On the other hand, the sister-group relationship between Aristolochiaceae and monocots, proposed by Stevenson & Loconte (1995), among others, is supported by the presence of adaxial
prophylls, trimerous flowers, monosulcate or inaperturate pollen, and sieve-element plastids of the specific type Pile.
This means that the terminal inflorescence is accompanied or not by trophotagma enrichment axes (with the corresponding subtending
prophyll, leaves and the lateral inflorescences of these axes).
Spikelets 25-200 per inflorescence, not more than 15% peduncled, linear-ellipsoid, 4-9.5 mm long, 1.7-2.7 mm wide, cuneate at base, acute at apex; scales somewhat spreading, loosely spirally arranged, with 24 sterile scales at the base of the spikelet (excluding the
prophyll) and 8-25 fertile scales; fertile scales 1.7-2.7 mm long, 0.9-1.3 mm wide, ovate to ovate elliptic, obtuse to rounded, yellowish to pale brown with a green to brown, 3-nerved mid-zone and hyaline margins, partially enveloping the achene.
Branches with exserted inflorescences had two (rarely three) internodes, the first subtended by a
prophyll and the second surrounded by a sheath.
Within this pattern, the Cypereae spikelets show variations in (Tables 1 and 2): (A) number and phyllotaxis of the glumes; (B) presence of empty glumes (lack of development of flowers in lower or upper glumes); (C) glume morphology; (D) rachilla internode length; (E)
prophyll development; (F) flower structure; (G) structure of the dispersal unit.
Beginning on 21 May 1998, plants were tagged when the
prophyll leaves began to emerge from the coleoptiles.
result, there is one
prophyll subtending each of the spikelets (Thomas
Luzuloidei (Guarise & Vegetti, 2007), all the glumes have a distichous arrangement (1/2 phyllotaxis), except for the
prophyll. The distichous disposition of the glumes would indicate a change in the inflorescence phyllotaxis, from a spiral arrangement (3/8 phyllotaxis) to a distichous phyllotaxis (1/2 phyllotaxis), and this switch may be mediated by the
prophyll of the spikelets in a transitional position, because it forms a 90 [degrees] angle with respect to the glumes (Guarise & Vegetti, 2007).
If the enrichment axes do branch, either a paniculate branching pattern (branches generated from the leaf axillary buds), or a cymose branching pattern (branches generated from the axillary buds of the
prophyll) may occur.
The flower is subtended by the spikelet
prophyll, which forms an utriculus that envelops flower, rachilla and distal glume (Fig.
The tribe is also notable because it is clearly monophyletic (Muasya et al., 1998, 2000; Starr et al., 2006) and easily separated from all other Cyperaceae by naked unisexual flowers where the female is surrounded by a sac-like
prophyll known as a utricle or perigynium (Fig.
For example, Bugnon and Joffrin, and Brunaud, saw the first foliar structure initiated on what we call a "stolon complex" as a
prophyll of the whole axillary complex: but in material studied by dissection it is perfectly clear that the first foliar structure is initiated on the stolon complex itself.
