Melasphaerula graminea inflorescence

The Melasphaerula graminea inflorescence, a branched spike, displays in picture how the flowers are linked by their wiry, curving flower stems in the different branches. Individual flowers do not have pedicels in spikes. The internodes in the upper stem parts are still short among the underdeveloped buds of two visible tips.

The short, broad bracts below each flower are soft textured, sometimes green and here dark coloured, dominant like sepals around the buds. The inner bract of each pair may be a little shorter and notched at its tip.

Iridaceae flowers are monocots that have six tepals each and no sepals. Bracts positioned slightly lower below the flowers than where calyces would have been, are functional in many species. They vary much in inflorescence and floral structure, as well as in shape (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Manning, 2007; Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; iNaturalist).