ROOT. That part of a tree or plant under ground from which it draws most of 
its nourishment from the earth. 
     2. When the roots of a tree planted in one man's land extend into that 
of another, this circumstance does not give the latter any right to the 
tree, though such is the doctrine of the civil law; Dig. 41, 1, 7, 13; but 
such person has a right to cut off the roots up to his line. Rolle's R. 394, 
vide Tree. 
     3. In a figurative sense, the term root is used to signify the person 
from whom one or more others are descended. Vide Descent; Per stirpes.