decumbent

American  

[dih-kuhm-buhnt] / dɪˈkʌm bənt /

adjective

1. lying down; recumbent.

2. Botany. (of stems, branches, etc.) lying or trailing on the ground with the extremity tending to ascend.

---

decumbent British  

/ dɪˈkʌmbənt /

adjective

1. lying down or lying flat

2. botany (of certain stems) lying flat with the tip growing upwards

---

Other Word Forms

• decumbence noun
• decumbency noun
• decumbently adverb

Etymology

Origin of decumbent

1635–45; < Latin dēcumbent- (stem of dēcumbēns ), present participle of dēcumbere. See decubitus, -ent

Example Sentences

Most arrived more or less by acceptable means, but the suburban affliction defined as "a grass with creeping or decumbent stems which root freely at the nodes" sneaked in.

From Time Magazine Archive

The root of the hoary, decumbent, and less elegant, but larger-flowered Hedysarum mackenzii is poisonous, and nearly killed an old Indian woman at Fort Simpson, who had mistaken it for that of the preceding species.

From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer

P. supìna, L. Stems decumbent at base or erect, often stout, leafy, subvillous; leaflets pinnately 5–11, obovate or oblong; cyme loose, leafy; stamens 20; achenes strongly gibbous on the ventral side.

From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Gray, Asa

These root-like fibres then branch out, sending out straight or decumbent articulated stems.

From The $100 Prize Essay on the Cultivation of the Potato. Prize offered by W. T. Wylie and awarded to D. H. Compton. How to Cook the Potato, Furnished by Prof. Blot. by Compton, D. A.

Stems are erect or ascending, sometimes decumbent at base, and rooting at the nodes, stout or slender, 6 inches to 2 feet long.

From A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses by Rangachari, K.