Inflorescence structure in species of Spartina Schreb. (Poaceae: Chloridoideae: Cynodonteae)

Inflorescence Structure

“…There is often species-specific variation in whether the inflorescence is dense (with many primary branches) or sparse (with few primary branches), whether the primary branches are densely covered with secondaries or not, and whether tertiary and quaternary branches are common or rare. The few studies that record comparative data on numbers of primary branches find a broad range of variation among species (Spartina, Kern et al 2008;Melinidae, Reinheimer and Vegetti 2008;Setaria, Doust and Kellogg 2002). In Spartina (now part of Sporobolus s.l.…”

“…In addition, there seems to be little biological distinction between the florescence and co-florescences (i.e., a spikelet terminating the inflorescence and a spikelet terminating a lateral branch). However, the effort to apply a typological description to multiple species of grasses has led to many publications in which adult inflorescence morphology is diagrammed and described carefully and precisely (e.g., Gasser and Vegetti 1997;Kern et al 2008;Perreta et al 2000;Reinheimer et al 2009;Vegetti and Pensiero 1999). Whether or not one chooses to apply Weberling's (1989) typology, the illustrations in these papers provide valuable comparative data, and can be a major improvement over attempts to stretch the words "panicle" and "raceme".…”

Diversity of inflorescences in the Boutelouinae subtribe (Poaceae: Chloridoideae: Cynodonteae)

“…In general, the five species of the B. curtipendula complex studied here are the species that produce a high number of long primary branches (55-74), unlike B. chasei, B. dimorpha, B. hirsuta, B. scorpioides and B. simplex, which bear 1 or 2 long primary branches. The number of primary branches was also found to be a highly variable character in species of Spartina (Kern et al, 2008), Brachiaria, Urochloa, Eriochloa, Chaetium, Megathyrsus, Melinis (Reinheimer and Vegetti, 2008), Sporobolus (Reinheimer et al, 2005a), Pappophorum (Tivano and Vegetti, 2004), Panicum (Reinheimer and Vegetti, 2005b) and Melica (Perreta and Vegetti, 2004).…”

Advances towards a Marker-Assisted Selection Breeding Program in Prairie Cordgrass, a Biomass Crop

“…In the majority of other Graminaceae species, breeding is performed via the initial emasculation of the floret to ensure that only cross pollination can occur. Prairie cordgrass has an inflorescence composed of between 0 and 31 short paracladia and 11–13 long paracladia [6], bearing a total of 10–80 fertile spikelets, of single florets [7]. Physical emasculation of prairie cordgrass is essentially impractical, but this technique may not be necessary as with protogyny and ascertaining the appropriate timing, directed cross pollination is feasible.…”