Vascular system of the fertile floret of Phalaris arundinacea

Six vascular bundles lie in two rows of three in the rachilla at the base of the fertile floret. Each bundle relates to a lemma or palea trace. As the rachilla bundles become traces they also produce sieve elements that interconnect to form the lower layer of the sieve-element plexus. Lodicule traces join the anterior of this lower plexus. Only the tracheary elements from the rachilla bundle related to the lemma's median trace rise higher in the rachilla, and these merge into a system of anomalous tracheary elements (xylem discontinuity) that rises toward the ovule. The lower sieve-element plexus layer ascends around the xylem discontinuity into a trilobed upper plexus layer which supplies the stamen traces. A third sieve-element plexus (pistil plexus) joins the upper plexus layer by three descending prongs. The pistil plexus, which occurs at the base of the pistil, is linked on its anterior to the anterior bundle. The placental bundle rises from the posterior of the pistil plexus and furnishes the sides ...