moonwort

American  

[moon-wurt, -wawrt] / ˈmunˌwɜrt, -ˌwɔrt /

noun

1. any fern of the genus Botrychium, especially B. lunaria, a rare fern having fronds with crescent-shaped leaflets.

2. honesty.

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moonwort British  

/ ˈmuːnˌwɜːt /

noun

1. Also called (US): grape fern.  any of various ferns of the genus Botrychium, esp B. lunaria, which has crescent-shaped leaflets

2. another name for honesty

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Etymology

Origin of moonwort

First recorded in 1570–80; moon + wort ²

Example Sentences

Thin, green marsh fern circled lakes alongside moonwort, rattlesnake fern and horsetail.

From New York Times • Oct. 21, 2016

Lū′nacy, a kind of madness formerly supposed to be affected by the moon: insanity; Lunā′rian, Lū′narist, a student of lunar phenomena; Lū′nary, the moonwort fern.—adjs.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various

Soldanel, sol′da-nel, n. a plant of the genus Soldanella, of the order Primulace�—the blue moonwort.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various

Divine Weekes"—   "Horses that, feeding on the grassy hills,   Tread upon moonwort with their hollow heels,   Though lately shod, at night go barefoot home,   Their maister musing where their shoes become.

From The Folk-lore of Plants by Dyer, T. F. Thiselton (Thomas Firminger Thiselton)

Culpeper, the herbalist, to illustrate the powers of the plant moonwort, tells of a wonderful incident that occurred to Lord Essex's horse, presumably when his army was here in 1644.

From Devon, Its Moorlands, Streams and Coasts by Northcote, Rosalind