cliff brake

noun

1. any of several common ferns of the genus Pellaea, usually growing in pockets of thin soil on rocks.

Word History and Origins

Origin of cliff brake¹

An Americanism dating back to 1865–70

Example Sentences

The smooth cliff brake has a decidedly northern range, growing from northern Vermont to Missouri, and northwestward, but found rarely, if at all, in southern New England.

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Modern botanists are inclined to place the dense cliff brake and the slender cliff brake under the genus Cryptográmma, which is so nearly like Pellaea that one hesitates to choose between them.

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The dense cliff brake may be described as follows: Stipes three to nine inches tall, blades one to three inches, triangular-ovate, pinnate at the summit, and tripinnate below.

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