Resupinated

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Botanically describes a flower or leaf that has become inverted or upside-down through a 180-degree twist of its stalk during development
2. Pertaining to a botanical characteristic where a stem is turned upside down through a complete rotation, resulting in an inverted position of the flower or leaf
3. Describing a botanical state, it refers to when a stem has completely inverted, leading to the flower or leaf being positioned upside down after rotation

Etymology: "Resupinated" is the past participle of "resupinate," itself built from Latin "resupinare," meaning "to bend backward" or "to lie on one's back." The Latin verb combines "re-," here meaning "back," with "supinare," from "supinus," "lying on the back" or "face upward." That root also gave English "supine," so the two words share a physical image of a body stretched on its back. Botanists adopted the word for an orchid's flower, which twists through a half-turn during development so that its lip, normally the lowest petal, ends up on top. Because the base of the flower or leaf is rotated 180 degrees, what was once the underside now faces upward. The term describes this inversion without implying any injury or distortion.

Synonyms: adjusted, reoriented, repositioned, altered, modified