watersprout

English

Vertical watersprout on Prunus

Watersprouts arising from epicormic buds within the trunk of Betula

Etymology

water +‎ sprout?

Noun

watersprout (plural watersprouts)

1. An upright shoot growing from a latent (dormant) bud on the trunk or older branch of a tree.
   • 1911, Proceedings, page 105:

     ... watersprout, or from the old typical bearing wood. / MR. KOETHEN. I have yet failed to know what a watersprout is. If you will give any healthy limb that comes from a tree plenty of light and air, it will develop into fruit […]

   • 1924, Technical Bulletin, page 20:

     ... watersprout may be tied without bending, it is probably better to select another cane, even of a less productive type, that will be less likely to be broken. Where a renewal is desired, such a cane may be pruned to a spur and in […]

   • 1941, Virgil J. Rittich, Eugene A. Rittich, European Grape Growing in Cooler Districts where Winter Protection is Necessary:

     ... watersprout, F1 canes starting from a watersprout, F2 canes starting from one year old cane, which was grown on a watersprout.

   • 2005 November 30, Michael Phillips, The Apple Grower: Guide for the Organic Orchardist, 2nd Edition, Chelsea Green Publishing, →ISBN, page 200:

     Watersprout scions are wedged into the cambium layer both above and below the damage in early spring when the bark is slipping. Grooves can be cut into the sound bark tissue to receive each end of the scions, or the gnawed edge can be […]

   • 2013 November 11, Y. P. S. Bajaj, Trees IV, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 198:

     ... watersprout shoots (Fig. 2B), Fig. 2. A. Adult phase shoots from the canopy of the mature male Kentucky coffeetree. Pedicels and a few persistent staminate flowers are evident. B. Juvenile watersprout sucker, collected at the same time […]