ABSTRACT
Canopy architecture can be viewed as a visible but momentary ex pression of plant form (Tomlinson, 1987). When used to describe plants, architecture refers to the spatial configuration of the above ground plant organs and implies that this configuration has functional significance (Campbell and Norman, 1990; Lynch, 1995). The con cept of plant canopy architecture is, in many ways, an abstraction that relates plant form to an orderly, genetically determined “growth plan.” The relationship between genetic encoded information and the resulting canopy architecture is analogous to that between a blueprint and the building it represents. Unlike buildings, plant canopies are dynamic and constantly changing with time and space in response to their environment.
