SWEET FERN

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does sweet fern mean? 

• SWEET FERN (noun)
  The noun SWEET FERN has 2 senses:

1. mat-forming lithophytic or terrestrial fern with creeping rootstocks and large pinnatifid fronds found throughout North America and Europe and Africa and east Asia

2. deciduous shrub of eastern North America with sweet scented fernlike leaves and tiny white flowers

  Familiarity information: SWEET FERN used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SWEET FERN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Mat-forming lithophytic or terrestrial fern with creeping rootstocks and large pinnatifid fronds found throughout North America and Europe and Africa and east Asia

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

adder's fern; common polypody; golden maidenhair; golden polypody; Polypodium vulgare; sweet fern; wall fern

Hypernyms ("sweet fern" is a kind of...):

polypody (any of numerous ferns of the genus Polypodium)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Deciduous shrub of eastern North America with sweet scented fernlike leaves and tiny white flowers

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

Comptonia asplenifolia; Comptonia peregrina; sweet fern

Hypernyms ("sweet fern" is a kind of...):

bush; shrub (a low woody perennial plant usually having several major stems)

Holonyms ("sweet fern" is a member of...):

Comptonia; genus Comptonia (one species: sweet fern)