Editing Root (section)

==Evolutionary history==
{{Further|Evolution of plants#Evolution of roots}}
The fossil record of roots—or rather, infilled voids where roots rotted after death—spans back to the late [[Silurian]], about 430&nbsp;million years ago.<ref name="Retallack1986">{{cite book |chapter=The fossil record of soils | vauthors = Retallack GJ |title=Paleosols: their Recognition and Interpretation |pages=1–57 | veditors = Wright VP |publisher=Blackwell |location=Oxford |year=1986 |chapter-url=http://blogs.uoregon.edu/gregr/files/2013/07/paleosols1986fossilrecordofsoils-1vqnwyo.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170107005159/http://blogs.uoregon.edu/gregr/files/2013/07/paleosols1986fossilrecordofsoils-1vqnwyo.pdf |archive-date=2017-01-07 }}</ref> Their identification is difficult, because casts and molds of roots are so similar in appearance to animal burrows. They can be discriminated using a range of features.<ref name=Hillier2008>{{cite journal | title=Sedimentological evidence for rooting structures in the Early Devonian Anglo–Welsh Basin (UK), with speculation on their producers | year = 2008 | doi = 10.1016/j.palaeo.2008.01.038 | vauthors = Hillier R, Edwards D, Morrissey LB | journal=Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology | volume=270 | pages=366–380 | issue=3–4 | bibcode = 2008PPP...270..366H }}</ref> The evolutionary development of roots likely happened from the modification of shallow [[rhizomes]] (modified horizontal stems) which anchored primitive vascular plants combined with the development of filamentous outgrowths (called [[rhizoid]]s) which anchored the plants and conducted water to the plant from the soil.<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1201/9780203909423 |title=Plant Roots |date=2002 |isbn=978-0-203-90942-3 |editor-last1=Waisel |editor-last2=Eshel |editor-last3=Beeckman |editor-last4=Kafkafi |editor-first1=Yoav |editor-first2=Amram |editor-first3=Tom |editor-first4=Uzi |last1=Kenrick |first1=Paul |chapter=The Origin of Roots |pages=1–20 }}</ref>