A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

prae se:

1. prae se ferre, agere, mittere, to bear, carry, drive, or send before one's self (Lewis & Short); see ferens,-entis (part.B);

- prae se armentum agens, driving the herd (of cattle) before one’s self.

2. prae se ferrens:, less freq., prae se gerere, declarare, etc., to let be seen, to declare, display, “to carry before one's self. as if to show it; hence, to show, exhibit, manifest, reveal, make known, betray, discover, indicate” (Lewis & Short); “to declare positively, affirm; to make no secret of, parade (a fact, etc.)” (Glare); see ferens,-entis (part.B);

- non mediocres terrores...prae se fert et ostentat, not middling terrors does it declare and put on display.

- oratio prae se fert felicissimam facilitatem; the oration shows [i.e. displays] a most happy fluency.

- [fungus] crescit in ramis salicinis copiose, discum mox nigrescentem mox albidum prae se ferens (S&A), it copiously grows on willow branches sometimes showing the disc growing black, sometimes white.

- Ab his excipias eos, qui labiatorum faciem prae se ferunt, ut Linariae flores, Antirrhini, Pedicularis, Melampyri, &c. (Tourn.), from these you might take out those, which exhibit the shape of lips, as the flowers of Linaria, Antirrhinum, Pedicularis, Melampyrum, &c.

- Dracocephalon est plantae genus, flore monopetalo, labiato, cujus labium superius quod galeatum est, inferiusque tripartitum in fauces desinunt, speciemque capitis nescio cujus Draconis prae se ferunt (Tourn.), Dracocephalon is a type of plant with a monopetalous, labiate flower, the upper lip of which because it is galeate, and the lower one three-parted terminating in the throat, and I do not know the kind of serpent whose head they [i.e. the plants] display.

- Absinthium, Abrotonum [sic] & Arthemisia [sic] eam formam prae se ferunt, quae cum vix describi possit, facili tamen negotio vel ab ipsis mulierculis dignoscitur (Tourn.), Absinthium, Abrotonum & Arthemisia exhibit that shape, which [it is scarcely possible] to describe, yet it is recognized by an easy business [i.e. its recognition is an easy business] by even common women.

- [Iris] pistillum e fundo floris surgit tribus petalis instructum, fornicatis, & partibus floris deorsum inflexis, ita incumbentibus ut palati cujusdam speciem prae se ferant (Tourn.)the pistil arises from the floor of the flower, provided with three petals, arched [i.e. vaulted] and with the parts of the flower flexed inward on the back, [thus, and so] they are incumbent, so that they may exhibit a kind of palate [i.e. the roof of the mouth, a dome or vault].

NOTE: ferant: third-person plural present active subjunctive: they may, might carry, bear; see ferens,-entis (part.B).