The term incubous is used to describe the way in which the leaves of a plant are attached to the stem. If you were to look down from above (dorsal

Dorsum (biology)

In anatomy, the dorsum is the upper side of animals that typically run, fly, or swim in a horizontal position, and the back side of animals that walk upright. In vertebrates the dorsum contains the backbone. The term dorsal refers to anatomical structures that are either situated toward or grow...

 side) on a plant where the leaf attachment is incubous, the upper edge of each leaf would overlap the next higher leaf along the stem. Because of this, the upper edge of each leaf is visible from above, but the lower edge of each leaf is obscured by its neighboring leaf. The opposite of incubous is succubous

Succubous

The term succubous is used to describe the way in which the leaves of a plant are attached to the stem. If you were to look down from above on a plant where the leaf attachment is succubous, the lower edge of each leaf would overlap the next lower leaf along the stem...

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