miltwaste

plural miltwastes

1. archaicAny of species (Asplenium ceterach) of small European ferns formerly used in medicine.

   a species which is now rather inconsistently made the type of a genus bearing this last name of "Ceterach," while another set of plants, in no respect resembling a spleen, are called Spleenworts, and Miltwastes.

   1863, Richard Chandler Alexander Prior, On the Popular Names of British Plants, Being an Explanation of the Origin and Meaning of the Names of Our Indigenous and Most Commonly Cultivated Species, page 152

   Synonyms: milt-wort, rustyback fern, rustyback