before a vowel clad-, combining form of Gr. κλάδ-ος young shoot or branch, in botanical terms, as Cladanthous a. [Gr. ἄνθ-ος flower] = cladocarpous. Cladenchyma [Gr. ἔγχυμα infusion], ‘vegetable tissue composed of branched cells’ (Syd. Soc. Lex.). Cladocarpous a. [Gr. καρπ-ός fruit], bearing the fructification on short lateral branchlets: said of Mosses, which are primarily divided into acrocarpous, pleurocarpous, and cladocarpous. Cladophyll, also -phyllon, pl. -a [Gr. φύλλον leaf], a branch assuming the form and function of foliage. Cladoptosis [Gr. πτῶσις a falling], ‘the fall of branches as it occurs in Thuja, Taxodium, and others’ (Syd. Soc. Lex.).
1857. Berkeley, Cryptog. Bot., 482. The three species … differ from each other in the acro-carpous and clado-carpous growth of the fruit.
1880. Gray, Struct. Bot., iii. § 3. 65. Cladophylla commonly pass for leaves: they are well shown by Ruscus.
1883. Athenæum, 10 Feb., 188/3. In this tree [aspen] and some few others … a process takes place termed ‘cladoptosis’ by the Rev. W. J. Berkeley many years ago.
