Understanding of environmental effects on floral initiation and spikelet differentiation in winter wheat requires a quantitative method of assessing inflorescence development. This note presents a numerical staging scheme for measuring progression of inflorescence development for material which has been preserved in formalin‐acetic acidalcohol. The assessment is based primarily on the production of successive floral appendages; but, since these are difficult to observe in preserved material, additional criteria involving spike shape and size are included. The system works for club and for common wheats, and permits clear delineation of the timing of occurrence of floral initiation and of termination of spikelet differentiation.
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Klepper et al. (1983) studied this question.