cliff brake

cliff brake

n.

Any of several ferns in the widely distributed genus Pellaea, typically growing in relatively dry rocky areas or on cliffs and having pinnately compound, often leathery leaves.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

cliff brake - any of several small lithophytic ferns of tropical and warm temperate regions cliff-brake, rock brake fern - any of numerous flowerless and seedless vascular plants having true roots from a rhizome and fronds that uncurl upward; reproduce by spores genus Pellaea, Pellaea - genus of chiefly small rock-loving ferns; in some classification systems it is placed in the family Polypodiaceae or Adiantaceae coffee fern, Pellaea andromedifolia - evergreen fern of California and Baja California Pellaea atropurpurea, purple rock brake - very short shallowly creeping North American fern usually growing on cliffs or walls and having dark glossy leaf axes bird's-foot fern, Pellaea mucronata, Pellaea ornithopus - cliff brake of California and Baja California having purple-brown leafstalks