Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of numerous small, green, nonvascular plants of the class Hepaticae within the division Bryophyta.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Any plant of the cryptogamic family Hepaticæ. In general appearance they differ from mosses in having the stems bilateral, and the leaves usually two-ranked, though often there are rudiments of a third rank, never with a midvein.
- n. One of several other plants that suggest the liver by their form, or are supposed to be useful in diseases of the liver. Among them are the common agrimony, Agrimonia Eupatoria, and the liverleaf, Anemone Hepatica.
Wiktionary
- n. A type of bryophyte (includes mosses, liverworts, and hornworts) 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.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Bot.) A ranunculaceous plant (Anemone Hepatica) with pretty white or bluish flowers and a three-lobed leaf; -- called also
squirrel cups . - n. A flowerless plant (Marchantia polymorpha), having an irregularly lobed, spreading, and forking frond.
WordNet 3.0
- n. any of numerous small green nonvascular plants of the class Hepaticopsida growing in wet places and resembling green seaweeds or leafy mosses
Etymologies
- From liver + Old English wort ("plant"), from the belief that some species looked like livers and were useful for treating the liver medicinally. (Wiktionary)
- From its use in treating diseases of the liver. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“This is modified by the prevailing high humidity, giving peaty soils and a wide distribution of oceanic plants such as liverwort Frullania teneriffae, by the effect of salt spray even hundreds of meters inland, resulting in Plantago-dominated swards on cliff tops, and by the fertilizing effects of vast numbers of nesting seabirds which create a rich turf.”
“The night lit up as the neutron bomb detonated, wiping away the rare liverwort and its jungle home.”
365 tomorrows » 2009 » October : A New Free Flash Fiction SciFi Story Every Day
“The liverwort was reported less than ten kilometers from here.”
365 tomorrows » 2009 » October : A New Free Flash Fiction SciFi Story Every Day
“Mediterranean-Atlantic liverwort Fossombonia angulosa also occurs here, at its northernmost locality.”
“Cryptogram Ridge on Mount Melbourne, Victoria Land (74°21'S, 164°42'E) has geothermal activity that supports a unique community of bryophytes, algae, and microbiota (including the only known occurrence in the Antarctic of the moss, Campylopus pyriformis) and the very rare continental occurrence of the liverwort, Cephaloziella exiliflora.”
“This vegetation ranges from the 10-m high Dacrydium gibbsiae to dwarf shrubs and includes moss, lichen, liverwort, and ferns.”
“Milkwort and liverwort starred the green slope, the larks sang, and thrushes in the brake, and now and then a gull flighting inland would wheel very white against the paling sky, where the vague moon was coming up.”
“Once he substituted lettuce for liverwort, and I ended up with a ten-foot-tall saber-toothed rabbit.”
“Note that large GenBank entries (Lambda, EBV, tobacco and liverwort chloroplasts) may not make it through the thread of mailers.”
“The structure of the stem though simple is more complicated than in any liverwort.”
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3 "Brescia" to "Bulgaria"
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘liverwort’.
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Worts and all
I have in mind the worts associated with a green thumb rather than a green beer - but as you can see by the name, I'll accept anything you have to offer.
butterwort, spiderwort, quillwort, woundwort, nipplewort, bellwort, liverwort, milkwort, water pennywort, navelwort, toothwort, wort and 128 more...
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The Worts
Maybe I'm just hallucinating that there isn't a list for this botanical category yet...
mugwort, starwort, stitchwort, woundwort, pondwort, sweetwort, liverwort, spleenwort, toothwort, lungwort, adderwort, worrywort and 9 more...
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mother earth inspired
taxonomy, botany, orchidaceae, arboraceous, bosky, myrtle, magnoliophyta, stamen, gametophyte, hepatic, liverwort, thallus and 7 more...
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♥
ambrosia, inamorata, gossamer, lily-white, hummingbird, roucoulement, poppy, daisy, calypso, lunula, lamb, dove and 1526 more...
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botanica
liverwort, quaking aspen, weeping willow, sequoia, mahogany, manzanita, cycad, gymnosperm, angiosperm, sporophyte, epiphyte, dicot and 75 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for liverwort.
lyuds Also known as Hepatic Aug 26, 2008