In botany, growing or arranged in pairs, especially describing leaves attached to a stem in opposite pairs.
From Latin 'binatus,' past participle of 'binare' meaning 'to join in pairs,' from 'bini' (two each). The term was adopted by botanists to describe the paired leaf arrangement they observed in many plants.
Leaf patterns tell you stories about plant evolution—binate leaves often develop on plants that need maximum light capture but want to balance weight. It's like nature's clever solution to the geometry problem of how to arrange leaves without them shading each other.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.