sin·is·trorse

(sĭn′ĭ-strôrs′)

adj.

Growing upward in a spiral that turns from right to left: a sinistrorse vine.

[Latin sinistrōrsus, turned toward the left, contraction of *sinistrōversus : sinistrō, toward the left, from ablative of sinister, left + versus, past participle of vertere, to turn; see wer- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

sinistrorse

(ˈsɪnɪˌstrɔːs; ˌsɪnɪˈstrɔːs)

adj

(Botany) (of some climbing plants) growing upwards in a spiral from right to left, or clockwise. Compare dextrorse

[C19: from Latin sinistrōrsus turned towards the left, from sinister on the left + vertere to turn]

ˌsinisˈtrorsal adj

ˈsinisˌtrorsely adv

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

sin•is•trorse

(ˈsɪn əˌstrɔrs, sɪˈnɪs trɔrs, ˌsɪn əˈstrɔrs)

adj.

(of a climbing plant) twining counterclockwise from the base.

[1855–60; < Latin sinistrōrsus literally, turned leftward. See sinister, versus]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adj.

sinistrorse - spiraling upward from right to left; "sinistrorse vines"

sinistrorsal

phytology, botany - the branch of biology that studies plants

sinistral - of or on the left; "a sinistral gastropod shell with the apex upward has its opening on the left when facing the observer"; "a sinistral flatfish lies with the left eye uppermost"

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References in periodicals archive

Petals usually contorted in bud, either dextrorse or sinistrorse, more rarely valvate.

Anthers adnate to style head; corolla-lobe aestivation in bud typically dextrorse (overlapping to the right) or valvate, rarely sinistrorse; fruit dehiscent, almost always apocarpous, a pair of follicles, sometimes reduced to one by abortion or postgenitally fused; seeds small, compressed, almost always with coma (tuft of hairs) at one end 2 1.

Calycine colleters absent; corolla salveriform or somewhat funnelform in Haplophyton; corolla-lobe aestivation either sinistrorse or dextrorse; corona absent; style head with or without a basal collar; ovary apocarpous or rarely syncarpous; disc absent, adnate, or inconspicuous.

A Revised Classification of the Apocynaceae s.l