Zotz and colleagues ask for a re-evaluation of the occurrence, evolution, and function of the velamen radicum in both terrestrial and epiphytic angiosperms
Tag - roots
botanyone
The roots of hydrotropism
Most plants are essentially rooted to a spot and immobile. While the factors they need for growth – e.g. sunlight, minerals, and water – are often present in the environment, they aren’t always close enough to the plant...
Nigel Chaffey
What! Plants can hear water???
The idea that plants can hear is controversial, but Nigel Chaffey finds the evidence keeps building.
Plant anatomy goes back to its roots (stems, leaves…)
Does "Essentials of Developmental Plant Anatomy" cover the essentials of developmental plant anatomy? Nigel Chaffey looks over the introductory textbook.
Unravelling the roots of lianas
Woody vines collectively known as lianas are fundamental components of tropical forests but their root structure is largely unexplored. Stems of Sapindaceae display diverse architectures and an anatomical pattern...
What are root hairs for?
A question with a long history, but not always a long enough bibliography, as Nigel Chaffey learns.
Altruistic plants?
There’s been a thoughtfulness* of books recently that reflect on aspects of plant intelligence – e.g. Daniel Chamovitz’s What a Plant Knows, Anthony Trewavas’ Plant Behaviour & Intelligence, Richard Karban’s Plant...
Roots Down Under: A special issue of Annals of Botany
Plant productivity is very dependent on favourable interactions between the roots and soil. These interactions not only drive water and nutrient acquisition but they also affect the release of signals that influence all...
annbot
Adventitious root formation in rice
A new study examines the role of plant hormones in mediating production of adventious roots in rice.
AJ Cann
The European Space Agency goes back to its roots
The roots are Arabidopsis roots. They’ll be flying, along with the rest of the plant, on a parabolic flight to see how they react to zero gravity and hypergravity. Franck Ditengou of the University of Freiburg in...
Plant parts doing unexpected things: Part 2 (or, Root research all up in the air)
The aerial roots of epiphytic plants perched high above the ground on trees photosynthesise, as well as absorbing water from their surroundings.
Multi-imaging approach to study the root–soil interface
Combining neutron and fluorescence imaging allows study of the spatiotemporal patterns of oxygen, pH and water content distribution in lupin rhizospheres.
Everything benefits from a little lift
Roots generally absorb water from the soil and transport it above ground to the stem, branches, etc. Where the soil is too dry for water to be absorbed by the roots, the roots might actually lose water to the soil and...
Morphology of lateral root development – free review article
A recent free review article in Annals of Botany discusses morphological aspects of lateral branching in roots.
