Fig. 1. Diagram of a normal tassel and spikelet pair. (A) Diagram of a normal tassel (male inflorescence). The tassel consists of a central main spike with long lateral branches at the base. Short branches called spikelet pairs cover the main spike and the lateral branches. (B) Diagram of a spikelet pair from a normal tassel. The pedicellate spikelet is borne on a pedicel while the sessile spikelet is attached at the base. Each spikelet contains two florets, the upper floret (uf) and the lower floret (lf) enclosed by two glumes, the inner glume (ig) and the outer glume (og). Each floret consists of lemma (l), palea (p), two lodicules (not shown) and three stamens (st).