This chapter describes the external form of angiosperms and the standard terms used to describe them. The root system may be a tap root (typical of dicots), a fibrous root system (typical of monocots) or adventitious roots, and the root shows regions of meristematic activity, elongation and maturation, with root hairs absorbing water and minerals. The stem bears nodes and internodes and conducts materials while supporting branches, leaves, flowers and fruits. Leaves arise at nodes and may be simple or compound, with venation reticulate (dicots) or parallel (monocots), and arranged by various patterns of phyllotaxy. The chapter then turns to reproductive morphology: the inflorescence (racemose or cymose) and the flower, the reproductive unit with four whorls, calyx, corolla, androecium and gynoecium, described by symmetry, position of the ovary (hypogynous, perigynous, epigynous), aestivation and placentation. After fertilisation the ovary becomes the fruit and ovules become seeds, whose dicot and monocot structures differ. Finally the chapter shows how a flowering plant is described semi-technically using floral diagrams and floral formulae, illustrated by the family Solanaceae.
Root systems and regions of the rootStem and leaf morphologyVenation and phyllotaxyInflorescence and the flowerAestivation, placentation and floral whorlsFruit, seed and semi-technical description
Key terms
Tap root system
The root system formed by the primary root and its branches, typical of most dicotyledonous plants.
Venation
The arrangement of veins and veinlets in a leaf lamina, reticulate in dicots and parallel in monocots.
Phyllotaxy
The pattern of arrangement of leaves on the stem: alternate, opposite or whorled.
Inflorescence
The arrangement of flowers on the floral axis, of racemose or cymose type.
Aestivation
The mode of arrangement of sepals or petals in a floral bud: valvate, twisted, imbricate or vexillary.
Placentation
The arrangement of ovules within the ovary: marginal, axile, parietal, basal, central or free central.
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A fibrous root system is typically found in:
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