The Basic Types of Flowers of Chinese Gramineae and Their Systematic Relevance
中国主要禾本科植物花的基本类型与系统分类

The flowers of the representative species of 33 tribes and 174 genera were investigated for the purpose of Gramineae systematics. Discussed in this paper are ten impor- tant flower characters, 6 of which are of the pistil, two of the androecium and two of the lodi- cule. The morphology of lodicules is of particularly great value in systematics, it consisting of nine forms: membranous-flattend, tongue-shaped, chaffy-peltate, hooded or helmet-shaped, spade-like, longitudinally folded, cucullate, top-shaped and funnel-thaped. Its numbers per flo- wer may be: numerous, triple, dual, single and absent. On the basis of these ten characters, three major types and seven subtypes of the flowers of Gramineae may be recognized: Bam- busoid (including True Bambusoid, Oryzoid, Arundinoid, Stipoid), pooid (with Subtype Po- oid only) and Panicoid (including Eragrostoid, True Panicoid). As a result, The major groups corresponding to the flower basic types agree wih those divided according to the basic types of seedlings and caryopses. They are seven subfamilies: Banbusoideae, Oryzoideae, Arandinoi deae, Stipoideae, Pooideae, Eragrostoideae and Panicoideae.