^ 



CHAPTEH XIII. 



INFLORESCENCE. 



285. iNFLORESCENCETis a term^^ denoting the arrangement of 

 the flowers upon a stem or brauclY 



286. In regard to position upon the stem/the inflorescence, 

 like the leaf-bud, of which we have shown it to be a modifi.ea- 

 tion, is either terminal or axillary. 



a. It is, hoM'ever, in some plants, particularlynn the potatoe ti'ibe')(Solanace£c), 

 situated opposite to a leaf. This irregularity is accounted for/if we suppose, with 

 Lindley, that the flower-stalk, originating in the axU of the leaf next below, ad- 

 heres to the internode (172) in its lower part, and does not separate from it until 

 it is opposite the succeeding leaf. ' 



287. The TEDUNCLE (flower- stalk) is that part of the stem on 

 which the inflorescence is immediately supported. It bears no 

 leaves, or, at most, only such as are reduced in size, and altered 

 in form I called bracts (252). If the peduncle is wanting, the 

 flo^ver is said to be sessile.) 



288. The peduncle, like the stem of which it is a portion/ may 

 be either simple or branched. Wlien it is simple it bears, of 

 course, a single flower, but when it is divided into branches it 

 bears several flowers, and its final divisions, each bearing a sin- 

 gle flo\ver, are called PEmcELS. 



289. A scAPEds a flower-stalk which sjirings from a subter- 

 ranean stem, in such plants as are called stemless (177). Ex. 

 Sarracenia, Taraxacum, Hyacinthus. Like the peduncle, of 

 which it is a modification, it is leafless, or with bracts only, and 

 may be either simple or branched.* 



290. The rachis (guxig, the spine) is the axis of the inflores- 

 cence, or the main stem of a compound peduncle, along which 

 the pedicels are arranged, as seen in the Plantago, currant, 

 grape, and grasses.,* 



291. The inflorescence is said to be solitary when it consists 

 of a single terminal flower, as in Eiythronium, or ■when but a 

 single axillary flower is developed at the same node, as in Petu- 

 nia, Convolvulus. \ 



