Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of several ferns of the genus Osmunda, such as the cinnamon fern, having bipinnately compound sterile fronds and separate spore-bearing fertile fronds. The fibrous roots are used as a potting medium.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A genus of handsome ferns, widely distributed throughout north temperate regions, and typical of the order Osmundaceæ.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun botany royal fern, osmund (of genus Osmunda)
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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There are many different media to support orchids inside the pot: osmunda or other tree fern fiber; fir bark, cork or even the jal gravel that give our state its name.
Orchids of Mexico 1997
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Crystal streams and waterfalls are pouring down the hillsides to lose themselves in one of Connemara's many bays, and we have a glimpse of osmunda fern, golden green and beautiful.
Penelope's Irish Experiences Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin 1889
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On and on goes the stream, for it may not stay; leaving of its freshness with the great osmunda that stretches eager roots towards the running water; flowing awhile with a brother stream, to part again east and west as each takes up his separate burden of service -- my friend to cherish the lower meadows in their flowery joyance -- and so by the great sea-gate back to sky and earth again.
The Roadmender Michael Fairless 1885
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I had returned to the old home during a summer vacation of the State University, and, having made a beginning in botany, I was, of course, full of enthusiasm and ran eagerly to my beloved pogonia, calopogon, and cypripedium gardens, osmunda ferneries, and the lake lilies and pitcher-plants.
The Story of My Boyhood and Youth John Muir 1876
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Page 173 large and beautiful Filex osmunda, growing in great tufts or clumps.
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Sayor calappa and Olus calappoides, describes it as an arborescent species of osmunda.
The History of Sumatra Containing An Account Of The Government, Laws, Customs And Manners Of The Native Inhabitants William Marsden 1795
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Mr. Ferber speaks of the pleasure he received in observing in the buds of Hepatica and pedicularis hirsuta yet lying hid in the earth, and in the gems of the shrub daphne mezereon, and at the base of osmunda lunaria a perfect plant of the future year, discernable in all its parts
The Botanic Garden A Poem in Two Parts. Part 1: the Economy of Vegetation Erasmus Darwin 1766
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