male fern

American  

noun

1. a bright-green fern, Dryopteris filix-mas, of Europe and northeastern North America.

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male fern British  

noun

1. a fern, Dryopteris filix-mas, having scaly stalks and pinnate fronds with kidney-shaped spore-producing bodies on the underside: family Polypodiaceae

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Etymology

Origin of male fern

First recorded in 1555–65

Example Sentences

One of these is the cut-leaf black walnut which has the ordinary compound leaf but whose individual leaflets are so scalloped and serrated that they resemble a male fern.

From Growing Nuts in the North A Personal Story of the Author's Experience of 33 Years with Nut Culture in Minnesota and Wisconsin by Weschcke, Carl

Often, about the same spots where the male fern flourishes, the Shield Fern displays its fronds, larger and broader, but fewer in number, and prettily toothed along their edges.

From Chatterbox, 1905. by Various

Infusion of cusco is sometimes used as an anthelmintic, so is wormwood, and the liquid extract of male fern, and in America spigelia root and pumpkin seeds.

From Dogs and All about Them by Leighton, Robert

The male fern resembles the marginal shield fern in outline, but the fronds are thinner, are not evergreen, and the sori are near the midvein.

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

He left the male fern and mullein until the last for different reasons.

From The Harvester by Stratton-Porter, Gene