypodiaceae) having linear or oblong sori borne obliquely on the upper side of a veinlet and comprising the spleenworts — see ebony spleenwort, wall rue
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asplenium /a-splēˈni-əm/
noun
Spleenwort, any fern of a widely-distributed genus of ferns, Asplenium, with long or linear sori whose indusia arise from a vein (eg wall rue)
ORIGIN: Gr asplēnon, (literally) spleenless, from a- (privative), and splēn spleen, reputedly a cure for spleen
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aspleniumBot.: see spleenwort.
Useful english dictionary. 2012.