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Dry weight  [ Botany - Biology  ]

Dictionary of botanic terminology - index of names

Similar term: Dried material.
     
  The weight of any plant (or other organism) part after all its water content has been removed by drying.  
     
The dry weight is an estimate of a body or of a body samples weight when all water has been removed, means the weight of the sample, excluding the weight of the water in the sample.
The dry weight is determined by means of drying processes which would remove water.

Measuring plants dry weight: Since plants have a high composition of water and the level of water in a plant will depend on the amount of water in it's environment (which is very difficult to control), You can only capture this data by means of a drying processes which would remove water:
  1. Remove the plants from the soil and wash off any loose soil.
  2. Blot the plants removing any free surface moisture.
  3. Dry the plants in an oven set to low heat (100 degrees) overnight.
  4. Let the plants cool in a dry environment (a Ziploc bag will keep moisture out) - in a humid environment the plant tissue will take up water. Once the plants have cooled weigh them on a scale.

Air-dry weight: The weight of a substance (usually a plant part) after it has been allowed to dry to equilibrium with the atmosphere.

Compare with: Wet weigt

(Soil) Dry weight  [  Agronomy ]
     
  The mass of a soil sample or of an object when dried.  
 

 


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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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