Inflorescence facts for kids
An inflorescence is a flowering stem. The term is most used for a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem. An inflorescence is the reproductive portion of a plant; each plant bears its flowers in a specific pattern.
Sometimes it is just a close bunch of flowers (e.g. Antirrhinum) on a spike. Sometimes the inflorescence is so tight it looks like one single flower. What you see as a single daisy is actually made of several hundred tiny flowers packed together. This kind of inflorescence is called a pseudanthium ("false flower").
Contents
Advantages
The advantages of the inflorescence mode is all about reproduction compared to a single primitive flower of the Magnolia type.
- Numbers
- There may be dozens or even hundreds of flowers in an inflorescence, with many seeds or fruits for each flowering.
- Pollination
- Increased pollination is an important bonus. Massing flowers together makes them more visible to pollinating insects and birds.
- Seed or fruit dispersal
- Dispersal by wind or animals is improved by having the flowers at the top end of a stem.
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A raceme
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A spike
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Catkin (racemose or spicate)
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A spadix
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Head (round)
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Umbel
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Compound capitulum
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Compound (triple) umbel
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Panicle
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Related pages
- Wilhelm Troll: Die Infloreszenzen; Erster Band. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart 1964
- Wilhelm Troll: Die Infloreszenzen; Zweiter Band, Erster Teil. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart 1969
Images for kids
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Aloe hereroensis, showing inflorescence with branched peduncle
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Amorphophallus titanum has the world's largest unbranched inflorescence. Photo of the plant in bloom in 2000 at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Miami, FL.
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Ebracteate inflorescence of Wisteria sinensis
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Bracteate inflorescence of Pedicularis verticillata.
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Leafy-bracted inflorescence of Rhinanthus angustifolius.
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Leafy inflorescence of Aristolochia clematitis.
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Lilium martagon (flower and subtending bract)
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Solanum lycopersicum (concaulescence)
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Tilia cordata (recaulescence)
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Plantago media (spike)
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Iberis umbellata (racemose corymb)
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Astrantia minor (umbel)
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Arum maculatum (spadix)
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Dipsacus fullonum (head)
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Alnus incana (ament)
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Bostryx (lateral and top view)
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Hypericum perforatum (bostryx)
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Drepanium (lateral and top view)
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Cincinnus (lateral and top view)
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Symphytum officinale (cincinnus)
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Rhipidium (lateral and top view)
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Canna sp. (rhipidium)
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Silene dioica (dichasium)
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Pelargonium zonale (umbelliform cyme)
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Berberis vernae (botryoid)
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Gentiana lutea (fascicles)
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Mentha longifolia ('spike')
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Melilotus officinalis (homoeothetic compound raceme)
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Hebe albicans (heterothetic compound raceme)
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Lolium temulentum (compound spike)
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Echinops ritro (compound capitulum)
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Laserpitium latifolium (double umbel)
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Vitis vinifera (panicle)
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Sambucus nigra (cymose corymb)
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Juncus inflexus (anthela)
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Achillea sp. (heads in a corymb)
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Hedera helix (umbels in a panicle)
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Matricaria chamomilla (calathid)
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Triticum aestivum (compound spikes, "spikes")
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Oryza sativa (spikes in a panicle, "panicle")
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Ficus carica (syconium)
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Euphorbia tridentata (cyathium)
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Euphorbia cyparissias (cyathia in an umbel)
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Coleus (false spike)
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See also
In Spanish: Inflorescencia para niños
