Appressed

Appressed [ Botany ]
Also given (in other words) as Adpressed.

Dictionary of botanic terminology - index of names


	*Pressed flat or close up against a surface but not joined with it.*

(Latin "appressus", past participle of "appremere", press to )

Especially of plant parts or organ that are pressed closely against a surface (or another organ) without being united to it, frequently for their whole length, as against a stem.
With whorls overlapping against an organ in the direction of the apex, so that their outer surfaces converge gradually, as spines, hairs or leaves on certain plant stems that are parallel or nearly parallel with the surface or axis of origin.

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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