Inflorescence and flowers
The flowers are solitary or aggregated in cymes, spikes, or panicles and typically perfect (bisexual) and actinomorphic. Some species have unisexual flowers. Bracts and bracteoles are either herbaceous or scarious. Flowers are regular with a herbaceous or scarious perianth of (1 to) mostly 5 (rarely to 8) tepals, often joined. There are 1-5 stamens opposite to tepals or alternating, inserting from a hypogynous disc, which may have appendages (pseudostaminodes) in some species. The anthers have 2 or 4 pollen sacs (locules). In tribe Caroxyloneae, antheres have vesicular appendages. The pollen grains are sperical with many pores (pantoporate), with pore numbers from a few to 250 (in Froelichia). 1-3 (rarely -6) carpels are fused to a superior ovary with 1 (rarely 2) basal ovule.
