Vanaspati: Plants and Plant-Life as in Indian Treatises and Traditions c5.s3.16

c5.s3.16

1. Root.—The Sanskrit equivalent of this organ is significantly expressive at once of its function and location. It is called *mūla*, *i.e.*, by its means the plant is fixed to the soil. The plant is called *pādapa*, i.e., by its *pādas* (*mūlas*), the plant drinks (absorbs) water (*rasa*—watery solution) from the soil. Adventitious roots are called *śākhā śiphā* (fibrous roots springing from the branches). Fibrous roots are called—*śiphā*, *jaṭā*. Adventitious roots hanging from spreading branches (prop roots of Ficus indica, also of Tinospora cordifolia) are called *abaróha*, i.e., that which goes down, hangs. We also learn from *Arthaśāstra*,¹ Charaka, Upanishads, etc., that people used to take it as food and in this connection we find mention of ‘bulbous roots’ as distinguished from typical ones.