Caryopsis
Definition
The grain of a grass: a single-seeded fruit in which the seed coat is fused to the ovary wall. Shape, size, and surface features of the caryopsis distinguish genera and, combined with lemma characters, often support species identification.
- Definition
- Grain of a grass, seed coat fused to the ovary wall
- Diagnostic features
- Shape, size, surface texture
- Combined with
- Lemma characters for species-level identification
- Field
- Forensic botany, grass phytolith analysis
Common questions
Why is caryopsis morphology useful in forensic botany but often not conclusive alone?+
Many grass genera produce grains of broadly similar shape and size, so caryopsis features narrow the identification to a genus or group but usually need to be combined with associated plant parts such as the lemma or with phytolith evidence to reach species level.
What kind of forensic questions can caryopsis analysis help answer?+
Grain type and condition recovered from clothing, vehicle undercarriages or soil can help place a person or object at a location with a characteristic grass community, or support or contradict an alibi about recent travel through a particular habitat.
Related terms
- Floret
- The basic reproductive unit of a grass spikelet, consisting of the lemma, palea, and the enclosed flower. Floret morphology, including lemma surface,...
- Lemma
- The lower of the two bracts enclosing the grass floret. Its surface texture, venation, awn character, and marginal features are major identification...
- Morphotype
- A phytolith shape class defined by the geometry of the silica body: bilobate, cross-shaped, saddle-shaped, elongate, dendritic, and so on. Individual morphotypes...
- Phytolith
- Opaline silica body precipitated in or between plant cells during growth. Grass phytoliths are produced in high quantities and persist in soil...
- Subfamilies Panicoideae and Chloridoideae
- Two of the major grass subfamilies. Panicoideae (warm-season C4 grasses of humid tropics and subtropics) are characterised by bilobate and cross-shaped phytoliths....