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Raceme

 
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A raceme is a type of inflorescence
Inflorescence

An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches....
 that is unbranched and indeterminate
Indeterminate growth

In biology and especially botany, indeterminate growth refers to growth that is not terminated in contrast to determinate growth that stops once a genetically pre-determined structure has completely formed....
 and bears pedicellate flower
Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproduction structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds....
s — flowers having short floral stalks called pedicel
Pedicel (botany)

A pedicel is a stem that attaches single flowers to the main stem of the inflorescence. It is the branches or stalks that hold each flower in an inflorescence that contains more than one flower....
s — along the axis. In botany
Botany

Botany, plant science, phytology, or plant biology is a branch of biology and is the Scientific method of plant life and development....
, axis means a shoot, in this case one bearing the flowers. In a raceme, the oldest flowers are borne towards the base and new flowers are produced as the shoot grows. A plant that flowers on a showy raceme may telegraph the fact in its scientific name, e.g.






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Encyclopedia


A raceme is a type of inflorescence
Inflorescence

An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches....
 that is unbranched and indeterminate
Indeterminate growth

In biology and especially botany, indeterminate growth refers to growth that is not terminated in contrast to determinate growth that stops once a genetically pre-determined structure has completely formed....
 and bears pedicellate flower
Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproduction structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds....
s — flowers having short floral stalks called pedicel
Pedicel (botany)

A pedicel is a stem that attaches single flowers to the main stem of the inflorescence. It is the branches or stalks that hold each flower in an inflorescence that contains more than one flower....
s — along the axis. In botany
Botany

Botany, plant science, phytology, or plant biology is a branch of biology and is the Scientific method of plant life and development....
, axis means a shoot, in this case one bearing the flowers. In a raceme, the oldest flowers are borne towards the base and new flowers are produced as the shoot grows. A plant that flowers on a showy raceme may telegraph the fact in its scientific name, e.g. Cimicifuga racemosa
Cimicifuga racemosa

Actaea racemosa is a member of the family Ranunculaceae, native to eastern North America from the extreme south of Ontario south to central Georgia , and west to Missouri and Arkansas....
.

A spike is a type of raceme in which individual flowers are sessile (that is, lack pedicels). The term spikelet can refer to a small spike, although it is primarily used to refer to the ultimate flower cluster unit in the grasses (Family Poaceae
Poaceae

Poaceae or Gramineae is a family in the Class Liliopsida of the Magnoliophyta. Plants of this family are usually called grasses; the shrub- or tree-like plants in this family are called bamboo ....
), in which case the stalk supporting the cluster becomes the pedicel. A true spikelet comprises one or more florets enclosed by two glumes (bract
Bract

In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf. Bracts are ordinarily associated with reproductive structures . They are ordinarily reduced in size relative to foliage leaves, or of a different color or texture from foliage leaves, or both....
s), and is not a raceme.

A spadix
Spadix

In botany, a spadix is a type of raceme: an inflorescence with small flowers crowded on a thickened, fleshy axis. The term is applied to certain monocotyledons, especially members of the Family Araceae called arums or aroids....
 is a form of spike in which the florets are densely crowded along the axis. They are enclosed or accompanied by a highly specialised bract called a spathe
Spathe

Spathe may refer to:*A hood-like bract, found along with a spadix, of inflorescences on plants in the arum family *A leaf-like bract subtending an inflorescence in various Genus in the dayflower family ...
 and are a characteristic of the Araceae
Araceae

Araceae is a family of monocotyledonous flowering plants in which flowers are borne on a type of inflorescence called a spadix. The spadix is usually accompanied by, and sometimes partially enclosed in, a spathe or leaf-like hood....
 family.

Examples

Image:Traube (inflorescence).svg|A raceme Image:Inflorescences Spike Kwiatostan Klos.svg|A spike Image:Kolben (inflorescence).svg|A spadix Image:Spathoglottis flwrs reduced.jpg|This inflorescence of the terrestrial
Terrestrial plant

A terrestrial plant is one that grows on land. Other types of plants are aquatic ecosystem , epiphytic and lithophytes ....
 orchid Spathoglottis plicata is a typical raceme.]] Image:Pycreus.jpg|Each of the units radiating outward in this inflorescence of a Cyperus
Cyperus

Cyperus is a large genus of about 600 species of Cyperaceaes, distributed throughout all continents in both tropical and temperate regions. They are annual or perennial plants, mostly aquatic ecosystem and growing in still or slow-moving water up to 0.5 m deep....
 sedge inflorescence is a spikelet composed of small flowers (florets) arranged in two ranks

See also

  • Inflorescence
    Inflorescence

    An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches....