Beautiful gardens with the splendor of fragrant delicate flowers have been an indispensable decoration of noble houses at all times and centuries. Royal gardens, boyar courts, estates were necessarily fenced with wonderful plantations, which, by their appearance, lifted the mood and made you feel thinner, sharper, and become more romantic.
Today, flowers are also the main decorations of a woman's life, and indeed of people in general. Their huge species diversity is simply amazing: field, cute and simple, specially grown garden, large and fragrant, home potted, capable of decorating any room.
However, few people thought about what an inflorescence is from a scientific point of view.
Concept
Actually, the answer is quite simple. What is an inflorescence in biology? This is a group of flowers of one plant, located in a special way on the same axis. Moreover, different instances, respectively, have different types of these structures.
In order to obtain flowers for sale, representatives of the flora without inflorescences are grown. These are large, brightly colored single flowers.unusual shape, appearance, color or odour. They make chic bouquets, baskets, arrange flower arrangements. However, natural plants living in natural conditions, most often have small, numerous flowers, collected in a certain way. What is an inflorescence in plants? Let's take a closer look.
Building features
From a biological point of view, there are two main types of inflorescence structure:
- Botrician, or side flower. These are plants in which many flowers are collected on the same axis in a different order, but flowering begins only from the bottom. The topmost flower is the last to open. This includes simple inflorescences: brush, ear, umbrella, shield and others.
- Cymose. What is an inflorescence? It differs from the previous group in that its apical flower opens first, and then the rest, located below, open like a fan. This group includes slightly more complicated inflorescences: monochasia, dichasia and pleiochasia.
Each flower has all the structural parts necessary to perform the reproductive function: receptacle, pedicel, stipules, pistil and stamens. Their sizes can vary depending on the type of plant, as well as the number. For example, some palms and agaves have several tens of thousands of flowers in one inflorescence, and sizes reach 14 m in height and 12 m in width.
Views
Answering the question of what an inflorescence is in plants,a small simplified classification of them all should be given:
- Bothric simple;
- difficult;
- cymose;
- single flowers.
Each species includes several varieties, which should be considered in more detail.
Simple inflorescences
Representatives of this category have a simple structure. Inflorescences of the following types are present in this variety:
- Brush - on the main axis there are many small flowers, each of which must have a pedicel. Examples of plants: bird cherry, sweet pea, black locust, flaxseed, lily of the valley, bluebell, cabbage and others.
- Spike - on the main stem (often elongated) there are many flowers, but without pedicels, that is, sessile. Examples: verbena, orchid, plantain, sedge, orchis, corn (female structures) and others.
- Cob - the main axis is very thick, massive and fleshy. On it are sessile medium-sized flowers of different numbers. Examples: callas, aronnik, calamus. Many plants develop a brightly colored enclosing leaf at the base.
- Simple shield - it is interesting that such an inflorescence resembles a brush, but differs in one feature. The pedicels of the underlying florets are longer, making them equal in height to all the others. As a result, the general view is obtained in the form of a solid shield. Examples: apple, hawthorn, pear, spirea, plum.
- Simple umbrella - is a plant with a shortened main axis. Often it is so short that all flowers are the same length.pedicels seem to emerge from the top of this axis. Examples: primrose, primrose, angelica, dill, carrot, onion, cherry, garlic, and so on.
- Head - it is very remarkable that such an inflorescence is often called complex, since outwardly it is not easy. The main axis is so shortened that it is almost imperceptible, and numerous medium-sized flowers are collected in a dense cap at the top. At the same time, they either completely or almost do not have pedicels, they are sessile. This further complicates the overall design. Examples of plants: clover, alfalfa, adoxa, teasel and others.
- Basket - very similar to the head, only the main axis has a saucer-shaped thickening at the top. Thus, it turns out that all the flowers seem to be sitting on one common base. Such an inflorescence is especially common in representatives of the Compositae family. Examples: dandelion, sunflower, chamomile, cornflower, chicory, aster, thistle, Jerusalem artichoke, kosmeya and others. In one basket, different types of flowers can be located: reed, funnel-shaped or pseudo-reed. It depends on the type of plant. In addition, the leaves on the stem are very densely arranged, with a sessile leaf blade wrapping around the base.
Complex inflorescences
This group includes those that are collected from several simple ones and are on the same plant. Moreover, these types of inflorescences have one feature: the elements included in the composition can be either of the same type or completely different. Sometimes it is very difficult to determine the type due to heavy congestion andcombinations of different features. In total, complex inflorescences include five types.
Spike and umbrella
We have already explained what a complex inflorescence is. Now let's talk about specific varieties.
- A spike is a few simple spikelets collected on the main axis of one common structure. It turns out a lot of similar components within one plant. Most often, this type can be observed in cereals: rye, wheat, barley, oats, feather grass and others.
- The complex umbrella is built on the same principle, only from simple small umbrellas. Such inflorescences are typical for representatives of the family of the same name: goutweed, angelica, celery, cumin, hemlock, parsley, fennel and others.
Panicle and shield
Panicle is a complex inflorescence consisting of lateral branches of the main axis, on which brushes of flowers are located at different heights. Outwardly, such representatives are very similar to pleiochasia (cymoid inflorescences). Examples of plants: lilac, bonfire, wormwood, corn (male flower) and others.
The shield consists of a whole collection of simple inflorescences of the same name. It has the appearance of pedicels strongly branched on different axes located at the same height with flowers at the top. Examples of plants: viburnum, elderberry and others.
Earring
This is a complex inflorescence, which is a hanging structure, completely dying off after fruiting or flowering of the plant. On the main stem, brushes or spikelets of small nondescript flowers are collected, more oftenall white or pale in color. Examples of plants: birch, alder, hazel, hazel, poplar and others.
Cymose buds
This is a group that is characterized by fan-like bud opening. This process begins with the topmost flower, which crowns the main axis. Then all underlying structures are connected. In total, three types can be attributed to this group of inflorescences:
- Monochasius. The second name is a single-beam top flower. The structure of such inflorescences is built on the principle of a spiral. The main axis ends with a single flower at the apex, which blooms first when the time is right. Following it, the second bud opens, also single, located on the lateral axis below the previous one. Then the third, also on a separate lateral branching stalk. And so in a spiral, almost to the very bottom, shoots from the main stem reach, crowned with single flowers, usually medium or large in size.
- Dichasia inflorescences. The second name is a two-beam top flower. Relatively complex structures. The main stem ends in a single flower, which blooms first. Then, lower along the axis opposite each other, side trunks depart, which outgrow the main one in height and also end with single flowers. Below - axes of the third order in the same style and so on. In general, a rather complex compositional structure is obtained, a bit reminiscent of a simple umbrella.
- Pleiochasian. In structure, it is similar to the complex inflorescences of an umbrella. In another way it is called a multi-beam primrose. What is it? homethe axis is long enough, ending with the apical flower, which blooms first. Then the lateral one departs from the main axis, several more side ones from it, and the following ones from them. Each small branch bears a single flower on top. In general, one plant in full bloom resembles a good voluminous bouquet of flowers.
Club - cymose inflorescence
Special in structure, not common. It looks like a densely flowered head. Many small flowers, devoid of pedicels, are twisted together into one common structure, called the glomerulus.
Typical examples are inflorescences of plants such as quinoa, beetroot, wild spinach, barnyard, potashnik, marijuana, s altwort and others.
Role and Meaning
Now it remains only to find out what the meaning of inflorescences is. Why do they form in plants? Of course, for a person it has a great aesthetic value. In addition, it is often the flowers that become objects of medicinal use for the preparation of infusions, decoctions.
But for the plants themselves, the biological significance of inflorescences lies in the following provisions:
- The more small or medium flowers are gathered together, the more visible the representative of the flora will be for pollinating insects. Especially if it is also supported by the bright color of the corollas.
- Formation of inflorescences allows plants to shed more pollen in gusts of wind and disperse it further.
- In the thickets moreit is the flowers collected in inflorescences that enjoy the advantageous position, since in this form it is difficult to cover them even with tree leaves, which means that they are visible to pollinators.
- From inflorescences, pollen is more easily dispersed during cross-pollination.
That is, the main role is to increase the level of reproduction, to occupy a large territory for resettlement, to ensure the livelihoods of future offspring.
