Editing Radicle

{{Short description|Radicle forms the future root}}
{{distinguish|text=[[Radical (disambiguation)|Radical]], or the album [[The Radicle]]}}
{{More citations needed|date=September 2011}}
[[Image:Salix scouleriana.seed.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Seed of Scouler's willow (''[[Salix scouleriana]]'')]]
In [[botany]], the '''radicle''' is the first part of a [[seedling]] (a growing plant [[embryo]]) to emerge from the [[seed]] during the process of [[germination]].<ref name="Schiltz">{{cite journal |last1=Schiltz |first1=S |last2=Gaillard |first2=I |last3=Pawlicki-Jullian |first3=N |last4=Thiombiano |first4=B |last5=Mesnard |first5=F |last6=Gontier |first6=E |title=A review: what is the spermosphere and how can it be studied? |journal=Journal of Applied Microbiology |date=December 2015 |volume=119 |issue=6 |pages=1467–81 |doi=10.1111/jam.12946 |pmid=26332271|s2cid=42515027 |doi-access= }}</ref> The radicle is the embryonic [[root]] of the plant, and grows downward in the soil (the shoot emerges from the [[plumule]]). Above the radicle is the embryonic [[Plant stem|stem]] or [[hypocotyl]], supporting the [[cotyledon]](s).<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britannica.com/science/radicle|title=radicle {{!}} plant anatomy|work=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=2017-12-11|language=en}}</ref>

It is the embryonic root inside the seed. It is the first thing to emerge from a seed and down into the ground to allow the seed to suck up water and send out its leaves so that it can start photosynthesizing.

The radicle emerges from a seed through the [[Ovule#Integuments, micropyle and chalaza|micropyle]]. Radicles in seedlings are classified into two main types.  Those pointing away from the seed coat scar or [[Hilum (biology)|hilum]] are classified as ''antitropous'', and those pointing towards the hilum are ''syntropous''.

If the radicle begins to decay, the seedling undergoes pre-emergence [[damping off]].  This disease appears on the radicle as darkened spots.  Eventually, it causes death of the seedling.

The plumule is the baby shoot. It grows after the radicle.

In 1880, [[Charles Darwin]] published a book about plants he had studied, [[The Power of Movement in Plants]], where he mentions the radicle.
{{quote|
It is hardly an exaggeration to say that the tip of the radicle thus endowed [..] acts like the brain of one of the lower animals; the brain being situated within the anterior end of the body, receiving impressions from the sense-organs, and directing the several movements.}}

==See also==
*[[Plant perception (physiology)]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Plant anatomy]]
[[Category:Plant morphology]]
[[Category:Plant intelligence]]