plantlingn.
/ˈplɑːntlɪŋ/, /ˈplantlɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈplæn(t)lɪŋ/ A young or small plant; a plantlet.
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the world > plants > by age or cycles > [noun] > young or immature plant(s)
planteina1400
youngling1559
plantling1766
yearling1789
immaturity1849
1766 Museum Rusticum 6 53 The plantlings, transplanted to a proper close bed.
1852 J. H. C. Fane Poems 10 He who to the short-lived flower Would add a moment's vital power Sees the sere plantling mock his foolish toil!
1861 W. Barnes in Macmillan's Mag. June 126/2 A pea is planted, and there spring from it a rootling and a plantling.
1955 New Phytologist 54 302 Cell groups will, in some cases, form characteristic buds and plantlings.
1984 T. C. Boyle Budding Prospects (1985) ii. vii. 110 I surveyed it slowly, dismally, the husks of dead plantlings brushing at my pants.
1998 Country Jrnl. Mar.–Apr. 33/1 The seeds and plantlings placed in the soil over the next weeks and months will yield wonderful vegetables and herbs come summer.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1766