equitant

American  

[ek-wi-tuhnt] / ˈɛk wɪ tənt /

adjective

Botany.

1. straddling or overlapping, as leaves whose bases overlap the leaves above or within them.

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equitant British  

/ ˈɛkwɪtənt /

adjective

1. (of a leaf) having the base folded around the stem so that it overlaps the leaf above and opposite

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Etymology

Origin of equitant

1820–30; < Latin equitant- (stem of equitāns ) (present participle of equitāre to ride), equivalent to equit- (stem of eques; equites ) + -ant- -ant

Example Sentences

Root not bulbous; leaves equitant in two ranks.

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

Seeds ascending, appendaged at each end with a long bristle-form tail.—Rootstock creeping, bearing linear equitant leaves, and a simple stem or scape, terminated by a simple dense bracteate raceme; pedicels bearing a linear bractlet.

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

The leaf-sheaths are smooth, equitant with thinly membranous margins.

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

They may be known from true blades by their standing edgewise, their margins being directed upwards and downwards; while in true blades the faces look upwards and downwards; excepting in equitant leaves, as already explained.

From The Elements of Botany For Beginners and For Schools by Gray, Asa

Stems are erect or ascending, slender, strongly compressed, lower parts completely covered by rigid equitant leaves, 6 to 18 inches long or more.

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