liverwort

[ liv-er-wurt, -wawrt ]

noun
  1. any mosslike plant of the class Hepaticae, growing chiefly on damp ground, rocks, or on tree trunks and helping the decay of logs and the disintegration of rocks.

Origin of liverwort

1
before 1100; Middle English; late Old English liferwyrt.See liver1, wort2

Words Nearby liverwort

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How to use liverwort in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for liverwort

liverwort

/ (ˈlɪvəˌwɜːt) /


noun
  1. any bryophyte plant of the phylum Hepatophyta, growing in wet places and resembling green seaweeds or leafy mosses: See also scale moss

Origin of liverwort

1
late Old English liferwyrt

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

Scientific definitions for liverwort

liverwort

[ lĭvər-wûrt′, -wôrt′ ]


  1. Any of numerous small, green nonvascular plants of the division Marchantiophyta. Many liverworts reproduce asexually by means of gemmae. They also reproduce sexually, and their free-swimming sperm, produced in structures called antheridia, require liquid water, such as splashing raindrops, to reach the egg-producing archegonia. After fertilization, the small sporophyte grows directly on or in the gametophyte and is nourished by it. Liverworts are common in the tropics and often grow in moist soil, on damp rocks, and on tree trunks. Some liverworts have leafy bodies, while others have only a simple thallus. The name liverwort comes from the liverlike shape of the thalli of some species. See more at bryophyte.

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