osmund

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A bloom of iron produced in an osmund furnace. See furnace.
• noun A fern of the genus Osmunda. Also called water-fern, St. Christopher's herb, and herb-christopher.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun (Bot.) A fern of the genus Osmunda, or flowering fern. The most remarkable species is the osmund royal, or royal fern (Osmunda regalis), which grows in wet or boggy places, and has large bipinnate fronds, often with a panicle of capsules at the top. The rootstock contains much starch, and has been used in stiffening linen.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun any fern of the genus Osmunda: large ferns with creeping rhizomes; naked sporangia are on modified fronds that resemble flower clusters