What does Whorled mean?
A whorl is defined as a spiral arrangement. In the context of botany, whorled defines a circular arrangement that is extended from a single point and wraps around the stem. There are whorled petals, sepals, branches or stipules. Though whorled leaves are atypical, there are some plants with short internodes of whorled leaves as well.
More Info On Whorled
To understand the concept of whorled, it is important to understand its context in plants. Most flowering plants can be reduced to four types of whorls that include the corolla, androecium, gynoecium and calyx. The corolla is formed by a whorl of petals. An androecium is a whorl of stamens. A gynoecium is a whorl formed by stigma. Lastly, the calyx is a whorl formed by sepals at the base of a flower. So, there are different whorled portions in plants and whorled is simply a term used to define circular clusters. Given that each plant follows a circular arrangement of flowering, a plant without the four types of whorls are considered incomplete.
