The architecture of a plant depends on the nature and relative arrangement of each of its parts; it is, at any given time, the expression of a balance between endogenous growth processes and exogenous constraints exerted by the environment.

The aim of architectural analysis is, by means of observation and sometimes experimentation, to identify and understand these endogenous processes.

Using the identification of several morphological criteria and considering the plant as a whole, from germination to death, architectural analysis is essentially a detailed, multilevel, comprehensive and dynamic approach to plant development (Barthélémy and Caraglio, 2007).

This architectural approach was developed in the 70s for tropical trees (e.g. Hallé and Oldeman 1970; Hallé et al. 1978) to understand and apply a comprehensive analysis of the structure and dynamics of plants.