liverwort

[ liv-er-wurt, -wawrt ]

/ ˈlɪv ərˌwɜrt, -ˌwɔrt /

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noun

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.

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Origin of liverwort

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

Words nearby liverwort

liver-rot, liver salts, liver sausage, liver spot, liver spots, liverwort, liverwurst, livery, livery colors, livery company, livery cupboard

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

How to use liverwort in a sentence

Others assert for the first part of the name that it comes from the liverwort plant, which grew abundantly in the neighbourhood.
The Rivers of Great Britain; Rivers of the South and West Coasts|Various
Half-starved children were selling little bunches of liverwort in the streets.
The Confession of a Fool|August Strindberg
Instead of directly forming a fern-plantlet, the spore grows first into a body which closely resembles a small Liverwort.
The Elements of Botany|Asa Gray
The first hepaticas (liverwort) that I saw this year were picked the first day of March.
Harper's Young People, March 30, 1880|Various

The structure of the stem though simple is more complicated than in any liverwort.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3|Various

British Dictionary definitions for liverwort

liverwort

/ (ˈlɪvəˌwɜːt) /

noun

any bryophyte plant of the phylum Hepatophyta, growing in wet places and resembling green seaweeds or leafy mossesSee also scale moss

Word Origin for liverwort

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

[ lĭv′ər-wûrt′, -wôrt′ ]

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.