Using anatomical terms for human organs and parts of plants?
I know how to apply anatomical directional terms (e.g., dorsal/ventral, anterior/posterior, etc.) for animals as a whole (bipeds and quadrupeds).
Recently, I've been studying plant physiology, and I came to know that the upper surface of a leaf is the ventral surface and the lower surface of the leaf is the dorsal surface. I cannot understand how these terms are applied to plants and leaves. I've also seen anatomical directional terms being used for body organs such as the brain. I want to know how anatomical terms are applied for parts of plants and body organs.
That's a loaded question: simply because there are college degrees and years of study involved with answering that in it's entirety. However, trying to keep this very simple, in reference to plants and body organs think of a plant as a body with a circulation system, now where's the top? The top of anything is referred to as superior because it's above everything else, and the bottom? Inferior/posterior because it's below everything else. Now, dorsal means back or upper side of something (hence our back would be our dorsal side) but in a plant it would be the top of the leaf because that's the back or upper side (if this makes sense to you). The ventral or belly/bottom side is usually the soft, unprotected side of something. Hopefully this helps and is simple enough of an explanation. If you want more explanation see this article: https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/55901/using-anatomical-terms-for-human-organs-and-parts-of-plants
