the arrangement of petals in a flower bud before it opens
estivation in American English
(ˌestəˈveiʃən)
noun
1. Zoology
the act of estivating
2. Botany
the arrangement of the parts of a flower in the bud
Word origin
[1615–25; estivate + -ion]This word is first recorded in the period 1615–25. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: berth, deposit, discount, swamp, trigger-ion is a suffix, appearing in words of Latin origin, denoting action or condition, usedin Latin and in English to form nouns from stems of Latin adjectives (communion; union), verbs (legion; opinion), and esp. past participles (allusion; creation; fusion; notion; torsion)
Examples of 'estivation' in a sentence
estivation
After 14 days of estivation, the levels of lactate and acetate were also significantly elevated.
José Clecildo Barreto Bezerra, Andreas Kemper, Wilhelm Becker 1999, 'Profile of organic acid concentrations in the digestive gland and hemolymph of Biomphalariaglabrata under estivation', Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz.http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0074-02761999000600012. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
During estivation, snails must prevent excessive dehydration and reorganize metabolic fuel use so as to endure prolonged periods without food.
Ryan A. V. Bell, Neal J. Dawson, Kenneth B. Storey 2012, 'Insights into the In Vivo Regulation of Glutamate Dehydrogenase from the Foot Muscleof an Estivating Land Snail', Enzyme Researchhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/317314. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)