walking fern


noun
  1. a fern, Camptosorus rhizophyllus, having simple, triangular fronds tapering into a prolongation that bends at the top and often takes root at the apex.

Origin of walking fern

1
First recorded in 1820–30

Words Nearby walking fern

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use walking fern in a sentence

  • It needed only a moment's investigation to identify the leathery, tapering fronds of the walking fern.

    How to Know the Ferns | Frances Theodora Parsons
  • I find that older people as well are tempted to unwonted energy if promised a glimpse of the walking fern.

    How to Know the Ferns | Frances Theodora Parsons
  • The Walking-Fern, Camptosorus, reduced in size, showing its fruit-dots on the veins approximated in pairs.

  • No one ever yet found the walking fern who did not have the walking fern in his mind.

    Locusts and Wild Honey | John Burroughs
  • Resembles the walking fern, and its tip sometimes takes root.

    The Fern Lover's Companion | George Henry Tilton

British Dictionary definitions for walking fern

walking fern

noun
  1. a North American fern, Camptosorus rhizophyllus, having sword-shaped fronds, the tips of which take root when in contact with the ground: family Aspleniaceae

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012