Plant life-form schemes constitute a way of classifying plants alternatively to the ordinary species-genus-family

scientific classification Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

. In

colloquial speech Colloquialism (), also called colloquial language, everyday language or general parlance, is the linguistic style used for casual (informal) communication. It is the most common functional style of speech, the idiom normally employed in conversa ...

, plants may be classified as

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s, shrubs,

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicina ...

s (

forb A forb or phorb is an herbaceous flowering plant that is not a graminoid (grass, sedge, or rush). The term is used in biology and in vegetation ecology, especially in relation to grasslands and understory. Typically these are dicots without woo ...

s and

graminoid In botany Botany, also called plant science (or plant sciences), plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this fiel ...

s), etc. The scientific use of life-form schemes emphasizes plant function in the

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syst ...

and that the same function or "adaptedness" to the environment may be achieved in a number of ways, i.e. plant species that are closely related

phylogenetically In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

may have widely different life-form, for example '' Adoxa'' and ''

Sambucus ''Sambucus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Adoxaceae. The various species are commonly called elder or elderberry. The genus was formerly placed in the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae, but was reclassified as Adoxaceae due to ...

'' are from the same family, but the former is a small

herbaceous plant Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition ...

and the latter is a shrub or

. Conversely, unrelated species may share a life-form through

convergent evolution Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different periods or epochs in time. Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function but were not present in the last com ...

. While taxonomic classification is concerned with the production of natural classifications (being natural understood either in philosophical basis for pre-evolutionary thinking, or

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

ally as non-

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of conver ...

), plant life form classifications uses other criteria than naturalness, like morphology, physiology and ecology. ''Life-form'' and ''growth-form'' are essentially synonymous concepts, despite attempts to restrict the meaning of growth-form to types differing in shoot architecture.Du Rietz, G. E. (1931
Life-forms of terrestrial flowering plants
I. Acta Phytogeographica Suecica 3 (1): 95 pp. Most life form schemes are concerned with

vascular plant Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes () or collectively Tracheophyta (), form a large group of land plants ( accepted known species) that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They ...

s only. ''Plant construction types'' may be used in a broader sense to encompass ''planktophytes'', ''benthophytes'' (mainly

alga Algae ( , ; : alga ) are any of a large and diverse group of photosynthetic, eukaryotic organisms. The name is an informal term for a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from u ...

e) and

terrestrial plant A terrestrial plant is a plant that grows on, in, or from land. Other types of plants are aquatic (living in water), epiphytic (living on trees) and lithophytic (living in or on rocks). The distinction between aquatic and terrestrial plants is ...

s. A popular life-form scheme is the Raunkiær system.

History

One of the earliest attempts to classify the life-forms of plants and animals was made by

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical Greece, Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatet ...

, whose writings are lost. His pupil,

Theophrastus Theophrastus (; grc-gre, Θεόφραστος ; c. 371c. 287 BC), a Greek philosopher and the successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. He was a native of Eresos in Lesbos.Gavin Hardy and Laurence Totelin, ''Ancient Botany'', Routle ...

, in ''Historia Plantarum'' (c. 350 BC), was the first who formally recognized plant habits: trees, shrubs and herbs. Some earlier authors (e.g.,

Humboldt Humboldt may refer to: People * Alexander von Humboldt, German natural scientist, brother of Wilhelm von Humboldt * Wilhelm von Humboldt, German linguist, philosopher, and diplomat, brother of Alexander von Humboldt Fictional characters * ...

, 1806) did classify species according to physiognomy, but were explicit about the entities being merely practical classes without any relation to plant function. A marked exception was

A. P. de Candolle Augustin Pyramus (or Pyrame) de Candolle (, , ; 4 February 17789 September 1841) was a Swiss botanist. René Louiche Desfontaines launched de Candolle's botanical career by recommending him at a herbarium. Within a couple of years de Candolle ...

(1818) attempt to construct a natural system of botanical classification. His system was based on the height of the lignified stem and on plant longevity.

Eugenius Warming Eugenius (died 6 September 394) was a usurper in the Western Roman Empire (392–394) against Emperor Theodosius I. While Christian himself, Eugenius capitalized on the discontent in the West caused by Theodosius' religious policies targetin ...

, in his account, is explicit about his Candollean legacy. Warming, E. (1909) Oecology of Plants - an introduction to the study of plant-communities, translated by P. Groom and I. B. Balfour. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 422 pp. Warming's first attempt in life-form classification was his work ''Om Skudbygning, Overvintring og Foryngelse'' (translated title "On shoot architecture, perennation and rejuvenation" - See line drawings) (1884). The classification was based on his meticulous observations while raising wild plants from seed in the Copenhagen Botanical Garden. Fourteen informal groups were recognized, based on longevity of the plant, power of

vegetative propagation Vegetative reproduction (also known as vegetative propagation, vegetative multiplication or cloning) is any form of asexual reproduction occurring in plants in which a new plant grows from a fragment or cutting of the parent plant or spe ...

, duration of tillers,

hypogeous Hypogeal, hypogean, hypogeic and hypogeous (; ) are biological terms describing an organism's activity below the soil surface. In botany, a seed is described as showing hypogeal germination when the cotyledons of the germinating seed remain no ...

or epigeous type of shoots, mode of wintering, and degree and mode of branching of rhizomes. The term life-form was first coined by Warming ("livsform") in his 1895 book Plantesamfund, Warming, E. (1895) Plantesamfund - Grundtræk af den økologiske Plantegeografi. P.G. Philipsens Forlag, Kjøbenhavn; Chapter 2 "Livsform (Vegetationsform)" p. 3-6. but was translated to "growthform" in the 1909 English version '' Oecology of Plants''. Warming developed his life-form scheme further in his "On the life forms in the vegetable kingdom". He presented a hierarchic scheme, first dividing plants into

heterotrophic A heterotroph (; ) is an organism that cannot produce its own food, instead taking nutrition from other sources of organic carbon, mainly plant or animal matter. In the food chain, heterotrophs are primary, secondary and tertiary consumers, but ...

and

autotrophic An autotroph or primary producer is an organism that produces complex organic compounds (such as carbohydrates, fats, and proteins) using carbon from simple substances such as carbon dioxide,Morris, J. et al. (2019). "Biology: How Life Works", ...

, the latter group then into aquatic and

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...

, the land plants into ''muscoid'', ''lichenoid'', ''lianoid'' and all other autonomous land plants, which again were divided into

monocarpic Monocarpic plants are those that flower and set seeds only once, and then die. The term is derived from Greek (''mono'', "single" + ''karpos'', "fruit" or "grain"), and was first used by Alphonse de Candolle. Other terms with the same meaning ar ...

and

polycarpic Polycarpic plants are those that flower and set seeds many times before dying. A term of identical meaning is pleonanthic and iteroparous. Polycarpic plants are able to reproduce multiple times due to at least some portion of its meristems being ...

. This system was incorporated into the English version of his 1895 book ''Oecology of Plants''. Warming continued working on plant life-forms and intended to develop his system further. However, due to high age and illness, he was able to publish a draft of his last system only Following Warming's line of emphasizing functional characters, Oscar Drude devised a life-form scheme in his ''Die Systematische und Geographische Anordnung der Phanerogamen'' (1887). This was, however, a hybrid between physiognomic and functional classification schemes as it recognized

monocots Monocotyledons (), commonly referred to as monocots, ( Lilianae ''sensu'' Chase & Reveal) are grass and grass-like flowering plants (angiosperms), the seeds of which typically contain only one embryonic leaf, or cotyledon. They constitute one of ...

and dicots as groups. Drude later modified his scheme in ''Deutschlands Pflanzengeographie'' (1896), and this scheme was adopted by the influential American plant

ecologist Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

Frederic Clements Frederic Edward Clements (September 16, 1874 – July 26, 1945) was an American plant ecologist and pioneer in the study of plant ecology and vegetation succession. Biography Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, he studied botany at the University of Neb ...

and

Roscoe Pound Nathan Roscoe Pound (October 27, 1870 – June 30, 1964) was an American legal scholar and educator. He served as Dean of the University of Nebraska College of Law from 1903 to 1911 and Dean of Harvard Law School from 1916 to 1936. He was a membe ...

Christen C. Raunkiær's classification (1904) recognized life-forms (first called "biological types") on the basis of plant adaptation to survive the unfavorable season, be it cold or dry, that is the position of buds with respect to the soil surface. In subsequent works, he showed the correspondence between gross climate and the relative abundance of his life-forms. (1931) reviewed the previous life-form schemes in 1931 and strongly criticized the attempt to include "epharmonic" characters, i.e., those that can change in response to the environment (see

phenotypic plasticity Phenotypic plasticity refers to some of the changes in an organism's behavior, morphology and physiology in response to a unique environment. Fundamental to the way in which organisms cope with environmental variation, phenotypic plasticity encompa ...

). He tabulated six parallel ways of life-form classification: * 1. Main life-forms ("Grundformen"): based upon the general plant physiognomy (e.g., Theophrastus, 350 BC, Humboldt, 1806; * 2. Growth-forms ''sensu stricto'': based upon the shoot architecture; * 3. Periodicity life-forms: based upon the seasonal physiognomic variation; * 4. Bud height life-forms: based upon the height above (or below) the ground-level of the uppermost buds perduring the most unfavourable seasons (e.g., Raunkiær, 1904); * 5. Bud-type life-forms: based upon the structure of the buds perduring the most unfavourable seasons; * 6. Leaf life-forms: based on the character (form, size, duration, structure, etc.) of the leaves (e.g., Raunkiær, 1916). Later authors have combined these or other types of unidimensional life-form schemes into more complex schemes, in which life-forms are defined as combinations of states of several characters. Examples are the schemes proposed by Pierre Dansereau and Stephan Halloy. These schemes approach the concept of plant functional type, which has recently replaced ''life-form'' in a narrow sense.

Classification systems

Following, some relevant schemes.

Theophrastus (c. 350 BC)

Based on plant habit:Du Rietz (1931), p. 1. *

Tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s * Shrubs *

Herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicina ...

Humboldt (1806-1808)

Humboldt described 19 (originally 16) ''Hauptformen'', named mostly after some characteristic genus or family: * ''die Palmen'' * ''die Bananenform'' * ''die Malvenform'' * ''die Form der Mimosen'' * ''die Heidekräuter'' * ''die Cactusform'' * ''die Orchideen'' * ''die Form der Casuarinen'' * ''die Nadelhölzer'' * ''die Pothosgewächse (Arumform)'' * ''die Lianen'' * ''die Aloegewächse'' * ''die Grasform'' * ''die Farenkräuter'' * ''die Liliengewächse'' * ''die Weidenform'' * ''die Myrtengewächse'' * ''die Melastomenform'' * ''die Lorbeerform''

De Candolle (1818)

Based upon the duration of life and the height of the ligneous stem: * 1. ''Planta monocarpica'' * 2. ''Planta monocarpica annua'' * 3. ''Planta monocarpica biennis'' * 4. ''Planta monocarpica perennis'' * 5. ''Planta rhizocarpica'' * 6. ''Planta caulocarpica'' * 7. ''Planta caulocarpica suffrutex'' * 8. ''Planta caulocarpica frutex'' * 9. ''Planta caulocarpica arbuscula'' * 10. ''Planta caulocarpica arbor''

Raunkiær (1904-1907) plant life-forms

Based on the place of the plant's growth-point (bud) during seasons with adverse conditions (cold seasons, dry seasons): * Phanerophytes * Chamaephytes * Hemicryptophytes * Cryptophyte :*

Geophyte A storage organ is a part of a plant specifically modified for storage of energy (generally in the form of carbohydrates) or water. Storage organs often grow underground, where they are better protected from attack by herbivores. Plants that have ...

s :* Helophytes :* Hydrophytes * Therophytes * Aerophytes * Epiphytes

Warming (1909)

*I. Heterotrophic plants (holosaprophytes and holoparasites). *II. Aquatic plants. *Ill. Muscoid plants (bryophytes, and perhaps Hymenophyllaceae). *IV. Lichenoid plants (lichens, and perhaps some vascular plants like Tillandsia nsneoides). *V. Lianoid plants. *VI. The rest of the autonomous terrestrial plants. **A. Hapaxanthic (or monocarpic) herbs. ***1. Aestival annual plants. ***2. Hibernal annual plants. ***3. Biennial-perennial (dicyclic, pleiocyclic) herbs. **B. Pollacanthic (polycarpic) plants. ***1. Renascent (redivivus) herbs (multicipital rhizomes, mat-geophytes, and rhizome-geophytes, each of them with several subordinate groups). ***2. Rosette-plants (besides the ordinary rosette-herbs and rosette-grasses also the Musa-form and the tuft-trees). ***3. Creeping plants. ***4. Land-plants with long erect long-lived shoots (cushion-plants, under-shrubs, soft-stemmed plants, succulent-stemmed plants, woody plants with long-lived, lignified stems, the last group divided into canopy-trees, shrubs, a dwarf-shrubs).

Clements (1920)

Vegetation-forms: * I. 1. Annuals. * II. 2. Biennials. * III. Herbaceous perennials. ** 3. Sod-grasses. ** 4. Bunch-grasses. ** 5. Bush-herbs. ** 6. Cushion-herbs. ** 7. Mat-herbs. ** 8. Rosette-herbs. ** 9. Carpet-herbs. ** 10. Succulents. * IV. Woody perennials. ** 11. Halfshrubs. ** 12. Bushes. ** 13. Succulents. ** 14. Shrubs. ** 15. Trees.

Rübel (1930)

*Magniligniden *Parviligniden *Semiligniden *Sukkulenten *Epiphyten *Lianen *Herbiden *Saxiden *Errantiden

Du Rietz (1931)

Main life-forms ("Grundformen") system: *A. Woody plants or Holoxyles ("ligneous plants", "lignose" of many earlier authors, "Ligniden" Du Rietz 1921, "Xyloids" Warming 1923). **I. Trees. **II. Shrubs. **III. Dwarf-shrubs. **IV. Woody cushion-plants. **V. Woody lianas. *B. Half-shrubs, or Hemixyles (semi-woody plants, "Semiligniden" Rübel 1930). **I. Tall half-shrubs. **II. Dwarf half-shrubs. *C. Herbaceous plants ("Herbiden" Du Rietz 1921). **I. Chtonophytic, non-lianoid. **II. Epiphytoidic. **III. Parasitic on trunks or branches of trees, shrubs, or dwarf-shrubs. **IV. Herbaceous lianes. Growth-form system: * a. Main stem-types in flowering-plants. ** A. Geocorms. *** I. Plagiogeocorms. *** II. Orthooeocorms. ** B. Aërocorms. *** I. Herbaceous aërocorms. *** II. Ligneous aerocorrns. * b. Growth-forms on the basis of stem-types and stem-type combinations. ** A. Holoxyles *** I. Trees. *** II. Shrubs. *** III. Dwarf-shrubs. *** IV. Woody Cushion-plants. ** B. Hemixyles. *** I. True Half-shrubs (suffrutices). *** II. Cane Half-shrubs (virgulta).

Ellenberg & Mueller-Dombois (1967)

Main groups of plant life forms: * Aa Autotrophic plants ** Ba Kormophytes (= vascular plants) *** Ca Self-supporting plants **** Da Woody plants, or herbaceous evergreen perennials ***** Phanerophytes ***** Chamaephytes **** Db Perennial (including biennial) herbaceous plants with periodic shoot reduction ***** Hemicryptophytes ***** Geophytes (Cryptophytes) **** Dc Annuals ***** Therophytes *** Cb Plants that grow by supporting themselves on others **** Ea Plants that root in the ground ***** Lianas (Eu-lianas) ***** Hemi-epiphytes (Pseudo-lianas) **** Eb Plants that germinate and root on other plants (these include dead standing plants, telegraph poles and wires, stumps and such like) ***** Epiphytes *** Cc Free-moving water plants (= errants) **** Errant vascular Hydrophytes ** Bb Thallophytes (= non-vascular cryptogams) *** Fa Plants attached to the ground surface **** Ga Perennials ***** Thallo-chamaephytes ***** Thallo-hemicryptophytes **** Gb Annuals ***** Thallo-therophytes *** Fb Fb Plants attached to others **** Thallo-epiphytes *** Fc Free-moving autotrophic thallophytes (= errants) **** Ha Photosynthesizers ***** Errant thallo-hydrophytes ***** Kryophytes ***** Edaphophytes **** Hb Chemosynthesizers ***** Chemo-edaphophytes * Ab Semi-autotrophic plants ** Ia Kormophytes *** Vascular Semi-parasites ** Ib Thallophytes *** Thallo-semi-parasites * Ac Heterotrophic plants ** Ka Kormophytes *** Vascular Parasites *** Vascular Saprophytes ** Kb Thallophytes *** Thallo-parasites ***Thallo-saprophytes

Other categorizations

Following, other morphological, ecological, physiological or economic categorizations of plants. According to the general appearance (

habit A habit (or wont as a humorous and formal term) is a routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously.

): *

Woody plants A woody plant is a plant that produces wood as its structural tissue and thus has a hard stem. In cold climates, woody plants further survive winter or dry season above ground, as opposite to herbaceous plants that die back to the ground until s ...

Trees In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

Shrubs A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

:**

subshrub A subshrub ( Latin ''suffrutex'') or dwarf shrub is a short shrub, and is a woody plant. Prostrate shrub is a related term. "Subshrub" is often used interchangeably with "bush".Jackson, Benjamin, Daydon; A Glossary of Botanic Terms with their ...

s :*

Lianas A liana is a long- stemmed, woody vine that is rooted in the soil at ground level and uses trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy in search of direct sunlight. The word ''liana'' does not refer to a ...

Herbaceous plants Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of t ...

s * Other:

vine A vine ( Latin ''vīnea'' "grapevine", "vineyard", from ''vīnum'' "wine") is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners thems ...

s (

lianas A liana is a long- stemmed, woody vine that is rooted in the soil at ground level and uses trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy in search of direct sunlight. The word ''liana'' does not refer to a ...

and nonwoody vines), cushion plants and rosettes,

cane Cane or caning may refer to: *Walking stick or walking cane, a device used primarily to aid walking *Assistive cane, a walking stick used as a mobility aid for better balance *White cane, a mobility or safety device used by many people who are b ...

palm Palm most commonly refers to: * Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand * Palm plants, of family Arecaceae ** List of Arecaceae genera * Several other plants known as "palm" Palm or Palms may also refer to: Music * Palm (b ...

-like plants (see Glossary of plant morphology#Plant habit) According to leaf hardness, size and orientation in relation to sunlight: *

Sclerophyll Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat. The plants feature hard leaves, short internodes (the distance between leaves along the stem) and leaf orientation which is parallel or oblique to direct ...

leaves * Orthophyll or hyptiophyll leaves According to the

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

: *

Terrestrial plant A terrestrial plant is a plant that grows on, in, or from land. Other types of plants are aquatic (living in water), epiphytic (living on trees) and lithophytic (living in or on rocks). The distinction between aquatic and terrestrial plants is ...

s *Aquatic ( hydrophytes or

macrophytes Aquatic plants are plants that have adapted to living in aquatic environments ( saltwater or freshwater). They are also referred to as hydrophytes or macrophytes to distinguish them from algae and other microphytes. A macrophyte is a plant that ...

) *Aerial plants (

epiphytes An epiphyte is an organism that grows on the surface of a plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phoroph ...

) *

Lithophytes Lithophytes are plants that grow in or on rocks. They can be classified as either epilithic (or epipetric) or endolithic; epilithic lithophytes grow on the surfaces of rocks, while endolithic lithophytes grow in the crevices of rocks (and are als ...

According to the water content of the environment: * Aquatic plants ( hydrophytes) * Marsh plants ( helophytes) * Moisture plants ( hygrophytes) * Drought plants (

xerophyte A xerophyte (from Greek ξηρός ''xeros'' 'dry' + φυτόν ''phuton'' 'plant') is a species of plant that has adaptations to survive in an environment with little liquid water, such as a desert such as the Sahara or places in the Alps or th ...

s) * Mesophytes * Phreatophytes According to

latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north po ...

(in

vegetation Vegetation is an assemblage of plant species and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic charact ...

classification): *

Tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

* Subtropical *

Temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...

* Subpolar * Polar According to

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologica ...

(in vegetation classification): * Pluvial (ombrophilous) * Seasonal *

Drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

Cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF), is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud ...

Rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfo ...

According to

altitude Altitude or height (also sometimes known as depth) is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context ...

(in vegetation classification): *

Montane Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial ...

Submontane Foothills or piedmont are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills and the adjacent topograp ...

Lowland Upland and lowland are conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level. In studies of the ecology of freshwater rivers, habitats are classified as upland or lowland. Definitions Upland and lowland are portions of p ...

According to the loss of leaves (in vegetation classification): *

Deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, a ...

(caducifolious) *

Semi-deciduous Semi-deciduous or semi-evergreen is a botanical term which refers to plants that lose their foliage for a very short period, when old leaves fall off and new foliage growth is starting. This phenomenon occurs in tropical and sub-tropical woody ...

(semicaducifolious) *

Evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...

(perennifolious) According to the luminosity of the environment: * Heliophytes * Sciophytes (embryophytes) According to the mode of nutrition: * Parasite plants * Hemiparasites *

Carnivorous plant Carnivorous plants are plants that derive some or most of their nutrients from trapping and consuming animals or protozoans, typically insects and other arthropods. Carnivorous plants still generate some of their energy from photosynthesis. Ca ...

s *

Mycotroph A mycotroph is a plant that gets all or part of its carbon, water, or nutrient supply through symbiotic association with fungi. The term can refer to plants that engage in either of two distinct symbioses with fungi: *Many mycotrophs have a mut ...

s According to soil factors: * Metallophytes *

Halophyte A halophyte is a salt-tolerant plant that grows in soil or waters of high salinity, coming into contact with saline water through its roots or by salt spray, such as in saline semi-deserts, mangrove swamps, marshes and sloughs and seashores. Th ...

s * Glycophytes According to the capacity to avoid

dehydration In physiology, dehydration is a lack of total body water, with an accompanying disruption of metabolic processes. It occurs when free water loss exceeds free water intake, usually due to exercise, disease, or high environmental temperature. Mi ...

: * Poikilohydric plants * Homoiohydric plants According to short-term fluctuations in

water balance The law of water balance states that the inflows to any water system or area is equal to its outflows plus change in storage during a time interval. In hydrology, a water balance equation can be used to describe the flow of water in and out of ...

: * Hydrolabile plants * Hydrostable plants According to the range of

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present. Humidity dep ...

tolerance: * Stenohydric plants * Euryhydric plants According to

longevity The word " longevity" is sometimes used as a synonym for "life expectancy" in demography. However, the term ''longevity'' is sometimes meant to refer only to especially long-lived members of a population, whereas ''life expectancy'' is always d ...

: * Annual plants *

Biennial plant A biennial plant is a flowering plant that, generally in a temperate climate, takes two years to complete its biological life cycle. Life cycle In its first year, the biennal plant undergoes primary growth, during which its vegetative structure ...

s *

Perennial plant A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

s According to the type of

photosynthesis Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can later be released to fuel the organism's activities. Some of this chemical energy is stored i ...

: * C3 plants *

C4 plants carbon fixation or the Hatch–Slack pathway is one of three known photosynthetic processes of carbon fixation in plants. It owes the names to the 1960's discovery by Marshall Davidson Hatch and Charles Roger Slack that some plants, when suppl ...

* CAM plants According to origin:Alienígenas na sala: o que fazer com espécies exóticas em trabalhos de taxonomia, florística e fitossociologia?
Moro, M. F. et al. *

Exotic plants An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived ther ...

Native plants In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often popularised as "with no human intervention") during history. The term is equ ...

Naturalised Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

or subspontaneous plants According to biogeographic

distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations *Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a varia ...

: *

Endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

plants * Cosmopolitan plants * Disjunct plants According to invasiveness: *

Invasive plant An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species adv ...

* Noninvasive plant According to establishment time in an

ecological succession Ecological succession is the process of change in the species structure of an ecological community over time. The time scale can be decades (for example, after a wildfire) or more or less. Bacteria allows for the cycling of nutrients such as car ...

: * Pioneer plants or ruderal plants * Climax plants According to human cultivation: *

Domesticated plants This is a list of plants that have been domesticated by humans. The list includes individual plant species identified by their common names as well as larger formal and informal botanical categories which include at least some domesticated indiv ...

:* Cultigens * Wild plants According to importance to humans (see

ethnobotany Ethnobotany is the study of a region's plants and their practical uses through the traditional knowledge of a local culture and people. An ethnobotanist thus strives to document the local customs involving the practical uses of local flora for m ...

): *

Edible plants Edible plants include: * List of culinary fruits * List of culinary herbs and spices * List of culinary nuts * List of edible cacti * List of edible flowers * List of edible seeds * List of forageable plants (edible plants commonly found in the ...

Medicinal plants Medicinal plants, also called medicinal herbs, have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times. Plants synthesize hundreds of chemical compounds for various functions, including defense and protection ...

Ornamental plants Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that ...

Timber tree Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

s *

Indicator plants A bioindicator is any species (an indicator species) or group of species whose function, population, or status can reveal the qualitative status of the environment. The most common indicator species are animals. For example, copepods and other sma ...

Weed A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, "a plant in the wrong place", or a plant growing where it is not wanted.Harlan, J. R., & deWet, J. M. (1965). Some thoughts about weeds. ''Economic botany'', ''19''(1), 16-24. ...

s *

Poisonous plants Plants that produce toxins are referred to as poisonous plants. Plants that cause irritation on contact are also described as "poisonous". The toxins in poisonous plants affect herbivores, and deter them from consuming the plants. Plants cannot ...

References

External links

* * Pillar, V.D. & L. Orlóci. 2004. Character-Based Community Analysis: The Theory and an Application Program. Electronic Edition available at http://ecoqua.ecologia.ufrgs.br. 213 p.

{{Anatomy Plant life-forms, Ecology