Flowers and Flower Clusters 233 



the seeds are produced on scale leaves arranged spirally in cones. 

 These cones may be looked upon as a lower type of flower, struc- 

 turally very different from the flowers of the monocots and dicots. 

 Flower clusters. The arrangements of flowers on stems are 

 very varied in different plants, and many descriptive terms have 



Fig. 136. Flowers of the corn plant. The panicle of staminate flowers (tassel) 

 is shown above. Below are the pistillate flowers arranged in a spike (ear), in- 

 closed by sheathing leaves. The only part of the pistillate flowers exposed to 

 the air is the long style (silk). 



