Scientific discovery in Busselton finds never-before-seen root system helping plant survive rough conditions

A new scientific discovery has put Busselton in the spotlight with a remarkable root system uncovered due to winter rains which left researchers awestruck. This system, found in the commonly seen Kingia Australis grasstrees, explained the reason the plant has been able to survive in the unforgiving conditions of the South West. The new research, led by Emeritus Professor Byron Lamont from Curtin University’s School of Molecular and Life Science and members of Geographe Bay Landcare Nursery, found dense clusters of very fine roots buried deep in the soil. Professor Lamont said the system boosted the surface area of the roots by up to 70 times, making it receive enough nutrients and water from the earth to survive tough soil. “Our assessments were basically to see what was special about the roots and the profile indicated there are about 250 clusters per volume of soil and over 500 rootlets per cluster,” he said. “Then we looked under the microscope at the rootlets and found they are all densely covered in 140 root hairs each less than a millimetre long. “When you add that up, it increases the absorptive power of the root system enormously, then it means that they can absorb water and nutrients much more strongly than the normal root system can.” This root system has the ability to go up to two metres below the soil surface. “While there is not a lot of nutrients down there at that level, the point is that the soil is always moist down there through the summer so they can keep being active even through dry summers,” Professor Lamont said. “Most other trees have to go dormant through the summer due to the inability of their roots to go that deep, but not only do the grasstrees survive, they grow over summer too, which is incredible.” The roots were first noticed by Geographe Community Landcare Nursery chair Andrew Weinert by chance in early 2024. Mr Weinert spotted the roots while he was walking by the Sabina River near Busselton after winter rains eroded part of the riverbank and exposed them. Nursery members Helen Duff and Andrew Clarke also worked on the discovery and the roots were named “Kingioid Roots”. Professor Lamont said the South West could be hiding more scientific breakthroughs. “Roots are not easy to study — the only reason we found this out is because the rain had eroded the bank beside the river and exposed these roots,” he said. “Otherwise you have to dig holes to study them, so there is probably lots of plants there which have special roots to allow them to survive in our very poor soils that have yet to be discovered.”

Scientific discovery in Busselton finds never-before-seen root system helping plant survive rough conditions

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