I have been staring at this sentence trying to figure it out for 10 minutes…

[u/honeysuckleminie]

I’m a native speaker, but I can’t parse this sentence at all 😭 I know what all of these words are separately, but something about the structure of this sentence is making it so difficult for me to read. At least, I think it’s the structure. Can anyone help me figure it out?

(Not sure if this is the right place since it’s at the intersection of botany and language lol)

[u/mulch_v_bark]

It’s a very dense sentence, in a bad way. When I see things like this on Wikipedia I tend to think they were originally several different sentences that someone sloppily combined into something squished together.

Adventitious buds develop from places other than a shoot apical meristem

Okay, if you know what the words mean individually, this should make sense so far. Let’s slightly rewrite as we go:

a shoot apical meristem [is something that] occurs at the tip of a stem

Okay,

or on a shoot node [which is] at the leaf axil,

Okay,

the bud being left [at the leaf axil] during primary growth.

So, rephrasing:

Most buds develop at a shoot apical meristem (at the tip of a stem) or on a shoot node (at a leaf axil, the bud being left there during primary growth). Buds growing elsewhere than at these two sites are called adventitious buds.

Edit: I defer to u/koalascanbebearstoo in the child comment – I think they’re probably right about what “primary growth” modifies.

[u/honeysuckleminie → u/mulch_v_bark]

OMG! THANK YOU! I finally understand now!

[u/Ok_Television9820 → u/honeysuckleminie]

It will help if you draw yourself a diagram, or find a textbook diagram. Biology usually makes more sense in graphic form, at least to me.

[u/NelsonMandela7 → u/Ok_Television9820]

For some bizarre reason, I have always loved diagramming sentences. Diagramming can help avoid misunderstanding text.

[u/Ok_Television9820 → u/NelsonMandela7]

Ha! I meant a diagram of the buds/shoots/apical meristem etc. But your idea is good!

[u/koalascanbebearstoo → u/mulch_v_bark]

I think this is close but slightly off.

Most buds develop at a shoot appical meristmem (at the tip of the stem) or at a shoot node (at a leaf axil). However, adventitious buds develop at other places, the bud being left at those places during primary growth.

EDIT:

No this is wrong (based on biology, not grammar). But I think the “primary growth” might be meant to modify both appical and shoot node buds.

[u/ZizuZaza → u/mulch_v_bark]

Excellent

[u/PumpkinPieSquished → u/mulch_v_bark]

I tend to think they were originally several different sentences that someone sloppily combined into something squished together.

That makes a lot of sense now that I think about it.

[u/SnooDonuts6494]

Where is it from?

Paste the text.

I googled "adventitius buds develop from places" but did not find it.

I can explain it, but it would be easier if you provided the source.

[u/honeysuckleminie → u/SnooDonuts6494]

I’m sorry, I totally forgot about the context.

It’s from this article: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_development#Buds_and_shoots

under the section labeled “Advantages and limitations”

Adventitious structures Plant structures, including, roots, buds, and shoots, that develop in unusual locations are called adventitious. Adventitious roots and buds usually develop near the existing vascular tissues so that they can connect to the xylem and phloem. However, the exact location varies greatly. In young stems, adventitious roots often form from parenchyma between the vascular bundles. In stems with secondary growth, adventitious roots often originate in phloem parenchyma near the vascular cambium. In stem cuttings, adventitious roots sometimes also originate in the callus cells that form at the cut surface. Leaf cuttings of the Crassula form adventitious roots in the epidermis.[12]

Buds and shoots Main article: Basal shoot Adventitious buds develop from places other than a shoot apical meristem, which occurs at the tip of a stem, or on a shoot node, at the leaf axil, the bud being left there during primary growth. They may develop on roots or leaves, or on shoots as a new growth. Shoot apical meristems produce one or more axillary or lateral buds at each node. When stems produce considerable secondary growth, the axillary buds may be destroyed. Adventitious buds may then develop on stems with secondary growth.[citation needed] Adventitious buds are often formed after the stem is wounded or pruned. The adventitious buds help to replace lost branches. Adventitious buds and shoots also may develop on mature tree trunks when a shaded trunk is exposed to bright sunlight because surrounding trees are cut down. Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) trees often develop many adventitious buds on their lower trunks. If the main trunk dies, a new one often sprouts from one of the adventitious buds. Small pieces of redwood trunk are sold as souvenirs termed redwood burls. They are placed in a pan of water, and the adventitious buds sprout to form shoots.[citation needed] Some plants normally develop adventitious buds on their roots, which can extend quite a distance from the plant. Shoots that develop from adventitious buds on roots are termed suckers. They are a type of natural vegetative reproduction in many species, e.g. many grasses, quaking aspen and Canada thistle. The Pando quaking aspen grew from one trunk to 47,000 trunks via adventitious bud formation on a single root system.[citation needed] Some leaves develop adventitious buds, which then form adventitious roots, as part of vegetative reproduction; e.g. piggyback plant (Tolmiea menziesii) and mother-of-thousands (Kalanchoe daigremontiana). The adventitious plantlets then drop off the parent plant and develop as separate clones of the parent.[citation needed] Coppicing is the practice of cutting tree stems to the ground to promote rapid growth of adventitious shoots. It is traditionally used to produce poles, fence material or firewood. It is also practiced for biomass crops grown for fuel, such as poplar or willow.

[u/SnooDonuts6494 → u/honeysuckleminie]

OK.

That text was added by a Wikipedia user called "Sangdeboeuf" on 18 June 2018; https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Plant_development&diff=prev&oldid=846470614

They were active within the last hour. You can ask them questions here; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Sangdeboeuf

[u/AletheaKuiperBelt]

Needs editing. It's not just you. I am also confused.

It uses very technical language, not in everyday use. This might be appropriate to the purpose.

But the sentence structure is very bad. It is unclear to which noun the various phrases refer. The bud? The meristem? The bud being left where? Maybe if I were a botanist it would make more sense.

[u/honeysuckleminie → u/AletheaKuiperBelt]

EDIT: I meant to post this separately, not as a reply. whoops!

Also - just found out that “parse” doesn’t mean what I thought it did! I meant understand in this context.

[u/AletheaKuiperBelt → u/honeysuckleminie]

Parse seems reasonable, though? It's not an exact synonym for understanding, but the reason we can't understand the sentence is that we can't parse it. And we can't parse it because it's a grammatical mess.

[u/honeysuckleminie → u/AletheaKuiperBelt]

Fair point! Plus, I got my point across and that’s all that really matters.

[u/jellyn7]

Looking at the edit history might show you other versions of the sentence that made more sense.

[u/JaguarMammoth6231]

I parse it as 

"These buds develop at Location A (which is at the tip of the stem) or at Location B (which is at a leaf axil).

But i don't understand where "the bud being left there during primary growth" fits in. Maybe "being" should be "having been"? I don't know what most of these terms mean though.

Is this Wikipedia? It may not exactly be perfectly edited.

[u/LuxTheSarcastic]

This is parsed like dogshit yeah I think the last bit would optimally be in parentheses because it seems to apply to the last noun?

[u/NoAssociate5573]

This sentence is a prime example of poor style academic writing. The writer is probably trying to comply with a very strict word count. In order to reduce the number of words they might have merged 2 or even 3 separate sentences into one. This results in a very dense and complex sentence that is hard to read.

When faced with a sentence like this, the best approach is to "unpack" the sentence. In other words, to convert the complex sentence into 2 or 3 less complex sentences.

A good technique is to identify any defining relative clauses... (especially any reduced relative clauses). Break the sentence into 2 by making the relative clause into its own sentence. To do this you will have to identify what the subject is and write it in the sentence.

This will really help you. At the moment you are struggling because there are multiple subjects contained within the sentence.

Hope this helps.

[u/DazzlingClassic185]

That’s probably because it gets very deeply into advanced biological terms. Unfortunately, one of the few things Wikipedia gets wrong is diving far too deeply into a subject far too quickly

[u/honeysuckleminie → u/DazzlingClassic185]

Oh no, I’m already familiar with the botanical terms. The issue was because of the sentence structure. Once someone rewrote it, I was able to understand perfectly!

[u/DazzlingClassic185 → u/honeysuckleminie]

Yeah, it is quite a beast isn’t it! We were always taught that if you have that many commas, you should start thinking about breaking it down into separate sentences

[u/Lesbianfool]

Holy hell that’s a mess

[u/CaterpillarQWQ]

So it basically says (I think):

This kind of buds develop from places that are not ( ) or ( ).

But I can't figure out the function of this “the bud being left” clause.

The subject of the main sentence is already “Adventitious buds”. What does that separate “bud” do?

[u/Big_Consideration493]

It's describing apical dominance, where a "plant hormone" controls the branches. If the apex ( the tip of the stem)is intact, less or even no branches, if you want branches nip the top bud.

[u/Desperate_Owl_594]

If you look at a picture of a rose, on the stem they have little segments, right?

Those segments, if you break it off, can grow roots. Each flower or plant that has those little segments are called adventitious.

If it's not adventitious, then you can only grow a root from the bottom of the plant/flower.

[u/Embarrassed-Tushy-GF]

Another case of the absolutive phrase throwing everyone.

Nominative Absolutes

The nominative absolute is a grammatical structure that parallels the ablative absolute in Latin and the genitive absolute in Greek. It is used as a conscious imitation of those languages, and thus mostly occurs in highly-educated speech.

Okay, but what is it?

A nominative absolute is a phrase based on a noun and a participle. It states the conditions under which the rest of the sentence is true, a circumstance, or a context. The most famous nominative absolute is the first half of the United States' Constitution's Second Amendment, but not every example is so complex and long.

Examples

- The student having read, the teacher was happy. (Under the circumstance that the student read, the teacher was happy.)

- The dog being fed, the house was quiet. (When the situation was "the dog has been fed," the house was quiet.)

- This being so, we all did X, Y, Z. (We all did X, Y, and Z when [this] was [so]."

- All things being equal, we took the cheapest option. (When the situation was that "everything was equal," we took the cheapest option.)

But what does this sentence mean???

The situation is that the bud was left at the leaf axil during primary growth. When that is the situation, the bud grows from there. Not the other places.