[f. L. fastīgi-um summit of a gable, top, vertex + -ATE2. Cf. F. fastigié.]
1. Sloping up or tapering to a point like a cone or pyramid. † a. of a hill = FASTIGIATED. Obs.
1662. Ray, Three Itin., ii. (Ray Soc.), 148. That noted hill … the top whereof is fastigiate like a sugar loaf.
b. Bot. Having flowers or branches whose extremities form a tapering or cone-like outline.
1835. Lindley, Introd. Bot. (1848), II. 382.
1836. Penny Cycl., V. 252. Fastigiate, when the branches of any plant are pressed close to the main stem, as in the Lombardy poplar.
1870. Hooker, Stud. Flora, 349. Taxus fastigiata … (Irish or Florence-court yew), is a fastigiate variety.
c. Entom. Of the elytra: Tapering to a point.
1848. in Maunder, Treas. Nat. Hist., Gloss. Fastigiate. When the base-covers are of equal or greater length than the abdomen, and transverse at the end.
2. † a. Bot. Formerly applied (after F. fastigié) in the sense ‘having a horizontal surface at the top,’ as in an umbel or corymb. Obs.
[The use app. originated in a misunderstanding, the L. fastigium being interpreted as ‘roof.’]
1793. in Martyn, Lang. Bot., s.v. Ibid. (1794), Rousseau’s Bot., xxviii. 445. The latter [tree] spreading its vast arms horizonatlly till the ends hang down with their own weight, and having a fastigiate, or flat top.
1860. in Mayne, Expos. Lex., s.v.
b. Hence, of a zoophyte: = CORYMBED.
1846. Dana, Zooph. (1848), 175. Mussa fastigiata. Fastigiate: disks usually nearly circular.
Hence Fastigiately adv.
1840. Paxton, Bot. Dict., Fastigiately-branched, the branches becoming gradually shorter from the base to the apex.
1884. in Syd. Soc. Lex.
