perfoliate

American

[per-foh-lee-it, -eyt] / pərˈfoʊ li ɪt, -ˌeɪt /

adjective

Botany.

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

perfoliate British

/ pəˈfəʊlɪɪt, -ˌeɪt /

adjective

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

"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

Other Word Forms

perfoliation noun

Etymology

Origin of perfoliate

1540–50; < New Latin perfoliātus ( 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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Its leaves are perfoliate, i.e. opposite and united by their bases so that the stem seems to have grown through a single leaf.

From Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023