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Organism Biology - Physiology - Ecology ]
Synonym: Biological organism, Living being

Dictionary of botanic terminology
index of names

     
  An Organism is a complete individual form of life, member of a species such as a plant, animal, bacterium or fungus; a body made up of organs, organelles, or other parts that work together to carry on the various processes of life.  
     
In biology and ecology, an organism is a living being. A complex organism describes an organism with more than one cell. A micro-organism is an organism formed by only one cell. Multiple organisms make up a population.

Characteristics common to many organisms include:
Feeding
Respiration
Growth
Reproduction
• Sensitivity to stimuli
• Movement
     

 


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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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