Life cycle

how long a plant lives and its pattern of reproduction

Annual

completes life cycle from seed to seed in one year.

Summer annual

germinate in the spring or early summer and go to seed in the late summer or autumn of the same year.

Winter annual

typically germinate in the late summer or autumn and produce seed and die the following spring or summer.

Biennial

completes life cycle from seed to seed in two years. germinates -> 1st year grows vegetatively -> 2nd year flowers and dies

Perennial

lives for several years and once mature produces seeds each year

Habit

the general appearance of a plant or its mode of growth

Woody

tough; trees and shrubs

Herbaceous

soft tissue; herbs

Suffrutescent

woody only at base, the stem is herbaceous

Vine

a plant with a stem that is not self-supporting but which climbs or trails on another plant or structure. usually herbaceous

Liana

a woody vine ex: wild grape

Erect

vertical stem

Ascending

stem growing obliquely upwards usually curved

Prostrate

stem laying flat on the ground

Creeping

stem growing along the surface of the ground and producing roots

Caulescent

an aerial stem with typical nodes and elongated internodes

Acaulescent

appearing to lack a stem because internodes are very short

Internode

a segment of a plant stem between the points where leaves are attached.

Nodes

points of growth where leaves and buds are found at

Axil

angle between petiole and stem

Erect

vertical stem

Stolons/Runners

on the surface or above ground stem

Rhizomes

horizontal underground stems

Stem Tubers

swollen below ground storage units

Lamina

the blade of the leaf

Petiole

the stalk of a leaf, which joins the leaf to a node of the stem

Stipules

a pair of leaf like appendages at the base of the petiole

Spines

modified leaf stipules. you can identify spines because they are in pairs like stipules

Thorn

modified branch. you can identify thorns because it will have nodes and internodes

Prickles

outgrowths of the epidermis

Tendril

a slender threadlike appendage of a climbing plant, often growing in a spiral form, that stretches out and twines around any suitable support.

Deciduous leaves

fall off in a particular season

Evergreen leaves

longer-lived leaves, don't need to be replaced each year

Marcescence

the retaining of dead leaves and other tree parts over winter. very rare

Alternate

one leaf per node

Whorled

three or more leaves per node

Opposite

two leaves per node

Simple leaf

a leaf that has an undivided blade, not divided into smaller units

Pinnate leaf

a leaf resembling a feather; having the leaflets on each side of a common petiole extension called a rachis

Palmate leaf

a leaf resembling an open hand; having lobes radiating from a common point

Petiolate

leaf with a petiole

Sessile

there is no petiole, leaves grow directly from the stem

Perfoliate

a sessile leaf with the stem passing through the blade

Sheathing

protective lower part of the leaf wraps around the stem

Peltate

stem attached centrally to leaf