What does inflorescence mean?

From: "Leo A. Martin" leo1010 at attglobal.net> on 2003.06.05 at 02:57:26(10321) >> What does inflorescence mean? > I know the flower of the A. Titanum is the > largest inflorescence, but does that mean > there is another flower that is larger in > the world, because it is not categorized as > an inflorescence? "...adopted by Linnaeus for the manner in which flowers are arranged on the plant and hence for the flowers themselves considered collectively with their supports, this constituting a flower-bearing branch or system of branches with no ordinary foliage leaves between the flowers...." - Stearns, WT. Botanical Latin, 4th ed., Timber Press, Portland, 1992, p 432. A flower is a specialized structure normally including reproductive parts of angiosperms together with associated protective structures. Flowers may contain female parts only, male parts only, both kinds of parts, and rarely both male and female parts of a flower fail to develop. Individual flowers clustered together in a branching structure are called inflorescences. Aroid inflorescences are composed of a central stem enclosed by a modified leaf. On the central stem are arranged many small to tiny individual flowers which are either male or female in most species. The largest flower is that of Rafflesia arnoldii, a parasitic plant from the jungles of Indonesia, in the family Rafflesiaceae. It reaches a meter in diameter (39 inches.) It is pretty much impossible to cultivate, being a parasite. It stinks, is striped yellow and maroon, has vibratory hairs, and is carrion-pollinated, so most people on this list would find it quite attractive. The second-largest flower is that of Stapelia gigantea, a stem succulent from southern Africa, in the family Asclepiadaceae, which has now been subsumed into the family Apocynaceae. It reaches 16" / 40cm in diameter. It is very easy to cultivate. It stinks, is striped yellow and maroon, has vibratory hairs, and is carrion-pollinated, so most people on this list would find it quite attractive. By the above definition, the Titan is nowhere near the largest inflorescence in the plant kingdom. That distinction would probably go to palms in the genus Corypha, which are monocarpic, meaning they bloom once and then die. The inflorescence can extend more than 10 meters above the dying palm and shed tens of thousands of seeds the size of pigeon eggs. Many Agave and Furcrea species (Agavaceae) have very large inflorescences, though not so large as Corypha. Leo +More -- Leo A. Martin Phoenix, Arizona, USA Like cactus and succulents? Central Arizona Cactus and Succulent Society http://www.centralarizonacactus.org

From: "Matyas Buzgo" buzgo at systbot.unizh.ch> on 2003.06.05 at 12:59:12(10324) Dear Nancy and others Flower: Terminated short shoot bearing the reproductive organs (stamens and +More carpels), commonly also perianth (sepals and petals); this term is restricted to flowering plants (angiosperms). There are many reductions of the flower, such as in Araceae, Euphorbiaceae, palms etc. 1) conifers, cycads, Ephedra and Gnetum do NOT have a flower, though it may look and act very similar. 2) Flowers do not resume axial growth, they do not continue at the tip, and they have no lateral shooots subtended by the sepals, petals or later up (of course there are freaks in the genetic labs). 3) The flowers of most Araceae are tiny. However, if you look at Anthurium or Spathiphyllum you easily can recognize the single flower (with perianth, stamens and carpels and all it takes), and understand what happened in Araceae! Inflorescence: Assemby of flowers. Thus, there is always a main shoot and one to several orders of lateral shoots, the flowers being among these lateral shoots (as they are short shoots themselves). 1) There is no such thing as an unbranched inflorescence , strictly spoken (except if it consist only of one single flower, to anticipate the funny comments). Amorphophallus and other Araceae have a branched inflorescence like any other angiosperm, the branches are just very short, so it looks very compact, like "one". Difficult to tell, what the branching system of Araceae-inflorescence is, and may be not important for esthetic purposes. Blossom: Pollination unit, that operates a one entity. The flower of Roses is a blossom. The inflorescence of Araceae and Euphorbia is a blossom. And (if you whish) the strobilus of Gnetum is a blossom. That's the safest term for Nancy's grands children, if we teach them botany. Schemata and definitions are elaborated in the basic botany text books. The most common ones: Judd, W.S., Campbell, C.S., Kellogg, E.A., Donoghue, M.J. 2002. Plant Systematics, A Phylogenetic Approach, 2nd Edition. Sunderland: Sinauer, ISBN 0-87893-403-0 (quite good also for non-botanists, very recommended for public!) Heywood, V.H. 1998. Flowering Plants of the World. Oxford: University Press, ISBN 0-19-521037-9 (very popular and pretty) Strassburger, E., Noll, F., Schenk, H., Schimper, A.F.W. 1991. Strassburger: Lehrbuch der Botanik f?r Hochschulen. 33. Edition, by Sitte, P., Ziegler, H., Ehrendorfer, F., Bresinsky, A. Stuttgard: Gustav Fischer, ISBN 3-437-20447-5 (or newer editions, very precise) Endress, P.K. 1994. Diversity and evolutionary biology of tropical flowers. Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press (for a deeper insight) And for paleobibliophilics and polyglotts, and all those who want to see the original meanings: Eichler, A.W. 1875. Bl?thendiagramme I. Leipzig: Engelmann. (there is a reprint: 1954, Eppenhain: Koeltz) de Candolle, A.P. 1827. Organographie v?g?tale, ou Description Raison?e des Organes de Plantes, Vol. 1. Paris: D?terville. Ghee Nancy, what have you done! Matyas

From: MossyTrail at cs.com on 2003.06.06 at 02:42:47(10328) "Leo A. Martin" wrote: >The largest flower is that of Rafflesia arnoldii, a parasitic plant from >the jungles of Indonesia, in the family Rafflesiaceae. It reaches a >meter in diameter (39 inches.) It is pretty much impossible to >cultivate, being ?a parasite. It stinks, is striped yellow and maroon, >has vibratory hairs, and is carrion-pollinated, so most people on this >list would find it quite attractive. > Surely its hostplant is known? First cultivate the hostplant to a suitable size, then plant the Rafflesia on that. Of course, only a large botanic garden could do this, since the hostplant is a huge liana; but this obstacle is possible to overcome. What other factors make it "impossible to cultivate"? Jason Hernandez +More Naturalist-at-Large

From: "Marge Talt" mtalt at hort.net> on 2003.06.06 at 04:29:11(10330) My oh my, what a flower! I'd never heard of this plant, so did a Google image search for it. If I could grow it, I would, stink or not! Is it grown in any botanical gardens in the US? Anyone know? Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland mtalt@hort.net +More Editor: Gardening in Shade ----------------------------------------------- Current Article: Wild, Wonderful Aroids Part 5 - Pinellia http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/shade_gardening ------------------------------------------------ Complete Index of Articles by Category and Date http://mtalt.hort.net/article-index.html ------------------------------------------------ All Suite101.com garden topics : http://www.suite101.com/topics.cfm/635 > "Leo A. Martin" wrote: > > >The largest flower is that of Rafflesia arnoldii, a parasitic plant from > >the jungles of Indonesia, in the family Rafflesiaceae. It reaches a > >meter in diameter (39 inches.) It is pretty much impossible to > >cultivate, being ?a parasite. It stinks, is striped yellow and maroon, > >has vibratory hairs, and is carrion-pollinated, so most people on this > >list would find it quite attractive.

From: Steve Budko sbudko at comcast.net> on 2003.06.06 at 22:43:32(10332) wild boars, and then set into the lianas when they are trampled upon by these boars. Sounds strange, but has anyone else heard or read this? ----- Original Message ----- +More To: Sent: Friday, June 06, 2003 12:29 AM Subject: Re: [aroid-l] Rafflesia arnoldii was: What does inflorescence mean? > My oh my, what a flower! I'd never heard of this plant, so did a > Google image search for it. If I could grow it, I would, stink or > not! Is it grown in any botanical gardens in the US? Anyone know? > > Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland > mtalt@hort.net > Editor: Gardening in Shade > ----------------------------------------------- > Current Article: Wild, Wonderful Aroids Part 5 - Pinellia > http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/shade_gardening > ------------------------------------------------ > Complete Index of Articles by Category and Date > http://mtalt.hort.net/article-index.html > ------------------------------------------------ > All Suite101.com garden topics : > http://www.suite101.com/topics.cfm/635 > > > "Leo A. Martin" wrote: > > > > >The largest flower is that of Rafflesia arnoldii, a parasitic > plant from > > >the jungles of Indonesia, in the family Rafflesiaceae. It reaches > a > > >meter in diameter (39 inches.) It is pretty much impossible to > > >cultivate, being a parasite. It stinks, is striped yellow and > maroon, > > >has vibratory hairs, and is carrion-pollinated, so most people on > this > > >list would find it quite attractive. > >

From: "Wilbert Hetterscheid" hetter at worldonline.nl> on 2003.06.07 at 04:14:04(10333) The question here is (arrogantly, I admit!!), HOW many of those different answers you saw were in fact by authorities!!!?? Lord Phallocrat +More > -----Oorspronkelijk bericht----- > Van: aroid-l-owner@lists.ncsu.edu > [mailto:aroid-l-owner@lists.ncsu.edu]Namens SongString@aol.com > Verzonden: vrijdag 6 juni 2003 18:24 > Aan: aroid-l@lists.ncsu.edu > Onderwerp: Re: [aroid-l] What does inflorescence mean? > > > > In a message dated 6/5/03 11:56:00 AM, buzgo@systbot.unizh.ch writes: > > >Ghee Nancy, what have you done! > > > > > > > >Matyas > > That is funny! I seem to have this problem. I have noticed > that with every > online list that I am on, I ask one little question, or make > a statement about > something, and really get those lists going. Inquisitiveness > is a scary > attribute. What amazes me is all the different answers from > authorities in the same > field. Isn't life grand! I'm learning a lot on this list, > but, I'm more > confused than ever. Eventually, it will all come together. > In the meantime, I'm > enjoying everyone's contribution to the learning of all. > > Thank you everyone for sharing your knowledge with me. > Nancy

From: Paul Tyerman ptyerman at ozemail.com.au> on 2003.06.08 at 09:41:21(10334) At 06:14 7/06/03 +0200, you wrote: >The question here is (arrogantly, I admit!!), HOW many of those different >answers you saw were in fact by authorities!!!?? > >Lord Phallocrat > Wilbert et al, In this case I honestly do not know whether this response was a joke or a serious response which is why I thought I had better ask the following...... As it happens I didn't try answer the question as I figured there were others who knew FAR more than me, but do I assume from this that if a question is asked then people should leave it for the authorities to answer rather than trying to help? I have always tried to help with an answer for a question if I thought I knew it, but it would appear that that may not be the ideal way to do it as "thinking" I knew it does definitely not mean that I have any qualifications or can act as an authority? I thought I had better clarify before I make a mistake in the future. Thanks. Cheers. Paul Tyerman +More Canberra, Australia. USDA equivalent - Zone 8/9 mailto:ptyerman@ozemail.com.au Growing.... Galanthus, Erythroniums, Fritillarias, Cyclamen, Crocus, Cyrtanthus, Liliums, Hellebores, Aroids, Irises plus just about anything else that doesn't move!!!!!

From: "Wilbert Hetterscheid" hetter at worldonline.nl> on 2003.06.08 at 17:37:55(10335) To be clear: this answer was not directed towards anyone in particular but it is true that the answers were too diverse to answer somebody properly. There is no trouble when somebody quotes from a book. You don't have to be an authority for that and it works. That is where books are for. (incidently, it surprises me that nobody quoted the genera of Araceae on this!!! The book we all should have............). My own policy is simple: if I am not sure, I either keep silent or admit that I give a possibly dubious answer. So, I would say that first believe the authorities (what a nauseating word, actually) and when they fail.......well..... errrrrr..... what then? make an "educated" guess at it? Is that satisfying? Not in my world it isn't. But hey, there are many worlds...... Wilbert +More > >The question here is (arrogantly, I admit!!), HOW many of > those different > >answers you saw were in fact by authorities!!!?? > > > >Lord Phallocrat > > > > Wilbert et al, > > In this case I honestly do not know whether this response was > a joke or a > serious response which is why I thought I had better ask the > following...... > > As it happens I didn't try answer the question as I figured there were > others who knew FAR more than me, but do I assume from this that if a > question is asked then people should leave it for the > authorities to answer > rather than trying to help? I have always tried to help with > an answer for > a question if I thought I knew it, but it would appear that > that may not be > the ideal way to do it as "thinking" I knew it does > definitely not mean > that I have any qualifications or can act as an authority? I > thought I had > better clarify before I make a mistake in the future. > > Thanks. > > Cheers. > > Paul Tyerman > Canberra, Australia. USDA equivalent - Zone 8/9 > mailto:ptyerman@ozemail.com.au > > Growing.... Galanthus, Erythroniums, Fritillarias, Cyclamen, Crocus, > Cyrtanthus, Liliums, Hellebores, Aroids, Irises plus just > about anything > else that doesn't move!!!!! >

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