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Apical bud  [ Botany ]
Synonym: Terminal bud

Dictionary of botanic terminology - index of names

     
  The apical (Terminal) bud of a plant is the primary growing point located at the apex (tip) of the stem.  
     
It is the dominant bud, since it can cause all the Axillary (lateral) buds below them to remain dormant. Terminal buds have special tissue, called apical meristem, cells that can divide indefinitely and produces all the differentiated tissue, including vegetative and  reproductive organs.
The terminal bud is the main area of growth in most plants.  Its own growth exhibits apical dominance, inhibiting the growth of axillary buds.  Around the terminal bud is a complex arrangement of nodes and internodes with maturing leaves.
     

(compare with axillary bud, adventitious bud)

 


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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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