Many plants store food in their roots.
Perennial plants in temperate climates must store enough food
over the winter to have the energy they need to sprout in the
spring. Because of this food-storage function, many types of roots
are filled with nutrients, starches, and sugars.
We take advantage of this storage
capacity when we grow and consume root crops. Beets, carrots,
parsnips, and radishes are some of the rootsstored foodwe
enjoy. (Some of us wish we could store our excess stored
food out of sight!)
parsnips,
carrots, onions, turnips,
and potatoes are all root crops
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Tenacious Taproots
We gardeners enjoy some kinds
of taproots, such as carrots and parsnips, but we may curse other types. Ever wonder why
dandelions are so difficult to control? As you probably know from experience, dandelions
have deep taproots, making them difficult to pull up. And if you dont get the entire
root, any remaining root fragments will give rise to another whole plant! The taproots
also act as storage. You can break off the top of a dandelion numerous times, and it will
continue to resprout using the food reserves in its large taproot. |
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