Growth and development

Content

⇒	Plant development
	⇒	Growth and development
	⇒	Seeds
	⇒	The seeding
	⇒	The vegetative plant
	⇒	Vegetative propagation
	⇒	The flowering plant
	⇒	The ageing plant

Figure 11.1 Autumn colour in
the leaves of Parthenocissus
tricuspida (Boston Ivy),
developing in response
to environmental changes

Growth and development
Growth is a difficult term to define because it really encompasses the totality of all the processes that take place during the life of an organism. However, it is useful to distinguish between growth as the processes which result in an increase in size and weight (described in Plant growth), and those processes which cause the changes in the plant during its life cycle, which can usefully be called plant development. This is described here through the typical life cycle of plants, from seed to senescence.

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