FLOWERS. 



29 



stem ; the flower is here said to have its corolla re- 

 flected. 



Flowers also differ in their arrangement. Some 

 grow very close and compact around one common 

 stalk, which is frequently quite long, as in the Fox- 

 glove; this is called a spike. Sometimes they droop 

 in long and graceful bunches, like Currants ; these 

 are styled racemes. In the beautiful Lilac they appear 

 in a thick, close head, or thyrse. In some cases they 

 hang loosely upon long slender branch- 

 ing stems, or peduncles; these are 

 panicles, of which the Oats is an illus- 

 tration. When they have separate 

 stalks which rise from a common cen- 

 tre, and spread out in the form of an 

 umbrella, as in the Carrot, they are 

 described as umbels ; when these stalks 

 which rise from one centre become 

 much branched, and the flowers more 

 scattered, as may be seen in the com- 

 mon Elder, we call it a cyme; if the 

 clusters grow from different parts of 

 the main stalk, and the stems are of 

 different lengths, it is a corymb; while if the flowers 

 are on very short stems, and form a close, thick-set 

 cluster, it bears the name of a fascicle ; of this the 

 Sweet William is a very familiar example. 



There are also many other modes of flowering 

 peculiar to different plants, but these are the most 

 important, as many of those which come under 

 general observation will be found to have one or an- 



Spike, Fox- 

 glove. 



