As a scientific discipline plant morphology is exactly 208 years old, having been originated by Goethe in 1790. It is a discipline that has largely been Germanic in origin and function. Because it took its origins from the study of the natural history of plants and the United States is principally an engineering society, plant morphology in its pure form never made it to this country. What has been labeled “Plant Morphology” has served largely as a “handmaiden” for systematics, using morphological characteristics to carve up diversity into its systematic subunits. Since the center of gravity of Plant Morphology as a science are the convergences rather than the homologies in a phylogenetic sense, the German tradition of Plant Morphology is a unifying science determining fundamental themes that transcend the usual systematic boundaries. This paper traces the history of the science of Plant Morphology through the lineage of its principal practitioners--Goethe, Hofmeister, Goebel and Troll in order to indicate the reasons for the directions it took. In order to demonstrate the principles of Plant Morphology, these concepts are applied to the interpretation of the morphology of pteridophytic groups to see whether members of these ancient alliances exhibit basic principles that are different from those of other vascular plants. In the process, concepts of megaphyllous vs. microphyllous leaves and other morphological theories are evaluated as a test of their validity. From this evaluation it is suggested that all of these contemporary organismal groups are at an equivalent level of morphological organization and therefore it is fruitless to seek or describe their morphology in terms of telomes or telomic levels of organization.

Key words: Pelton Award, phylogeny, plant morphology