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Buttresses are tension elements, being larger on the side away from the stress of asymmetrical canopies. The roots may intertwine with buttress roots from other trees and create an intricate mesh, which may help support trees surrounding it. They can grow up to 30 feet (9 m) tall, spread for
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100 ft (30 m) above the soil, and then continue another 100 feet below. When the roots spread horizontally, they are able to cover a wider area for collecting nutrients. They stay near the upper soil layer because all the main nutrients are found there.
94:) which was photographed in 1866 with an adult man. The buttresses were 40 to 50 ft (12 to 15 m) long and 35 to 40 ft (11 to 12 m) in height. Halfway out the buttress is twice the height of the man. The tree died in 1893 from flood damage.
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and tropical Africa. The buttresses can extend outwards as much as 65 ft (20 m) from the tree as buttresses, then continue as superficial roots for a total of 165 ft (50 m).
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Buttress roots vary greatly in size from barely discernable to many square yards (square meters) of surface. The largest for which there is photographic evidence is a
Moreton Bay Fig (
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Buttress roots of a colossal cotton-silk kapok in Lal Bagh gardens in
Bangalore (Bengaluru), India
232:"The function of buttress roots: a comparative study of the anchorage systems of buttressed (
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which extend up to 70 ft (21 m) up a tree about 145 ft (44 m) in height.
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Buttress roots of a Bay fig tree at South Coast
Botanical Garden in Palos Verdes, California
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that may not be very deep. They may prevent the tree from falling over (hence the name
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Young, T. P. and V. Perkocha. "Treefalls, crown asymmetry, and buttresses".
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The most extensive buttresses are those of the Kapok, or Silk Cotton Tree (
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279:. London: John Murray. Photo facing p. 200 with human figure.
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309:. London: Butterworth. page 279 (fig. 12.5 with caption).
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Furley, Peter A. D.Phil.; Newey, Walter W. Ph.D. (1983).
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Large, wide roots on all sides of a shallowly rooted tree
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Notable and historic specimen trees with buttress roots
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tree near shore of Amazon River, close to
Iquitos, Peru
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A buttress root system provides structural support.
294:. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 51 (photo fig 3.31).
230:Crook, M. J.; Ennos, A. R.; Banks, J. R. (1997).
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86:) at Fig Tree Pocket (an outlying district of
62:. Typically, they are found in nutrient-poor
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292:An Introduction to Tropical Rain Forests
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39:Buttress roots. Jensen's Crossing near
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148:Buttress roots of an especially large
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277:The Black Police of Queensland
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248:Journal of Experimental Botany
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290:Whitmore, Timothy C. (1990).
240:species) and non-buttressed (
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275:Kennedy, Edward B. (1902).
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307:Geography of the Biosphere
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189:Artocarpus heterophyllus
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261:10.1093/jxb/48.9.1703
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103:(Bombacaceae) of the
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171:Vieques, Puerto Rico
100:Huberodendron duckei
238:Nephelium ramboutan
218:Journal of Ecology
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127:Buttress roots of
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244:) tropical trees"
196:Terminalia arjuna
178:Ficus macrophylla
175:Moreton Bay fig (
130:Terminalia arjuna
83:Ficus macrophylla
43:, Australia. 1988
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113:Ceiba pentandra
64:tropical forest
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48:Buttress roots
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343:Plant roots
220:82:319-324.
52:plank roots
337:Categories
204:References
118:Neotropics
116:), of the
92:Queensland
185:Jackfruit
191:), India
88:Brisbane
71:buttress
41:Cooktown
199:, India
234:Aglaia
348:Trees
151:Ceiba
67:soils
56:roots
236:and
60:tree
256:doi
169:of
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