5 Types of Roots You Won’t Believe Exist
Last year, in one of my many travels, I found myself wandering through the streets of the beautiful city of Siracusa, in Sicily.

Despite my love for ancient history, what impressed me the most was neither the ancient Greek theatre nor the Temple of Apollo, but the amazing secular trees at Largo Aretusa.

Standing in front of these massive living creatures gave me the chills. Their branches were extremely long and they were supported by what seemed to be extra branches reaching the soil and anchoring them to the terrain.

After witnessing such a beauty, I decided to go back to my hostel and do some research. The trees I was looking at a few hours before were called banyan trees and were a type of fig. Those I thought were branches reaching the soil were actually roots.

This is how my interest in roots started. Here are the 5 most impressive types of roots modification I found in my research

Prop roots

These are the roots I was able to see in Siracusa. Their function is to give extra support to the plant. In older trees, these roots can become thick and woody, resembling an actual trunk. They are commonly found in banyan trees which, thanks to these roots, can stretch their branches farther away from the main trunk, reaching an impressive size.
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['Roots', 'Science', 'Biology', 'Nature', 'Trees']