Parts of a single grass spikelet, consisting of two glumes, four fertile florets, with one additional central floret that may or may not be sterile. A spikelet, in botany, describes the typical arrangement of the inflorescences of grasses, sedges and some other monocots. Each spikelet has one or more florets.

A grass spikelet is normally made up of a pair of glumes enfolding one or more florets, which contain the grass flowers. Spikelets come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Sometimes there is only one glume and occasionally glumes are missing entirely.

There are three main grass inflorescence types: 1. panicle, 2. spike, 3. raceme. rachis: central axis of seed head. spikelet: a flowering unit comprised of one or more florets enclosed by two glumes (bracts). When the spikelets are attached directly to the rachis the inflorescence is called a spike (wheat, rye, barley, ryegrass).

Spikelets are highly specialized and short-lived branches and function as a constitutional unit of the complex grass inflorescences. A series of genetic, genomic, and developmental studies across different clades of the family have called for and permitted a synthesis on the regulation and evolution of spikelets, and hence inflorescence diversity.

With more comparative data from other grass plants, we propose that the grass spikelets could be modified from a spikelet containing one floret to a compound spikelet with multiple spikelets and many florets by modifying different molecular modules that function in releasing space constraint, and improving spikelet and floret fertility (Fig. 4).

Different genera of grasses have specific numbers of florets in a spikelet. The arrangement of spikelets in an inflorescence is also characteristic of specific genera. To see these small flower parts, you need a hand lens or, ideally, a microscope. This is often where many people give up on learning grass identification!

The spikelet is a unique structure of inflorescence in grasses that generates one to many flowers depending on its determinate or indeterminate meristem activity. The growth patterns and number of spikelets, furthermore, define inflorescence architecture and yield.

The grass spikelet contains floral organs such as stamens and carpels, as well as additional organs, glumes, lemma, palea, and lodicules that are unique to the angiosperms. Recent work is beginning to shed light onto the genes that regulate the development of spikelet organs.

A spikelet literally means a “small spike” and refers to the basic inflorescence unit in the Cyperaceae, the sedges, and Poaceae, the grasses. From: Plant Systematics (Second Edition), 2010

2022年8月29日 · Spikelets are highly specialized and short-lived branches and function as a constitutional unit of the complex grass inflorescences. A series of genetic, genomic, and developmental studies across different clades of the family have called for and permitted a synthesis on the regulation and evolution …