GEMMULE

[gem.mule] n [F, fr. L gemmula, dim. of gemma] (ca. 1841): a small bud: a: a theoretical particle proposed in the theory of pangenesis that is shed by a somatic cell and contains all the information necessary to reproduce that cell type (as in an offspring) b: a reproductive bud produced by freshwater and some marine sponges that consists of a usu. hardened aggregate of cells