FLOWERS : THE Hi PARTS. 



63 



its branches. The plan of a C3'me is ilkistrated in tlie following]: fij^ares. Fi'^. 



150, to begin with, is a stem terminated by a flower, which phiinly comes from 



a terminal bud or is a terminal flower. Fig. 151 is the same, which has started 



a branch from the axil 



of each of the uppermost 



leaves ; each of these 



ends in a flower-bud. 



Fig. 152 is the same, 



with the side branches 



again branched in the 



same ^^'a7, each branch 



endinsr in a flower-bud. 



This makes a cluster 



looking like a corymb, as 



shown in Fig. 143 ; but observe that here in the cyme the middle flower, a,. 



which ends the main stem, blossoms first ; next, those flowers marked h ; then 



those marked c, and so on, the centre one of each set being the earliest ; whfle in 



the corymb tlie blossoming begins wnth the outermost flowers and proceeds regu 



larly towards the centre. The Elder, the Cornel, and the Hydrangea (Fig. 169) 



have their blossoms in cymes many times branched in this way ; that is, they have 



compound cymes. 



190. A Fascicle is only a close or \qyj much crowded cyme, with very short 

 footstalks to tlie flowers, or none at all, as the flower-cluster of Sweet- William. 



131 

 Plan of ihe Cyme. 



§ 2. Forms and Kinds of Flowers. 



191. The Parts of a Flower w^ere illustrated at the beginninjr of the book, in 

 Chapter L, Section I. Let us glance at them again, taking a different flower for 

 the example, namely, that of the Three-leaved Stonecrop. Although small, this 

 has all the parts very distinct and regular. Fig. 153 is a moderately enlarged view 

 of one of the middle or earliest flowers of this Stonecrop. (The others are like it, 

 only with their parts in fours instead of fives.) And Fig. 154 shows two parts of 

 each sort, one on each side, more magnified, and separated from the end of the 

 flower-stalk (or Receptacle), but standing in their natural position, namely, below^ or 

 outside a Sepal, or leaf of the Calyx; then a Petal, or leaf of the Corolla ; then a. 

 Stamen ; then a Pistil. 



