Wolfgang H. Bandisch
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To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 04, 2005 12:17 AM
Subject: [OGD] catch roots / trash basket
Wolfgang [H. Bandisch] wrote : "Grammatophyllum scriptum may not do so well in a pot over period as in order
to do well it needs to be able to develop its upwards growing 'catch roots'."
Interesting point.
'Trash baskets' were first described by Rumphius Georgius Everhardus Rumphius, (ca 1627-1702), according to Arditti [OrchidGuide Digest V2 #311, October 23 2000]
"Some [orchids] like to create the trash basket effect to collect detritus by sending roots vertically into the air."
[Stephen Kemp, Orchidguide Digest, September 22 1999, Volume 01 : Number 080]
Iris Cohen also mentioned trash baskets in a post to the OGD [13 Apr 2003, Vol 5, Issue 167] : "I read somewhere, possibly Dressler, that the upward circle of roots is called a trash basket. Its function is to catch dead leaves & other debris, which gradually decay and feed the plant."
*************
Dressler, in his book, The orchids: natural history and classification, writes :
"Another way to beat the mineral shortage is for the plant to form a 'trash basket' and directly collect debris, which then forms humus about the plant roots, where the minerals released by decay are readily available to the plant. ...
Grammatophyllum, Ansellia, Graphorkis, Cyrtopodium, some species of Catasetum, and some members of the subtribe Stanhopinae, ... produce thin, stiff roots that grow upward and outward from the substrate and serve ... as debris collectors"
Additionally, a photo caption [in the same book] : "Aerial roots of Grammatophyllum papuanum, which form a sort of trash basket that collects debris. Lae, Papua New Guinea"
[pages 90 and 92]
********* Regards,
Viateur
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