Fiddlehead fern — Fiddlehead ferns refers to the unfurled fronds of a young fern harvested for food consumption. The fiddlehead, or circinate vernation, unrolls as the fern matures and grows due to more growth in the inside of the curl. The fiddlehead resembles… … Wikipedia
fiddlehead fern — noun New World fern having woolly cinnamon colored spore bearing fronds in early spring later surrounded by green fronds; the early uncurling fronds are edible • Syn: ↑cinnamon fern, ↑fiddlehead, ↑Osmunda cinnamonea • Hypernyms: ↑flowering fern,… … Useful english dictionary
fiddlehead fern — noun see fiddlehead … New Collegiate Dictionary
Fiddlehead greens — (fiddlehead ferns, fiddleheads)(Matteuccia struthiopteris, var. Penn.), the curled tops of the ostrich fern picked before they unfurl, grow wild in wet areas in spring in the Province of New Brunswick in the Maritimes in Canada and are used as… … Wikipedia
fiddlehead — fid dle*head n. 1. any of several tall ferns of northern temperate regions having graceful arched fronds and sporophylls resembling ostrich plumes. Syn: ostrich fern, shuttlecock fern, {Matteuccia struthiopteris}, {Pteretis struthiopteris},… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
fiddlehead — [fid′ lhed΄] n. 1. a carved decoration on a ship s bow, curved like the scroll of a violin head 2. [so named from its shape] the coiled tip of a young fern of any of certain species, often cooked and eaten as a vegetable; crosier: also called… … English World dictionary
fiddlehead — noun 1. tall fern of northern temperate regions having graceful arched fronds and sporophylls resembling ostrich plumes • Syn: ↑ostrich fern, ↑shuttlecock fern, ↑Matteuccia struthiopteris, ↑Pteretis struthiopteris, ↑Onoclea struthiopteris •… … Useful english dictionary
fiddlehead — noun Date: 1882 one of the young unfurling fronds of some ferns that are often eaten as greens called also fiddlehead fern … New Collegiate Dictionary
fiddlehead — one with a head as hollow as a fiddle, 1854 (fiddleheaded), from FIDDLE (Cf. fiddle) + HEAD (Cf. head). As a name for young fern fronds, from 1882, from resemblance to a violin s scroll … Etymology dictionary
fern — fernless, adj. fernlike, adj. /ferrn/, n. any seedless, nonflowering vascular plant of the class Filicinae, of tropical to temperate regions, characterized by true roots produced from a rhizome, triangular fronds that uncoil upward and have a… … Universalium