BRACTS AND FLOWEK-STAL.KS. 



143 



276 



chaff-like bracts or bractlets on the axis (or receptacle) and 

 among the flowers of a dense inflorescence, such as a head of 

 Composite (275, Fig. 287, 288) ; and the name is also given 

 to an inner series of the 



GLUMES of Grasses. These are peculiar chaffy bracts or bract- 

 lets which characterize the inflorescence of Grasses and Sedges. 



265. Peduncle is the general name of a flower-stalk, that is, 

 of an axis or stem, which instead of foliage, or at least ordi- 

 nary foliage, supports a 

 flower-cluster or a single 

 flower. In Fig. 276, 

 each peduncle (rising 

 from the axil of an ordi- 

 nary leaf, and therefore 

 answering to a branch) 

 bears a solitary flower. In Fig. 277, the peduncle bears a series 

 of flowers, or a flower-cluster. In this instance, each flower is 

 borne on a flower-stalk of its own, that is, upon a 



PEDICEL. This is the name given to distinguish 

 a partial flower-stalk, or, more strictly, the stalk 

 of each individual flower of an inflorescence. (Fig. 

 277-284.) In less simple flower-clusters, with 

 ramification of two, three, or more grades, general 

 peduncle, partial peduncles, and pedicels have to be 

 distinguished : the term pedicel is reserved for the 

 ultimate ramification. 



SCAPE is the name given to a peduncle rising 

 from the ground, as that of most Primulas, of 

 Dodecatheon, Hepatica, and the so-called acaules- 

 cent or stemless Violets. 



RHACHIS (backbone) is a name given to the axis 

 of inflorescence ; that is, the continuation of the 

 stem or peduncle through a somewhat elongated 

 flower-cluster, as in a spike of Birch or of Plan- 

 tain, Fig. 289, 290. When this axis is short, as in 

 a head (Fig. 285-288), it is usually called the 

 RECEPTACLE, a word also used for the axis or cauline- 

 part of a flower. The context should show when receptacle of 

 inflorescence, and when receptacle of the flower itself, is meant. 

 Both belong to axis or stem. 



FIG. 276. Moneywort, Lysimachia nummularia, with axillary one-flowered 

 peduncles. 



FIG. 277. A Raceme, with a general peduncle (p), pedicels (p f ), bracts (b), and 

 bractlets (60- 



277 



