Rachis Rachis Rachis is a biological term for a main axis or "shaft" (from the Greek "ράχις, backbone, spine"). In vertebrates a "rachis" can refer to the series of articulated vertebrae, which encase the spinal cord. In this case the "rachis" usually forms the supporting axis of the body and is then called the spine or vertebral column. "Rachis" can also mean the central shaft of pennaceous feathers. In the gonad of the invertebrate nematode "C. elegans", a "rachis" is the central cell-free core or axis of the gonadal arm of both adult males and hermaphrodites where the germ cells have
Rachis achieved pachytene and are attached to the walls of the gonadal tube. The rachis is filled with cytoplasm. In plants, a "rachis" is the main axis of a compound structure. It can be the main stem of a compound leaf, such as in "Acacia" or ferns, or the main, flower-bearing portion of an inflorescence above a supporting peduncle. A ripe head of wild-type wheat is easily shattered into dispersal units when touched or blown by the wind. A series of layers forms that divides the rachis into dispersal units consisting of a small group of flowers (a single spikelet) attached