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Midstrip  [ Botany ]
Synonym:
Midrib, Median line, Midline

Dictionary of botanic terminology - index of names

     
  A midstrip is a non- technical word used to indicate the contrasting coloured line near the centre of each petal that radiate out from the mid-zone of some  flower towards the petal apexes.  
     
The midstrips usually correspond to the nectar guides that are a common feature in many flowers pollinated by bees.
The midstrip essentially guide the pollinators to the centre of the flower into the source of the nectar reward.




Left:
Contrasting midstrips on the petals of  Mammillaria lasiacantha subsp. egregia
     

 


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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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