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Oblong  [ Botany  ]

Dictionary of botanic terminology - index of names

 
     
  About twice as long as wide, with nearly parallel sides for much of the length usually rounded near the ends.  
     


Oblong

A plane figure or a three-dimensional body longer than wide, having the shape of or resembling a rectangle or ellipse, deviating from a square (or cube) circle (or sphere) by being elongated (stretched) in one direction with opposite sides (roughly) parallel;

 


An oblong fruit

 

In botany the term oblong describes the condition where the shape of a leaf or leaflet is widest for a good length of the leaf along the middle, where both sides of the leaf are roughly parallel for a majority of the leaf blade and rounded at the ends.

Also used to describe other elongated plant structure like succulent stems, fruit etc.


An oblong cactus Mammillaria eryacantha

     

 


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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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