MORPHOLOGICAL CONCEPTS: THEIR MEANING IN THE IDEAL MORPHOLOGY AND IN A COMPARATIVE ONTOGENY

The quantitative relation between the apical meristem and the size of the youngest leaf and internode determines the character of the shoot as chain of phytons or as stem with adherent leaves. The pattern of phyllotaxy determines the course and the strength of descending leaf traces and their conjunction in a net or their interweaving in the palm trunk.