different between petiole vs abscission

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French pétiole, and its source, Late Latin petiolus (“little foot”), diminutive form of Latin p?s (“foot”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?p?t???l/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?p?di?o?l/

Noun

petiole (plural petioles)

1. (botany) The stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem.

   Synonym: pedicel (stalk of a flower)

   • 1978, Harry T. Valentine, Estimating Defoliation of Hardwoods Using Blade-petiole Relations, Forest Service Research Paper NE 405, US Department of Agriculture, page 1,

     Most insects consume tissue from the leaf blade were measured just past the twist on the side away only, leaving the leaf petioles unscathed.

   • 1992, Karl J. Niklas, Plant Biomechanics, University of Chicago Press,page 167,

     By contrast, the petioles of large pinnate leaves, as well as stems, typically resist torsion by placing stiff materials with high elastic moduli (like sclerenchyma) toward the perimeters of their cross sections.

   • 2000, Mike Hansell, Bird Nests and Construction Behaviour, Cambridge University Press, page 116,

     An example of this is leaf petioles. Some species of trees have pinnate leaves which, when the leaves fall, shed pinnae from the petiole, which is then left as a tapering, somewhat flexible rod.

2. (entomology, insect anatomy) A narrow or constricted segment of the body of an insect; especially, the metasomal segment of certain Hymenoptera, such as wasps.

   Synonym: pedicel (used more generally, of arthropods)

3. (entomology) The stalk at the base of the nest of the paper wasp.

Usage notes

• The presence of a petiole (narrow body segment) is the defining characteristic distinguishing the suborder Apocrita (ants, bees and wasps) from the rest of order Hymenoptera (i.e., from the paraphyletic suborder Symphyta).

Derived terms

• petiolar
• petiolary
• postpetiole

Translations

Further reading

• petiole (botany) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• petiole (insect anatomy) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

English

Etymology

From Latin abscissi?, from abscind? (“I cut, I tear”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /æb?s?.?n?/, /æb?s?.?n?/

Noun

abscission (countable and uncountable, plural abscissions)

1. The act or process of cutting off.
   • 1673, Jeremy Taylor, Heniaytos: A Course of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year […]

     Not to be cured without the abscission of a member.

2. (obsolete) The state of being cut off. [Attested only in the mid 17^th century.]
3. (rhetoric) A figure of speech employed when a speaker having begun to say a thing stops abruptly
4. (botany) The natural separation of a part at a predetermined location, such as a leaf at the base of the petiole. [First attested in the late 19^th century.]

Usage notes

Not to be confused with abscision, which only is defined as the first sense.

Related terms

• abscise
• abscisic
• abscisic acid
• abscisin, abscissin

Translations

Anagrams

• abscisions

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ap.si.sj??/

Noun

abscission f (plural abscissions)

1. (botany) abscission

Further reading

• “abscission” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).