The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, Inc.

Plant Image Gallery: Inflorescence Types

Spike
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Spike
  Unbranched inflorescence in which the spikelets are sessile on the rachis (main axis).
Spikelike
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Spikelike
  Basic unit of a grass inflorescence, typically consisting of two glumes (except in some species where one or both glumes are lacking), one or more florets, and a rachilla.
Spicate Branches
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Spicate Branches
  Spikelike; resembling a spike inflorescence but having both sessile and pedicellate spikelets or flowers.
Panicle
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Panicle
  Inflorescence type in which the central axis branches and rebranches.
Raceme
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Raceme
  Inflorescence type in which all the spikelets are pedicellate on the rachis.
Images and definitions (Hatch, S.L., J.L. Schuster, and R.L. Drawe. 1999. Grasses of the Texas Gulf Prairies and Marshes. Texas A&M University Press, College Station, Texas 77843).