236 



General Botany 



Fig. 139. Staminate inflorescence and opening bud of the white 

 ash {Fraxinus americana). 



is a flat-topped cluster in which the pedicels vary in length, the 

 outer being the larger, and arise from different nodes of the 

 peduncle. In a panicle the peduncle is repeatedly branched and 

 the branches are wide-spreading. Yucca, hydrangea, the ''corn 

 tassel," and many other large grasses will exemplify the panicle. 

 The head is a flower cluster in which the flowers are all crowded 

 together at the end of a peduncle as in the red and white clover. 

 The head of flowers of daisies, asters, sunflowers, and chrysanthe- 

 mums are often mistaken for simple flowers, because the larger 

 ray flowers have the appearance of petals and beneath them is a 

 cycle of bracts that might be mistaken for the parts of a calyx. 



