bladder fern

American  

noun

1. any of several ferns of the genus Cystopteris, having pinnate leaves and growing in rocky areas.

---

bladder fern British  

noun

1. a small fern, Cystoperis fragilis , with graceful lanceolate leaves, typically growing on limestone rocks and walls

---

Etymology

Origin of bladder fern

First recorded in 1820–30; so called from the bladderlike indusium

Example Sentences

It is one of our most graceful and delicate species, its long-tapering outline suggesting the bulblet bladder fern.

From The Fern Lover's Companion A Guide for the Northeastern States and Canada by Tilton, George Henry

"We may drape our homes by the yard," says Woolson, "with the most graceful and filmy of our common ferns, the bladder fern."

From The Fern Lover's Companion A Guide for the Northeastern States and Canada by Tilton, George Henry

In outline the fragile bladder fern suggests the blunt-lobed Woodsia, but in the latter the pinnæ and pinnules are usually broader and blunter, and its indusium splits into jagged lobes.

From The Fern Lover's Companion A Guide for the Northeastern States and Canada by Tilton, George Henry

The bladder fern is propagated in part from its bulblets, while the walking leaf bends over to the earth and roots at the tip.

From The Fern Lover's Companion A Guide for the Northeastern States and Canada by Tilton, George Henry