Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of numerous widely distributed evergreen ferns of the genus Asplenium, having undivided to featherlike fronds with oblong to linear sori arranged along the veins.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Any fern of the genus Asplenium.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Bot.) Any fern of the genus Asplenium, some species of which were anciently used as remedies for disorders of the spleen.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Any of a number of types of
ferns in the genus Asplenium
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun any of various chiefly rock-inhabiting ferns of the genus Asplenium
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word spleenwort.
Examples
-
Farmsteads and hamlets are protected by old walls from which spleenwort and polypody ferns grow.
-
A spiral stairway, within concave walls sprouting spleenwort ferns and pennywort, leads to a look-out at the top of the tower bounded by pinnacles and a parapet encrusted with lichen.
Country diary: Tamar Valley Virginia Spiers 2010
-
Swelling emerald mosses protrude between vertical groves of fern and spleenwort.
Country diary 2010
-
Foxgloves, bright polypody ferns and rushes thrive in the hollows of surface tin workings while wheel pits, settling tanks and buddles associated with the extraction of tin and china clay are masked by scrub, and the derelict structures colonised by spleenwort ferns and moss.
-
Localized species of note include red broomrape Orobanche alba, sea spleenwort Asplenium marinum and oyster plant Mertemsia maritima.
-
Nearly all agree that the lady fern, with its variously curved sori, should be placed here, and many others would place the silvery spleenwort in the same genus, partly because of its frequently doubled sori.
The Fern Lover's Companion A Guide for the Northeastern States and Canada George Henry Tilton
-
This rare and delicate little plant bears a rather close resemblance to the maidenhair spleenwort, which, however, has dark stipes instead of green.
The Fern Lover's Companion A Guide for the Northeastern States and Canada George Henry Tilton
-
In regard to the last member of the group, the narrow-leaved spleenwort, there is more doubt.
The Fern Lover's Companion A Guide for the Northeastern States and Canada George Henry Tilton
-
Still other species of ferns are known to hybridize more or less, as we saw in the case of Scott's spleenwort.
The Fern Lover's Companion A Guide for the Northeastern States and Canada George Henry Tilton
-
The pinnæ of a frond are often pinnátifid when the frond itself is pinnate; and a frond may be pinnate in its lower part and become pinnátifid higher up as in the pinnátifid spleenwort just mentioned (Fig. 3).
The Fern Lover's Companion A Guide for the Northeastern States and Canada George Henry Tilton
madmouth commented on the word spleenwort
apparently a cockamamie sort of cure, believed "useful for ailments of the spleen, due to the spleen-shaped sori on the backs of the fronds" according to Wiki
September 21, 2009
sionnach commented on the word spleenwort
Safe past the Gnome thro' this fantastic band, 55
A branch of healing Spleenwort in his hand.
Then thus address'd the pow'r: "Hail, wayward Queen!
Who rule the sex to fifty from fifteen:
Parent of vapours and of female wit,
Who give th' hysteric, or poetic fit, 60
On various tempers act by various ways,
Make some take physic, others scribble plays;
Who cause the proud their visits to delay,
And send the godly in a pet to pray.
A nymph there is, that all thy pow'r disdains, 65
And thousands more in equal mirth maintains.
But oh! if e'er thy Gnome could spoil a grace,
Or raise a pimple on a beauteous face,
Like Citron-waters matrons cheeks inflame,
Or change complexions at a losing game; 70
If e'er with airy horns I planted heads,
Or rumpled petticoats, or tumbled beds,
Or caus'd suspicion when no soul was rude,
Or discompos'd the head-dress of a Prude,
Or e'er to costive lap-dog gave disease, 75
Which not the tears of brightest eyes could ease:
Hear me, and touch Belinda with chagrin,
That single act gives half the world the spleen."
"The Rape of the Lock", Canto IV
September 26, 2009