Inflorescence: What Category is the Sunflower 🌻?

 

Sunflower 🌻 with seed development

Sunflower 🌻 with seed development

Look at these sunflowers and 

notice their different parts.

Sunflower 🌻 with seed development

Sunflower 🌻 with seed development.

What is an inflorescence?

Floral axis with its appendages; a flower cluster

Why is it important to know what type of inflorescence your plant is?

Type of inflorescence is important to us as seed savers because it dictates the method of collecting the seeds.

What are the 3 main categories of the inflorescence?

There are three main categories of inflorescences: solitary flowers, racemose inflorescences, and cymose inflorescences.  There are also mixed types, with racemose clusters borne on cymose inflorescences  and the opposite as well. 

The racemose inflorescences, generally speaking, the inflorescences in this category are indeterminate.  This means that the flowers at the base of the inflorescence are older than the flowers at the tip of the inflorescence.  Seeds may be formed at the base of the inflorescence at the same time that young flowers are just opening at the tip.

What category is the sunflower?

Category of racemose inflorescences: HEAD. A dense cluster of short, sessile or almost sessile flowers on a flattened receptacle.  Examples are sunflower, coneflower, and marigold.

Information gathered from:
The Complete Guide To Saving Seeds

by Robert Gough and Cheryl Moore-Gough

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by Nell Sapp