| Noun | 1. | lip fern - any of various terrestrial ferns of the genus Cheilanthes; cosmopolitan in arid and semiarid temperate or tropical regions fern - any of numerous flowerless and seedless vascular plants having true roots from a rhizome and fronds that uncurl upward; reproduce by spores Cheilanthes, genus Cheilanthes - small evergreen ferns: lipferns; in some classifications placed in family Polypodiaceae or Adiantaceae Alabama lip fern, Cheilanthes alabamensis, smooth lip fern - southeastern United States to northern Mexico and Jamaica Cheilanthes lanosa, hairy lip fern, wooly lip fern - small North American evergreen fern whose stipes and lower frond surfaces are densely wooly Cheilanthes eatonii, southwestern lip fern - lip fern of Texas to Oklahoma and Colorado and Arizona and Mexico having tall erect tufted fronds |