Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- In zoöl.: Same as
dorsigerous . - Bringing forth upon the back; dorsiparous.
- In botany, borne on the back, as the sori of most ferns.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- (Biol.) Bearing, or producing, on the back; -- applied to ferns which produce seeds on the back of the leaf, and to certain Batrachia, the ova of which become attached to the skin of the back of the parent, where they develop; dorsiparous.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective biology Bearing, or producing, on the
back ; applied toferns which produceseeds on the back of theleaf , and to certain Batrachia, whoseova become attached to theskin of the parent's back, where they develop.
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
dorsi- + -ferous; compare French dorsifère.
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Examples
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Francis estimates the recent dorsiferous ferns of Great Britain at thirty-five species, and the species of all the other genera at six more, -- forty-one species in all; and as the flowering plants of the country do not fall short of fourteen hundred species, the ferns bear to them the rather small proportion of about one to thirty-five; whereas of the British Coal
The Testimony of the Rocks or, Geology in Its Bearings on the Two Theologies, Natural and Revealed Hugh Miller 1829
reesetee commented on the word dorsiferous
Borne on the back, as the sori on most ferns.
November 20, 2007