procumbent
Americanadjective
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lying on the face; prone; prostrate.
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Botany. (of a plant or stem) lying along the ground, but not putting forth roots.
adjective
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Also: prostrate. (of stems) growing along the ground
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leaning forwards or lying on the face
Etymology
Origin of procumbent
1660–70; < Latin prōcumbent- (stem of prōcumbēns ) bending forward, present participle of prōcumbere. See pro- 1, incumbent
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.
Annual, twining or procumbent, low, roughish, the joints naked; leaves halberd-heart shaped, pointed; flowers in small interrupted corymbose racemes; outer calyx-lobes keeled; achene smoothish.—Cult. and waste grounds, common.
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 Asa Gray
Weak, procumbent or ascending, rooting below and perennial by lateral and terminal filiform runners; leaves several pairs, oblong-spatulate, 1–2´ long; inflorescence racemosely 1–9-flowered; petals pale rose-color; capsule small, 1–3-seeded.—In a cold ravine, Winona Co.,
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 Asa Gray
Description.—The procumbent, branched, slender, woody stems, which seldom reach 12 inches, bear oblong, triangular, tapering leaves from ¼ to ½ inch long, green above and gray beneath.
From Culinary Herbs: Their Cultivation Harvesting Curing and Uses by M. G. (Maurice Grenville) Kains
Skull: Larger in every measurement taken; premaxillae extended farther posteriorly to nasals; extension of supraoccipital posterior to lambdoidal suture markedly less; tympanic bullae actually as well as relatively smaller; upper incisors longer and more procumbent.
From The Pocket Gophers (Genus Thomomys) of Utah, Vol. 1 No. 1 Kansas University Publications. by Stephen D. Durrant
Its stems are 12in. or less in length, slender and procumbent.
From Hardy Perennials and Old Fashioned Flowers Describing the Most Desirable Plants, for Borders, Rockeries, and Shrubberies. by John Wood
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