Abstract:The studies on process of differentiation and development of young spike and on morphology of flower and fruit of Melinis minutiflora Beauv. reveal that the process can be divided into nine stages, namely: 1. The stage of first bract primordium formation F 2. The stage of primary branch primordium formation; 3. The stage of secondary and third branches primordia formation ; 4. The stase of spikelet and floret primordia formation ; 5. The stage of stamen and pistil primordia formation ; 6. The stage of pollen mother cell formation ; 7. The stage of meiosis of Pollen mother cell ; 8. The stage of pollen filling; 9. The stage of Pollen maturation. The duration of the process is about 42 days, and the duration from heading to caryopsis maturation takes about 50 days.The inflorescence is a terminal panicle with 2 000-3 000 fertile florets. Each spikelet consists of an outer glume, an inner glume, a lemma of sterile floret and a fertile floret on their rachilla. Each fertile floret includes a lemma, a pelea, a lodicule, three stamens and a pistil. The weight of thousand grains of caryopsis is 91mg.
