tiller: a standalone construct

In botany, a tiller is a side shoot that a grass produces from a bud at its base, growing up alongside the main stem to form the dense, many-stemmed tuft characteristic of cereals and turf; tillering is the process of producing them and is a chief determinant of yield and ground cover. Kebrom's 2017 A growing stem inhibits bud outgrowth examines how the growing main stem suppresses the outgrowth of these basal buds into tillers, framing tillering within the control of apical dominance. The referent is a basal branch of a grass plant, counted and timed as a growth trait, and it shares nothing with a boat's steering lever beyond the word.[1]

Unit

The number and timing of basal side shoots a grass plant produces

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Counted as tillers per plant and tracked by the rate and timing of bud outgrowth