liverwort

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.

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

• Audio (US):

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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.

   Synonym: hepatic, Clevea

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

   Synonym: liverleaf

• leafy liverwort

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

• Marchantiophyta

• “liverwort”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

liverwort

1. alternative form of lyverwort