Morphology Of Flowering Plants - Inflorescence

The arrangement of flowers on the floral axis defines the inflorescence type, and NCERT contrasts racemose and cymose patterns. In a racemose inflorescence the main axis keeps growing and does not terminate in a flower; flowers are borne laterally in acropetal succession, meaning the older flowers are at the base and the younger ones toward the growing tip. The option stating that the main axis terminates in a flower with limited growth actually describes the cymose type, where the tip is used up by a flower, so it is incorrect for racemose. The claim that flowers always open from the centre outward describes centrifugal opening seen in cymose clusters, the opposite of the racemose pattern. Saying the main axis is absent with solitary flowers describes neither racemose nor true cymose inflorescences. As stated in NCERT Class 11, Chapter 5 (Morphology of Flowering Plants), racemose inflorescence shows acropetal arrangement on an indefinitely growing axis. A pattern check confirms that continued axis growth with basal-to-apical flowering uniquely matches the racemose description.