Terminology of Flowering Plants Flashcards
Throughout botanical history, various methods have come along that were thought to hold the key to revolutionizing systematics.
These methods included morphology, anatomy, chromosome studies, palynology, biochemistry, and molecular studies.
Morphology
Morphology deals primarily with the external structure of plant organs, and it forms the basis if most taxonomic descriptions.
As each of the newer “bandwagon”methods fails to be the final answer, it simply becomes another tool of the working systematist and is used to support morphology.
The standard references for morphological vocabulary
Taxonomy of Vascular Plants, by George H.M.Lawrence (1951)
and
Vascular Plant Systematics (1974), by AlbertE. Radfordand his associates…
Reproductive features
Reproductive features provide the most important characters in the classification of flowering plants. These features, associated with the flower and fruit, are easy to observe and describe.
In addition, they are considered to be evolutionarily conservative (constant). Sincevegetative features are often significantly influenced by the environment, they are not as constant.
One example of this can be seen in the species Salix bebbiana. As one proceeds south from the arctic to the temperate zone,this species goes from a mat-forming shrub to an erect shrub to a tree up to 10 m high.
However, the reproductive structures are constant whether the individual plant is ashrub or tree.
The majority of families can be readily identified by their gross morphological features.
The types of characters you will use in this course will be morphological,with the majority reproductive.
Each of you will be able to recognize such families as the Asteraceae and Poaceae simply by looking at the reproductive structures.
General plant structure
Tap roots
Fibrous root system
Prop roots
Haustorial roots
Storage roots
Buttress roots
Pneumatophores
Areole
Bulb
Cladodes
Corm
Culm
Rhizome
Stolon
Thorn
Tuber
Scape
Acaulescent & Caulescent
