Skip to main content

Horizontalis

/hoh-riz-on-TAH-lis/
🏷️ Taxonomy●● Intermediate

Also known as: horizontale

A habit epithet describing a plant whose branches spread outward in a flat, horizontal plane rather than growing upright or arching. Plants with this epithet typically have a tiered, layered appearance highly valued in ornamental horticulture.

Etymology

From Latin horizontalis, meaning "horizontal," from horizon (the horizon), from Greek horizein (to bound, to limit).

Example

Cornus horizontalis (now Cornus kousa) and Juniperus horizontalis (creeping juniper) both exhibit the strongly layered, flat-branching structure their epithet describes.