Sarmentosus
/sar-men-TOH-sus/🏷️ Taxonomy●● Intermediate
Also known as: sarmentosa, sarmentosum
A growth habit epithet describing a plant that produces long, slender, whip-like runners or stolons — shoots that extend far from the parent plant, rooting where they touch the ground or scrambling through nearby vegetation. Appears as sarmentosus (masculine), sarmentosa (feminine), or sarmentosum (neuter).
Etymology
From Latin sarmentosus, meaning "full of twigs" or "producing runners," from sarmentum (twigs, brushwood, a thin shoot).
Example
“Rosa wichuraiana 'Sarmentosa' and Rubus sarmentosus both produce the long, arching, runner-like shoots the epithet describes — stems that scramble outward seeking new ground to colonise.”