Branch to root

If you cut a branch does a corresponding root die or vis versa?

trinda storey wrote:If you cut a branch does a corresponding root die or vis versa?

I have heard that some leguminous plants such as clover do what you are describing.  I'm not sure if it's been proven, though I can see some reasons for it to be true and not.

if it were true then that means that certain roots feed certain branches. That seems to me to be a risk to the over all health of the plant.  In trees, this would be catastrophic in the event of erosion or storm damage. Imagine losing a large amount of a tree top in a winter ice storm. Since the sap is stored in the roots over winter, the tree would have extra sugar resources in those roots to feed the damaged upper portion of the tree during the spring.  This would include healing fractures and replacing lost branches. If those roots died instead, the stored evergy would be lost and the tree would have to heal with a diminished store of energy.

So I think that it might be true for some small annual or biennial species  but probably not for long lived species.  

Sounds logical just wondering how severed roots affect the tree

Yes, the roots affect the shoots and vice versa.

http://arnoldia.arboretum.harvard.edu/pdf/articles/1989-49-4-tree-roots-facts-and-fallacies.pdf

The growth of a plant is an integrated phe- nomenon that depends on a proper balance
and functioning of all parts. If a large portion
of the root system is destroyed, a corresponding
portion of the leaves and branches will die.
Contrariwise, if a tree is repeatedly defoliated, some of its roots will die back.  

If you have interest in plant physiology class:

I have a little fig it's trunk frost damaged so I stuck a branch in the ground and the branch grew roots
Aren't plants amazing

David