Huntington Library --- Conservatory/Plant Lab/flowers

Huntington>Conservatory>Plant Lab>Flower> Inflorescence

Flowers Flowers are a group of highly specialized structures used in the sexual reproduction of angiosperms. Every aspect of a flower (appearance, scent, pollen, nectar, etc.) is adapted for efficient pollination to produce seeds.

An inflorescence is a cluster of two or more flowers on the branch of a flowering plant. According to the sequence of flower maturation on the branch, there are two basic types of inflorescence: cymose or racemose.

Cymose (Determinate) Main stem terminates with the first-blooming flower, no further apical elongation. Later blooming flowers come from lateral branches, each branch terminates with a flower.	Dichasium Cyme A balanced cymose.
	Scorpioid Cyme An unbalanced cymose. Usually sessile.

Racemose (Indeterminate) Main stem terminates with an apical bud, can keep on growing. First blooming flowers are nearest to the branch base.	Raceme Unbranched, single main stem terminated by an apical bud.
	Spike A type of raceme with sessile flowers. Two special forms: spadix and catkin.
	Panicle (compound raceme) A highly branced racemose.
	Corymb Similar to a panicle, but flat-topped so that it superfacially resembles an umbel.
	Simple Umbel
	Compound Umbel Common in the carrot family (Umbelliferae or Apiaceae).
	Head (Capitulum) Sessile flowers tightly clustered on a concave or convex common receptacle.