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 Heterophylly  [ Botany  ]

Dictionary of botanic terminology - index of names

Adjective: Heterophyllous
 
     
  Having leaves of different sizes or shapes or producing different leaves in Winter and Summer. More than one type of leaf on a plant.  
     
Of plants having leaves of different types typical of many tropical species.
An heterophyllous plant  displays different sized, shaped and/or coloured leaves while young and old, or not uniform along a branch, or producing different leaves in Winter and Summer.
Examples are floating leaves and submersed leaves on the same aquatic plant.

(Left) A fine example of heterophylly is found in  Monilaria obconica in which
the leaf pair formed at the start of the dormant season being more united and compact than that (long and thin) formed when in full growth, and acting as a protective sheath to the stem apex.



 

     

 


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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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