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(1) Habit   Botany  - Morphology  ]

Dictionary of botanic terminology - index of names

Synonyms: Growth form, Plant shape
     
  The habit is the characteristic appearance of a plant, stem, leaves or other organ (including size, shape, colour, pattern of growth etc.)  
 
Not to be confused with habitat.
(2) Habit of growth   Botany  - Morphology  ]
Synonym:
Vegetative Features, Growing habit
     
  The habit of growth or vegetative feature is the general aspect or mode of growth of a plant, it may be low-growing, tall, erect, prostrate, spreading, trailing, bushy, and so on.  

There are several  terms used to describe the habit of growth. The following are some of the more common terms:
Habit of growth of cacti and succulents  Botany  - Morphology  ]
Here a brief (still incomplete) compilation of terms dealing with growth habit of cactus and succulents:

Globose (Spherical): having a rounded form resembling that of a sphere or ball.
 

Epithelantha micromeris ssp. polycephala

Clustering (syn: Clumping ): forming a tight or open clumps or groups of shoots.

Unbranced (Syn: brancheless, solitary):  Without branches, with a single unbranched stem

Branched: Having one to many secondary branches arising from the main stem.

O. compressa Flowers

Segmented habit: plant  that grow in distinctly successive articulated segments or joints.

Elongate habit: plant which is long and slender.
Distichous: With leaves arranged in two rows on opposite sides of a stem and in the same plane. Fenestrate habit: With fenestrate leaves that grow below the surface of the soil;
Rosette: With leaves symmetrically arranged, flattened and radiating from the crown or centre at the base of a stem with very short internodes. Cylindrical or cylindric habit: With the shape of a cylinder or tube.
Eriosyce napina subsp. lembkei var. duripulpa RMF 277 -  Punta Lobos, Chile Offsetting habit: Forming offsets,  shoot, branch or stem and eventually an open clumps or groups of shoots. Prostrate: Stretched out and lying flat at full length along the surface of the ground
Tufted: Of plants having many stems growing in clusters which are attached at the base and free at the ends.  

 


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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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