phyton

American  

[fahy-ton] / ˈfaɪ tɒn /

noun

Botany.

1. the smallest part of a stem, root, or leaf, that, when removed from a plant, may grow into a new plant.

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phyton British  

/ ˈfaɪtɒn /

noun

1. a unit of plant structure, usually considered as the smallest part of the plant that is capable of growth when detached from the parent plant

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Other Word Forms

• phytonic adjective

Etymology

Origin of phyton

1840–50; < New Latin < Greek phŷton a plant

Example Sentences

Sarwadi said she used grammar rules on foreign words to take an educated guess at the word phyton.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 4, 2018

The older parts of a phyton grow little, and when the internode has attained a certain length, variable for different stems and different conditions, it does not elongate at all.

From Outlines of Lessons in Botany, Part I; from Seed to Leaf by Newell, Jane H.

The marked stems of seedlings show greater growth towards the top of the growing phyton.

From Outlines of Lessons in Botany, Part I; from Seed to Leaf by Newell, Jane H.

The stem grows by a succession of similar parts, phytomera, each part, or phyton, consisting of node, internode, and leaf.

From Outlines of Lessons in Botany, Part I; from Seed to Leaf by Newell, Jane H.

The name zoophyte comes from two Greek words—zoön, an animal, and phyton, a plant—and therefore has the literal signification of animal-plant.

From Harper's Young People, April 13, 1880 An Illustrated Weekly by Various