ferny

adj

Etymology: From Middle English ferny, from Old English fearniġ, equivalent to fern + -y.

1. Of or pertaining to ferns.
2. Resembling or characteristic of a fern, in appearance, smell, etc.

   “All kinds of mosses grew by the stream—tufty, flat, ferny, and curly, green, yellow and a whitish kind that was tipped with scarlet sealing wax.”

   “Ralph had stopped smiling and was pointing into the lagoon. Something creamy lay among the ferny weeds.”

3. Covered in or filled with ferns; flanked or surrounded by ferns.

   “And from the bush there came the sound of little streams flowing, quickly, lightly, slipping between the smooth stones, gushing into ferny basins and out again; and there was the splashing of big drops on large leaves […]”

   “He skirted all stables, kennels, breweries, carpenters' shops, washhouses, places where they make tallow candles, kill oxen, forge horse-shoes, stitch jerkins—for the house was a town ringing with men at work at their various crafts—and gained the ferny path leading uphill through the park unseen.”