Equitant

Equitant (meaning astride like the legs of an equestrian) is a term applied to the folding of leaves in the bud when each is folded longitudinally down its midrib, like the two halves of a sheet of note-paper, and the edges of one overlap both edges of another and younger leaf, as if astride of them. The leaves of Iris are folded in this way. When, as in the sepals of the poppies, the edges of one leaf are astride of one edge of another it is termed half-equitant.