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Acaulescent [ Botany - Habit of growth ]
Synonym:
Stemless, Trunk-less
Antonym: Stemmed, Caulescent.

Dictionary of botanic terminology - index of names

     
  Having no apparent stem or trunk above-ground.  
     
Of plant habit, without any above-ground stem except for an inflorescence axis. A plant that lacks an aerial stem or having a very short stem or trunk which does not appear above ground, though there may be an underground stem (rhizome, tuber, etc.).
Refers to plants that have no a central stem or only a very short stem so that , where present, all the leaves and inflorescence are clustered at or near the base of the plant at ground level. The flower may be on an erect peduncle but this will have no real leaves.

cf. Caulescent



Left: A stemless plant of Aloe saponaria

     


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Holdfast roots  [ Botany  ]

Dictionary of botanic terminology - index of names

 
     
  Some species of climbing plants develop holdfast roots which help to support the vines on trees, walls, and rocks. By forcing their way into minute pores and crevices, they hold the plant firmly in place.  
     
Climbing plants, like the poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans), Boston ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata), and trumpet creeper (Campsis radicans),  develop holdfast roots which help to support the vines on trees, walls, and rocks. By forcing their way into minute pores and crevices, they hold the plant firmly in place. Usually the Holdfast roots die at the end of the first season, but in some species they are perennial. In the tropics some of the large climbing plants have hold-fast roots by which they attach themselves, and long, cord-like roots that extend downward through the air and may lengthen and branch for several years until they strike the soil and become absorbent roots.

Major references and further lectures:
1) E. N. Transeau “General Botany” Discovery Publishing House, 1994
   

 

 

 

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