Produced From Joints or Injured Places

    While most roots live under the surface many grow in the air, and a few grow from stems that are injured. The tomato vine often produces roots at the joints or where it has been injured. Such roots, known as adventitious roots, are fairly common in many plants, the common garden practice of making cuttings, which take root under favorable conditions, being based upon this fact.

    In the Pacific, off the coast of Oregon and British Columbia, a seaweed is commonly found with stalks over 500 feet long, and in India the rattan palm climbs over the tree tops for great distances, a single stem not much thicker than a broomstick measuring over 700 feet long. The search by leaves for light and air results in the stems of some plants performing almost incredible feats.


    Whether it is one of the Big Trees with a great massive trunk, or the rattan palm with its sinuous winding through the topmost heights of the tropical forests of India, the result is always upward to a “place in the sun.”