MORPHOLOGY OF FLOWERING PLANTS

 Morphology: The study of various external features of the organism is known as morphology.
 Adaptation: Any alteration in the structure or function of an organism or any of its part that
results from natural selection and by which the organism becomes better fitted to survive and
multiply in its environment.

THE ROOT:
The root is underground part of the plant and develops from elongation of radicle of the embryo.
Function of root:
 Absorption of water and mineral from soil
 Anchorage of the plant body
 Storing reserve food material.
 Synthesis of plant growth regulators.

Various types of root:

1) Tap root
o Originated from the radicle.
o Primary and secondary roots present.

M
o Persistent in dicot plant.
Eg. gram, pea, mango
2) Fibrous root
o Originates from the base of the stem.
er
o Large number of roots replaces the primary root.
o This type of root found in monocot plant. Eg. wheat, paddy, grass.
3) Adventitious root
he

o Roots developed from any part of the plant other than radicle.
o Found in grass, Monstera and the banyan tree.

Regions of root:
d

 Root Cap:
o The root is covered at the apex by the thimble-like structure which protects the tender apical
Su

part.
 Region of meristematic activity :
o Cells of this region have the capability to divide.
o The cells of this region are very small, thin-walled and with dense protoplasm.
 Region of elongation :
o Cells of this region are elongated and enlarged.
 Region of Maturation :
o This region has differentiated into matured cells.
o Some of the epidermal cells of this region form thread-like root hairs, which absorbs water
and minerals from the soil.

THE STEM:
 Stem is the aerial part of the plant and develops from plumule of the embryo.
 It bears nodes and internodes.
 Bears bud, may be axillary or terminal
 Main function is to spreading branches bearing leaves, flower and fruits.
 Areal stem: erect stem or up right stem
 Subareal stem: stem growing parallel to soil
 Underground stem: stem seen under the soil

Page 1 of 6
THE LEAF:
 Developed from shoot apical meristem, flattened, green structure.
 Manufacture the food by photosynthesis.
 A typical leaf has leaf base, petiole and lamina.
 Leaf attached to the stem by leaf base.
 May bear two small leaves like structure called stipules.
 Leaf base may swollen to form pulvinus.
 The structure that holds the leaf called petiole.
 The green expanded part of the leaf is called lamina or leaf blade.
 Petiole enters into lamina as midrib. Branches of midribs are veins.

Venation:
 The arrangement of veins and the veinlets in the lamina of leaf is termed as venation.
 Veinlets form a network – reticulate venation. (dicot leaf)
 Vein runs parallel to each other – parallel venation. (monocot leaf)

Types of leaf:
 A leaf is said to be simple, when its lamina is entire or when incised, the incisions do not
touch the midrib.
 When the incisions of the lamina reach up to the midrib breaking it into a number of leaflets,

M
the leaf is called compound.
 Bud present in the axil of petiole in both simple and compound leaf.
 Bud never present in the axil of the leaflets of compound leaf. Compound leaves are two types
o Pinnately compound leaf: number of leaflets present in a common axis called rachis, which
er
represents the midrib of leaf. Leaflets are arranged at the two sides of rachis.
o Palmately compound leaves: leaflets are attached to the common point i.e. at the top of the
petiole. Leaflets are attached to the tip of rachis and seem like fingers of palm.
he

Phyllotaxy:
It is the pattern of arrangement of leaves on the stem of branch.
a) Alternate: a single leaf arises from each node.
d

Eg. Hibiscus (China rose), Mango Tree etc.

b) Opposite: a pair of leaves arise at each node and lie opposite to each other.
Su

Eg: Calotropis, Mint, Ixora etc..

c) Whorled: more than two leaves arise at a node and form a whorl (Circle) as in Nerium and
Alstonia

THE INFLORESCENCE:
A cluster of flowers arranged in common axis. Common axis o inflorescence is called pecuncle.
o Apical meristem changes to floral meristem.
o Internodes do not elongate and the axis gets condensed.
o The apex produces different kinds of floral appendages laterally at successive nodes instead
of leaves.
a) Racemose: the main axis (peduncle) continues to grow; the flowers are borne laterally in an
acropetal succession (younger flowers are on tip and older flowers are on base of peduncle).
Eg: Crotalaria, Achyranthes
b) Cymose: the main axis terminates in flower, hence limited to grow. The flowers are borne in
a basipetal succession (younger flowers are on base and older flowers are on tip of peduncle).

THE FLOWER:
 A flower is a modified shoot.

Page 2 of 6
 A typical flower has four different kinds of whorls arranged successively on the swollen end
of the stalk or pedicel called thalamus or receptacle.
 The four whorls are:- Calyx, corolla, Androecium and Gynoecium.
 Calyx and corolla are accessory organs.
 Androecium and Gynoecium are reproductive organs.
 In flower like lily, the calyx and corolla are indistinct and are called perianth. The units of
perianth are called Tepals.
 Flower with all floral whorls: Complete
 Bisexual: flower having both Androecium and Gynoecium.
 Unisexual: flower having either Androecium or Gynoecium.
Symmetry:
a) Actinomorphic: radially symmetrical
Eg: Hibiscus, Solanum etc.
b) Zygomorphic: bilaterally symmetrical
Eg: Cassia, Pea
c) Asymmetrical: when a flower cannot be divided into two equal half in any plane
Eg: Canna
Pattern of flower:

M
 A flower may be trimerous (Brassica), tetramerous (Asphodelus) or pentamerous (Lawsonia)
when the floral appendages are in 3, 4 and 5 or multiples of them respectively.
 Reduced leaf found at the base of the pedicel are called bract.
er
 Flowers which bears bract are said to be bracteates.
 Flowers without bract are said to be ebracteate.

Position of floral parts on thalamus:

he

a) Hypogynous :
 Gynoecium occupies the highest position.
 Other whorls are present below the Gynoecium.
d

 Ovary is said to be superior.

E.g. mustard, China rose and brinjal.
Su

b) Epigynous :
 The thalamus encloses the ovary.
 Thalamus fused with ovary.
 The other whorl arises above the ovary.
 Ovary is inferior.
E.g. guava, cucumber, Carrot, ray florets of sunflower.
c) Perigynous :
 Ovary is said to be half inferior.
 The Gynoecium situated in the centre.
 Other whorls located on the rim of the thalamus almost at the same level.
E.g. plum, Rose,Pea, peach.
Parts of a flower:
Calyx:
 It is the outermost whorl
 Each member called sepals.
 Sepals are green leaf like protect the flower in the bud stage.
 Gamosepalous: sepals are united.
 Polysepalous: sepals are free.

Page 3 of 6
Corolla:
 It is the second whorl of a flower.
 Each member called petal.
 Usually brightly colored to attract insect for pollination.
 Polypetalous: petals are free.
 Gamopetalous: petals are united or fused.

Aestivation:
The mode of arrangement of sepals or petals in the floral bud with respect to the other members
of the same whorl is known as aestivation.
a) Valvate: sepals or petals in a whorl just touch one another at the margin, without
overlapping.
Eg. Calotropis, Calyx of Hibiscus.
b) Twisted: one margin of the appendage overlaps regularly that of the next one and so on.
E.g. Corolla of Hibiscus (China rose).
c) Imbricate: the margin of sepals or petals overlap one another but not in any particular
direction as in Cassia and gulmohur.
d) Vexillary: The large petal (standard) overlaps the two lateral petals (wings) which in turn
overlap the two smallest anterior petals (keel). Standard petal overlap wing petal, wing petal

M
overlap keel petals and keel petals are joined at bottom (Pea).Aestivation is from posterior to
anterior
Androecium:
 It is the male sex organ of the flower.
er
 Composed of stamens.
 Each stamen consists of a stalk or filament, anther and connective.
he

 Each anther is usually bilobed and each lobe has two chambers, pollen sac.
 Pollen grains are produced inside the pollen sacs.
 A sterile stamen is called staminode.
 Epipetalous: stamens attached to the petals. E.g. brinjal.
d

 Epiphyllous: stamens attached to the perianth. E.g. lily.

 Polyandrous: stamens are free.
Su

 Monoadelphous: stamens united into one bunch or one bundle e.g. China rose.
 Diadelphous: stamens fused to form two bundles as in pea.
 Polyadelphous: stamens fused to form more than two bundles as in citrus.

Gynoecium:
 It is the female reproductive part of the flower.
 Members are called carpel (Pistil).
 Each carpel has three parts namely stigma, style and ovary.
 Ovary is the enlarged basal part on which lies the elongated tube, the style.
 The stigma usually at the tip of the style.
 Stigma is the receptive surface for pollen grain.
 Each ovary bears one or more ovules.
 Ovule attached to a flattened cushion-like placenta in the ovary.
 When more than one carpel is present they may be:-
o Apocarpous: all carpels are free. E.g. rose, lotus
o Syncarpous: carpels fused. E.g. Tomato mustard.
 After fertilization:-
o Ovules develop into seed.
o Ovary developed into fruit.

Page 4 of 6
Placentation:
Arrangement of ovules within the ovary is known as Placentation.
 Marginal: Placenta forms a ridge along the ventral suture of ovary (Pea)
 Axile: Margins of carpels fuse to form central axis (lemon, tomato)
 Parietal: Ovules develop on inner wall of ovary (Mustard, argemone)
 Free central: Ovules borne on central axis, lacking septa (dianthus, prime rose)
 Basal: Placenta develops at the base of ovary (sun flower, marry gold)

THE FRUIT:
 It is the ripened or matured ovary after fertilization.
 Parthenocarpic fruits developed from the ovary without fertilization.
 Generally fruits consist of a wall or pericarp and seeds.
 Pericarp may be dry or fleshy.
 Pericarp differentiated into –
o Outer epicarp.
o Middle mesocarp.
o Inner endocarp.
 Fruit developed from monocarpellary superior ovary and are one seeded. Such fruit is said to
be drupe as in mango and coconut.

M
 Edible part of the mango is mesocarp.
 Mesocarp of coconut is fibrous.

THE SEED:
er
 After fertilization ovules developed into seed.
 A seed is made of seed coat and embryo.
 The embryo is made up of
he

o A radicle
o An embryonal axis
o One or two cotyledons.
d

Structure of dicotyledonous seed:

 Outer most covering of seed is seed coat.
Su

 Seed coat has –

o Outer testa
o Inner tegmen.
 The hilum is a scar on the seed coat, the point of attachment of developing seed with the fruit.
 Above the hilum is a small pore called the micropyle.
 Embryo present inside the seed coat, consists of -
o An embryonal axis.
o Two cotyledons
 Cotyledons are fleshy and store reserve food.
 At the two end of embryonal axis are present the radicle and the plumule.
 In some seed endosperm store the reserve food as in castor.
 Mature seed without endosperm called non-albuminous seed or non-endospermous as in
bean, gram and pea.
Structure of monocotyledonous Seed:
 Generally monocotyledonous seeds are endospermic, orchids are non-endospermic.
 In seeds of cereals such as maize, the seed coat is fused with the fruit wall.
 The outer covering of separates the embryo by a proteinous layer called aleurone layer.
 Embryo is small and located one side of the endosperm and consists of
o One large shield shaped cotyledon known as scutellum.
Page 5 of 6
 o A short axis with radicle and plumule.
o Plumule covered by a sheath called coleoptile.
o Radicle covered by a sheath called coleorhiza.
Floral formula:
 A formula which representing all floral whorls and its arrangement.
 All characters are represented with symbols
 Eg. Br (bracteates) K (calyx) , C (corolla), P (perianth), A (androecium) and G (Gynoecium) G
(superior ovary), Ğ (inferior ovary) ♂ (male) ♀ (female), actinomorphic and Ө (zygomorphic).

SOLANACEAE
Solanaceae is a large family, commonly called as the ‘potato family’.
Vegetative Characters
 Plants mostly herbs, shrubs and rarely small trees
 Stem: herbaceous rarely woody, aerial; erect, cylindrical, branched, solid or hollow, hairy or
glabrous, underground stem in potato (Solanum tuberosum)
 Leaves: alternate, simple, rarely pinnately compound, exstipulate; venation reticulate

Floral Characters

M
 Inflorescence : Solitary, axillary or cymose as in Solanum
 Flower: bisexual, actinomorphic
 Calyx: sepals five, united, persistent, valvate aestivation
 Corolla: petals five, united; valvate aestivation
er
 Androecium: stamens five, epipetalous
 Gynoecium: bicarpellary obligately placed, syncarpous; ovary superior,
 bilocular, placenta swollen with many ovules, axile
he

 Fruits: berry or capsule

 Seeds: many, endospermous
 Floral Formula: ⊕
d

Economic Importance
 Many plants belonging to this family are source of food (tomato, brinjal, potato), spice (chilli);
Su

medicine (belladonna, ashwagandha); fumigatory (tobacco); ornamentals (petunia).

Page 6 of 6