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Convolute as a verb literally means to "roll together" or "roll around", from the Latin ''convolvere''. In general application the word can mean to "tangle" or "complicate", but in botanical descriptions convolute usually is an adjective from the Latin ''convolutus'', meaning "rolled around".Jackson, Benjamin, Daydon; A Glossary of Botanic Terms with their Derivation and Accent; Published by Gerald Duckworth & Co. London, 4th ed 1928 It commonly refers to a special class of
Convolute as a verb literally means to "roll together" or "roll around", from the Latin ''convolvere''. In general application the word can mean to "tangle" or "complicate", but in botanical descriptions convolute usually is an adjective from the Latin ''convolutus'', meaning "rolled around".Jackson, Benjamin, Daydon; A Glossary of Botanic Terms with their Derivation and Accent; Published by Gerald Duckworth & Co. London, 4th ed 1928 It commonly refers to a special class of imbricate
Aestivation or estivation is the positional arrangement of the parts of a flower within a flower bud before it has opened. Aestivation is also sometimes referred to as praefoliation or prefoliation, but these terms may also mean vernation: the ar ...
structures — those where the overlapping edges of leaves, scales or similar elements are spirally wrapped, each scale having one edge within the previous scale and one outside the next scale. In the family Restionaceae
The Restionaceae, also called restiads and restios, are a family (biology), family of flowering plants native to the Southern Hemisphere; they vary from a few centimeters to 3 meters in height. Following the APG IV system, APG IV (2016): the fami ...
the leaf sheaths commonly are convolute in this sense.Dyer, R. Allen, The Genera of Southern African Flowering Plants”. {{ISBN, 0 621 02854 1, 1975 However in structures such as a spathe
In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...
, where there is only one element, a convolute (or "convolutive") element is spirally wrapped around itself or its branch. This is common in the buds of leaves and inflorescences of members of the family Araceae
The Araceae are a family of monocotyledonous flowering plants in which flowers are borne on a type of inflorescence called a spadix. The spadix is usually accompanied by, and sometimes partially enclosed in, a spathe (or leaf-like bract). Also ...
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