Botanically speaking, a “scion” (SY-un) – from the French – is a shoot or twig used for grafting. Hence, a descendant or heir.
Example (as used by Ellis Amburn in Subterranean Kerouac): “Convinced he was the scion of Louis Alexandre Lebris de Kerouac, a noble Breton, [Jack Kerouac] was off to do genealogical research in the Paris libraries and then to locate his ancestor’s hometown in Brittany.”
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