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Introduction to Rice

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Oryza Illustrations

Drawings by Nicholas Polato
All images are copyrighted.

grain_iconGrass Illustrations Oryza | Zea 

Tiller - The shoot developing from the axillary bud meristem

Root - An axial system which is usually underground and more or less positively geotropic, does not bear leaves and only rarely shoots, is endogenous in origin, indeterminate in growth and often with secondary thickening

Stem - An axial system which is usually above ground and more or less negatively geotropic, bears leaves and buds, is exogenous in origin, often indeterminate in growth and with secondary thickening

Node - The level (transverse plane) of a stem at which one or more leaves and associated axillary bud(s) arise

Internode - The portion of a stem between the level of insertion of two successive leaves, leaf pairs or leaf whorls, or branches of an inflorescence, i.e. between two nodes

Leaf - Commonly thought of as one of the three basic parts of the seed plant body, a structure usually of determinate growth, without secondary thickening, and of superficial origin, often flattened and photosynthetic in part, and in the axil of which is found a bud

Leaf blade - The blade of a leaf, usually dorsiventrally flattened, and expanded

Leaf sheath - Any tubular portion of the leaf surrounding the stem, as in the Poaceae

Leaf collar - A thin band of intercalary meristematic tissue at the junction of the leaf blade (lamina) and the leaf sheath found in grasses

Panicle - The grouping or arrangement in which flowers are borne on a plant

Flag leaf - The last mature leaf before the inflorescence in a cereal crop plant


Ligule - A membranous or hairy appendage on the adaxial/upper surface of a leaf, at the junction between sheath and blade, especially in grasses

Auricle - Outgrowth at the base of a leaf blade that may wrap around the stem

Leaf blade - The blade of a leaf, usually dorsiventrally flattened, and expanded

Leaf sheath - Any tubular portion of the leaf surrounding the stem, as in the Poaceae

Leaf collar - A thin band of intercalary meristematic tissue at the junction of the leaf blade (lamina) and the leaf sheath found in grasses


Panicle - The grouping or arrangement in which flowers are borne on a plant

Flag leaf - The last mature leaf before the inflorescence in a cereal crop plant

Peduncle - The stalk of an inflorescence below the lowest inflorescence node

Rachis - The central supporting structure around which flowers are borne

Primary branch - The extent of primary branching usually sets the tone for shape and compactness of the inflorescence (panicle)

Rachilla - The axis of the spikelet, above the glumes

Spikelet - Ultimate and congested inflorescence branch of the grasses


Spikelet - Ultimate and congested inflorescence branch of the grasses

Pedicel - Basal part of the ultimate branch of the inflorescence

Rudimentary glume - A "bract" in the inflorescence of a grass, sedge or similar plant

Rachilla - The axis of the spikelet, above the glumes

Sterile lemma - A bract in the position of a lemma, but not enclosing floral organs

Floret - Small flowers, esp. of the spikelets of Poaceae and Cyperaceae and the capitula of Asteraceae

Lemma - In a grass floret, the lower of two bracts enclosing a flower

Palea - In a grass floret, the upper of the two bracts enclosing a flower

Awn - A long bristle-like appendage found on the tip or back of various parts of the grass spikelet

Stamen - A microsporophyll bearing one or more microsporangia

Anther - The pollen-bearing part of a stamen of a grass floret

Filament - The stalk of the stamen of a grass floret

Pistil - Collectively the carpels of a flower

Stigma - The apical part of a carpel of a grass floret on which the pollen germinates

Ovary - The basal portion of a carpel that encloses the ovule(s) in a grass floret


Gramene is happy to allow the use of its photographs for educational purposes, provided the name of the photographer and the address of the webpage from which it was copied are cited.