Plant Listing Terms Explained: Wet Stick, Node Cutting, TC, Half-Moon, Albo, Reverted and More

A plant listing tells you two things: which piece of the plant you get and what state it’s in. A wet stick is a stem piece with a node but no leaf, a node cutting adds a leaf, a top cutting is the growing tip, and TC means a small lab-grown plantlet. Before paying for any of them, check for a visible node, ask for a photo of the exact piece you’re buying, and look at the stem, not just the leaf, on variegated plants.

Collector groups, swaps, auctions and shops use the same shorthand whether they’re in the US, the UK or Central Europe. Below is a lookup table, then the terms that cause the most confusion. For the wider buying process (import rules, quarantine, misleading listings), see our guide to buying rare houseplants.

What do plant listing abbreviations mean?

Term	What it means	What you receive	What to check
Wet stick	stem section with at least one node, no leaf	a bare piece of stem, sometimes with an aerial root	a clear node or bud, firm stem with no soft or dark spots
Node cutting	stem section with a node and usually one leaf	stem, node, leaf	node visible in the photo, real stem on both sides of the node, not just a leaf stalk
Top cutting (apical, tip)	the end of a stem with its growing point	the tip, often with one or more leaves and a new leaf forming	intact growing point, healthy newest leaf
Unrooted	cutting with no roots yet	cutting only, rooting is your job	node, stem condition
Rooted	cutting with roots started	cutting with roots, often in water, moss, perlite or LECA	a photo of the roots, what medium they grew in
Fully rooted	seller says the root system is established	rooted cutting or small plant in a pot	a root photo; new growth since rooting
TC (tissue culture)	plantlet produced in a lab	a small, uniform plantlet, sometimes still in a container	whether it’s in the flask, deflasked, or already acclimated
Deflasked	TC plantlets taken out of their lab container	tiny, soft plantlets with little or no hardening	that you can keep them humid for the first weeks
Starter plant	small young plant, usually already potted	a rooted plant, smaller than the photo may suggest	pot size, number of leaves, root photo
Mother plant	the plant the cuttings are taken from	nothing, it’s only a reference photo	a photo of your exact cutting
Half-moon	leaf where one half, split along the midrib, has no chlorophyll	one striking leaf (the next may differ)	stem and node pattern, not just the leaf
Sectoral	large solid blocks of white or cream	cutting with blocky variegation	variegation on the stem at the node
Marbled	fine specks and streaks spread over the leaf	cutting with speckled variegation	pattern on the newest leaf
Albo	short for albo-variegata, white variegation	cutting of a white-variegated form	leaf and stem photo of your piece
Aurea	yellow variegation (aureus is Latin for golden)	cutting of a yellow-variegated form	as above
Mint	pale green variegation instead of white	cutting of a mint-variegated form	as above; pale green can be hard to judge in photos
Reverted	the plant has gone back to plain green growth	a green cutting of a variegated cultivar	expect a green plant
Plant passport	official EU plant health label	a printed label with the shipment	EU flag, botanical name, registration number, traceability code
Chunky mix	coarse, airy potting mix	plant potted in a bark-heavy blend	ask what’s in it
LECA	lightweight expanded clay aggregate, clay balls	cutting or plant rooted in clay balls	ask how long it has been in LECA

Wet stick vs. node cutting vs. top cutting: what’s the difference?

All three are pieces of stem. The difference is how much of the plant comes with it.

Everything starts at the node, the spot where a leaf or bud attaches to the stem (Penn State Extension). Roots and new shoots grow from there. University of Illinois Extension adds that a node is sometimes a bumpy or raised area on the stem. A leaf without a node can’t turn into a new plant.

Wet stick. No leaf, just stem with nodes. Penn State Extension describes this kind of propagation for plants like dumb cane (Dieffenbachia) and Dracaena: lay the stem section horizontally, half buried in the rooting medium. Roots form at the buried nodes and new shoots at the exposed ones. With no leaf, everything depends on a bud in the node breaking, so what you’re really buying is the bud.

Node cutting. A stem section with a node and a leaf. University of Illinois Extension calls a cutting made of “a leaf blade, petiole, and a portion of the stem containing a bud” a leaf-bud cutting. In collector listings, the key check is that the photo shows stem above and below the leaf, not just a petiole stuck in moss.

Top cutting. The tip of the stem, with its growing point. University of Illinois Extension says the tip of the stem is usually the one selected and often gives the fastest result. The RHS recommends cutting just below a leaf joint and keeping just two or three leaves at the top.

	Wet stick	Node cutting	Top cutting
Leaf	none	usually one	one or more, often a new one forming
Growing point	dormant bud in the node	dormant bud in the node	active growing tip
Main risk	bud never breaks or stem rots	leaf yellows while rooting	tip damaged in shipping
What to ask for	close-up of the node	photo showing the stem at both sides of the node	photo of the tip and newest leaf

More detail on rooting each type is in houseplant propagation methods.

Rooted, fully rooted, starter plant: how much root is enough?

There’s no official standard behind “rooted” or “fully rooted”. For reference, University of Illinois Extension says rooted cuttings are ready for their own pot when the roots are about one inch long. The RHS says to pot up water-rooted cuttings once they have roots and start to grow. So a cutting with short new roots can honestly be called rooted, even if it still needs weeks to settle in.

What to check:

• A root photo. Ask for it out of the medium or through a clear pot.
• The medium. N.C. Cooperative Extension recommends moving a water-rooted cutting into rooting medium or soil as soon as some roots develop, before they rot. Ask how long the cutting has been in water.
• New growth. A new leaf since rooting is a better sign than roots alone.

Chunky mix and LECA describe the medium, not the plant. Chunky mix is a coarse blend, usually with bark and perlite; LECA is expanded clay balls. Neither is a problem, but ask what it is so you can keep conditions similar for the first weeks.

TC and deflasked plantlets: what do they need after arrival?

TC stands for tissue culture. University of Florida IFAS describes micropropagation as growing sterilized plant tissue in sterile containers on a nutrient medium. The last stage, acclimatization, is the one you may inherit.

According to UF/IFAS, plantlets grown in vitro have two weak points: poor control of water loss and reduced ability to photosynthesize. That’s why a deflasked plantlet dries out fast in ordinary room air. The UF/IFAS begonia guide gives the basic routine:

1. Transfer to a fine soilless medium without large bark pieces.
2. Keep them under a humidity dome while they adjust to the new medium.
3. Lower humidity slowly. UF/IFAS points out the plantlets have spent their whole lives in high humidity.
4. Give shade at first. UF/IFAS says mist and shade help them adjust to warmer, brighter conditions.

For begonias, UF/IFAS gives one to two weeks of acclimatization, depending on the species. That figure is for begonias, so with other plants go by how the plantlet looks, not the calendar.

Two more things to know. UF/IFAS says micropropagation helps eliminate systemic diseases in the starting material, which is a real advantage. On the other hand, shoots that form from non-meristem tissue can show somaclonal variation, meaning they may not be true to type. A TC plantlet of a variegated cultivar won’t necessarily match the mother plant. Our houseplant tissue culture guide covers the whole process.

How can you tell if a variegated cutting will revert?

You can’t know for sure, but you can improve your odds.

Variegation in these plants usually comes from a chimera, where green and chlorophyll-free cells grow side by side. University of Illinois and University of Florida IFAS describe three types. Periclinal chimeras (one whole cell layer mutated) are the most stable. Mericlinal and sectorial chimeras are unstable, and Illinois notes that sectorial chimeras give both normal and mutated shoots and leaves.

That’s why a single dramatic leaf, like a half-moon, tells you little. It proves the mutation is present, not that the next leaf will look the same.

Why does green take over? The RHS says reverted shoots have more chlorophyll, are more vigorous, and can eventually take over the plant. All-white shoots, by contrast, are very weak. Chemistry World (Royal Society of Chemistry) explains that if chlorophyll-free cells divide even slightly more slowly than green ones, the plant eventually reverts to all green.

What to look for in the listing:

• Variegation on the stem at the node, not only on the leaf. The bud that grows next comes from that node.
• Recent leaves. Ask for photos of the last few leaves on that stem. A run of green leaves before the cut is a warning.
• Cultivar type. Costa Farms describes Monstera deliciosa ‘Thai Constellation’ as having stable variegation, while ‘Albo-Variegata’ is “notoriously unstable,” often producing shoots with no variegation or no chlorophyll.
• Mostly white cuttings. A nearly all-white piece looks rare, but the RHS describes all-white shoots as very weak.

The RHS recommends pruning reverted shoots out or cutting back into variegated growth. If a cutting labeled reverted is cheap, it’s because it will almost certainly grow green. More on this in variegation reversion.

What is a plant passport, and when should a listing have one?

In the EU, a plant passport is an official label that travels with plants for planting. Regulation (EU) 2016/2031 requires it for moving all plants for planting (other than seeds) within the Union. Under Annex VII, the label carries:

• the words “Plant Passport” and the EU flag,
• A. the botanical name,
• B. the country code and registration number of the operator,
• C. a traceability code,
• D. the country of origin, where applicable.

Article 81 exempts plants supplied directly to final users, including home gardeners, but not plants sold through distance contracts, such as online orders. A face-to-face swap works differently from a shipped order. The European Commission notes that a 2024 revision changed some internal EU rules, including on distance sales to consumers, so check with your national plant health authority if in doubt.

Outside the EU, rules differ. For US import requirements, see buying rare houseplants.

Red flags in plant listings

• No node in the photo, or a leaf stuck in moss with only a petiole.
• Only a mother plant photo, no picture of the cutting you’d receive.
• “Variegated seeds.” Chemistry World states that chimeric variegation isn’t heritable and can only be faithfully recreated by cloning.
• Color that seems too good. Chemistry World reports that the bright pink of ‘Pink Congo’ philodendrons disappeared after a few months.
• “Rooted” with no root photo, or a vague answer about the medium.
• A shipped order from an EU business without a plant passport.
• Leaf-only photos on variegated cuttings that hide the stem and node.

In the game

Rare Leaf Tycoon uses a simplified version of this: each new leaf is green, unstable, stable, or rare (half-moon, sector, or rays), and you only see it after the reveal. Real plants don’t come with fixed odds, which is exactly why the stem photo matters.