circumnutation
nounEtymology From circum- + nutation.
1
Biology, Botany, Natural sciences The successive bowing or bending in different directions of the growing tip of the stem of many plants, especially seen in climbing plants.
- [T]he increased turgescence of the cells, together with the extensibility of their walls, is the primary cause of the movement of circumnutation.1880, Charles Darwin, assisted by Francis Darwin, “Introduction”, in The Power of Movement in Plants, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 3: