Last Updated on January 23, 2023 by Urska
The root structure of a plant is very important to understand. In this article, we take a look at a few taproot examples with names of plants that have them. Understanding how a tap root works, and how to care for it will bring a greater level of health to your plants.
What Is A Taproot?
When dicotyledonous plants germinate, the first root they produce is a taproot. A tap root is a root that grows as a dominant root and has smaller roots that branch off from it. This differs from the fibrous roots system that monocotyledonous plants and ferns have. The fibrous roots branch out from the base of the plant in all directions and there is no one dominant root as is the case for a tap root.
Tap roots can take a number of different forms. Some can be purely for accessing water, while other tap roots can be modified for storage and some for anchoring a giant tree in the ground. In the next section, we will look at types of tap roots and a few examples.
Taproot Examples With Names Of Plants That Have Them
There can be no more iconic example of a tap root than our old favorite, the carrot.
Conical Root
A conical root is, somewhat unsurprisingly, conical in shape. It is widest at the top and tapers to a smaller root as it goes down. The majority of carrots that we can buy have a conical tuberous taproot.
My favorite of all the carrots to grow is the rainbow pack!
The sad thing with these packs is the majority of the carrots in the pack are always white – and tasteless – pull these out and let the others grow out. What I do is harvest enough to eat, and then I let a few of the biggest purples and reds go to seed and they cross-pollinate. The next season you now have your own seed. But do not ever let one of the white ones go to seed – it just dominates the seed and you end up with mainly white bland carrots the next season.
My current winter planting of purple carrots that I have bred out from mixed color carrot seed packs. I just love the taste of the purple carrots – they are better and more sweet and pungent than the orange or yellow and white varieties. I have to put the little covers over to stop my chickens from scratching the seeds out in their search for bugs.
Fusiform Taproots
These tap roots tend to be widest in the middle and taper to the top where the leaves are and the lower tip of the root. A few fusiform taproot examples with names of plants that have them would be a sort of generic radish and an Asian radish(daikon).
I personally believe that in terms of growing plants, the radish is one of the first vegetables anybody should grow. It grows from seed to crop in a few weeks – so even for small children who perceive the passage of time quite differently, the radish is an exciting crop to grow. The leaves of radish are also packed with life-enhancing nutrients, so it’s not just the fusiform tap roots that are the prize for growing these plants!
I tend to believe in Cherry Belle as a starter cultivar. This heirloom radish just works every time, and it is a few weeks from seed to salad!! For fall and if you have a mild enough climate to grow in winter, I believe in Daikon radishes.
This is a delicious eating radish – its roots penetrate deep into the soil and extract trace elements that just make you feel 110%. The leaves are also excellent in both salads in any dish where you cook your leaves, be it a stir fry, a soup, or even a stew. You can also place the leaves, cut finely, under a steak when you grill it, and then the juices cook into the leaves and you eat those as a delicacy with your steak
These are a weird strain of radish that I produced seeds for. I think it is a hybrid between daikon and an icicle radish. Delicious in salads, and great in a stew. The leaves are fantastic in omelets and in soups.
Napiform Taproots
In terms of taproot examples with names of plants that have them, the turnip is a perfect example of a napiform taproot. That is because the actual word napis means turnip in Latin, hence something that is Napiform is turnip-shaped. Basically, if something is napiform it means it has a big top, a bulbous middle, and a small bottom. In the case of a napiform root, this means it has a big growth shoot on the top, a bulbous middle, and a little dangly root on the bottom.
Turnips are one of those things that just don’t come together right. You can spoil nearly any soup, roast, or any other meal with a turnip – but you really should grow these miserable beautiful plants.
There are things in turnip roots and leaves that just make you feel healthy. Some of these plant nutrients are great for the cardiovascular system. Guys and girls take note – there is a reason why in certain parts of the world where the adult industry concentrates and produces “content” the male stars in such productions swear by “turnip and kale” smoothies. The high level of nitrates in these plants helps with vasodilation, where vasodilation really matters.
In the evenings I have a little hill that I like to sprint up near my house. The change in elevation on this hill is significant and I have timed myself running up this hill. I find that, if I am fit and have been running it every day, I achieve a standard flat maximum time to the top of about 3 minutes and 10 seconds. If I eat turnip greens for three days in a row this time drops to under three minutes. If I do not eat these greens again for a week, my time, no matter how hard I train, returns to above three minutes. Turnip greens have some magic in them.
Turnips – love them or hate them, you need them to love them! There is a lot to unpack in that statement. I grow these things despite the fact that I cannot stand their taste. Out of all the Napiform Taproot examples with names of plants that have them, we cannot get better than the turnip – in Latin – Napis!!
I hope these taproot examples with names of plants that have them have helped you and inspired you to include a few coniform, napiform and fusiform taproots in your garden. Carrots, radishes, and turnips – always good to have these growing! And of course, if you are really adventurous, please grow salsify, but that is a topic for another article! If you enjoyed this please share. Especially that little life hack on turnip leaves….
FAQs
Which plant has a taproot name?
Napiform taproots are the ones that have the shape of a turnip. In Latin, a turnip is Napis, hence a napiform taproot is a turnip shaped. So a turnip has a tap root name!
What are the examples of taproot and fibrous root?
Good examples of tap roots would be carrots, radishes and turnips. A good example of a fibrous root system would be that in maize plants and palm trees.
Is Mango a taproot?
A mango tree starts with a tap root. In many cases this root dies with time and the plant shifts over to having a fibrous root system with elements that are tap root like.
Is Tulsi a taproot?
If you grow tulsi from a seed, as with all basil plants, it will develop a tap root. Most tulsi plants are however grown from cuttings, and these cuttings develop fibrous root systems. So Tulsi from seed has a tap root, and Tulsi from cuttings has a fibrous root system.
Dr. Garth A. Cambray is a Canadian/South African entrepreneur and beekeeper with 28 years of experience in apiculture and specializes in adding value to honey. His Ph.D. research developed a new advanced continuous fermentation method for making mead that has resulted in a number of companies globally being able to access markets for mead. His company, Makana Meadery, exports honey mead to the USA where it is available to discerning connoisseurs. He has also developed technologies to commercially manufacture organic honey vinegar in Zambia for export globally. He holds a few patents globally in the ethanol industry and believes in technology and knowledge transfer for human development and environmental sustainability. One of his proudest achievements is the fact that the wind farm he started at one of his old apiary sites has essentially made his hometown carbon neutral.
