Definition of "filicology"

‡ Filicology.—That part of Botany which treats of Ferns.The entry is marked with a double dagger (‡), indicating that, according to the author, “a word is obsolete, or objectionable, or rarely used in the sense given”: page iii.]

, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], page xxxix, column 2

I think the same plan might be pursued in general Botany, with a good effect; but it is of far greater importance in Filicology, as so many of this class of plants may be recognized by their external form alone.

1853 June 10 (date delivered), J. R. Kinahan, “[On the Classification and Nomenclature of Ferns]”, in Edward Newman, editor, The Phytologist: A Popular Botanical Miscellany, volume IV, London: John Van Voorst, […], published 1853, page 1037

The mode of ramification of the veins or nerves of the leaves is important in systematic Filicology, and may be observed for such purposes by immersing the dried leaflets in turpentine or oil, or mounting them in Canada balsam.

1856, J[ohn] W[illiam] Griffith, Arthur Henfrey, “FERNS”, in The Micrographic Dictionary; a Guide to the Examination and Investigation of the Structure and Nature of Microscopic Objects, London: John Van Voorst, […], page 260, column 1

In the succeeding three years, [Howard] Palmer kept at it, generally in company with two vigorous companions, Edward Willett Dorland Holway, […] and Frederick King Butters, a younger associate in filicology at the same school [the University of Minnesota].“[A]dapted from portions of several passages that appeared in the Club’s earlier guidebooks and the Club’s 1982 volume, The Great Glacier and Its House”: page 21.

2002, William Lowell Putnam [III], “Later and Farther North”, in Charles Ernest Fay [et al.], A Century of American Alpinism, Boulder, Colo.: The American Alpine Club, page 26