Inflorescence

• Monoecious plants have male and female flowers on one plant, examples include Corn, cucumbers, and oaks.
• Dioecious plants have male and female flowers on separate plants, examples include Soybeans, asparagus, kiwi.
• Flowers can exist as solitary flowers or in flower clusters.
• If the first flower to open is at the apex of the stem and the progression of flowering is downward or outward, the inflorescence is determinate.
• If the last flower to open is terminal on the main axis and the progression of flowering is inward or upward, the inflorescence is indeterminate.
• Haploid gametes are not produced by spores.
• Diploid organisms are produced by haploid gametes, by meiosis.
• Alternation of generations is a characteristic of plant reproduction but not of animal reproduction.
• Haploid spores are produced by spores, by mitosis.
• Haploid gametes are produced by the haploid gametophyte, by mitosis.
• Plants have a life cycle that includes reproduction.
• Spores are produced by the diploid sporophyte, by meiosis.
• Animal reproduction is different from plant reproduction.
• In a cyme, the apex of the main axis produces a flower that involves the entire apical meristem, so that the axis itself does not elongate.
• The youngest flowers in any cluster occur farthest from the tip of the main stalk.
• A spike is an elongated inflorescence with a central axis where sessile flowers are attached.
• A raceme is an elongated inflorescence with a central axis where simple pedicels of more or less equal length are attached.
• A panicle is an elongated inflorescence with a central axis where there are branches that are themselves branched.
• A corymb is a short and broad, flat-topped indeterminate inflorescence with a main vertical axis and pedicels or branches of unequal length.
• The outer flowers open first in an umbel.
• A simple umbel consists of flowers with single pedicels.
• Grafting is made possible when a scion (shoot of one plant) is inserted into the stem of another plant (same species or closely related).
• Corms are vertical, thick, and short underground stems used for food storage, an example is Gabi or Taro stem.
• Vegetative propagation is a method of asexual reproduction where a new plant is grown from a part taken from a parent plant, and the new plant bears the exact characteristics of the parent plant.
• Stolons or Runners are horizontal and above ground stems that are creeping stems, and new plants are developed at the nodes touching the soil.
• Marcotting is a method where roots are developed in the stem of a parent plant for several days after putting soil in it.
• Budding is a method where a bud outgrows from the parent organism and detaches itself later to become a new organism, but the same organism as the parent.
• Succulents are fleshy, often leafless stems used for water storage, an example is Cactus.
• Plantlets are tiny new plants which develop in the notches along the leaf margins.
• Bulbs are a specialized underground organ consisting of a basal plate, growing points, flower primordia, and fleshy scales, used for food storage, examples include Onion and garlic.
• Tubers are enlarged underground stems used for food storage, examples include Potato and sweet potato.
• Rhizomes are long and underground stems that are fleshy and parallel to the ground, used for food storage, an example is Ginger.
• Compound umbels have secondary branching in the form of pedicels at the end of a ray.
• A spadix is a spike with a thickened, fleshy axis, usually enveloped by a showy bract called aspathe.
• A catkin is a spike, raceme, or cyme composed of unisexual flowers without petals and falling as a unit.
• A head is a rounded or flat-topped cluster of sessile flowers.
• Head inflorescences resemble single flowers.
• These consist of centrally grouped flowers called disc flowers encircled by ray flowers.
• Monoecious plants have male and female flowers on one plant, examples include Corn, cucumbers, and oaks.
• Dioecious plants have male and female flowers on separate plants, examples include Soybeans, asparagus, kiwi.