Growth and Development  “Development” and “growth” are sometimes
used interchangeably in conversation, but in a botanical sense
they describe separate events in the organization of the mature
plant body.  Development is the progression from earlier to
later stages in maturation, e.g. a fertilized egg develops into
a mature tree. It is the process whereby tissues, organs, and
whole plants are produced. It involves: growthmorphogenesis (the
acquisition of form and structure), and differentiation. The
interactions of the environment and the genetic instructions
inherited by the cells determine how the plant develops.
Growth is the irreversible change in size of cells and plant
organs due to both cell division and enlargement. Enlargement
necessitates a change in the elasticity of the cell walls
together with an increase in the size and water content of the
vacuole. Growth can be determinate—when an organ or part or
whole organism reaches a certain size and then stops
growing—or indeterminate—when cells continue