Nutans
/NOO-tanz/🏷️ Taxonomy●● Intermediate
A morphological epithet describing flowers, seed heads, or stem tips that droop or nod gracefully downward. The nodding habit is often an adaptation to pollination or seed dispersal, and gives plants an elegant, gentle quality in the garden. From the present participle of the Latin verb to nod.
Etymology
From Latin nutans, present participle of nutare, meaning "to nod," "to sway," or "to incline," frequentative of nuere (to nod).
Example
“Allium cernuum (nodding onion) and Stipa calamagrostis, whose feathery heads bow gracefully in the wind, both demonstrate the quietly elegant nodding habit this epithet captures.”