Psilotum

noun

type genus of the Psilotaceae

• Syn: ↑genus Psilotum

• Hypernyms: ↑fern genus

• Member Holonyms: ↑Psilotaceae, ↑family Psilotaceae

• Member Meronyms: ↑whisk fern

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\\sīˈlōd.əm\ noun

Usage: capitalized

Etymology: New Latin, probably from Late Greek psilōton, a plant, perhaps from Greek psilon down, soft feather, alteration of ptilon; akin to Greek pteron wing, feather — more at feather

: a genus (the type of the family Psilotaceae) of chiefly tropical fern allies with terrestrial or epiphytic habit, slender branching stems, and sessile 3-celled sporangia usually in spikes

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Psilotum /sī-lōˈtəm or psī-lōˈtəm/ (botany)

noun

A genus of rootless pteridophytes from which is named the order Psilotāˈceae

ORIGIN: Gr psīlōton the name of some plant, from psīlos bare (because of the almost leafless stem)