liverwort

English

A liverwort

Wikispecies

Etymology

From Middle English lyverwort, liverwort, from Old English liferwyrt, equivalent to liver +‎ wort, from the belief that some species looked like livers and were useful for treating the liver medicinally.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪv.ə.wɜːt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪv.ɚ.wɝːt/, /ˈlɪv.ɚ.wɔːɹt/

• Audio (US)

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Noun

liverwort (countable and uncountable, plural liverworts)

1. A type of bryophyte with a leafy stem or leafless thallus characterized by a dominant gametophyte stage and a lack of stomata on the sporophyte stage of the life cycle.
   • 1929, Shiv Ram Kashyap, Liverworts of the Western Himalayas and the Panjab Plain, volume I, page 1:

     The liverworts are either thallose, without any differentiation into stem and leaves, or leafy.

   • 1985, W. B. Schofield, Introduction to Bryology, page 135:

     Since the thallus of some liverworts resembled a liver, such plants were considered useful in making a concoction that would aid in curing liver ailments. Hence the name "liver-plant," or liverwort. Unfortunately, there is no evidence that liverworts possess curative properties.

   • 2000 — Barbara Crandall-Stotler & Raymond E. Stotler, "Morphology and classification of the Marchantiophyta". pages 21-70 in A. Jonathan Shaw & Bernard Goffinet (Eds.), Bryophyte Biology, page 21.

     Like other bryophytes, liverworts are small, herbaceous plants of terrestrial ecosystems.

2. A common flowering perennial herb of northern woodlands, Hepatica nobilis (syn. Anemone hepatica), used in traditional European herbal medicine.

Synonyms

The terms below need to be checked and allocated to the definitions (senses) of the headword above. Each term should appear in the sense for which it is appropriate. For synonyms and antonyms you may use the templates {{syn|en|...}} or {{ant|en|...}}.

• hepatic
• Clevea

Derived terms

• leafy liverwort

Related terms

• lungwort (Pulmonaria spp.)
• spleenwort (Asplenium spp.)
• toothwort (Cardamine subg.Dentaria spp.)
• woundwort (Stachys spp. etc.)

Translations

bryophyte with a leafy stem

• Afrikaans: lewermos
• Catalan: hepàtica (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 苔门

• Czech: játrovka f
• Dutch: levermos (nl)
• Esperanto: hepatiko
• Finnish: maksasammal
• French: hépatique (fr) m
• German: Lebermoos n
• Greek:

  Ancient: λειχήν m (leikhḗn)

• Hungarian: májmoha (hu)
• Irish: aelus m
• Italian: epatiche (it)
• Japanese: 苔植物門
• Manx: aane ushtey f
• Norwegian: levermose m
• Polish: wątrobowiec m
• Portuguese: hepática f
• Romanian: crucea-voinicului (ro)
• Russian: печёночник (ru) m (pečónočnik)
• Spanish: hepática (es) f
• Swedish: levermossa c
• Welsh: llysiau'r afu m pl, afuad m

See also

• Marchantiophyta

References

• “liverwort”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Middle English

Noun

liverwort

1. Alternative form of lyverwort