Habit

(1) Habit [ Botany - Morphology ]	Dictionary of botanic terminology - index of names
Synonyms: Growth form, Plant shape


	The habit is the characteristic appearance of a plant, stem, leaves or other organ (including size, shape, colour, pattern of growth etc.)

Not to be confused with habitat.

(2) Habit of growth [ Botany - Morphology ]
Synonym: Vegetative Features, Growing habit


	The habit of growth or vegetative feature is the general aspect or mode of growth of a plant, it may be low-growing, tall, erect, prostrate, spreading, trailing, bushy, and so on.

There are several terms used to describe the habit of growth. The following are some of the more common terms:

Arborescent habit: A a tree-like plant with an erect trunk, side branches and a distinct crown, a tree.
Branched habit: Having one to many secondary branches arising from the main stem.
Clustering (syn: Clumping ) habit: A plant forming a tight or open clumps or groups of shoots.
Columnar:
Cylindrical (also: Cylindric) habit: With the shape of a cylinder or tube.
Discoidal habit: A succulent stem shaped like a disk, flat and circular.
Distichous habit: With leaves arranged in two rows on opposite sides of a stem and in the same plane
Elongate habit: A plant which is long and slender.
Fenestrate habit: With fenestrate leaves that grow below the surface of the soil;
Globose habit: Ball-shaped.
Groundcover habit: A prostrate, creeping species that tends to spread out more than growing tall.
Offsetting habit: Forming offsets, shoot, branch or stem.
Prostrate: Stretched out and lying flat at full length along the surface of the ground
Segmented habit: A plant that grow in distinctly successive articulated segments
Shrub habit: A trunkless plant characterized by several stems arising from the base
Tufted: Of plants having many stems growing in clusters which are attached at the base and free at the ends.
Unbranched (Syn: branchless, solitary) habit: Without branches, a plant with an unbranched stem.
Unsegmented habit: Having a stem composed by one part or piece, that is not divided into segments.

Habit of growth of cacti and succulents [ Botany - Morphology ]

Here a brief (still incomplete) compilation of terms dealing with growth habit of cactus and succulents:
Globose (Spherical): having a rounded form resembling that of a sphere or ball.	Clustering (syn: Clumping ): forming a tight or open clumps or groups of shoots.
Unbranced (Syn: brancheless, solitary): Without branches, with a single unbranched stem	Branched: Having one to many secondary branches arising from the main stem.
Segmented habit: A plant that grow in distinctly successive articulated segments or joints.	Elongate habit: A plant which is long and slender.
Distichous: With leaves arranged in two rows on opposite sides of a stem and in the same plane.	Fenestrate habit: With fenestrate leaves that grow below the surface of the soil;
Rosette: With leaves symmetrically arranged, flattened and radiating from the crown or centre at the base of a stem with very short internodes.	Cylindrical or cylindric habit: With the shape of a cylinder or tube.
Offsetting habit: Forming offsets, shoot, branch or stem and eventually an open clumps or groups of shoots.	Prostrate: Stretched out and lying flat at full length along the surface of the ground
Tufted: Of plants having many stems growing in clusters which are attached at the base and free at the ends.

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Holdfast roots [ Botany ]
Dictionary of botanic terminology - index of names

Some species of climbing plants develop holdfast roots which help to support the vines on trees, walls, and rocks. By forcing their way into minute pores and crevices, they hold the plant firmly in place.

Climbing plants, like the poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans), Boston ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata), and trumpet creeper (Campsis radicans), develop holdfast roots which help to support the vines on trees, walls, and rocks. By forcing their way into minute pores and crevices, they hold the plant firmly in place. Usually the Holdfast roots die at the end of the first season, but in some species they are perennial. In the tropics some of the large climbing plants have hold-fast roots by which they attach themselves, and long, cord-like roots that extend downward through the air and may lengthen and branch for several years until they strike the soil and become absorbent roots.

Major references and further lectures:
1) E. N. Transeau “General Botany” Discovery Publishing House, 1994