1.NounA purported zoophyte, half-animal and half-plant, said to grow in the form of a sheep.
2.NounA golden chicken fern or woolly fern (Cibotium barometz), the rhizomes of which are covered in furry brown hair; the legend (sense 1) is supposed to have arisen because, when inverted, the rhizomes with stalks growing out of them resemble lambs.