ROOT GLOCHIDS AND ROOT SPURS OF OPUNTIA ARENARIA (CACTACEAE)

Root glochids of Opuntia arenaria Engelm. are produced by adventitious buds (areoles) that arise endogenously on fleshy roots. If they remain active, root areoles become dwarf shoots that initiate only glochids and trichomes unless the roots are uncovered or the shoots bearing the roots are removed. Then they will expand, producing aerial shoot joints. Root spurs are formed in great numbers on the profusely branched system of small roots. They consist of clusters of rootlets about one mm long that are initiated in sympodial sequence, each new rootlet arising endogenously near the base of the preceding one. On older spurs this results in the formation of a short axial peg. Rootlet primordia lack a root cap from the beginning and appear to mature quickly, losing all their meristematic characteristics and becoming completely covered with root hairs, even over the tip. They may represent a mechanism for the rapid production of root hairs during the infrequent periods when moisture is available. In any case, they seem to be transitory structures because cork soon forms beneath the older ones on a spur.