The Biosphere Blog

On Grafting A very common practice in horticulture and agriculture is to graft (attach) an above-ground piece from one species onto the well-rooted stump of another species. The two parts are left to fuse together and become one. After several years it… more »

UPDATE: This post didn’t make it clear at the time that these trees were handled contrary to norms in the interests of science. (Basically, I wanted photos of two years’ of root growth whilst demonstrating how tough these trees are with… more »

Last week was a brief overview of suckers, or shoots that form from adventitious buds on roots. Today I want to pick up from the Sucker Shoot Development section in that post, with more detail and some diagrams to illustrate this development more… more »

What is a Sucker? The roots of many plants and trees never see the light of day, and spend their lives pushing ever downwards and sideways in pursuit of moisture and nutrients. The roots of other species however will occasionally send up suckers, or… more »

A plant root is an organ, and last week we looked at the specialised regions along a root in a longitudinal (lengthwise) section. Today we go in at right angles and examine what is revealed by a cross-sectional cut across a root. Before doing so, a very… more »

A plant root is an organ, and like all organs (plant or animal), has specialised regions marked by specialised tissue. This post outlines these, with an emphasis on the longitudinal section (a cut along the long axis) of a young, growing root. Next week… more »

Roots — so often out of sight and out of mind — have four essential functions. They anchor a plant in the ground, they uptake water and nutrients, they store excess food, and they synthesise some phytohormones (plant hormones) and other compounds. The… more »