Pseudanthium
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A pseudanthium (Greek: false flower) is a special type of inflorescence, in which several flowers are grouped together to form a flower-like structure. The real flowers are generally small and greatly reduced. The basis of a pseudanthium is a whorl of bracts forming a plate or cup shape structure known as the involucrum (Greek: wrapper, covering, case, envelope). This involucrum supports or contains a number of individual flowers which stand on a more or less stiff cone arising from the stem axil.
Pseudanthia are particularly widely distributed in the family Asteraceae. There the individual central flowers of the pseudanthium have typically no petals. Individual marginal flowers, however, have single petals pointing outwards.
Pseudanthia occur in the following plant families:
- Apiaceae
- Asteraceae
- Campanulaceae
- Centrolepidaceae
- Cornaceae
- Cyperaceae
- Euphorbiaceae - there the pseudanthia are called cyathia
- Hamamelidaceae
- Moraceae
- Poaceae
- Proteaceae
- Rubiaceae
