Glossary

Growth forms

A Growth Form is a group of plants having certain morphological features in common (Kuechler and Zonneveld, 1988). The LCCM allows the height and percentage cover of the 5 different Growth Forms to be specified.

Height

Distance from the ground to top of an average plant layer, expressed in meters.

Cover

Cover is expressed as a percentage of area covered by the growth form. It is a proportion of the ground, substrate or water surface covered by a layer of plants, considered at the greatest horizontal perimeter level of each plant in the layer (according to Eiten, 1968).

Growth Form Types

A distinction can be made between the different plant growth forms on basis of their physiognomic aspects. Woody plants (sub-divided into Trees, Shrubs and Woody) are distinguished from Herbaceous (which are sub-divided into Forbs and Graminoids), Lichens/Mosses and Algae Growth Forms. Additional growth form criteria can also be used to undertake a further sub-division, for example: the quality of the main axis of shoots can be used to distinguish Woody from Herbaceous; branching symmetry to distinguish Trees from Shrubs; and physiognomy of the herbaceous plants to distinguish Forbs from Graminoids and Lichens/Mosses (Strasburger et al., 1983; Kuechler and Zonneveld, 1988).

Woody

Perennial plants with stem(s) and branches from which buds and shoots develop are defined as woody (Ford-Robertson, 1971). Semi-woody plants are included here (Eiten, 1968). Depending on the branching symmetry, a distinction is made between Trees and Shrubs (Strasburger et al., 1983). With reference to the International Classification and Mapping of Vegetation (UNESCO, 1973), bamboos and tuft plants (palms, tree ferns, etc.) can also belong to this category. Depending on their height, they are classified as Trees or Shrubs.

Trees

A tree is defined as a woody perennial plant with a single, well-defined stem carrying a moreor-less-defined crown (Ford-Robertson, 1971) and is at least 2 m tall.