English edit

Etymology edit

dorsi- +‎ -ferous; compare French dorsifère.

Adjective edit

dorsiferous (not comparable)

  1. (biology) Bearing, or producing, on the back; applied to ferns which produce seeds on the back of the leaf, and to certain Batrachia, whose ova become attached to the skin of the parent's back, where they develop.

Synonyms edit

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for dorsiferous”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)