perfoliate

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

adjectiveBotany.

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

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use perfoliate in a sentence

A summer branch of Uvularia perfoliata; lower leaves perfoliate, upper cordate-clasping, uppermost simply sessile.
The Elements of Botany | Asa Gray
Connate-perfoliate, when a pair of leaves are connate round a stem, 60.
The Elements of Botany | Asa Gray
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

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

Origin of perfoliate

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

Derived forms of perfoliate

perfoliation, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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