A cluster of flowers within a plant that may contain one to many flowers. There may be several inflorescences on a single plant. In the grass and sedge families (Poaceae and Cyperaceae, respectively) the apparent inflorescences are, strictly speaking, synflorescences. The basic unit of the inflorescence is called a spikelet typically consisting of a basal pair of minute sterile bracts called glumes and one or more distichously arranged distal florets on an often zigzag extension of the spikelet axis called the rachilla. Each floret is typically embraced by an additional pair of minute chaffy bracts called the lemma and the palea.