Multivariate Analysis Confirms the Continuum View of Plant Form

Abstract

Multivariate analysis, specifically principal components analysis, shows that in flowering plants structures occur that are intermediate between the typical representatives of a root, a caulome (stem and stem homologues), a phyllome (leaf and leaf homologues), a shoot and a trichome. Since these intermediates span the whole range between the typical forms, a morphological continuum is documented. Implications and consequences of these findings are discussed (e.g. homology, homeosis). The telome theory and Hagemann's theory of the evolution of plant form are interpreted as referring to changes in the patterning of the morphological continuum