Applications in Horticulture and Agriculture

While going round in public parks, you might have observed plants trimmed in such a way giving appearances of animals like camel, elephant, horse, and lion. This art traditionally used by gardeners, called topiary involves cutting of shoot apical buds, and force lateral branches such that they take on the shapes of animals. Coniferous trees such as Thuja and Biota are also trimmed to produce globuler shapes. Another interesting case is that of Picea (abies) which grows straight, producing numerous lateral branches at equal intervals. It is commonly used as Christmas tree. In Araucaria if you cut the terminal portion of a horizontally growing branch and plant it in a pot, it keeps growing horizontally after rooting. The plant appears to have "forgotten" to grow vertically (topophysis).