climbing fern

noun

1. any of several chiefly tropical, vinelike ferns of the genus Lygodium, having climbing or trailing stems.

Word History and Origins

Origin of climbing fern¹

An Americanism dating back to 1810–20

Example Sentences

But in the Japanese climbing fern, a team led by Makoto Matsuoka, a molecular biologist at Nagoya University in Japan, found that the older gametophytes influence the sex of nearby younger ones.

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In the jungle, large and brilliant flowers are seen blooming upon tall trees, while the eye is attracted by others very sweet and tiny in the prolific undergrowth, nestling among creepers and climbing ferns.

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One handsome climbing fern clothes the trunks of tall trees; another which climbs on grasses and the smaller shrubs is common; and another forms almost impenetrable thickets 15 or 20 feet high.

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For inside and in shady situations the following are suitable: tradescantia, parlour ivy, moneywort, vinca smilax, climbing fern, asparagus fern, dracæna, coleus, centaurea, sword fern, and Boston fern.

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Some of the more delicate climbing ferns were magnificent.

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