This page is about the external and internal structures of plants and how they are described.
Learning about the shapes and structures of plants helps us understand what they look like, how they're put together and how they grow and develop - above and below the ground.

Shapes and structures of plants have two aspects:
  • EXTERNAL - plant morphology helps you to understand more about the external form of plants.
  • INTERNAL - plant anatomy helps with understanding the internal structures of plants, tissue and cells
This page includes links to:
  • resources about plant forms - both external and internal
  • books about external plant forms
  • videos about plant forms and how to identify plants by form
Picture
Victoria Regia : or, Illustrations of the Royal water-lily, in a series of figures chiefly made from specimens flowering at Syon and at Kew by Walter Fitch; with descriptions by Sir W.J. Hooker (Source: Wikimedia Commons | Walter Fitch)

Learn about Plant Morphology
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Developing an understanding about plant morphology helps with identifying plants. That's because plant morphology is about what a plant looks like in terms of its external appearance.  In terms of history it's largely a German science. It emphasises analogies

Botanists tend to focus on four main structures:
  • comparative structures - looking for what is similar
  • observation of the vegetative and reproductive systems
  • observation of the growth habit
  • observation of development over time - and how plants change as they mature.
General resources

WIKIPEDIA BOTANIC GARDENS / JOURNALS OTHER
Articles about plant morphology and botanical art
Botanical Artists - approaches to plant morphology
Plant Form: An Illustrated Guide to Flowering Plant Morphology
- by Adrian D. Bell
- Line Drawings by Alan Bryan
Botanical artists need to understand plant form. This is a classic book, which has been revised and expanded to include the latest information on plant morphology. It simplifies a complex topic and makes it both accessible and manageable.

It doesn't cover cell structure - but if you can see it with a hand lens then it's covered by this book - all the way up to the shape and architecture of trees

​Hard cover: 444 pages
Publisher: Timber Press; New Edition edition (15 July 2008)

Average Customer Rating out of 5 stars:
  • in UK: 5.0 (based on 6 customer reviews)
  • in USA: 4.1 based on 20 customer reviews​
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BUY THIS BOOK
Handbook of Plant Forms for Botanical Artists
By Margaret Stevens (Author), Ernest E. Clark (Author)

​SUITABLE FOR INTERMEDIATE & EXPERIENCED FLOWER PAINTERS AND BOTANICAL ARTISTS - and particularly those aspiring botanical artists who are following the Society of Botanical Artist's Diploma Course!

​DID YOU KNOW? When the first book was written there was a government examination paper in Plant Form?
Margaret Stevens's 4th Botanical Art Book - written while Course Director for the Diploma Course offered by the Society of Botanical Artists - is very different from her previous books.

This time the book is a completely revised and expanded version of an old book. This book might appear to disappoint on first look as it's so very different from the previous three books. However, keep reading - this one is much more focused on developing the botanical knowledge of plant forms that all excellent botanical artists need to have.

The original book was written by Ernest Ellis Clark (1869-1932). He started as an an artist for Royal Crown Derby - painting flowers on china - and became Arts Master at Derby College of Art, winning many prizes for art and becoming a National Silver Medallist in Ornament and Design in the National Art Competition

Margaret Stevens has extensively revised and updated the book. It now highlights more than 60 favourite flowers and plants plus a special section on leaf forms for all those who find leaves a bit of a challenge! Each flower has detailed botanical drawings and a painting, along with background on technique and composition. 

Updated images have been supplied by contemporary botanical artists and students from the SBA's Distance Learning Diploma - and are of course in colour as opposed to the black and white plates of the original.

Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: Batsford Ltd;
Reprint edition (22 April 2013)

Average Customer Rating out of 5 stars:
  • in UK: 4.4 (based on 7 customer reviews)
  • in USA: 4.1 based on 5 customer reviews

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Learning about Plant Anatomy
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Plant anatomy is the study of internal structures - the study of plant tissues and plant cells. The more scientific botanical illustrations focus on anatomy of tissue and cells as well as on the external appearance

Plant anatomy became established and refined into a modern science during the 1600s - and developed over time since that date.
Picture
Illustrations of orchidaceous plants /by Francis Bauer; with notes and prefatory remarks by John Lindley.
The following links are to explanations on Wikipedia
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Flower anatomyStem anatomyFruit/Seed anatomyWood anatomyRoot anatomy
REFERENCE:
Picture
RHS Botanical Art Exhibition 2013: Gold Medal & Best Exhibit in Show 2013 - Lauraceae in Korea by Hye Woo Shin (copyright: images - Hye Woo Shin; photo - Katherine Tyrrell) - this demonstrates contemporary illustrations of the complete form and anatomy of examples of the Laurel Family in Korea

Practical identification
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Buying a Loupe

Using a Loupe in the Field
A Triplet Loupe  
for use in the field when examining plants. 

Recommended by BBC Wildlife Magazine. 

It's constructed from metal, has a hole for a lanyard and delivers 10x magnification. The lens has a focal distance 28 mm, 21 mm viewing field and 17mm linear field of view 
BUY THIS LOUPE (UK)
Triplet Loupe - Amazon.co.uk

Glossary of Botanical Terms
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Botanical terms are the words used to describe different parts, features and characteristics of a plant. 
REFERENCE:
The Cambridge Illustrated Glossary of Botanical Terms 
by Michael Hickey  (Author), Clive King (Author)

​Michael Hickey has been awarded Silver Gilt and Silver Lindley Medals for his botanical illustrations in pen and ink.
This book aids those who need a reference book for botanical terms.​
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It comprises
  • 2400 terms commonly used to describe vascular plants
  • includes those features which can only be seen by the naked eye or with the aid of a x10 magnifier
  • the terms are cross-referenced to line illustrations
  • the book includes a section of pen and ink line illustrations ​

​Paperback: 222 pages
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication date: 16 Nov. 2000

​​Rated an average of 4.9 out of 5 stars by 15 customer reviews (UK)

BUY IN UK

Biology Videos
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First, a really simple and accessible video (with good pics!) about the major plant structures of flowing plants - introduced by Paul Andersen. It includes:
  • a brief discussion of monocot and dicot plants. 
  • the three main tissues in plants; dermal, ground and vascular. 
  • the plant cells within each of these tissues; epidermis, parenchyma, collenchyma, sclerencyma, xylem and phloem. 
  • He describes both primary and secondary growth in plants. 
  • He finishes the podcast with a discussion of double fertilization in plants.
This video is useful at the beginning and thereafter probably gets a tad too biological for most artists. 
BELOW - this video might be the fastest explanation anywhere of plant anatomy - using all the correct technical words and terms!
This video explains how the RHS Database for identifying plants works

Economic Botany
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Santos Museum of Economic Botany at Adelaide Botanic Garden
The Santos Museum of Economic Botany is one of the last of its kind in the world. It:
  • contains a permanent collection of over 3,000 specimens, much of which dates back to the original display in 1881
  • showcases the practical, medicinal and economic use of plant materials
  • identifies the importance of plants to everyday life in the pat, present and future
Economic botany, simply put, is the study of plants through the perspective of their practical use for humankind.
Museum of Economic Botany | Adelaide