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            |  | 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. |  |  
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                | 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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