Glossary of plant morphology

This page provides a glossary of plant morphology. Botanists and other biologists who study plant morphology use a number of different terms to describe plant organs and parts that can be observed with the human eye using no more than a hand-held magnifying lens. These terms are used to identify and classify plants. This page is provided to 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 studying the external form of plants. There is also an alphabetical list, a Glossary of botanical terms, while this page deals with botanical terms in a systematic manner, with some illustrations. The internal structure is dealt with in Plant anatomy, and function in Plant physiology.

Primarily, these are terms that deal with the vascular plants (ferns, gymnosperms and angiosperms), particularly the flowering plants (angiosperms). In contrast the non-vascular plants (bryophytes), with their different evolutionary background, tend to have their own particular terminology. Although plant morphology (the external form) is integrated with plant anatomy (the internal form), the former which requires few tools was the basis of the taxonomic description of plants that exists today.

Since the terms used have been handed down from the earliest herbalists and botanists, as far back as Theophrastus, they are usually Greek or Latin in form. These terms have been modified and added to over the years and different authorities may not always use them in exactly the same way. This page has two parts: The first deals with general plant terms, and the second with specific plant structures or parts.

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