Morphology of Flowering Plants - Quick Revision. ROOT: Underground root system + above-ground shoot system. Tap root (dicots, e.g. mustard) from radicle; fibrous root (monocots, e.g. wheat) from stem base; adventitious roots from parts other than radicle (grass, Monstera, banyan). Functions: absorption, anchorage, food storage, growth-regulator synthesis. Root regions from tip: root cap, meristematic activity, elongation, maturation (bears root hairs). STEM: ascending axis from plumule; bears nodes and internodes, terminal or axillary buds; positively phototropic; conducts water, minerals, photosynthates. LEAF: leaf base, petiole, lamina; venation reticulate (dicots) or parallel (monocots); simple vs compound (pinnately = leaflets on rachis as in neem; palmately = leaflets at petiole tip as in silk cotton); phyllotaxy alternate, opposite or whorled. INFLORESCENCE: racemose (axis grows, acropetal) vs cymose (axis ends in flower, basipetal). FLOWER: modified shoot; four whorls calyx, corolla, androecium, gynoecium. Symmetry actinomorphic (radial, e.g. mustard) or zygomorphic (bilateral, e.g. pea). Aestivation valvate, twisted, imbricate, vexillary. Ovary position hypogynous (superior), perigynous (half inferior), epigynous (inferior). Placentation marginal, axile, parietal, basal, free central. FRUIT: ripened ovary; pericarp = epicarp + mesocarp + endocarp; drupe (mango, coconut); parthenocarpic = without fertilisation. SEED: seed coat (testa, tegmen) + embryo; dicot has two cotyledons; monocot has scutellum, coleoptile, coleorhiza, aleurone layer. FAMILIES: Solanaceae (potato family) actinomorphic, 5 epipetalous stamens, superior bilocular axile ovary, berry/capsule; Fabaceae zygomorphic, vexillary, diadelphous, marginal placentation; Liliaceae perianth, trimerous.
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