Naturally Natives Native Plant Roots Come in all Shapes, Sizes and Depths by Scott Woodbury
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that shoots straight down as far as it can go (e.g., prairie dock and compass plant).
Plants on earth have evolved and adapted to grow in almost every environment and soil type. To do this, they have diverse root anatomies. Some roots are fine, dense, and shallow (sedges and azalea, for instance), others are coarse—like jump ropes— spreading out wide (like wild indigo and redbud), and yet others grow like a carrot, with a trunk
A total of 289 plant species have been recorded at the Missouri Prairie Foundation’s 160-acre, original, unplowed Penn-Sylvania Prairie in Dade County, MO. In July 2018, botanists identified 46 native species in a 20 x 20 inch frame, setting a new world record for plant richness at this scale. soybean crops in the world.
Fall into 2,400 acres of changing colors and majestic landscapes rich with native Missouri wildlife. Before your visit, please see shawnature.org for updated hours and visitor guidelines.
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A more accurate way to look at native plant roots (or for that matter, roots of plants anywhere) would be to think of each species as being vertically and horizontally territorial underground. For example, there are many species living closely together in ancient remnant tallgrass prairies (miraculously some still exist). For example, the Missouri Prairie Foundation’s Penn-Sylvania Prairie holds the world record for plant diversity on a fine scale, with 46 native species documented within a 20 by 20 inch frame.
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I think the misconception that native plants have deep roots stems from studies that came out of the tallgrass prairie region where plant roots were excavated to a depth of 10 feet or more. In many areas of the Midwest, prairie soil is very deep, the result of ten thousand years of plant growth cycles, where roots expanded during periods of optimal growth and died back slightly during periods of flood or drought. These cycles distributed organic matter (compost) deep in the soil column, generating rich, fertile soils throughout the heart of the tallgrass prairie region. Today it grows the richest corn and
Bruce Schuette
o say that native plants have deep roots is like saying all Italians are great cooks, all goldfish are gold, and all cats are white with black spots. These statements are sometimes true, but definitely not always.
One reason that they can live so close together is that each species is vertically segregated. Some species grow deep (culThe root of a 15-year-old ver’s root and leadplant); some compass plant (Silphium lie shallow at the surface (strawlaciniatum), dug from Shaw berry and pussytoes); and others take the middle-ground (gold- Nature Reserve with a back hoe. enrod and aster). The other way they can exist so close together is through horizontal mixing, where coarse rhizomatous root systems (common milkweed and plains slough sedge) weave between finetextured root networks of other grassland species. And then there are
The Gateway Gardener™ OCTOBER 2020
