Roots penatrating past bark
I have been into orchids and plants for over 40 years, I have noticed that several orchids and other epiphyte's roots had penetrated past bark area and had very well developed root systems in that area. I have noticed that with my home grown orchids and other epiphyte's.
During the early 80s I was lucky enough to go on a collecting trip to Mexico, it was during this time when we were pulling plants off of downed trees that I noticed large chunks of bark coming off with well developed roots between the bark and wood layer of host, and in often cases better roots. We were collecting in areas where they had just downed the trees and so we were allowed to strip the trees bare, so these trees were very much alive the days prior.
So my question is:
Can epiphytic plants, use those sub bark roots to draw moisture and nutrients from host tree? Sort of like a parasite, maybe.
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