To absorb

Absorb (Transitive Verb)
(past and past participle absorbed, present participle absorbing, 3rd person present singular absorbs)
Synonym: To soak up
Adjective: Absorbent

Dictionary of botanic terminology - index of names


	*To soak up a liquid or take in nutrients or chemicals gradually.*

Absorption [ Physiology - Chemistry ]
Synonym: Uptake

In Physiology, it refers to the process by which the materials of growth (water and nutrients) are absorbed and conveyed to the tissues and organs by way of diffusion or osmosis.
In Chemistry, it refers to the process by which one substance permeates another; a fluid (gas or liquid) permeates or is dissolved into the pores of a permeable solid.
In Physics it refers to the ability of a substance to absorb radiation or sound, or the fact that it does so.
The process in which incident radiated energy is retained without reflection or transmission on passing through a medium. For example: the absorption of photons by atoms or molecules

[From Latin absorption from "absorptus", past participle of absorb]

See: Water absorption

Advertising

Holdfast roots [ Botany ]
Dictionary of botanic terminology - index of names

Some species of climbing plants develop holdfast roots which help to support the vines on trees, walls, and rocks. By forcing their way into minute pores and crevices, they hold the plant firmly in place.

Climbing plants, like the poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans), Boston ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata), and trumpet creeper (Campsis radicans), develop holdfast roots which help to support the vines on trees, walls, and rocks. By forcing their way into minute pores and crevices, they hold the plant firmly in place. Usually the Holdfast roots die at the end of the first season, but in some species they are perennial. In the tropics some of the large climbing plants have hold-fast roots by which they attach themselves, and long, cord-like roots that extend downward through the air and may lengthen and branch for several years until they strike the soil and become absorbent roots.

Major references and further lectures:
1) E. N. Transeau “General Botany” Discovery Publishing House, 1994