Root system

Root system [ Botany ]
(or Root apparatus)

Dictionary of botanic terminology - index of names


	A root system is the network off all the roots of a plant; the system of roots and related organs that a plant develops.

Taproot system

The two basic types of root systems are the primary root systems and the adventitious root system.

The primary root systems is formed of roots and their branches that arise from the primary root.
The primary root is the first-formed, main root, That originates from the radicle of a seed embryo (the portion of the embryo below the cotyledons).

Two primary root system types:

Taproot system - Single primary root dominates over branch roots ( usually found in Gymnosperms and most Dicotyledons)
Fibrous root system – A network of fine roots with no central dominant root. Fibrous root systems don't go as deep as taproots, but they spread laterally

Fibrous root system

The adventitious root system is typical of most Monocotyledons in which the primary root is ephemeral and sort living and adventitious root soon arise from stem or leaf tissue. (At the bottom of a grass plant, for example, are a number of these adventitious roots growing out from the nodes above the seed near the ground level. ) These roots and their lateral branches make up a fibrous root system.

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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