Capsule

Capsule [ Botany ]

Dictionary of botanic terminology - index of names

It is a many-seeded simple, dry, dehiscent fruit composed of two or more carpels, that, at maturity, splits open (dehisce) to release the seeds.

The name capsule derives from the Latin word "capsula" meaning “a little chest”

A Capsule is a dry fruit which splits open to release the seeds. It is the most common fruit type found in many different plant families.
Capsules splits open is various ways and usually along several definite seams. Capsules typically split open into well-defined sections between carpels which represent modified leaves.

COMMON TYPE OF CAPSULES

Loculicidal Capsule: splitting along the locule (midrib of each ovary).
Circumscissile Capsule. splits through the centre of the fruit.
Septicidal Capsule splits along the septa (joints of the ovary)
Valvate Capsule: in which the tips of the seed capsule split.
Porose Capsule: opening with pores or holes around the top.

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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