He*pat"i*ca (?), n.; pl. Hepaticae (#). [NL. See Hepatic. So called in allusion to the shape of the lobed leaves or fronds.]
1. Bot.
A genus of pretty spring flowers closely related to Anemone; squirrel cup.
2. bot.
Any plant, usually procumbent and mosslike, of the cryptogamous class Hepaticae; -- called also scale moss and liverwort. See Hepaticae, in the Supplement.
© Webster 1913.