Liverwort - Dictionary Definition and Overview

Liverwort : (noun)

1: any of numerous small green nonvascular plants of the class Hepaticopsida growing in wet places and resembling green seaweeds or leafy mosses

Based on WordNet 2.0

Liverwort : \Liv"er*wort`\, n. (Bot.) 1. A ranunculaceous plant ({Anemone Hepatica) with pretty white or bluish flowers and a three-lobed leaf; -- called also squirrel cups.

2. A flowerless plant ({Marchantia polymorpha), having an irregularly lobed, spreading, and forking frond.

Note: Based on this plant many others of the same order ({Hepatic[ae]) have been vaguely called liverworts, esp. those of the tribe Marchantiace[ae]. See Illust. of Hepatica.

Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

Hepatica \He*pat"i*ca\, n.; pl. Hepatic[ae]. [NL. See Hepatic. So called in allusion to the shape of the lobed leaves or fronds.] 1. (Bot.) A genus of pretty spring flowers closely related to Anemone; squirrel cup.

2. (bot.) Any plant, usually procumbent and mosslike, of the cryptogamous class Hepatic[ae]; -- called also scale moss and liverwort. See Hepatic[ae], in the Supplement.

Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)