flowering fern

/ˌflaʊərɪŋ fərn/

Other forms: flowering ferns

Definitions of flowering fern

1. noun

   any fern of the genus Osmunda: large ferns with creeping rhizomes; naked sporangia are on modified fronds that resemble flower clusters
   synonyms: osmund

   types:

   French bracken, Osmunda regalis, ditch fern, king fern, royal fern, royal osmund

   large deeply rooted fern of worldwide distribution with upright bipinnate compound tufted fronds

   Osmunda clatonia, interrupted fern

   North American fern having tall erect pinnate fronds and a few sporogenous pinnae at or near the center of the fertile fronds

   Osmunda cinnamonea, cinnamon fern, fiddlehead, fiddlehead fern

   New World fern having woolly cinnamon-colored spore-bearing fronds in early spring later surrounded by green fronds; the early uncurling fronds are edible

   type of:

   fern

   any of numerous flowerless and seedless vascular plants having true roots from a rhizome and fronds that uncurl upward; reproduce by spores
2. noun

   Australasian fern with clusters of sporangia on stems of fertile fronds
   synonyms: Helminthostachys zeylanica

   type of:

   fern

   any of numerous flowerless and seedless vascular plants having true roots from a rhizome and fronds that uncurl upward; reproduce by spores