Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of several woodland plants of the genus Hepatica, especially H. americana of eastern North America, having three-lobed leaves and white or lavender flowers. Also called liverleaf.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The liverleaf, Anemone Hepatica (Hepatica triloba). The old genus Hepatica of Dillenius may be regarded as a subgenus of Anemone.
- n. Any liverwort; a cryptogamic plant of the family Hepaticœ.
Wiktionary
- n. Any of the herbaceous plants in the genus Hepatica of the buttercup family, notably the common hepatica.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A genus of pretty spring flowers closely related to Anemone; squirrel cup.
- n. Any plant, usually procumbent and mosslike, of the cryptogamous class Hepaticæ; -- called also
scale moss andliverwort . See Hepaticæ, in the Supplement.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a common liverwort
- n. any of several plants of the genus Hepatica having three-lobed leaves and white or pinkish flowers in early spring; of moist and mossy subalpine woodland areas of north temperate regions
Etymologies
- Middle English epatica, liverwort, from Medieval Latin hēpatica, from feminine of Latin hēpaticus, of the liver; see hepatic.
Examples
“Oh, but someone says, the hepatica is the first flower of spring; all the nature writers say so.”
“The hepatica is the first flower of the Canadian spring: it gladdens us with its tints of azure, pink, and white, early in April, soon after the snows have melted from the earth.”
“During one of my lectures, the question arose as to why beef is not prohibited, although a cow can be infected with the dangerous liver fluke Fasciola hepatica.”
“Mom, did you know that the hepatica is one of the first flowers of spring?”
“I bent to examine something peeking out from under dried grasses: a rare delicate hepatica.”
“Well, my dear, there are two harbingers of spring in this area, one is the trillium and the other is the hepatica.”
“Labels: flowers, gardening, hepatica nobilis comments:”
“Spring with the violets, trilliums and hepatica are the best.”
“The girls have worked overtime in the library again, and we did think we'd hit the jackpot with Fistulina hepatica or Ganderma resinaceum, but were ultimately disappointed.”
“He decided to extend his research to other species, such as the liver fluke, Fasciola hepatica.”
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