Taleae

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Small stems or twig-like parts used in plant propagation by cutting; short slender pieces used to grow new plants in horticulture; fragments of plants taken to reproduce vegetation through cutting
2. Segments of plants typically utilized in propagation techniques; thin pieces taken from plants to generate new growth; plant cuttings employed for cultivation and cloning
3. Slender shoots or branches used to propagate plants; short cut parts of a plant to encourage rooting; horticultural units taken for cloning or multiplying plants

Etymology: "Taleae" is the plural of "talea", a term for the short cuttings or twig-like pieces taken from a plant so that they can be rooted and grown into new plants. The singular was borrowed into English in the 1940s from Medieval Latin "tālea", itself drawn from classical Latin "tālea", which meant a cutting or scion, a shoot removed from one plant to be grafted or planted elsewhere. The Latin source is a practical word from the orchard and vineyard, where gardeners had long reproduced plants by taking pieces of them rather than growing from seed. Medieval Latin writers kept the term in use for this agricultural practice, and English borrowed it when it needed a precise name for the technique in modern plant propagation.

Synonyms: cuttings, plant cuttings, shoots