Sweet fern Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun mat-forming lithophytic or terrestrial fern with creeping rootstocks and large pinnatifid fronds found throughout North America and Europe and Africa and east Asia
    golden maidenhair; wall fern; golden polypody; common polypody; adder's fern; Polypodium vulgare.
  2. noun deciduous shrub of eastern North America with sweet scented fernlike leaves and tiny white flowers
    Comptonia asplenifolia; Comptonia peregrina.

WordNet


Definitions
  1. (Bot.), a small North American shrub (Comptonia, ∨ Myrica, asplenifolia) having sweet-scented or aromatic leaves resembling fern leaves.

Webster 1913