Some of the most important types of inflorescence are as follows:
I. Racemose or Indefinite type II. Cymose or Definite type III. Special type IV. Mixed type.
I. Racemose Inflorescence:
In this type of inflorescence, the peduncle never ends in a flower, hut it continues to grow indefinitely and bears flowers laterally in acropetal succession i.e., the younger flowers develop towards growing end while the older flowers grow at the base.
Racemose inflorescence is simple when the peduncle is branched and compound when the peduncle is branched. The racemose inflorescence may be of following types (Fig. 5.1).
II. Cymose Inflorescence:
In cymose inflorescence, the growth of peduncle is limited as it ends in a flower and the subsequent lateral axis also ends in a flower. Further, flowers borne in basipetal succession i.e., the older flowers are towards apex and younger towards base (Fig. 5.11)
III. Special type of Inflorances:
IV. Mixed Inflorescence:
In some cases, two or more types of inflorescence get mixed up to form mixed inflorescence, e.g., penicle of spiklets in oat and rice; spike of spiklets in wheat (Fig. 5.15); corymb of capitula in Agemtum conzoidus; umbel of capitula, raceme of capitula, mixed spadix (spadices with cymose inflorescence arranged acropetally on a fleshy axis, e.g., banana), thyrsus (thyrse, cymose clusters borne acropetally on an axis, e.g., Grape vine, male Cannabis).