fiddlehead

n.

1. Nautical. A curved, scroll-like ornamentation at the top of a ship's bow that resembles the neck of a violin.
2. Botany. The coiled young frond of any of various ferns, some of which are considered a delicacy when cooked. Also called crosier.

Canadian name for bracken fronds.

The type of fern typically grown as a houseplant is of the diploid, or sporophyte, generation. It is composed of a rhizome, an underground stem that occurs horizontally, which produces roots and leaves called fronds. As each young frond first emerges from the ground, it is tightly coiled and resembles the top of a violin, hence the name fiddlehead.

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Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has 2 meanings:

Meaning #1: tall fern of northern temperate regions having graceful arched fronds and sporophylls resembling ostrich plumes
  Synonyms: ostrich fern, shuttlecock fern, Matteuccia struthiopteris, Pteretis struthiopteris, Onoclea struthiopteris

Meaning #2: New World fern having woolly cinnamon-colored spore-bearing fronds in early spring later surrounded by green fronds; the early uncurling fronds are edible
  Synonyms: cinnamon fern, fiddlehead fern, Osmunda cinnamonea

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