EVOLUTION OF THE INFLORESCENCE. 513 
other botanical works, are often of a vague character, so that little reliance 
can be placed upon them as to the true nature of the flower-arrangement. 
This may not be surprising. Without an evolutionary basis for the classifi- 
eation of the inflorescence, the connecting or intermediate forms, the ones of 
especial value in this paper, are apt to be the least clearly described. Hence 
a more complete understanding as to how flower-clusters have arisen, and as 
to how the various kinds have evolved one from another, would assist the 
systematist in the formulation of his descriptions ; and then these latter 
would convey to the morphologist, seeking data, clearness as to how the 
flowers are borne, and as to the order in which they bloom. 
As the author has, therefore, not thought fit to utilise to any extent 
information respecting the Inflorescence to be obtained from systematic 
descriptions of genera and species, the evidence brought forward in the 
succeeding pages may appear less complete than it otherwise might. If 
systematic descriptions could have been used, then the gaps in the study of 
the genera dealt with could have been readily filled. The examination in the 
fresh state of all the species known of a fairly large genus is a matter both 
of time and of difficulty. It seemed hardly desirable to postpone the publica- 
tion of the paper till this had been done for the various genera here con- 
sidered ; especially as the evidence has been drawn from examples widely 
scattered among the Dicotyledons, and does not depend solely on the 
investigation of one or two families. Also, at this stage it seemed fitting 
to elaborate a working hypothesis by the aid of which the subject can be 
further studied. 
Before closing this Introduction it may be well to draw attention to the 
following fact, which will be self-evident from a perusal of the main part of 
this paper, namely, that the evolution of inflorescences from solitary terminal 
flowers on the lines thus briefly indicated, has taken place independently in 
several families of Angiosperms. Though there may have been slight differ- 
ences in detail, yet in each case the evolution has advanced by essentially 
the same steps. 
N.B.—To avoid repetition in the explanations accompanying the diagram- 
matic text-figures, attention is called here to the fact that the individual 
flowers are represented by circles and the order of their expansion by 
numerals (1, 2, 3, etc.). 
Il. HISTORICAL. 
Before commencing a short review of the literature bearing on this paper, 
it may be well to explain clearly the meaning here attached to the term 
“ Inflorescence.” 
Linnzeus * appears to have been responsible for the introduction of 
* Linneeus, C., * Phil. Bot.’, Stockholmia, p. 112, 1751. 
