In botany, describing a type of leaf arrangement where leaves overlap and enfold each other like the legs of a rider sitting on a horse.
Latin 'equitans,' present participle of 'equitare' (to ride). Applied to botany in the 18th century because the overlapping leaves resemble the position of a rider straddling a horse.
Iris and orchid leaves are equitant—they literally fold around each other like you're sitting on a horse, with one leaf overlapping the next in a pattern. Botanists had a delightfully weird sense of humor naming plant structures!
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