liverwort
English edit
Etymology edit
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 edit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈlɪv.ə.wɜːt/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈlɪv.ɚ.wɝːt/, /ˈlɪv.ɚ.wɔːɹt/
Audio (US) (file)
Noun edit
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 edit
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
- lungwort (Pulmonaria spp.)
- spleenwort (Asplenium spp.)
- toothwort (Cardamine subg.Dentaria spp.)
- woundwort (Stachys spp. etc.)
Translations edit
bryophyte with a leafy stem
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See also edit
References edit
- “liverwort”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Middle English edit
Noun edit
liverwort
- Alternative form of lyverwort