hairy lip fern
- noun
- Specialized
:
helecho labio peludo
- Botanists studied the woolly texture of the hairy lip fern's fronds under a microscope.
Examples
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The hairy lip fern thrives in rocky, shaded habitats across the eastern United States.
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I spotted a cluster of hairy lip ferns growing along the trail during my hike.
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The hairy lip fern thrives in shaded areas.
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I found a hairy lip fern in the garden.
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Botanists studied the woolly texture of the hairy lip fern's fronds under a microscope.
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I spotted a cluster of hairy lip ferns growing along the trail during my hike.
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The hairy lip fern thrives in rocky, shaded habitats across the eastern United States.
Synonyms
A small North American evergreen fern with soft wool-like hairs on stems and the underside of leaves
A small evergreen fern from North America with soft hairs on its leaf stalks and leaf undersides
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is transparently built from its parts: a B1 learner who knows 'hairy' (covered in hair), 'lip' (edge or rim), and 'fern' (a type of plant) can infer it denotes a fern with a hairy lip or hairy edges. Although 'lip' is somewhat botanical here, the compositional adjective+noun+noun pattern directly describes a visible physical feature, making the meaning predictable from the constituents.
Etymology
The plant name hairy lip fern comes from the look of its leaves: the lower side and edges are covered in soft hairs, so each leaf looks like it has a hairy lip. That's why the name helps you picture this small evergreen fern with woolly lower sides.
