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Inflorescence  [ Botany ]

Dictionary of botanic terminology - index of names

Synonym: Flower cluster, Flower head
     
  Inflorescence is a general term for the flower-bearing system of a plant, and more particularly for portions of such systems separated from one another by vegetative portions of the plant.  
     
Applied to any group or cluster of flowers or florets (including bracts), borne on a single axis (stem). Examples are: umbel, spike, panicle, corymb, and so on.

There are several  terms used to describe the inflorescences. The following are some of the more common terms:

 

 


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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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