fastigiate

comparative more fastigiate · superlative most fastigiate

1. biologyErect and parallel.

   The branches of this species are fastigiate.

2. agricultureHaving closely-bunched erect parallel branches

   This is a fastigiate variety.

3. biologyCharacterized by a fastigium, a cavity separating the intexine from the sexine near the endoaperture of a colporate pollen grain.

   The grains are 3-colporate and fastigiate.

4. obsoleteTapering to a point

   We ascended the top of that noted hill, called Roseberry, or Ounsberry Topping, the top whereof is fastigiate, like a sugar-loaf, and serves for a sea-mark […]

   1662, John Ray, “Itineraries”, in Memorials of John Ray, Ray Society, published 1846, page 148

plural fastigiates

1. agricultureA tree or shrub with erect, parallel branches.

   An evening spent with a good catalogue or gardening encyclopaedia will reveal an astonishingly wide range of both weepers and fastigiates.

   1971, Anne Scott-James, Osbert Lancaster, Down to Earth, published 2004, →ISBN, page 23