pneumatophore
Term Information
- Accession
- PO:0025357
- Aspect
- plant anatomy
- Synonyms
- narrow: knee root
- exact: 通気根、呼吸根 (Japanese)
- broad: breathing root
- Definition
- A lateral root that is erect and protrudes above the soil or water. [source: ISBN:9780881928501]
- Comment
- Pneumatophores are found in trees that live in flooded habitats such as mangroves and often have many lenticels. May provide oxygen to below ground roots growing in flooded soils. Sometime prop roots (PO:0000044) may act as breathing roots. In that case, the annotation should go to PO:0000044, whereas this term should be used for breathing roots arising at or below the soil or water surface. Knee roots are a type of pneumatophore in which the lateral root first grows upward, then turns and grows back down into the substrate, forming a knee-like bend.
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External References
None.