Phaelinopsis plant showing monopodial growth

Vascular plant Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes (, ) or collectively tracheophyta (; ), are plants that have lignin, lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They also have a specialized non-lignified Ti ...

s with monopodial growth habits grow upward from a single point. They add leaves to the apex each year and the stem grows longer accordingly. The word ''Monopodial'' is derived from

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

'', ''one'' and '', "foot", in reference to the fact that monopodial plants have a single trunk or stem.

Orchids Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Earth ...

with monopodial growth often produce copious aerial roots that often hang down in long drapes and have green

chlorophyll Chlorophyll is any of several related green pigments found in cyanobacteria and in the chloroplasts of algae and plants. Its name is derived from the Greek words (, "pale green") and (, "leaf"). Chlorophyll allows plants to absorb energy ...

underneath the grey

root In vascular plants, the roots are the plant organ, organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often bel ...

coverings, which are used as additional photosynthetic organs. They do not have a

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and Shoot (botany), shoots from its Node (botany), nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from ...

pseudobulb In botany, a pseudobulb is a storage organ found in many epiphytic and terrestrial sympodial orchids. It is derived from a thickening of the part of a stem between leaf nodes and may be composed of just one internode or several, termed ''heter ...

s so species adapted to dry periods have fleshy

succulent In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meani ...

leaves instead. Flowers generally come from the stem between the leaves. With some monopodial species, the stem (the

) might fork into two, but for all monopodial orchids this is not necessary for continued growth, as opposed to orchids with

sympodial In botany, sympodial growth is a bifurcating branching pattern where one branch develops more strongly than the other, resulting in the stronger branches forming the primary shoot and the weaker branches appearing laterally. A sympodium, als ...

growth.''The Orchid Expert'', Dr.

D. G. Hessayon David Gerald Hessayon OBE (13 February 1928 – 16 January 2025) was an English author and botanist who is known for a best-selling series of paperback gardening manuals known as the "Expert Guides" under his title Dr. D. G. Hessayon. The series ...

, Expert Books, Transworld Publishers, London,

References

{{Reflist Orchid morphology Plant stem morphology