walking fernn.
/ˌwɔːkɪŋ ˈfəːn/, /ˈwɔːkɪŋ ˌfəːn/, U.S. /ˈwɔkɪŋ ˌfərn/, /ˌwɔkɪŋ ˈfərn/, /ˈwɑkɪŋ ˌfərn/, /ˌwɑkɪŋ ˈfərn/ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > moss > [noun] > club-moss or moss-like ferns
dwarf cypress1548
heath-cypress1551
pine1551
wolf's-claw1578
club-moss1597
wolf-claw1597
wolf's-foot1597
tree-moss1611
Selagoa1627
cypress-moss1640
mountain moss1688
lycopodium1706
stag's horn (also staghorn) moss1741
walking fern1814
tod-tails1820
Robin Hood's hatband1828
resurrection plant1841
ground-pine1847
forks and knives1853
fir club-moss1855
lycopod1861
Selaginella1865
foxtail1866
stag-head or stag's head moss1869
fir-moss1879
hog-bed1900
1814 F. Pursh Flora Amer. Septentrionalis II. 654 It [sc. Lycopodium alopecuroides] is known by the name of Walking Fern.
1829 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Plants 892 Lycopodium alopecuroides... Walking Fern.
2. A small tufted evergreen fern, Asplenium rhizophyllum (sometimes called Camptosorus rhizophyllus), occurring in limestone areas of eastern North America, which has sori on the underside of its leaves from which new plants are produced, allowing it to spread where conditions are favourable. Also called walking leaf.
ΚΠ
1841 Mag. Hort. 7 153 We have had growing on our mantel, winter and summer, a group of the walking fern, (Asplènium rhizophyllum,) which has produced successive growths of leaves.
1874 Galaxy July 54/1 There was the rare Rhizophyllum, or walking fern, lanceolate, subcrenate, cordate-auriculate.
1914 J. D. Sawyer How to make Country Place iii. 100 Arrowheads, walking ferns which really walked on land, cow lilies, smooth stemmed and leaved plants..glistened 'mid watery surroundings.
2007 S. Olsen Encycl. Garden Ferns v. 160 The walking fern meanders about, rooting along the way.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1814