21 Plant Morphology
Plant morphology is the study of the physical form and external structure of plants
Most of the plants you are familiar with are put together in a similar way.
You will learn more about this throughout the unit.
Plant form is the shape in which the plant grows.
Each plant habit can have different forms. For example, consider these various forms:
Tree Forms
Shrub Forms
- Mounded
- Rounded
- Prostrate
- Upright
- Straggly
- Horizontal
Palm Forms
Palm or palm-like habit includes cycads and plants such as Pandanus which are common plants in Northern Australia. They include:
- Single stemmed
- Multi stemmed
- Rosette forming
- Spiralling
Grass Forms
Grasses are very familiar to us in our everyday lives. Think of the grasses you are familiar with.
What grasses do you already know?
- Lemon grass, couch (a lawn grass)
- Tussock
- Matt forming
Climber Forms
There are two recognized categories of adaptations for climbing plants: active and passive mechanisms.
Climbers have adapted their living self to active mechanisms, involving growth and tropisms of the plant to become attached,
and passive mechanisms, whereby they have existing structures that come in contact with the supporting structure.
Active mechanisms
•Attachment by tendrils
•Twining
•Attachment using adventitious roots
Passive mechanisms
•Spines and stiff emergences
•Arrangement of branches or leaves in a supporting design
•Sprawling/ scrambling
NOTE: A ‘tropism’ is a growth in response to a stimulus. Plants grow towards sources of water and light, which they need to survive and grow.