Adventitious root

Adventitious root [ Botany ]

Dictionary of botanic terminology - index of names


	*A root in an unusual position, such as on a stem or leaf.*

Adventitious root are roots in an unusual place, that originates from stem or leaf tissue rather than from another root, often where a branch or other part contacts soil or damp material. Adventitious roots are not ordinarily expected, and often they are the result of stress or injury. A plant's normal growth comes from meristematic tissue, but adventitious growth comes from non-meristematic tissue. Adventitious roots are indeed very common in vascular plants. A plant can not be reproduced from cuttings or layering unless adventitious roots develop.

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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