EVOLUTION OF THE INFLORESCENCE. 535 
simple cyme. The flowers or flower-buds exceed by one the number of 
leaves in the involuere; that is to say, the inflorescence consists of a 
terminal flower—the first to bloom 
from the axil of one of the involucral leaves. 
and lateral flowers, each proceeding 
This inflorescence is somewhat intermediate between the foregoing and 
the single-flowered forms of Anemone, but at the same time it is somewhat 
specialised and apart. 
In A. ranunculoides the last step but one to the complete reduction of the 
inflorescence to a single flower is reached. This species, besides the terminai 
flower, sometimes produces a lateral one with a pair of bracteoles, and so is 
twin-flowered. 
The Pulsatilla section of the genus (A. Pulsatilla, A. vernalis, ete.) is 
probably the most evolved ; besides having solitary flowers, the involucre 
is much modified, being close up to the flower, thus resembling a calyx. 
The involuere of A. Hepatica is still more calyx-like, but this species, as 
regards its flower-arrangement, is quite apart, and probably there is some 
warrant for keeping it as a separate genus, as was done by earlier systematists. 
PAPAVERACES, 
This is a distinctly useful family for showing the gradual progression from 
solitary terminal flowers to racemose inflorescences, This natural order is 
mostly composed of herbs. A few species have retained a shrubby habit. 
Marked arborescent forms are absent. 
The monotypic shrubby genus, Vendromecon, has solitary terminal flowers, 
suggesting that the progenitors of this very natural family bore their flowers 
in a similar fashion and had an arborescent habit. 
Three other monotypic herbaceous genera, Ztomneya, Hunnemannia, and 
Sanguinaria, have solitary flowers, which are probably primitively terminal. 
Papaver.—In this large genus the initial stage in the building of flower- 
clusters can be followed. 
Papaver orientale and P. bracteatum are species with solitary terminal 
flowers. The cauline foliage leaves, 5-7 in number, have no buds in 
their axils. The leafy shoot which arises from the perennial rootstock, 
and which ends in a single large flower, is thus comparable to that of the 
herbaceous Peony (conia officinalis and allies, see p. 530). 
Papaver Rheas, the common poppy of the British Isles, and P. somni- 
ferum, the opium poppy, both annuals, produce, besides the flower terminal 
to the main (plumular) axis, several subordinate shoots ending in flowers. 
The branching may be carried to the fifth degree, at least in P. Lheas 
(cf. Ranunculus aeris, p. 931). The inflorescence, however, is ill-defined, 
being very lax, and the foliar organs largely retaining their foliaceous 
character. Papaver strictum shows some advance on the above. Besides 
