102 INFLORESCENCE. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



rNTLORESCENCE. 



285. Inflorescence is a term denoting the arrangement of 

 the flowers upon a stem or branch. 



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

 Hke the leaf-bud, of which we have shown it to be a modifica- 

 tion, is either terminal or axillary. 



a. It is, however, in some plants, particularly in the potatoe tribe (Solanacea), 

 situated of^odU to a leaf. This irregularity is accounted for, if we suppose, with 

 Lindley, that the flower-stalk, originating in the axil of the leaf next beloAv, ad- 

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

 it is opposite the succeeding leaf. 



287. The peduncle (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, called bracts (252). If the peduncle is wanting, the 

 flow^er is said to be sessile. 



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

 be either simple or branched. "When 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 flower, are called pedicels. 



289. A scape is a flower-stalk which springs 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 mth bracts only, and 

 may be either simple or branched. 



290. The rachis (?«/tc, 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 Erythronium, or when but a 

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

 nia, Convolvulus. 



