Preliminary Course
Botany. Architectural Analysis
Branching patterns
Branching patterns are defined from several properties:
- the way branching appears in positions along the bearing axis
- the way branching appears over time (immediate or delayed)
- and, for rhythmic growth, the way it is distributed in growth units.
Continuous, Diffuse, Rhythmic Branching
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The branching pattern takes into account the topological
distribution of sibling axes on a parent axis.
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Depending on
whether all the axillary meristems of a stem develop into
lateral axes, or whether lateral axes are grouped as distinct
tiers with an obvious regular alternation of a succession of
unbranched and branched nodes on the parent stem,
branching is respectively referred to as continuous or
rhythmic.
In some cases, neither all nodes of a parent axis are associated with a lateral axis nor is there any obvious regular distribution of branches in tiers, and the branching pattern is then called diffuse.
In this case, axis development is only possible through branching in the axil of existing leaves.
Branching patterns (Photos and drawings D. Barthélémy, CIRAD)
Left: Continuous branching (Mitragyna inermis)
Centre: Diffuse branching (Simmondsia chinensis)
Right: Rhythmic branching (Cecropia obtusa)