The stem is an aerial axis of the plant that bears leaves and flowers and conducts water and minerals from the roots and food from the site of synthesis to areas where it is to be used. The main stem of a plant is continuous with the root system through a transition region called the hypocotyl. In the developing embryo, the hypocotyl is the embryonic axis that bears the seedling leaves (cotyledons).

In a maturing stem, the area where a leaf attaches to the stem is called a node, and the region between successive nodes is called an internode. Stems bear leafy shoots (branches) at the nodes, which arise from buds (dormant shoots). Lateral branches develop either from axillary, or lateral, buds found in the angle between the leaf and the stem or from terminal buds at the end of the shoot. In temperate-climate plants these buds have extended periods of dormancy, whereas in tropical plants the period of dormancy is either very short or nonexistent.

The precise positional relationship of stem, leaf, and axillary bud is important to understanding the diversity of the shoot system in angiosperms. Understanding this relationship makes it possible to identify organs such as leaves that are so highly modified they no longer look like leaves, or stems that are so modified that they resemble leaves.

Branching in angiosperms may be dichotomous or axillary. In dichotomous branching, the branches form as a result of an equal division of a terminal bud (i.e., a bud formed at the apex of a stem) into two equal branches that are not derived from axillary buds, although axillary buds are present elsewhere on the plant body. The few examples of dichotomous branching among angiosperms are found only in some cacti, palms (Arecaceae), and bird-of-paradise plants (Strelitziaceae).

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The two modes of axillary branching in angiosperms are monopodial and sympodial. Monopodial branching occurs when the terminal bud continues to grow as a central leader shoot and the lateral branches remain subordinate—e.g., beech trees (Fagus; Fagaceae). Sympodial branching occurs when the terminal bud ceases to grow (usually because a terminal flower has formed) and an axillary bud or buds become new leader shoots, called renewal shoots—e.g., the Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia; Asparagaceae). Plants with monopodial growth are usually pyramidal in overall shape, while those with sympodial growth often resemble a candelabra.

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By combining monopodial and sympodial branching in one plant, many different tree architectures have evolved. A simple example is found in dogwoods (Cornus; Cornaceae), where the main axis is monopodial and the lateral branches are sympodial.

Very different plant forms result from simply changing the lengths of the internodes. Extreme shortening of the internodes results in rosette plants, such as lettuce (Lactuca sativa; Asteraceae), in which the leaves develop but the internodes between them do not elongate until the plant “bolts” when flowering. Extreme lengthening of the internodes often results in twining vines, as in the yam (Dioscorea esculenta; Dioscoreaceae).

Leaves

The basic angiosperm leaf is composed of a leaf base, two stipules, a petiole, and a blade (lamina). The leaf base is the slightly expanded area where the leaf attaches to the stem. The paired stipules, when present, are located on each side of the leaf base and may resemble scales, spines, glands, or leaflike structures. The petiole is a stalk that connects the blade with the leaf base. The blade is the major photosynthetic surface of the plant and appears green and flattened in a plane perpendicular to the stem.

When only a single blade is inserted directly on the petiole, the leaf is called simple. Simple leaves may be variously lobed along their margins. The margins of simple leaves may be entire and smooth or they may be lobed in various ways. The coarse teeth of dentate margins project at right angles, while those of serrate margins point toward the leaf apex. Crenulate margins have rounded teeth or scalloped margins. Leaf margins of simple leaves may be lobed in one of two patterns, pinnate or palmate. In pinnately lobed margins the leaf blade (lamina) is indented equally deep along each side of the midrib (as in the white oak, Quercus alba; Fagaceae), and in palmately lobed margins the lamina is indented along several major veins (as in the red maple, Acer rubrum; Sapindaceae). A great variety of base and apex shapes also are found.

Many leaves contain only some of these leaf parts; for example, many leaves lack a petiole and so are attached directly to the stem (sessile), and others lack stipules (exstipulate). In compound leaves, a blade has two or more subunits called leaflets: in palmately compound leaves, the leaflets radiate from a single point at the distal end of the petiole; in pinnately compound leaves, a row of leaflets forms on either side of an extension of the petiole called the rachis. Some pinnately compound leaves branch again, developing a second set of pinnately compound leaflets (bipinnately compound). The many degrees of compoundness in highly elaborated leaves, such as bipinnately or tripinnately compound, cause these leaves to often appear to be shoot systems. It is always possible to distinguish them, however, because axillary buds are found in the angle between the stem and the petiole (axil) of pinnately or palmately compound leaves but not in the axils of leaflets.

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The three patterns of leaf arrangement on stems in angiosperms are alternate, opposite (paired), and whorled. In alternate-leaved plants, the leaves are single at each node and borne along the stem alternately in an ascending spiral. In opposite-leaved plants, the leaves are paired at a node and borne opposite to each other. A plant has whorled leaves when there are three or more equally spaced leaves at a node.