Modelling the morphogenesis of annual sowthistle, a common weed in crops

This paper presents an architectural model of sowthistle which is an important weed in most crops. The sowthistle model was developed using the Lindenmayer systems formalism and parameterised according to measurements of structure of several sowthistle plants. The growth relationships of the sowthistle architecture were captured by the model and simulated graphically. The model reproduced the architectural development of individual plant organs faithfully when verified for leaf number, plant height and leaf area at different temperatures. Future improvement of the model and its practical aspects are described.