Vegetative Morphology of the Flowering Plants

Living for one year or less

Living for two years, typically flowering and fruiting in the second year

Applied to plant parts which fall off early or prematurely

Plants which shed all their leaves at the end of each growing season; also applied to parts of a plant that fall off

Remaining green during the dormant season, plants never without some leaves

Withering away or falling off very early

Withering or fading, but remaining attached

Living for three years or more

Remaining attached and unwithered

The general appearance/form of plants

More or less stemless, the stem often subterranean

Tree-like, the main trunk relatively short

Trees, the trunk well-developed

Growing in tufts, mats, or clumps

Aerial stem or stems evident

Spreading over the undergrowth or objects, usually without the aid of twining stems or tendrils

Ascending upon other plants or objects by means of special structures, such as stems with disc-like tips

Stems lying upon the ground, but with their ends turned up

Extremely divergent, more or less at a right angle

Broadly spreading

Shrubby, with more than one major stem

Bent sharply, as at the knee

Plants with non-woody aerial stems that die back into the ground each year

Woody plants with elongate, flexible, non-self-supporting stems

Lying flat on the ground, typically without adventitious roots

Stems prostrate, often creeping or crawling and rooting at the node

Inverted because of a 180-degree twist in a petiole or pedicel

Bearing a flower or inflorescence on a leafless flowering stem

Woody perennials with more than one principle stem rising from the ground

Oriented outward and more or less diverting from the point of origin

Plants woody at the base, but herbaceous above

Woody perennials with a single main stem or trunk

Coiling around objects or plants as a means of support

Herbaceous plant with elongate, flexible, non-self-supporting stems

Those roots which arise at any point other than as a portion of the primary root system

Those roots occurring above the ground

A root system in which all the roots are relatively the same size so that none is clearly dominant, such as in a monocot

Roots occurring below the ground

A root system in which one root is clearly larger than the others, as in many dicots

A tap root which is particularly large and fleshy, not entirely delimited from the tap root

A flattened leaf-like stem

A horizontal stem, often rooting at the nodes, which bears ordinary foliage leaves

A twining stem, either terminal or arising from the axil of a leaf; may also be of leaf origin

A sharp-pointed stem, either simple or branched; also see spine and prickle

An upright series of fleshy, overlapping leaf bases attached to a small basal stem, as in the onion

An upright, hard or fleshy stem surrounded by dry scaly leaves, as in the gladiolus "bulb"

A horizontal stem with reduced scaly leaves, as in many grasses

An enlarged fleshy tip of the underground stem, as in an Irish potato

A swollen scaly offshoot of a rhizome

The flattened expanded portion of a leaf; a few leaves lack these

The point at which the leaf is inserted on the stem

The region between two successive nodes

The stalk which supports the lamina; if missing, the leaf is sessile

A leaf that has no petiole and is directly attached to the node

A pair of appendages located at the base of the petiole where it attaches to the stem; often short lived and only evidenced by scars

A leaf without a pair of stipules at the base of the petiole

Arrangement of leaves 

One leaf at a node

At the base of the plant, the internodes being much reduced

The leaves of a well-developed stem, as opposed to basal leaves

Opposite leaves which alternate at right angles at successive nodes, thereby forming four rows of leaves

Two ranked on opposing sides of the stem and in the same plane

Leaves folded about one another in two ranks, as in many members of the Iridaceae

Clustered

Overlapping

Two leaves at a node

A vertical row of leaves (or flowers)

A radiating leaf cluster near the base of a plant

Three or more leaves at a node

Term used to describe whether the leaf is represented by a single segment or divided into two or more discrete segments

The leaf is made up of one section

The leaf is made up of two or more discrete sections

In rosettes

Indented about one-fourth to almost half way to the midrib or the base of the blade

Indented about halfway to midrib or base of the blade

Indented nearly all the way to the midrib or the base of the leaf

Indented to the midrib or the base of the blade

Separate segments of a compound leaf

The stalk of a leaflet

Central axis of a compound leaf

The blade divided only once into first order leaflets, arranged along a rachis

A once-pinnately compound leaf with a terminal leaflet

A once-pinnately compound leaf with no terminal leaflet

The blade divided twice so that the first order of leaflets is split into a second order of leaflets

The blade divided thrice so that the first-, second-, and third-orders of leaflets are present

A compound leaf that is at lead twice-pinnately compound; used to describe when the leaf is divided into many segments of leaflets

The blade divided into leaflets that radiate from the apex of the petiole; no rachis is present

A palmately compound leaf with three leaflets

A ternate leaf in which the first order leaflets are themselves ternately compound

A compound leaf with three leaflets, these either pinnately or palmately disposed depending upon the relative lengths of the petioles; not to be confused with trifoliate plants

Plants with three leaves

Needle-shaped leaf

The shape of a stylized heart, with the petiole between the basal lobes

The leaf shape of an equilateral triangle

Oval leaf shape, the ends rounded and widest at the middle

Sickle-shaped leaf

Thread-like leaf

More or less arrowhead-shaped, but with the basal lobes divergent

Lance-shaped leaf, the blade several times longer than it is wide, often widest beneath the middle

Leaf shape that is several times longer than it is wide, the sides more or less parallel

Leaf shape with a series of pinnate lobes and a longer terminal lobe

Leaf shape like the cordate, but with the petiole attached to the point of the stylized heart

Leaf shape like the lanceolate, but with the petiole attached to the narrow pointed end of the leaf

About two or three times longer than broad; rectangle with rounded corners

Leaf shaped like the longitudinal section of a chicken's egg, with the petiole attached to the broad end

Leaf shape like the ovate, but with the petiole attached to the narrow end 

Circular (or nearly so) leaf shape

Broadly elliptic leaf shape, with the length less than twice the width

Kidney or bean-shaped leaf

Coarsely-toothed with the teeth pointing toward the base of the leaf, as with the sunflower

Arrowhead-shaped leaf

Spoon-shaped leaf

Slender and tapered to a point, as with an awl (a tool used to put holes in leather)

Fine hairs on the leaf margin

The leaf margin is scalloped with blunt teeth

Leaf margin has course teeth which potrude at right angles

Finely-dentate leaf margin

The margin has coarse, saw-like teeth that point forward

The serrations on the margin of the leaf are themselves serrate

The leaf margin is whole and unindented

The leaf margin appears as if chewed upon

The leaf margin is fringed, the hairs coarser than in ciliate

The margin is deeply and sharply cut

The leaf margin is slashed into narrow pointed segments

The leaf margin is rolled toward the lower side of the blade

The leaf margin is finely serrated

The leaf margin is wavy in and out on the plane of the blade

The leaf margin is wavy in and out perpendicular to the blade

The principle pattern of the veins on the blade

Several veins of the same size, though the midrib is typically more conspicuous, all running parallel to each other, as in many monocots

The main vein of the leaf is prominent, with several veins branching from it at 30-45-degree angles along its length

Complex venation pattern of major and minor veins which form a network or reticulum

The major veins radiate from a common point at the base of the blade, as in maples

Uncommmon pattern in which the veins curl gently upward

Leaf apex formed by two straight margins meeting at an angle less than 90 degrees

Apex that is acute but whose sides are concave and taper into a fine point

Leaf apex terminating to a sharp, fine, flexible point

Leaf apex leads to an abrupt, hard, bristle-like point

Leaf apex is drawn out to a gradual taper

The leaf apex is tail-like

The apex is shaped by concave edges tapering abruptly to a  sharp point

An apex with a shallow notch

The apex forms a hard, short, abrupt point

The apex is formed by two lines which meet at an angle greater than 90-degrees

The apex is gently curved

The apex has a spine at the tip

The apex appears chopped off

A leaf base with rounded lobes that somewhat appear like the human ear

The base partially-completely surrounds the stem

The base is wedge-shaped

The base is asymmetrical; unequal-sided

The condition of a sessile leaf when the base completely encloses the stem

A leaf much reduced in size, particularly if associated with a flower or influorescence

A leaflike petiole of a bladeless leaf, as in some Acadia

The basal portion of the leaf that surrounds the stem

A leaf or portion of a leaf that is sharp-pointed, not to be confused with thorns (which are pointed stems) or prickles (outgrowths of the epidermis)

A twining leaf or portion of a leaf; can also be a portion of stem

Resembling the surface of a honeycomb

Not shining, lacking lustre

Hairy at first, but then glabrous

Smooth, without hairs

Covered with a whitish waxy bloom

Shining

A surface with pimple-like protrustions

Surface covered in small cavities

Dotted with pinpoint impressions or translucent dots

Netted with regular, slightly elevated lines

Wrinkled

Covered with minute scales

Marked with longitudinal lines

Furrowed with longitudinal channels

Warty

Sticky

A coating of hairs on the surface of a leaf

Hairs with barbs down the sides

Hairs barbed at the tip only

Hooked hairs

Hairs along the margins only

With a tuft of hairs at the apex of the seed or the base of a floret in a grass spikelet

Coarser, longer ciliate

Slender, white, loosely-tangled hairs; cob-webby

With tufts of soft hair that come off easily

Woolly or cottony

Densely and softly matted

With a dense mat of gray-white hairs

With straight, often comparatively large prickle-like hairs

Hairs with swollen tips; gland-bearing

With rough or coarse, more or less erect hairs

Having minute rough, coarse, more or less erect hairs

With long, rigid, bristly hairs

Swollen hairs which collectively form a covering that resembles a cooking meal

Hairs that are pimple-like

Soft, slender, sparse hairs

A minute cluster of dense, matted, gray-white hair

Downy; the hairs are short, soft and erect

Rough to the touch due to coarse, stiff, ascending hairs

Sily; the hairs are long, fine, and appressed

Bristly

Hairs sharp, appressed, rigid, and often swollen at the base

Velvety; the hairs are dense, firm, and straight

Shaggy; the hairs are soft, slender, long, but not matted

Forked hairs attached at the middle, as with a miner's pick

With a few branches or "arms" that arise from a common point; may be sessile or stalked