Dictionary entry

Liverwort

Webster's Dictionary 1913

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.

☞ From this plant many others of the same order (Hepaticæ) have been vaguely called liverworts, esp. those of the tribe Marchantiaceæ. See Illust. of Hepatica.