Tillering in Grasses

All plants branch, but in grasses, tillers are specialized branches that arise from basal nodes that are closely packed together due to the lack of expansion of the internode regions. Tillers are often tipped by seed heads, just like the main stem, and can form adventitious roots that allow them to become at least semi-independent of the primary stem (culm) of the plant.

tillers
Tillers in Setaria viridis

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Field trial of an F8 RIL population from a cross between Setaria italica and S. viridis to examine variation in plant architecture, flowering time and drought tolerance

 
Comparison of tillering and non-tillering RILs in the Sorghum bicolor X S. propinquum RIL population