96 



ROOTS = 



[section 5. 



Spindle-shaped, or Fusiform, ■w-hcu thickest lu the middle aud tapering to 

 both cuds; as the common Radish (Fig. 85). 



76. Tliese examples arc of primary roots. It will be seen tliat turnips, 

 carrots, aud the like, are not pure root throughout ; Ibr tlie eaulicle, from 

 the lower end of which the root grew, partalces of (he thickening, perhaps 

 also some joints of stem above : so the bud-bearing and growing top is 

 stem. 



77. A fine example of secondary roots (07j, some of which remain fibrous 

 for absorption, wliile a iayf thicken and store up food for the next season's 

 growth, is furnished by the Sweet Potato (Fig. 86). As stated above, 

 tliese are used for propagation by cuttings; for any i)art will produce ad- 

 ventitious buds and shoots. The Dahlia produces fascicled (i. e. clustered) 

 fusiform roots of the same kind, at the base of the stem (Fig. 87) : but 

 these, like most roots, do not produce adventitious buds. - The buds by 

 which Dahlias are projjagatcd belong to the surviving base of the stem 

 above. 



78. Anomalous Roots, as they may be called, are those which subserve 

 other uses than absorpfiuu, food-storing, aud fixing the plant to the soil. 



Aerial Roots, i. e. those that strike from stems in tiie open air, are 

 common in moist and warm 

 climates, as in the Mangrove 

 which reaches the coast of 

 Plorida, the Banyan, aud, less 

 strikingly, in some herl)ace- 

 ous plants, such as Sugar 

 Cane, and even in Indian 

 Corn. Such roots reach the 

 ground at length, or tend to 

 do so. 



Aerial Jiootlets ViXt ahau- 

 dautly produced by many 

 climbing plants, such as the 

 Ivy, Poison Ivy, Trumpet 

 Ci'ccper, etc., si)riuging from 

 the side of stems, wiiich they 

 fasten to trunks of trees, 

 walls, or other supports. 

 These are used by the plant 

 for climbing. 



79. Epiphytes, or Air- 

 Plants (Fig. 88), are called by the former name because coinmonly growing 



Fig. 88. Epiphytes of Florida and Georgia, viz., Epidendrnni conopseuni, ;x 

 siiKiU Orcliid, and Tillandsia usneoides, the .^so-called Long Moss or Black Moss, 

 which ii no moss, but a flowering plant, also T- recurvata ; ou a bough of Live Oa'f . 



