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prettygoodwordratoon (ra-TOON) - n., a shoot sprouting from the root of a perennial plant that has been cropped off, especially sugar cane; a crop, such as bananas, produced on ratoons. v., to sprout ratoons; to cut a plan near the root so that it will produce ratoons.
Other crops that are sometimes/often ratooned are pineapple and rice, and Vedic India texts mention doing it with barley. English has had the word for it since around 1630, from Spanish Spanish retoño, sprout, from retoñar, to sprout again, from re-, again (from the Latin prefix with the same meaning) + otoñar, to grow in autumn (from otoño, autumn, from Latin autumnus).
---L.
Other crops that are sometimes/often ratooned are pineapple and rice, and Vedic India texts mention doing it with barley. English has had the word for it since around 1630, from Spanish Spanish retoño, sprout, from retoñar, to sprout again, from re-, again (from the Latin prefix with the same meaning) + otoñar, to grow in autumn (from otoño, autumn, from Latin autumnus).
---L.
