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

One of the most striking examples of gut plasticity can be observed in animals that are exposed to prolonged periods of fasting, such as hibernating animals or phyton snakes that goes for months without eating, where the gut shrinks with as much as 50%, but recovers in size following a few days of re-feeding.

From Science Daily

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

From Seattle Times

Phyton, or Phytomer, a name used to designate the pieces which by their repetition make up a plant, theoretically, viz. a joint of stem with its leaf or pair of leaves.

From Project Gutenberg

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 Project Gutenberg

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

From Project Gutenberg