raceme

Please help improve this article by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (January 2008)

A raceme is a type of inflorescence that is unbranched and indeterminate and bears pedicellate flowers — flowers having short floral stalks called pedicels — along the axis. In botany, axis means a shoot, in this case one bearing the flowers. In a raceme, the oldest flowers are borne towards the base and new flowers are produced as the shoot grows. A plant that flowers on a showy raceme may telegraph the fact in its scientific name, e.g. Cimicifuga racemosa.

A spike is a type of raceme in which individual flowers are sessile (that is, lack pedicels). The term spikelet can refer to a small spike, although it is primarily used to refer to the ultimate flower cluster unit in the grasses (Family Poaceae), in which case the stalk supporting the cluster becomes the pedicel. A true spikelet comprises one or more florets enclosed by two glumes (bracts), and is not a raceme.

A spadix is a form of spike in which the florets are densely crowded along the axis. They are enclosed or accompanied by a highly specialised bract called a spathe and are a characteristic of the Araceae family.

Examples

A raceme	A spike	A spadix
The inflorescence of the terrestrial orchid Spathoglottis plicata is a typical raceme.	Each of the units radiating outward in this inflorescence of a Cyperus sedge inflorescence is a spikelet composed of small flowers (florets) arranged in two ranks

See also

• Inflorescence