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Site: UCSC Arboretum
B. spinulosa is related to the Proteas of South Africa (they are both in the same family); however, subfamily Grevilleoideae is by and large endemic to Australia. Since the Proteas are known for their unusual roots, we were interested to see how Banksia would differ. As the images show, this plant has spectacularly dense root hairs! |
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Branched root with spindly root hairs forming bottle brush-like root structure |
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Half zoom on the branched root |
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Full zoom of above image |
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Centered shot of branched root from above |
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Zoom on lower branch |
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Bottlebrush |
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Rooting "hot spot" with intense lateral branching |
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Zoom in 50% |
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Zoom full |
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root hairs!! |
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50% zoom |
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Full zoom |
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Old root; notice the dark woody color in contrast to the almost fluorescent white color of the young active roots |
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Small, deep root |
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Notice the spider! This predator was waiting out the midday sun in her underground burrow. |
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Surface root; could be grass root |
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Growing root tip |
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50% zoom |
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Full zoom |
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This growing root has a "hazy" zone near the tip that could be mistaken for a mycorrhizal fungus. |
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This zoom, however, reveals the incredibly fine root hairs. |
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Zoom image 2 |
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Zoom image 3 |
