Plant roots interesting facts. Interesting Facts About Tree Roots Facts About Plant Roots

One of the most important parts of a plant is the root. It is he who ensures the normal functioning of trees, herbs, shrubs and even aquatic representatives of the flora. Often the aerial part of the plant is just the tip of the iceberg. Most of it may be underground. It is no coincidence that the roots are so great, because very important functions are assigned to them. Let's take a closer look at the amazing features of the plant world.

Root functions

The roots of each plant perform a range of tasks, which may vary from species to species, but in most cases these tasks are the same for both trees and their smaller counterparts. The roots of trees and other aboveground plants allow them to stay upright and resist the wind and animals. This is especially true for large trees due to their mass and height. The root system helps them attach to the bottom and also prevents some of them from turning over.

Another function of the roots is nutritional. They absorb water to and from the soil and deliver it to the right places. They also synthesize some amino acids, alkaloids and other elements that plants need. Some of the representatives of the flora generally store useful substances directly in the roots (mainly starch and other carbohydrates). Also, do not forget about such a thing as mycorrhiza - a symbiosis of a plant with fungi. The root plays a key role in it. such that some plants reproduce with its help - root offspring.

Root types

Depending on the structure and function that is assigned to them, there are different types of roots. The first one is the main one. It grows directly from the seed when it germinates, to then become the main axis of the entire root system. In addition to the main root, there are also subordinate ones. They form from a variety of places - on stems, sometimes on leaves, and in some cases even on flowers. Another type is lateral roots. They appear from the main or adventitious roots and branch to the sides, forming new and new processes.

Root systems

All the roots that the plant has, form the root system. Depending on the role of various roots in the life of their owner, two types of systems are distinguished - rod and fibrous. The first is distinguished by focus on the main root, which grows most intensively. In this type, the main rod develops much more efficiently than the side ones. However, this difference can be noticed mainly at the initial stage of growth. Over time, the lateral roots begin to inexorably catch up with their main brother, and in old plants they are even larger than the main one. The rod system is characteristic mainly for

The second type is distinguished by the opposite features of the root. Such a system is called fibrous. It is characteristic of and is distinguished by its numerous adnexal and lateral processes that fill the space under the plant. In this case, the main root is usually poorly developed or practically undeveloped.

Root. Root structure

Each root is divided into several zones, each of which is responsible for its own unique functions. One of the most important places is the division zone. It is located at the tip of each root and is responsible for its growth in length. Myriads of small cells are constantly multiplying here. This process allows this part of the root to perform its difficult task. But the dividing zone is useless without the root cap, which is located at the end of each spine. It is a layer of fused cells that protect dividing cells from mechanical damage. In addition, the root cap secretes a kind of mucus that promotes the advancement of the roots in the soil.

The next segment of the root is the stretch zone. It is located just behind the division area and differs in that its cells are constantly growing, although they are almost completely absent from the process of division. Then comes the suction zone - the place where water and minerals are drawn from the soil. This is due to the myriad of tiny hairs that cover this area. They significantly increase the total absorption area. At the same time, each hair works like a pump, sucking everything it needs from the soil. Next comes the conduction zone, which is responsible for transporting water with minerals upstairs. Also from here descend down the elements responsible for the vital activity of the root system. This part is very strong and it is from it that the lateral roots grow.

cross section

If you cut the root, you can see the layers of which it consists. First comes the skin with a width of only one cell. Under it you can see the basis of the root - the parenchyma. It is through its loose tissue that water with minerals enters the axial cylinder. Forms its pericambium - educational which usually surrounds

Around the conducting cylinder are densely closed cells of the endoderm. They are waterproof, which makes the life-giving moisture with minerals move up. But how then does the liquid get inside? This is due to special passage cells located on the endoderm. In most cases, the roots of grass, trees, shrubs have this structure, although sometimes there are differences.

Mycorrhiza

Often the roots of trees are the place of their symbiosis with other life forms. Mushrooms become the most frequent partners of plants.

This phenomenon is called mycorrhiza, which stands for "fungal root". It's hard to believe, but most trees depend on a fruitful union with mycelium. The birches, maples and oaks that we are accustomed to derive a lot of benefit from this symbiosis.

When the mycelium interacts with the roots, an exchange occurs, in which the mycelium gives the tree essential minerals, receiving carbohydrates in return. This evolutionary move has allowed many plant species to live in conditions unsuitable for their species. Moreover, some representatives of the flora would not exist at all if it were not for mycorrhiza. In addition to symbiosis with fungi, there is a beneficial cooperation with bacteria that the root resorts to. The structure of the root in this case will differ from what we are used to. Nodules can be found on it, in which special bacteria live, supplying the tree with atmospheric nitrogen.

Conclusion

One of the most important parts of any plant is the root. The structure of the root is ideally suited to the tasks it performs. The root system is an amazing mechanism that feeds plants. It is not in vain that various mystical currents believe that the tree combines the forces of heaven and earth. Its aerial part absorbs sunlight and the roots get nourishment from the soil.

The significance of the root system is not obvious, since the main attention is drawn to the aerial part of the plant: foliage, trunk, flower, stem. At the same time, the root remains in the shadows, modestly fulfilling its honorable mission.

Cultivated plants have become so firmly established in human life that few people think about where the history of their cultivation began. Eating vegetables and fruits for food, a person does not wonder how their wild relatives look and how great the variety of cultivated plants is.

Historical facts

Almost all cultivated plants known today have their own historical roots, which determine the centers of their appearance and gradual transformation.

The origin of cultivated plants is attributed to 50,000-60,000 years BC. e. Until this period, the gathering of plants was the way of survival of the tribe, which was the responsibility of women. Historical evidence that people began to select large and healthy grains and fruits to grow near their homes are ancient utensils, pots with supplies in burials and their drawings.

To date, of the most popular 640 species of cultivated plants, about 400 of them are known to have come from South Asia, 50 from Africa, more than 100 from South and North America, and the rest from Europe.

Interesting Facts about a cultivated plant, such as wheat, it is said that cereals were the first species that people began to consciously grow near their homes. This statement is confirmed by the oldest mortars and pestles found at the settlement sites.

Plant cultivation centers

In the 20th century, scientists were able to more fully determine where modern species of cultivated plants came from. Even N. I. Vavilov divided the geography of crop production into 7 zones:

1. So, South Asia became the progenitor of 33% of domesticated species. Cultivated plants (examples can be found in the writings of Vavilov), such as rice, cucumbers, eggplants and many others, came to us from there.
2. East Asia has given us 20% of cultivated species such as soybeans, millet, cherries, buckwheat.
3. Southwest Asia is rye, legumes, turnips, accounting for 4% of plants.
4. 11% of known cultivated plants belong to the Mediterranean part. These are garlic, grapes, carrots, cabbage, pears, lentils and others.
5. Ethiopia has become the birthplace of 4% of species, which include chickpeas, barley, coffee tree.
6. Central America gave the world corn, pumpkin, tobacco, cocoa.
7. South America owns potatoes, coca, oki,

Wild relatives of all these plants can still be found. The interesting facts about the cultivated plant do not end there.

Selection in ancient people

You can hardly call cavemen or later types of human development breeders, but they had some skills in selecting and growing plants.

Archaeologists have come to the conclusion that agriculture and a settled way of life as a way of survival became applicable 10,000 years ago. It is this period that is considered the beginning of the cultivation of plants. In fact, cultivated plants (examples of which archaeologists find at the sites of ancient sites) began to grow long before that.

Scientists suggest that the collected wild grains, stone berries and other plant species grew near the sites of ancient people when they spilled grain or threw away the bones along with the leftovers. It was customary for women of the tribe to pull out weeds near such "plantations", which has survived to this day.

Gradually, a person began to select the roots, grains and seeds of the most delicious and largest fruits and purposefully plant them near their homes. Thus, agriculture was born, which gave impetus to a new level of human development.

Variety of cultivated plants today

In our time, breeding has become a science that works not only on the yield of cultivated plants, but also on their palatability and increased survival. Almost all types of vegetables, fruits and cereals that he eats modern man, - hybrid, that is, artificially bred.

Interesting facts about a cultivated plant, which has undergone not just selection, but crossbreeding with other species, is that a completely new organism is obtained that has no analogues in nature.

Crossbreeds, artificially bred in laboratories, are a one-time seed, but thanks to them, the number of tasty, high-yielding cultivated plants has increased hundreds of times.

Today, hybridity has touched both fruits and vegetables that are well known to us, such as tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and many others.

Cultivated cucumbers

The cultivated cucumber plant is so familiar on our table, both fresh and canned, that we don’t ask ourselves the question “where did it come from.”

It turns out that the path of the cucumber to our table was rather big, since India and China are its homeland. Even 6,000 years ago, this vegetable was cultivated, although its ancient relatives still grow in Indian forests, like creepers, wrapping around and also use them for planting fences and hedges.

On frescoes in Ancient Egypt, and then in Ancient Greece, this vegetable was depicted on the tables of rich people and for a long time was available only to high-ranking persons.

The Greeks brought cucumbers to Europe, and their distribution became rapid due to their taste and the ability to pickle for the future for the winter. Today, this vegetable is available to everyone and everywhere. Each gardener considers it his duty to grow a good crop of cucumbers, for which both his varietal species and hybrid ones are used.

Cultivation of indoor plants

People valued plants not only for their ability to be eaten, but also for medicinal properties as well as beauty. Interesting facts about the cultivated plant, which from the wild has become the standard of beauty and tenderness, concern the rose.

The rose has become a symbolic flower for many peoples since ancient times. So, according to Indian legends, beauty was born in a rosebud. She was dedicated to poems by poets in various countries and at all times, and her homeland was tropical Southeast Asia. It was from there that the cultivated plant rose moved to Ancient Greece, where it was called the flower of Aphrodite. In ancient Rome, they even set up greenhouses for roses so that they bloomed all year round.

Today, hundreds of varieties of this plant are known, bred by breeders for flower growers around the world.

Modern roses are grown in open field, in pots on windowsills, in greenhouses and winter greenhouses. They make delicious and healthy jam, and rose oil is considered one of the most expensive, since 500 kg of petals are used to obtain one kilogram.

cultural fruits

Just like cereals and vegetables, fruits became the object of cultivation among ancient people. Beneficial features berry and fruit plants, as well as the ability to store them in dried or soaked form, made them permanent objects of pantries. The best-known fruits are apples, wild relatives of which are found in the layers of the Cretaceous period, and dates. Today, many fruit trees, which were considered foreign even 200-300 years ago, grow habitually in gardens on personal plots.

The future of cultivated plants

Breeders around the world are still working in their laboratories to create new crops that can take root in unusual conditions and produce unprecedented yields.

Thanks to their efforts, cultivated plants better tolerate climate change, the depletion of the soil layer of the Earth and at the same time give good yields.

Many cultivated plants began to produce two harvests per year or per season, as they received hybrid hardening. This gives hope that in the future there will be fresh vegetables and fruits on our tables, whose homeland has long ceased to be individual countries, but the whole world has become.

It is hardly necessary to explain the importance of plants both in nature and for human activity. However, a huge number of people know the world of flora very little, and even then superficially. If the aboveground parts of plants are more or less known somehow, then the underground (roots) are the lot of botanists, gardeners, gardeners and agronomists. In the meantime, there are many interesting moments associated with them ...

The roots of plants are in an environment that can only conditionally be called favorable. This means that in order to survive, develop and benefit the whole plant, they must have impressive adaptive capabilities. And they really do have them!

The root system of some plants has a completely outlandish, bizarre appearance and is capable of performing non-standard functions. But enough foreplay. What do we know about roots?

If a tree of tropical latitudes develops on swampy or silted soil, then pneumatophores can form in it. Then the roots outwardly resemble outgrowths pitted with pores in the form of rods or wattle. Pneumatophores go into the air, based on underground roots. Spongy tissue, thanks to the many holes, allows oxygen to be supplied to the root system. A striking example of such a plant is the swamp cypress.

But this does not mean that only plants in exotic countries have interesting, unusual roots. The most common winter rye, which can be found in every region of our country, is distinguished by an unusually long root system. The total length of many roots (each of which is small in itself) reaches hundreds of kilometers. In a record plant of winter rye, it exceeded six hundred and twenty kilometers.

If among all rye plants in general, the first place belongs to the length of the root system, then among the trees the championship title went to Scots pine, whose indicator is fifty kilometers.

Along with very long roots, there are also very deep ones. The fig root goes one hundred and twenty meters underground, and in order to dig an oak thoroughly, you will sometimes have to dig a hole up to a hundred meters deep.

The banyan also has prominent roots. And what - not just air, but directly whole auxiliary trunks! As soon as such a root touches the ground, fixes on it, immediately turns into a lignified trunk and fixes the position of the branch.

Aerophytes, including tillandsia, receive nutrients directly from the environment. They need roots only to fix in place. But the significance of the fibrous roots of the metrosideros tree, which grows in New Zealand, hanging from the branches, is still not really clear. For the most part, they do not reach the ground, and therefore they are neither a mount nor a feeding channel.

The largest root system is in plants of arid regions, deserts and semi-deserts.

Their roots reach deep into the earth to reach nearby underground water sources, or extend far out to exploit what little rain falls in the desert.

Consider a few examples of the length of the roots of desert plants.

Central Asian shrub mimosa -7 m;

Alfalfa - over 15 m;

Camel thorn - more than 20 m.

What plant holds the record for the largest root? It turns out that this is an apple tree growing on the porous soils of Nebraska in America. Its roots penetrated to a depth of 1068 m! And if you take the whole root, and even add all your own small roots to it (you get the total length of the root), then its length will be calculated not in meters, but in kilometers. For example, in a 4-month-old winter rye plant, it is 619 km. One of the Finnish botanists in 1954 calculated the total length of the roots of a hundred-year-old pine - about 50 km.

DID YOU KNOW?..

That carrots, beets, radishes are also roots, only roots that have changed their appearance because reserve nutrients are deposited in them. What caused the roots to grow so wide? Otherwise, these roots are called root crops. By the way, root crops are the heaviest roots. In November 1978, the Nedelya newspaper reported, for example, on a giant fodder beet grown by a Tajik farmer. She weighs over 20 kg!

TRUNK

The largest plants are trees of the genus Eucalyptus found in Australia. They can reach 130 m in height with a trunk thickness of 10 m (compare: the height of a 10-storey building is 30 m).

In size, mammoth trees - sequoias - are slightly inferior to eucalyptus trees. The maximum height of these giants of the American continent is judged by measurements made in the last century on the fallen trunk of a unique tree in the Sequoia National Park (USA). This tree, called the "father of the forests", had a height of 120 m from the base to the top. Now botanists consider the maximum height of evergreen sequoia specimens to be 110 m 33 cm. It was with such accuracy that a specimen was measured in Humboldt Sequoia Park in California. He was discovered in 1964 and given his own name "Howard Libby".

Brown algae successfully compete with land plants in terms of size. Some authors estimate its maximum length at 300 m, others more modestly at only 70 m. It is possible that such algae, wriggling in the water depth, were mistaken by sailors of the past for a giant sea serpent, often mentioned in sea legends. The largest trunk in the world was at the European chestnut. This tree grows on Mount Etna in Sicily and was measured in 1845 to be 64 m in girth (about 20.4 m in diameter).

SHEET

In Southeast Asia, on the island of Sri Lanka, palm trees from the genus Corypha grow. The blades of the fan-shaped leaves of Corypha reach 8 m in length and 6 m in width. One such sheet can cover half of the volleyball court. They make beautiful and durable umbrellas, painted fans. Corypha is also famous for its inflorescences - they are the largest in the world - 14 m long and 12 m wide.

The Brazilian palm Raffia Tedigera has even larger leaves. On a petiole 4-5 m long, a giant “feather” is swaying, more than 20 m long and almost 12 m wide. If you put such a leaf vertically on the ground, it will rise above the 6-story House. A strong fiber is extracted from the stem of raffia, which is used to make brushes and hats.

DID YOU KNOW?..

That the spines of a cactus are its leaves? Victoria Amazonskaya, a relative of our white water lily (water lily), became famous for her large leaves. It is precisely because of the unusual

leaves and grow this aquatic plant in many botanical gardens different countries. The Victoria leaf will withstand not only a small child, but also a schoolboy. He will feel on it just like in a real boat. And some leaves do not go under water with a load of about 50 kg. Moreover, the Victoria sheet does not sink, even when its entire surface is covered with an even layer of sand up to 80 kg. That's how much a grown man weighs! Round leaves of Victoria are usually no more than 2 m in diameter, but still - giants!

The flowers of Victoria are also famous. When its buds open, it is announced on the local radio. It is in the evening that its snow-white flower opens. It is very large, it can be up to 40 cm and smells good. By morning, its petals turn pink and close. A closed flower falls into the water. By the next evening, it reopens. Now its petals are already painted in lilac-pink tones. During the second night, it gradually darkens, and by morning it closes again and goes under water again. Now forever! Few manage to see such a short living flower of Victoria!

The amazing Velvichia, growing in the deserts of Africa, has only two leaves in its entire life. Its leaves reach a length of 2-3 m. A giant specimen with leaves 6 m 20 cm long and 1 m 80 cm wide is described! Velvichia is famous and interesting for its stem, similar to a stump. The stem can reach 1 m, and according to other sources - 4 m in diameter. This stem gradually grows in thickness over tens and even hundreds of years.

FLOWER

Another giant is Amorphophallus titanic, growing in tropical rainforests. He reached an extraordinary height - 2 m 42 cm! Because of the disgusting smell, the workers caring for him worked in gas masks and changed clothes after work.

And now about the smallest flowers. In central Europe, there is a naked hernia. This plant has a height of only 5-15 cm, and the flower is only 1 mm! But the smallest flowers of duckweed and rootless wolfia (an aquatic plant) are less than 0.5 mm. Despite their microscopic size, duckweed and Wolffia cover areas of water bodies with a solid green carpet.

FRUIT

The Seychelles palm has a large fruit. Even in ancient times, the inhabitants of the western coast of India found unusual nuts brought by the wind (waves), as if sharply drawn in two. They were called Maldives nuts and even for a long time it was believed that these are the fruits of underwater palms that grow on the bottom of the sea. And in 1743, the Seychelles were discovered, and on them - palm trees that give these mysterious nuts. Their size is amazing: diameter 45 cm, weight up to 25 kg.

An uninitiated person can imagine that the roots of all trees begin somewhere under the trunk and go down, deep into the earth. But both are wrong when it comes to unusual trees: there are roots that grow straight up, and there are those that grow around the branches and trunk of a tree, and do not go deep into the ground. In short, roots can start anywhere and grow in almost any direction. Bas-reliefs in Indian temples show that the Hindu religion at one time was characterized by cult drawings and sculptures of trees Ficus religiosa and F. benghalensis upside down!

Many plants have aerial roots. Epiphytic orchids have trailing roots on all branches, and in addition, more or less straight roots growing into the humus from fallen leaves that accumulate among the leaves of the orchid. The same happens with epiphytic ferns. Following these plants, trees also go astray. Many palms have short nourishing roots that grow from the soil upwards into the humus surrounding the plant, and even into the air. J. Willis reports that the roots of raffia palms (Raphia ruffia) develop between dry petioles of fallen leaves. "They curl up and are said to function as respiratory organs." (See the relevant section of this chapter for other respiratory roots.)

Ordinary roots grow down under the influence of gravity and due to the action of growth hormones auxins. The stems, on the contrary, grow upwards - also under the influence of gravity and, apparently, due to the action of the same hormones. The root and stem behave in diametrically opposite ways, reacting to the same stimulus, like two unequal weights suspended from a rope passed through a block, moving in opposite directions under the influence of the same force - gravity.

However, any generalization forces us to immediately point out exceptions. In some palms (the so-called "stemless Brazilian palms"), the stem grows down and thus plays the role of a root. As the stem deepens into the ground, the bud curves upwards, but the palm stem itself turns upside down. But the respiratory roots of black mangroves (Avicennia nitida) sprout through the silt into the air and behave like stems.

It is believed that the roots are an organ of a tree that we never see, that they stretch in different directions in search of nutrients and at the same time provide stability to the tree. Yes, of course, they collect water containing mineral nutrients for the entire superstructure and help to pump this solution to the leaves against the force of gravity, but they are completely relieved of many other household duties. Roots usually bear no responsibility for procreation and are rarely attacked by humans, animals, or electrical companies.

No one can fully explain what a root is. And in a book such as this, one can only report the facts, for tree roots can deviate from the norm in at least eight directions, each of which is devoted to a section in this chapter .....