perfoliate

[ per-foh-lee-it, -eyt ]

adjectiveBotany.
  1. having the stem apparently passing through the leaf, owing to congenital union of the basal edges of the leaf round the stem.

Origin of perfoliate

1
1540–50; <New Latin perfoliātus (see per-, foliate), the feminine of which, perfoliāta, was formerly used as the name of a plant with a stalk that seemed to grow through (pierce) its leafage

Other words from perfoliate

  • per·fo·li·a·tion, noun

Words Nearby perfoliate

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How to use perfoliate in a sentence

  • A summer branch of Uvularia perfoliata; lower leaves perfoliate, upper cordate-clasping, uppermost simply sessile.

  • Connate-perfoliate, when a pair of leaves are connate round a stem, 60.

  • The former is usually confined to the small intestine, but the perfoliate worm often occupies the ccum and colon in great numbers.

    Parasites | T. Spencer Cobbold

British Dictionary definitions for perfoliate

perfoliate

/ (pəˈfəʊlɪɪt, -ˌeɪt) /


adjective
  1. (of a leaf) having a base that completely encloses the stem, so that the stem appears to pass through it

Origin of perfoliate

1
C17: from New Latin perfoliātus, from Latin per- through + folium leaf

Derived forms of perfoliate

  • perfoliation, noun

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