Reptans
/REP-tanz/🏷️ Taxonomy●● Intermediate
A growth habit epithet describing a plant that creeps along the ground — rooting as it goes, spreading by horizontal stems pressed to the soil surface. Related to repens but sometimes implying a slightly more active, snake-like creeping motion. From the present participle of the Latin verb to crawl. Appears as reptans (both genders).
Etymology
From Latin reptans, present participle of reptare (to creep, to crawl), frequentative of repere (to crawl, to creep).
Example
“Ajuga reptans (bugle) is the most familiar reptans plant — its stolons creeping rapidly across the ground, rooting at nodes, forming a carpet that the epithet so precisely describes.”