-less

( suffix ) -less

Dictionary of botanic terminology - index of names


	A privative adjective suffix , denoting without, lacking, destitute of, not having;

The -less suffix is the only suffix that changes the meaning of the base word and it is often used to convey the negative or opposite of words ending in -ful, as in careful/careless and fearful/fearless.
But -less was also used to coin words that had no counterpart ending in -ful: headless, loveless, motherless. Although -less normally forms adjectives by attaching to nouns, sometimes it attaches to verbs, as in tireless.
Often he suffixes - less and -free can be used quite interchangeably, normally, usage prescribes one OR the other. (as in: sugarless or sugarfree)

For example : soilless

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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