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Activity No. 1 - The Plant and Stem

In identifying plants for classification, all parts, including underground organs may be needed for
positive identification. In order to go through identification keys correctly, familiarization with descriptive terms
is important.

Objectives:
1. To define the terms used to describe the plant and stem structure.
2. To locate these terms/parts in the actual specimens

Methodology.
Choose one familiar plant in the campus. Use the descriptions below to characterize the plant. Provide a
good picture to support each characteristic. Properly caption the picture.

A. Plant General Description

1. Habit
Although there are no clear-cut distinctions between each of the following habit forms, it is convenient to
use the terms as they describe the overall impression given by a plant.
1) Trees are plants which usually have a single main stem, the trunk arising from the ground and growing
for some distance before it branches: trees are always woody and perennial, usually reaching a height of
5 to 6m or more.
Tree shape: Triangle or cone shape, oval shape, circle shape, a spreading shape or a rectangular shape.
2) Shrubs and bushes are also woody plants but here a few to several branches arise from or just above
ground level, and usually are less than 5m in height.
3) Herbs are generally considered to be plants which do not develop woody stems. Most herbs are small
plants, but under tropical conditions where growth can continue throughout the year, some herbs can
be large. The mountains of East Africa and Ethiopia carry some striking giant herbs, species of Lobelia
and Senecio, which can be up to 4 m tall. At the other extreme, semi-arid areas are often covered with
very short plants, the size of herbs but woody and much branched like shrubs. These are called sub-
shrubs or suffrutescent plants.
4) Climbers: (can be woody, when they are called lianas, or herbaceous) are plants that cannot support
themselves in an upright position but which grow over other plants and/or non-living structures. Many
climbers have organs which assist in the plant catching and holding onto its support. These include
spines and prickles, tendrils and twining stems. Some climbers do not produce specialized organs but
simply grow up and fall over other plants. Some woody vines are frequently called scandent shrubs,
especially when sprawling over other plants or objects, with no special adaptation s for climbing.

2. Plant Habitat
1) Terrestrial – growing and rooting on soil
2) Aquatic - grow in water, either entirely or partly submerged
3) Epiphytes – those that grow on other plants for support, but not taking nourishment from it
4) Parasites – growing on the supporting plants taking part or all of their nourishment from the host plant

3. Plant Duration of Growth

1) Annual – plants that live for a short time, a few weeks or months, and die after producing flowers and
seeds. Ex. Herbs

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2) Biennial – plants that live for two years, producing flowers and seeds the second year and then dying.
Usually common in temperate countries but rare in the tropics
3) Perennial – plants that live from year to year like all trees and shrubs and many herbaceous plants with
underground stems

B. The Stem

The stem is the axis of the plant , to which are

attached all other parts. In most plants, the stems are very
evident, but in some species they are entirely underground.
Plants that show no obvious stem above ground, but bear
only leaves and flower stalks are called stemless or
acaulescent.

Stems above ground may be simple or branched . They are usually composed of nodes , the place on the
stem or its branches where one or more leaves or branches are borne, and internodes, the spaces between the
nodes.

1. Arrangement of Branches

2. Stem Texture

1) Herbaceous – when living for a short period, forming no permanent woody tissue, and dying after
flowering
2) Suffrutescent – when more or less woody or half-woody, at least at the base
3) Woody – when forming permanent woody tissue lasting from year to year

3. Direction of Growth

1)Erect – when they ascend perpendicularly from the base

2)Ascending – when arising obliquely
3)Decumbent – when more or less reclining on the ground at or near the base
4)Prostate – when lying flat on the ground
5)Creeping – when closely appressed to the ground and rooting at the nodes
6)Climbing or scandent – when ascending by means of the support offered by other plants or objects,
whether by tendrils, special spirally twisted organs, by rootlets , or by other means. Vines that climb by
coiling about other stems or objects are called twining.
4. Twig appearance

Surface

1) Glabrous –smooth
2) Pubescent – hairy
3) Glaucous – whitish coating, film
4) Polished or dull

Armament

Thorns, spines, prickles

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5. Special Kinds of Stems or Branches

1) Culm – the hollow or solid stems of the grasses with well-defined nodes and internodes
2) Sucker – a branch arising from the stem or from roots underground or from adventitious buds on the
trunk or larger branches of “shrubs or trees”, the latter being called stem-suckers
3) Stolon – a branch from above ground that becomes prostrate and strikes root at the tip or nodes,
producing new plants

6. Forms of Underground Stems

1) Rhizome or rootstock – is a more or less modified creeping stem growing beneath the surface of the soil;
the simpler forms are slender and consist of nodes and internodes bearing scales
2) Tuber – is a stout, thickened portion of a rootstock, bearing buds (eyes) on the sides, as in potato
3) Corm – is a short, thickened underground stem, usually sending off numerous roots from the lower part,
and leaves and flowers stalks from the upper as in gabi
4) Bulb – consists of a small basal solid part, its bulk being made up of thickened scales; those in which the
scales closely enwrap each other are called tunicated bulbs as in the onion, garlic, etc., and those where
the scales are thick and narrow are called scaly bulbs.

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Name:____________________________________________ Date: January 16, 2019

Date Due: January 16, 2019
Date Submitted:______________

Activity Worksheet: The Plant and Stem

Name of Plant:____________________________________

A. Plant General Description

Description Picture
1. Plant Habit

2. Plant Habitat

3. Plant Duration
of Growth

B. The Stem

Characteristic Picture
1. Arrangement of
Branches

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2. Stem Texture

3. Direction of
Growth

4. Twig
appearance

5. Special Kind of
Stem?

6. Underground
Stem?

Systematic Biology Act. 1 The Plant and Stem