Spikelets

Spikelets of a trembling grass (family sweet grasses )

In botany, a spikelet is an inflorescence on which the flowers sit behind the bracts, the husks , in a spike-like arrangement .

Sour grasses

In sour grasses , the spikelets are only formed from simple, usually numerous and densely packed husks, behind each of which there is a flower.

Sweet grasses

Two-flowered spikelets of a sweet grass in the scheme

The spikelet is a small inflorescence made up of one or a few flowers . The sequence of many different husks , dry-skinned shells around the flowers and later around the seeds is typical . The structure can best be described from the outside in:

1: The whole spikelets is two, rarely one or more Glumes ( GLUMAE surrounded) that envelop it completely depending on the size, more or less. The outer glume sits on the underside of the spikelet axis, the inner on the upper side. Within the glumes, the individual flowers are arranged in two rows. The number of all following components is given per flower.

2: The following is the lemma ( palea inferior = lower or palea exterior = external husk), it is the supporting sheet , in whose shoulder the flower stands.

3: The tip of the lemma often has a stiff bristle, the awn . Awns are rarely found in the glumes.

4: The palea ( superior palea = upper or interior palea = inner glume) is formed by two fused leaves of the outer circle of the petals .

5: The origin of the two, rarely three, cavernous bodies ( Lodiculae ) goes back to the inner circle of petals.

6: As a result of the swelling, the lodiculae spread the husks, the flower opens and the stamens appear. The spikelet has now bloomed and can be pollinated .

7: ovary

8: scar

Flores are the unity of lemma, palea and actual flower. When the fruit has grown, this unit is called the husk.

Several spikelets are in turn united to ears or panicles on a main axis (rachis). If the spikelets of a panicle sit very short on the main axis, then it looks like an ear and one speaks of a false ear .

• 

  An ear of corn ( rye )

• 

  A grain pan ( seed oats )

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  A false ear ( timothy grass )

proof

literature

• Peter Sitte , Elmar Weiler , Joachim W. Kadereit , Andreas Bresinsky , Christian Körner : Textbook of botany for universities . Founded by Eduard Strasburger . 35th edition. Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg 2002, ISBN 3-8274-1010-X .

Web links

Commons : Spikelets  - Collection of images, videos, and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hans Joachim Conert: Parey's grass book. Recognize and determine the grasses of Germany . Parey, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-8263-3327-6 , pp. 10 .