Vegetative Morphology
Growth form
- Herb: No woody tissue. Small size.
- Shrub: Woody, several stems from the base. Medium size.
- Tree: Woody, usually one main stem. Large.
- Vine: Woody or herbaceous, stem climbing or twining
- Petiole: the stalk of a leaf; a leaf without a petiole is sessile.
- Blade: The flat, expanded portion of the leaf. The "leaf" part of the leaf!
- Simple: The blade is all in one piece.
- Compound: The blade is divided all the way to the midrib (rachis) into two or more pieces.
- Alternate: Leaves arranged one per node
- Opposite: Leaves arranged two per node
- Whorled: Arranged two or more per node
- Pinnate: With a main midvein and secondary veins arising from it at intervals
- Palmate: With the main veins all arising from one point at the base of the leaf.
- Parallel: With all the main veins parallel.
- Awl: Small, spike-like leaves as seen in some gymnosperms and lycopodiums.
- Cordate: Heart-shaped with the wide part at the bottom.
- Deltoid: Triangular in shape
- Elliptic: Shaped like an ellipse, tapered at both ends and with curved sides.
- Lanceolate--shaped like the tip of a lance,
broadest at the base and tapered to a long point.
- Linear: Very long and thin, with the sides parallel,
as in grasses.
- Oblong: Rectangular with parallel sides.
- Obovate: Ovate with wider part towards apical tip.
- Orbicular: Nearly circular
in outline.
- Ovate: Egg-shaped with the larger end at the bottom
towards petiole.
- Palmate: Shape created when main veins arise from
a single central point.
- Peltate: With the petiole attached to the center of
the underside of the blade.
Helpful Hint: The prefix ob- means opposite, so for every shape term, a term for the
same shape turned the other way around can be created by adding "ob-" to the
term. For example, oblanceolate means shaped like the tip of lance, broadest at the top
and long-tapered to the base.
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