twayblade
(ˈtweɪbleɪd)
Also 8 twyblade.
[f. tway two + blade n. leaf. Cf. twa-, two-blade(s), s.v. two a. IV. 2.]
a. An orchidaceous plant of the genus Listera, characterized by two nearly opposite broad leaves springing from the stem; esp. the Common Twayblade, L. ovata, and Mountain or Heart-leaved T., L. cordata. b. Applied to N. American species of another orchidaceous genus Liparis, with two leaves springing from the root.
| a. 1578 Lyte Dodoens ii. lvii. 224 The Twayblade or Double⁓leaf delighteth..in moyst..places. 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. lxxxiii. 326 Of Twayblade, or herbe Bifoile. 1668 Wilkins Real Char. ii. iv. 78 That [herb] which hath only two leaves...Tway-blade. 1728 Bradley Dict. Bot., Ophris, sive Bifolium, in English, Twyblade. 1778 Lightfoot Flora Scot. (1789) I. 524 Ophrys ovata. Great Twayblade... Ophrys cordata. Little Twayblade. 1785 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xxvii. (1794) 419 Common Twayblade, or Twyblade,..is frequent in woods. 1859 C. M. Yonge Hist. Sir Thomas Thumb iv. 21 He was no larger than the green lip of the tway-blade blossom. 1882 Cornh. Mag. Jan. 33 The twayblade and the parsley-piert are..descended from bright-hued ancestors. 1884 Miller Plant-n., Tway-blade, American, Listera convallarioides. 1905 Longm. Mag. Jan. 253 The rare mountain twayblade. |
| b. 1846–50 A. Wood Class-bk. Bot. 530 Liparis lilifolia... Tway-blade. 1884 Miller Plant-n., Tway-blade, Green-flowered, Liparis Loeselii. ―, Purple-flowered, Liparis liliifolia. |