INTRODUCTION TO BOTANY. Vil 
Solid leaves, &c., are 
setaceous, bristle-form ; capillary, when very slender, like hairs ; 
ovoid, when egg-shaped, with the broad end downwards; obovoid, if the 
broad end be upwards. 
globular or spherical, round like a ball ; 
conical, cone-shaped ; tapering upwards, and obconical, tapering downwards, 
if in both cases a cross-section shows a circle. 
pyramidal, when tapering upwards, 0b-pyramida/, when tapering downwards, 
if in both cases a cross section shows a triangle or polygon. 
postal. when broad in the middle and tapering to end, like a spindle, 
and not lv 
cylindrical, when not perceptibly tapering and not angular. 
terete, cylindrical, with the ee section circular ; 
trigonous, rather bluntly 3-angled ; triquetrous, sharply 3-angled. 
Jlattened or depressed, when verti com 3 
compressed, when laterally flattened; and ob-compressed (a bad term) some- 
times used in the sense of dorsally-compressed. 
52. The mode in which unexpanded leaves are disposed in the leaf-bud is called 
their vernation or prefoliation: it varies considerably, but is rarely noticed in de- 
scriptive botany. 
§ 6. Stipules. 
53. Stipules are leaf-like or scale-like appendages at the base of the leaf-stalk or 
on the node of the stem. They are often absent: when present they are generally 
two, one at each side of the petiole, and they sometimes appear to protect the young 
leaf before it is developed. They vary extremely in size and appearance ; and are 
either free, i.e., separate from the petiole, or adnate, i.e., laterally attached wholly 
or in part to the petiole. They often afford excellent characters in distinguishing 
plants from each other, and ought always to be closely observed. — 
54. Stipelle, or secon stipules, are similar organs, sometimes found on com- 
pound leaves at the points where the leaflets are inserted. 
§ 7. Bractee. 
55. A Bractea or bract is either the leaf from the axil of which a flower is deve- 
loped, when this differs in appearance from an ordinary leaf; or else it is any 
reduced leaf situated on the branches of the injlorescence (57) below the calyx. 
56. When flower stalks are branched, and have bractez at their first as well as at 
their second and subsequent ramifications, the former are called general, the latter 
partial bracteze or bracteoles. The terms general and partial are also applied to in- 
_ volucres (64) when similarly situated. The word bracteole is sometimes given to the 
uppermost bracts, when much smaller or very different from the lower ones. _ 
§ 8. Jnflorescence. © 
57. The Inflorescence of a plant is the arrangement of the flowering branches, 
and of the flowers upon them. An inflorescence is a flowering branch, or the flower- 
ing summit of a plant above the last stem-h aves, with its branches, bracts, and 
ne flower or an inflorescence is terminal when at the summit of a stem or 
leafy branch ; axillary, when in the axil of a lateral leaf. ; 
59. A peduncle or flower-stalk is the stalk either of a solitary flower or of an inflo- 
rescence; in the latter case it may be either simple or branched. A pedicel is the 
ultimate branchlet of an inflorescence, supporting a single flower. 
60. A scape is a peduncle that proceeds from the root-stock, or from so near the 
base of the stem as to appear radical, provided always that it bears no leaves at all, 
or that the leaves are reduced to mere scales or bracts. 
61. The inflorescence is centrifugal, when the terminal flower opens first, and 
those on the lateral branches are successively developed ; centripetal, when the 
lowest flowers open first and the main stem continues to lengthen, developing fresh 
flowers. Both these kinds of inflorescence may be combined on the same plant ; 
the main branches: may be centripetal, and the flowers on the lateral branches cen- 
trifugal, or vice versa. 
