Acknowledgments. _____________________ Location and general features of the area. Previous studies.______________________ Methods used to study root systems. Root and rhizome systems. _ Vertical distribution of roots-_ _ Root and rhizome systems___________________________ Roots and rhizomes of the most common shrubs-__-Upland shrubs____________________________ Gaylussacia baccata (black huckleberry)____ Vaccimum vacillans (lowbush blueberry) Quercus ilicifolia (scrub oak)_____________ Quercus marilandica (blackjack oak)_______ Quercus prinoides (dwarf chestnut oak) _ _ _ _ Gaultheria procumbens (teaberry)__________ Transition zone shrubs._____________________ Kalmia angustifolia (sheep laurel)-_-____ Clethra alnifoUa (sweet pepperbush) _______ Lyonia mariana (staggerbush) ____________ Gaylussacia frondosa (dangleberry)________ Myrica pensylvanica (bayberry)___________ Ilex glabra (inkberry)____________________ Roots and rhizomes of less common shrubs_________ Kalmia latifolia (mountain-laurel)___________ Hudsonia ericoides (golden heather) and Leiophyllum buxifolium (sand myrtle) ___________ Lyonia liguslrina (maleberry)_______________ Comptonia peregrina var. asplenifolia (sweet fern) ____________________________________ Vaccinium angustifolium (low sweet blueberry) _ Amelanchier canadensis (serviceberry) and Pyrus melanocarpa (black chokeberry)___________ v Cl DEFINITIONS OF BOTANICAL TERMS Definitions of botanical terms used in this paper are based mainly on Eames and MacDaniels (1947) and Fuller and Tippo (1954). Aerenchyma : In a physiological sense, any loose aerating tissue. Aerial stem: A stem that grows above the soil (see "rhizome"). Axillary bud: A bud borne in the axil of a leaf. The axillary buds of a rhizome originate in the axils of the scale leaves on the rhizome growing tips. Cambium : Layer of meristematic cells between secondary xylem and secondary phloem tissue that contributes new cells to both. Clone: A population resulting from vegetative (asexual) reproduction of a single individual. Internode: The length of stem between two successive nodes. Lateral roots: Branch roots that arise from a primary root system or taproot. Meristematic tissue: A tissue whose cells are capable of frequent division and which is thus responsible for the first phase of growth. Node : The part of a stem from which a leaf and a bud arise. Nodule: On the roots of certain plants, an enlargement within which nitrogen-fixing bacteria or fungi live. Parenchyma rays: Narrow vertically elongated bands of parenchyma cells that extend radially in stems from the pith through the xylem and in some stems through the phloem. Perennating bud: A terminal or axillary structure on a stem or rhizome consisting of a small mass of meristematic tissue and often covered by protective scales. The part of a plant from which new stem growth originates. Phloem : A plant tissue, consisting primarily of sieve cells, sieve tube cells, and phloem parenchyma, that conducts food in the plant. In woody stems and roots the phloem generally is outsid...