Cladoptosis

Cladoptosis (Ancient Greek κλάδος kládos "branch", πτῶσις ptôsis "falling" [noun]; sometimes pronounced with the p silent) is the regular shedding of branches.^[1] It is the counterpart for branches of the familiar process of regular leaf shedding by deciduous trees. As in leaf shedding, an abscission layer forms, and the branch is shed cleanly.