Cladoptosis (

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

"branch", "falling" oun sometimes pronounced with the p silent) is the regular shedding of

branch A branch, also called a ramus in botany, is a stem that grows off from another stem, or when structures like veins in leaves are divided into smaller veins. History and etymology In Old English, there are numerous words for branch, includ ...

es. It is the counterpart for branches of the familiar process of regular leaf shedding by deciduous trees. As in leaf shedding, an abscission layer forms, and the branch is shed cleanly.

Functions of cladoptosis

Cladoptosis is thought to have three possible functions: self-pruning (i.e. programmed plant senescence), drought response (characteristic of xerophytes) and

liana A liana is a long-Plant stem, stemmed Woody plant, woody vine that is rooted in the soil at ground level and uses trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the Canopy (biology), canopy in search of direct sunlight. T ...

defence. * Self-pruning is the shedding of branches that are shaded or diseased, which are potentially a drain on the resources of the tree. * Drought response is similar to the leaf-fall response of drought-deciduous trees; however, leafy shoots are shed in place of leaves. Western red cedar (''

Thuja plicata ''Thuja plicata'' is a large evergreen coniferous tree in the family Cupressaceae, native to the Pacific Northwest of North America. Its common name is western redcedar in the U.S. or western red cedar in the UK, and it is also called pacific re ...

'') provides an example, as do other members of the family

Cupressaceae Cupressaceae or the cypress family is a family of conifers. The family includes 27–30 genera (17 monotypic), which include the junipers and redwoods, with about 130–140 species in total. They are monoecious, subdioecious or (rarely) dioecio ...

. * In tropical forests, infestation of tree canopies by woody climbers or

s can be a serious problem. Cladoptosis – by giving a clean bole with no support for climbing plants – may be an adaptation against lianas, as in the case of '' Castilla''.

References

External links

Cladoptosis in ''Thuja''
- UBC Botanical Garden Plant physiology Plant anatomy {{plant-physiology-stub

Functions of cladoptosis

See also

References

Further reading

External links