Resupination

Resupination is derived from the Latin word resupinus, meaning "bent back with the face upward" or "on the back".[1] "Resupination" is the noun form of the adjective "resupine" which means "being upside-down, supine or facing upward".[2]

The word "resupinate" is generally only used in a botanical context – in everyday language, "supine" has a similar meaning.[3][4] In botany, resupination refers to the "twisting" of flowers or leaves through about 180° as they open. Resupinate leaves have the petiole or "stalk" twisted - resupinate flowers twist as they open.[5]

  1. ^ Brown, Roland Wilbur (1956). The Composition of Scientific Words. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 478.
  2. ^ Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language, College Edition 1964, The World Publishing Company, Cleveland and New York
  3. ^ "supine". Merriam-Webster dictionary. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  4. ^ Moore, Bruce, ed. (2002). The Australian Oxford Dictionary (1999 ed.). South Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press. p. 1348. ISBN 0195507932.
  5. ^ Hill, Arthur W. (1939). "Resupination Studies of Flowers and Leaves". Annals of Botany. 3 (4): 871–887. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.aob.a085096.