rock brake

/rɑk breɪk/

Definitions of rock brake

1. noun

   dwarf deciduous lithophytic ferns
   types:

   American parsley fern, American rock brake, Cryptogramma acrostichoides

   rock-inhabiting fern of northern North America growing in massive tufts and having fronds resembling parsley

   Cryptogramma crispa, European parsley fern, mountain parsley fern

   fern of Europe and Asia Minor having short slender rhizome and densely tufted bright green fronds resembling parsley

   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
2. noun

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

   chiefly lithophytic or epiphytic fern of North America and east Asia
   synonyms: American wall fern, Polypodium virgianum, rock polypody

   type of:

   polypody

   any of numerous ferns of the genus Polypodium