ABSCISSION

Abscission

Abscission is a term used in several areas of biology to mean shedding of various parts of an organism. In plant sciences, it most commonly refers to the process by which a plant drops one or more of its parts, such as a leaf, fruit, flower or seed. In zoology, the term may be used to describe the intentional shedding of a body part, such as the shedding of a claw husk, or the autotomy of a tail to evade a predator. In mycology, it may refer to the liberation of a fungal spore. In cell biology, abscission refers to the separation of two daughter cells at the completion of cytokinesis.

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abscission

Noun

  1. The act or process of cutting off.
  2. The state of being cut off.
  3. A figure of speech employed when a speaker having begun to say a thing stops abruptly
  4. The natural separation of a part at a predetermined location, such as a leaf at the base of the petiole.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: abscission
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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