circinate

American  

[sur-suh-neyt] / ˈsɜr səˌneɪt /

adjective

1. made round; ring-shaped.

2. Botany, Mycology. rolled up on the axis at the apex, as a leaf or fruiting body.

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circinate British  

/ ˈsɜːsɪˌneɪt /

adjective

1. botany (of part of a plant, such as a young fern) coiled so that the tip is at the centre

2. anatomy resembling a ring or a circle

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circinate Scientific  

/ sûr′sə-nāt′ /

1. Rolled up in the form of a coil with the tip in the center, as an unexpanded fern frond.

2. See more at vernation

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Other Word Forms

• circinately adverb

Etymology

Origin of circinate

1820–30; < Latin circinātus (past participle of circināre to make round), equivalent to circin ( us ) pair of compasses (akin to circus ) + -ātus -ate ¹

Example Sentences

These are the buds readying for the circinate vernation that will slowly, like a graceful dancer, unfurl fiddleheads into this year’s new fronds.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 25, 2022

Scarcely one       Peristome veils its beauties now, but then—   Like nascent diamonds, sparkling in the sun,       Or sainfoin, circinate, or moss in marshy fen.

From A Nonsense Anthology by Wells, Carolyn

Ferns, with fronds circinate in vernation, bearing the fructification on the under surface or beneath the margin.

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

Parasitic upon Polyzoa, etc. circinate branched--branches irregular divaricate.

From Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Commanded By the Late Captain Owen Stanley, R.N., F.R.S. Etc. During the Years 1846-1850. Including Discoveries and Surveys in New Guinea, the Louisiade Archipelago, Etc. to Which Is Added the Account of Mr. E.B. Kennedy's Expedition for the Exploration of the Cape York Peninsula. By John Macgillivray, F.R.G.S. Naturalist to the Expedition. — Volume 1 by MacGillivray, John

Scorpioid or Scorpioidal, curved or circinate at the end, 77.

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