Date: Mon, 26 May 97 21:40:31 cst From: mark.fisher@tpwd.state.tx.us To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg2077$foo@default> Subject: cp roots
Hello all,
As you already know, the roots of most non-wetland plants do not
penetrate water-saturated soils because of oxygen deficiency--root
tips are regions of rapid cell division and elongation and have a high
oxygen requirement. Non-wetland plants will quickly die if they are
kept in water-saturated soils for an extended period. For example, a
tomato plant will die in a day or two after being in
saturated/submerged soils.
Most cp's are wetland plants and can live in water-saturated soils,
but it is my understanding many will die if they are kept in
waterlogged soils for an extended period. My question to everyone is:
do some cp possess a means for delivering oxygen to their roots, like
aquatic plants do (aerenchyma tissue?), or do they simply have a high
tolerance for anoxic soils? If they do not have aerenchyma, then this
implies they cannot survive in saturated soils in perpetuity and must
spend at least part of they year with their roots above the water
table. This would explain why they are usually found in semi-pocosin
habitats.
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