What is "barometz"

Barometz \Bar"o*metz\, n. [Cf. Russ. baranets' clubmoss.] (Bot.) The woolly-skinned rhizoma or rootstock of a fern ( Dicksonia barometz), which, when specially prepared and inverted, somewhat resembles a lamb; -- called also Scythian lamb.

n. 1 The woolly fern, (taxlink Cibotium barometz species noshow=1). 2 A Scythian Lamb; a joke creature, supposedly half animal and half plant, made by inverting a woolly fern. 3 The http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetable%20Lamb%20of%20Tartary, a mythical plant believed to grow sheep as its fruit.