cliff brake

/klɪf breɪk/

Definitions of cliff brake

1. noun

   any of several small lithophytic ferns of tropical and warm temperate regions
   synonyms: cliff-brake, rock brake

   types:

   Pellaea andromedifolia, coffee fern

   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

   Pellaea mucronata, Pellaea ornithopus, bird's-foot fern

   cliff brake of California and Baja California having purple-brown leafstalks

   type of:

   fern

   any of numerous flowerless and seedless vascular plants having true roots from a rhizome and fronds that uncurl upward; reproduce by spores