Abstract
In edible canna (Canna edulis Ker-Gawl.), the morphological and anatomical differences of adventitious roots generated in pairs from the basal and apical positions around the nodes of rhizome were studied. The roots generated from the basal position of the nodes were thicker and had better tissue structure than those generated from the apical position, from their early developmental stage. The vertical distribution of roots in the field was observed by the trench method during three cropping seasons. The root system was ‘clumpy’ in the early growth stage and shifted to a ‘mushroom’ shape after the middle growth stage, which has not been recorded for monocotyledons. It was considered that the development of mushroom-shaped root system was due to differences in the characteristics of sets of adventitious roots determined in early growth stage. The mushroom-shaped root system provides better support to the aboveground parts in terms of the massive root-soil structure and the functional share based on physical differences between vertical and horizontal roots.
