A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

Vertex,-icis (s.m.III), abl.sg. vertice, also vortex,-icis (s.m.III), abl. sg. vortice: the top, highest point, peak, summit, crown of the head; also, that which turns or is turned, a whirl; a whirlpool of water, eddy, whirlwind, coil of wind, tornado; (in fungi) “(obsol.) the pileus of Agaricaceous Fungals” (Lindley) [> L. verto (vorto), verti (vorti), versum (vorsum, 3. to turn, turn round]; see summit, top; see turbo,-inis (s.m.III),

abl. sg. turbine, that which spins or twirls around; see top;

- vertice, at the top.

- a vertice, from above, down from above.

- ab imis unguibus usque ad verticem summum, from top to toe, Cicero, (from the lowest toe to the tip top).

- vertex austrinus, vertex australis, the south pole.

- de summo vertice fons scaturibat, the stream gushes forth from the highest peak.

- capsula calycis basi adnata, vertice exserto 2-cornuto (B&H), the capsule adnate to the base of the calyx, with the vertex [o/e/ highest point] exserted, 2-horned [i.e. with two horn-like appendages].

- lianae in vertice arborum scandentes, lianas climbing into the tops of trees.

- Hab. prope montis Negro-Mountain dicti verticem in comitatu Ashe, Carolinae Septentionalis, it grows near the summit of the mountain called Negro-Mountain in Ashe County, North Carolina.

- stigma dilatato-5-gonum, vertice 2-lamellatum (B&H), the stigma dilated, 5-sided, at the summit 2-lamellate.

- stigma in centro verticis sessile v. subsessile, in directione spadicis elongatum, depressum, medio sulcatum (B&H), the stigma in the center of the summit sessile or subsessile, elongate in the direction of the spadix, depressed, sulcate in the middle.

NOTE: the vertex may be the summit of a structure, the apex is the tip; see apex;

- carpella oo [=infinite], intra alveolos tori carnosi obconici vertice plani singillatim et inordinate fere ad apicem inclusa (B&H), carpella indeterminate, included at the flat summit one by one and irregularly almost to the tip within the alveoli of the fleshy, obconic torus.

NOTE: a vortex has come to be associated with a whirl, eddy, whirlpool of water, wind or flame (cf. turbo,-inis (s.m.III), whereas vertex is associated with the highest point, top, peak or summit as of a mountain, a tree;

- sed e descriptione autoris aquae vortice in apice libero corporis excitato et motu corporis soluti lento Euglenarum more contractorio naturam animalem, Characiis omnino alienam, comprobat (Braun), but it confirms it is true by the description of the author, that the animal nature [i.e. property] is completely alien [i.e. unrelated] to the [species of] Characium by the eddy of water aroused in the free apex of the body and by the sluggish movement of the separated body in the contractorious [ i.e. contractile] manner of the [species of] Euglena.

NOTE: (of mountains) quinquejugus,-a,-um (adj.A): having five summits, five-peaked; same as quinquevertex,-icis (adj.B) and quinticeps,-cipitis (adj.B).