decumbent

American  

[dih-kuhm-buhnt] / dɪˈkʌm bənt /

adjective

1. lying down; recumbent.

2. Botany. (of stems, branches, etc.) lying or trailing on the ground with the extremity tending to ascend.

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decumbent British  

/ dɪˈkʌmbənt /

adjective

1. lying down or lying flat

2. botany (of certain stems) lying flat with the tip growing upwards

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Other Word Forms

• decumbence noun
• decumbency noun
• decumbently adverb

Etymology

Origin of decumbent

1635–45; < Latin dēcumbent- (stem of dēcumbēns ), present participle of dēcumbere. See decubitus, -ent

Example Sentences

Most arrived more or less by acceptable means, but the suburban affliction defined as "a grass with creeping or decumbent stems which root freely at the nodes" sneaked in.

From Time Magazine Archive

The root of the hoary, decumbent, and less elegant, but larger-flowered Hedysarum mackenzii is poisonous, and nearly killed an old Indian woman at Fort Simpson, who had mistaken it for that of the preceding species.

From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer

Stems are tufted, erect or slightly decumbent at the base, 1 to 2 feet long.

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

Stems are creeping and spreading from the root, and ascending from a decumbent base, generally slender and small, but sometimes large and proliferously branched, leafy, 3 to 7 inches long.

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

Stems.—Much branched; ascending or decumbent; one to three feet long.

From The Wild Flowers of California: Their Names, Haunts, and Habits by Parsons, Mary Elizabeth