For flowering plants, fibrous roots and taproots are the two main types of roots. Branching fibrous roots spread throughout the soil extracting moisture and nutrients. Taproots usually have one main root with much smaller auxiliary roots, enabling plants to obtain water and nutrients from much deeper in the soil.
Roots anchor plants in the ground, but bulbs can pull themselves deeper into the earth with contractile roots, allowing the bulb to escape the colder surface temperatures of winter or the drying effects of the sun in summer. The bulb is also less likely to be eaten by an animal. Epiphytic plants in the canopy employ aerial roots to secure themselves to their host trees. Rain, mist, and fog supply the necessary moisture to the plant. The American edition of Smithsonian Flora: Inside the Secret World of Plants was published by DK Publishing in 2018.
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