This page provides a glossary of plant morphology. Botanists and other biologists who study
plant morphology use a number of different terms to classify and identify
plant organs and parts that can be observed using no more than a handheld magnifying lens. This page provides help in understanding the numerous other pages describing plants by their various
taxa. The accompanying page—
Plant morphology—provides an overview of the science of the external form of plants. There is also an alphabetical list:
Glossary of botanical terms. In contrast, this page deals with botanical terms in a
systematic
Systematic may refer to:
Science
* Short for systematic error
* Systematic fault
* Systematic bias, errors that are not determined by chance but are introduced by an inaccuracy (involving either the observation or measurement process) inheren ...
manner, with some illustrations, and organized by
plant anatomy and function in
plant physiology
Plant physiology is a subdiscipline of botany concerned with the functioning, or physiology, of plants. Closely related fields include plant morphology (structure of plants), plant ecology (interactions with the environment), phytochemistry (bi ...
.
This glossary primarily includes terms that deal with
vascular plants (
ferns,
gymnosperms and angiosperms), particularly
flowering plants (angiosperms). Non-vascular plants (
bryophytes), with their different evolutionary background, tend to have separate terminology. Although plant morphology (the external form) is integrated with plant anatomy (the internal form), the former became the basis of the
taxonomic
Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification.
A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...
description of plants that exists today, due to the few tools required to observe.
Many of these terms date back to the earliest
herbalists and
botanist
Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...
s, including
Theophrastus. Thus, they usually have
Greek or
Latin roots. These terms have been modified and added to over the years, and different authorities may not always use them the same way.
This page has two parts: The first deals with general plant terms, and the second with specific plant structures or parts.
General plant terms
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