Aug 19 2009
Mycorrhiza is the Word for the Week
Our word for the week is Mycorrhiza! The word means a mutually beneficial association occuring between plant roots and a soil fungus. Mycorrhizal roots take up nutrients more efficiently than non-mycorrhizal roots, and the fungus benefits by obtaining carbohydrates from the tree.
An electrophic mycorrhiza occurs on many tree species, which usually grow much better, most noticiably in the seedling stage, as a result. Typically the roots become repeatedly branched and coral-like, penetrated by hyphae of a surrounding fungal mycelium. In an electrophic mycorrhiza, the growth of the fungus is mainly inside the root, as in orchids. Such plants do not usually grow properly, and may not even germinate unless the appropriate fungus is present.
We hoped you enjoyed this short Biology lesson brought to you by ‘Word of the Week’, a random finger pointing to a word in the Big Dictionary of Science.
