Flowers come not only in a variety of shapes, but also in a variety of types. Have a look at these flowers for example. Aren't these beautiful masterpieces different from the conventional ones that we usually glance at?
Yes, and since they are totally different, this type of arrangement is given a special name as well. Such an arrangement of a cluster of flowers on a stem is called inflorescence. Let's understand this beautiful concept in detail. Can you help me with the definition to begin with?
What exactly is inflorescence? That's right! We would prefer taking an example. Let's take the same flower.
As we can see here, there is no single flower at the apex of the stem. Rather, small flowers cluster and form a complete structure. Although this is not the perfect analogy, but just to understand, we can relate this to the pinnately compound leaves.
Remember their structure? Yes, this is how they appear. As the small leaflets arrange themselves and give us this complete structure, similarly here, these small flowers make up the complete inflorescence.
Please note that the pinnately compound leaves and inflorescence are just considered to understand the concept better. We are neither comparing nor relating the two. Getting back to our concept, the flowers form a group along the stem or at the apex to form the inflorescence.
Now tell me, will the structure of the flowers at apex form an inflorescence or along the stem? I mean, Will this be called as inflorescence or this? To our astonishment, both of these are inflorescence.
Let's understand these types in detail. The first type is where the flowers are arranged laterally along the central axis. The most important point to note here is that the apex or the terminal point of the shoot does not bear a flower.
it can freely grow indefinitely. Such a type is called racemos inflorescence. Here, the arrangement of the flowers is alongside the central axis, leaving the apex free. In this type, the older flowers are found near the base, while the newer ones start developing towards the apex.
Now since the apex can grow continuously and indefinitely, this type is also called as indefinite inflorescence. So can you guess what could the next type be? That's right! It will be the opposite of this!
Thus, it will be definite inflorescence! The type we see in this case! As we can see here, apart from the ones along the central axis, a flower even develops at the apex.
As a result, the growth of the shoot does not occur indefinitely as in the first case. This type is called the Simoes inflorescence. As we can see here, the apex is occupied by the older flowers while the newer ones start shooting from the secondary branches that are formed.
So this type has older ones at the apex and the newer flowers at the base in contrast to the racemos inflorescens. To summarize, we find these flowers exhibiting racemos and these exhibiting sciamos inflorescens. This typical patterns of arrangement help us study the plant in many ways.