Multivariate Analysis Confirms the Continuum View of Plant Form

Multivariate analysis, specifically principal components analysis,shows that in flowering plants structures occur that arc intermediatebetween the typical representatives of a root, a caulome (stemand stem homologues), a phyllome (leaf and leaf homologues),a shoot and a trichome. Since these intermediates span the wholerange between the typical forms, a morphological continuum isdocumented. Implications and consequences of these findingsare discussed (e.g. homology, homeosis). The telome theory andHagemann's theory of the evolution of plant form are interpretedas referring to changes in the patterning of the morphologicalcontinuum. Plant morphology, principal components analysis, morphological continoum, angiosperms, flower, shoot, stem, leaf, enation, trichome, root, telome, thallus, morphological categories, homology, partial homology, homeosis