Plant morphology

Science > Select The Topic • What is Morphology? • Importance of Morphology • Morphology of Plants • Root System • Characteristics of Roots • Functions of Roots • Regions of Roots • Tap Roots and Their Characteristics • Adventitious Roots and Their Characteristics • Modification of Tap Root For Storage of Food • Modification of Tap Root For Better Respiration • Modification of Adventitious Roots For Storage of Food • Modification of Adventitious Roots For Support • Modification of Adventitious Roots For Special Functions • Characteristics of Stem • Functions of Stem • Types of Stem • Branching of Stems • Buds and Their Types • Underground Modification of Stem • Subaerial Modification of Stem • Areal Modification of Stem • Characteristics of Leaf • Venation and Its Function • Types of Venation • Types of leaves • Phyllotaxy Modification of Leaf

Learning Objectives • Describe the morphological characteristics of herbaceous and woody stems. Plant identification depends on knowledge of taxonomy and understanding of stem, leaf, bud, flower and fruit morphology. Morphology is the Greek word for “the study of shape,” and plant morphology is the study of the external plant structures and shapes. While the original botanical resource, Species plantarum was published by Carolus Linnaeus in 1753, one of the most comprehensive references currently available for plant morphology is Huxley, A. (ed.) The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening. London, Macmillan Press, 1992. A working knowledge of morphological descriptors for plant identification enables the use of dichotomous keys as well as herbarium samples and digital databases. A herbarium is a collection of pressed and dried plants that is systematically arranged for research and plant identification purposes. Information on the procedure for creating herbarium samples is available at this link to Herbarium: How to Press Plants [New Tab] [1] A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: Herbarium: How to Press Plants https://youtu.be/USltmLxNt80 An example of an institutional herbaria is available at this link to the University of British Columbia Beaty Biodiversity Museum [New Tab]. [2] Digital databases and apps typically use the morphology of stems, leaves, flowers, and fruit to identify unknown plants...

Kaplan's Principles of Plant Morphology defines the field of plant morphology, providing resources, examples, and theoretical constructs that illuminate the foundations of plant morphology and clearly outline the importance of integrating a fundamental understanding of plant morphology into modern research in plant genetics, development, and physiology. As research on developmental genetics and plant evolution emerges, an understanding of plant morphology is essential to interpret developmental and morphological data. The principles of plant morphology are being brought into studies of crop development, biodiversity, and evolution during climate change, and increasingly such researchers are turning to old texts to uncover information about historic research on plant morphology. Hence, there is great need for a modern reference and textbook that highlights past studies and provides the synthesis of data necessary to drive our future research in plant morphological and developmental evolution. Key Features • Numerous illustrations demonstrating the principles of plant morphology • Historical context for interpretations of more recent genetic data • Firmly rooted in the principles of studying plant form and function • Provides evolutionary framework without relying on evolutionary interpretations for plant form • Only synthetic treatment of plant morphology on the market Related Titles Les, D. H. Aquatic Dicotyledons of North America: Ecology, Life History, and Systematics (I...

• Support us, Buy us a coffee • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Alkaloids • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Support us, Buy us a coffee • Follow us on Facebook Inflorescences emerging from protective coverings Scope Plant morphology "represents a study of the development, form, and structure of plants, and, by implication, an attempt to interpret these on the basis of similarity of plan and origin." There are four major areas of investigation in plant morphology, and each overlaps with another field of the biological sciences. First of all, morphology is comparative, meaning that the morphologist examines structures in many different plants of the same or different species, then draws comparisons and formulates ideas about similarities. When structures in different species are believed to exist and develop as a result of common, inherited genetic pathways, those structures are termed homologous. For example, the leaves of pine, oak, and cabbage all look very different, but share certain basic structures and arrangement of parts. The homology of leaves is an easy conclusion to make. The plant morphologist goes further, and discovers that the spines of cactus also share the same basic structure and development as leaves in other plants, and therefore cactus spines are homologo...