The death of branches or shoots on a plant, usually starting from the tip and working backward toward the trunk.
Compound word formed from 'die' (Old English 'deaðan') and 'back', describing the direction in which plant death progresses. First used in botanical terminology in the 19th century.
Dieback is nature's way of telling us a plant is stressed—it's like the plant is sacrificing its outer limbs to save its core, which is actually a survival strategy called resource reallocation.
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