Cmr :
Root Distribution in the Soil
Most desert cacti can be classified as shallow-rooted perennials
(Rundel and Nobel 1991). In the Sonoran Desert, the
roots of most cacti usually grow no deeper than 15 to 30 cm
below the soil surface, although the roots of some species
can extend laterally more than 10 m away from the plant
base (Cannon 1911). Not surprisingly, the deepest roots are
found for columnar cacti. A young plant of Carnegiea gigantea,
1.2 m tall, had a stout taproot that penetrated 30 cm
and lateral roots that extended 1.5 to 5 m away from the
plant, whereas an older, 6.8-m-tall plant had lateral roots
up to 9.7 m long that penetrated to a depth of 77 cm
(Cannon 1911), perhaps the deepest cactus roots on record.
Resta sempre una domanda: hai mai espiantato un colonnare (o una grossa agave o una succulenta arborescente) dalla terra?