circinate

[sur-suh-neyt]

adjective

1. made round; ring-shaped.

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

circinate

/ 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

circinate

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

Other Word Forms

• circinately adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of circinate¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of circinate¹

C19: from Latin circināre to make round, from circinus pair of compasses, from circus, see _circus

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.

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Seeds numerous, anatropous, with a short and minute embryo at the base of the albumen.—Leaves circinate in the bud, i.e., rolled up from the apex to the base as in Ferns.

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The leaves are generally circinate in the bud, as in ferns.

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Most Ferns are circinate in the bud; that is, are rolled up in the manner shown in Fig.

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When is a patch of eruption said to be circinate?

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