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Cryptocarp  [ botany ]  
Adjective: Cryptocarpic or Cryptocarpous
Noun: Cryptocarpy
     
  A cryptocarp is a fruit which is retained concealed buried inside the stem of the plant.  
     


Mammillaria theresae


Yavia cryptocarpa

This type of fruit are characteristic of few sort of cactus , for example Mammillaria of the Series Longiflorae (e.g. M. theresae, M. saboae, …) and Yavia cryptocarpa.
They are retained within the plant body for several years or for the whole life cycle of the plant, and
frequently (in Mammillaria) the fruit and seeds will be released only at the death of the plant after the disintegration of the old  stem. After the flower is finished and dropped off, the stem closes over the fruit and the fruit/seed slowly ripens within. The next year, or years, the fruit may remain within the body at the axil, or may poke out a bit.

Seeds of cryptocarpic species  are equipped to maintain  their vitality for many years, they contain inhibitors that preserve them from premature germination, generally fresh seeds won’t germinate very well, only old seeds do.
It is possible to collect fruit and seeds from this plants only by means of a thin pointed
forceps. The complete germination of this kind of seeds may take several years (occasionally a seed will sprout unexpectedly after 5 or 8 years!) Because of the above peculiarity, seed of cryptocarpic Mammillaria (Series Longiflorae)  is seldom available from commercial sources, as its collection is unusually labour intensive. In Yavia the ripen fruit will be slowly expelled by the growing of the plant during the humid season when the plant body swell up.

 
 


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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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