fastigiate

American  

[fa-stij-ee-it, -eyt] / fæˈstɪdʒ i ɪt, -ˌeɪt /

Also fastigiated

adjective

1. rising to a pointed top.

2. Zoology. joined together in a tapering adhering group.

3. Botany.

   1. erect and parallel, as branches.

   2. having such branches.

---

fastigiate British  

/ fæˈstɪdʒɪɪt, -ˌeɪt /

adjective

1. (of plants) having erect branches, often appearing to form a single column with the stem

2. (of parts or organs) united in a tapering group

---

Other Word Forms

• subfastigiate adjective
• subfastigiated adjective

Etymology

Origin of fastigiate

First recorded in 1655–65; from Medieval Latin fastīgātus “high, lofty,” from Latin fastīgi(um) “height, highest point” + -ate ¹

Explanation

A tree or shrub that is fastigiate has branches that point up. Sometimes the upward sloping branches of a fastigiate tree could look like they’re part of a single column. The word fastigiate comes from the world of botany. A tree that's fastigiate has branches that point up — they’re erect and almost parallel. This gives fastigiate trees a distinctive look, and some people like to plant them in the yard where they don’t have tons of space but want a tree. A Lombardy poplar and a kind of ginkgo biloba are fastigiate trees. Bushes or even branches can be described as fastigiate too.

Example Sentences

They are ordinarily called pyramidal or fastigiate forms, and as far as their history goes, they arise suddenly in large sowings of the normal species.

From Species and Varieties, Their Origin by Mutation by Vries, Hugo de

A seedling from the fastigiate or upright Irish yew is described as differing greatly from the parent-form "by the exaggeration of the fastigiate habit of its branches."

From The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication — Volume 2 by Darwin, Charles

APPLE. -fruit of, in Swiss lake-dwellings. -rendered fastigiate by heat in India. -bud-variation in the. -with dimidiate fruit. -with two kinds of fruit on the same branch. -artificial fecundation of.

From The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication — Volume 2 by Darwin, Charles

Cephalotaxus pedunculata var. fastigiata; this fastigiate habit may arise as a sport on a tree with spreading branches.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 7 "Gyantse" to "Hallel" by Various

It is often called the pyramidal or fastigiate poplar.

From Species and Varieties, Their Origin by Mutation by Vries, Hugo de