Definition of "distichous" []

• Botany Arranged in two vertical rows on opposite sides of an axis: distichous leaves. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "In the yew (_Taxus_) the leaves at the ends of the shoots not unfrequently lose their usual distichous arrangement and become arranged in a close spiral manner, the elongation of the shoot being arrested."
• "The _leaf-sheaths_ are equal to or longer than the internodes at the base, but shorter above, glabrous, compressed, distichous, bearded towards the mouth and with membranous margins."
• "The _leaf-blade_ is narrow linear, pungent, somewhat rigid, flat, distichous, base rounded with or without a few long hairs and varies in length from 1/4 to 1 inch and in breadth from 1/20 to 1/16 inch, but in plants growing in rich moist soils the leaves become longer reaching"