Parts of a Fiber Root Plant

Types of Roots

• Plants have either taproots or fibrous roots. A carrot is an example of a taproot. It is one long root that reaches deep into the earth to absorb nutrients and water. There are tiny root-hairs that branch out from the sides and the tip. The taproot gives the plant a firm foothold in the soil, which is why carrots are sometimes a bit hard to pull out. Fibrous roots are made up of fibers, all fairly uniform in size. If you pull out a tuft of grass, you will see a network of shallow roots at the end of the green blades. Fibrous roots pull their nutrients from surface soils.

Monocots

• Monocots are plants that have seeds with only one cotyledon, or seed leaf. This plant family includes not only grasses, but corn and bulbous plants such as onions and garlic. All these plants have fibrous root systems. Each corn plant has its own fibrous root system that spreads out but is quite shallow. Pull an onion out of the ground and you will find a mass of fibrous roots at the end of the bulb. Dicots, which have seeds with two cotyledons, grow larger and taller because they have the taproot system. Apple and cherry trees are examples of dicots.

Monocots – Above-Ground Parts

• Leaves on monocots tend to be long and slender with the veins in the leaves running from the tip of the leaves to the root line. Veins in plants work much the same as the veins in our bodies. Vascular bundles pull nutrients and water from the roots up into the stems of the plants and into the veins in the leaves. In monocots, these vascular bundles are mostly around the edge of the stem with a few scattered in the middle. The bundles are smaller and more numerous than those in dicots. Flowers in monocots are found in multiples of three. As an example, a lily flower has six petals. Monocots do not have branches or offshoots. The only growth point is the stem. If you look at corn, you notice that each leaf grows from the central stem. When it is time to harvest the corn, each ear is also pulled from that same central stem. In grasses, sometimes a new blade of grass grows inside an old leaf, which forms a sheath around the new growth.

Parts of a Monocot Root

• When a monocot germinates, it sends a tiny tap root into the soil. This root dies and is replaced by the fibrous root system. Each tiny root fiber has an outer covering called the cortex. This protects the endodermis, which in turn provides a covering for the vascular parts of the root. The xylem cells bring the minerals and water from the roots to the stems. The phloem cells, on the other hand, bring nutrients back into the roots from the stems. In some monocots, such as onions, the nutrients are stored in a bulb. The stems and leaves die off each year. The energy stored in the bulb allows the dormant plant to resprout. Some monocots, particularly in the grass family, also use rhizomes to reproduce asexually. A rhizome is a special type of root that grows just beneath the surface of the soil. At certain points, new shoots will sprout from the rhizome, creating another plant. Examples of this are Bermuda grass and quackgrass, both considered prolific weeds.