f ' S i. tL, _* - - > XXI 



INTRODUCTIoy; 



XI 



e im- 



T . ^^<^^pne, or rar^ji205^, when tlie flowers are borne oa peclicolg alon^r a sinirl 

 amdcd axis or rliaehis. o b 



B. Fanicle, ov jjadlculaie, when the axis Is divided into branches bedrinsr two or 

 more flowers. ^ 



a Bead, or cap'date, wlieu several sessile or nearly sessile flowers are collected 



liito a compact head-like cluster. The short, flat, convex or conical axis on which tl^e 



aowers are seated, is called the re cep la cle, a term also used for the torus of a single 



Uowcr (135). T)3o verj compact flower-heads of Comr>ositcs are often termed corapound 

 flowers, ^ 



an Umbel, or urabellale, wheii several bi*anches or pedicels appear to start from 

 tlie same point and are nearly of the same length. It differs from the head, like tlie 

 raceme from tJie spike, in that the flowers are not sessile. An umbel is said to be 

 simple^ when eaeli of its branches or rat/s bears a single flower; compound, when each 

 J^y bears a partial umlel or umheJhde, 



a Corymh^ <ir eorymhose, when tiie branches and pedicels, althougli starting from 

 cinierent points, nil attain the same level, the lower ones being mucli XongQv than the 

 i^^per. ^ It is a flat-topped ovfasttgiate panicle. , 



a Ci/me, or ci/mose^ when branched and centrifugal. It is a centrifugnl painelo, 

 ajid is often corymbose. The central flower opens first. The lateral branches succes- 

 sively developed are usually forked or opposite (dichotomous or trichotomous), but 

 sometunes ai'tcr the first forking the branches are no longer divided, but pix>duco a 

 succession of pedicels on their upper side forming apparently imilateral centrinetal 

 ^aeemea ; whereas if attentively examined, it will be found that each pedicel is at first 

 rerriunal, but becomes lateral by the development of one outer brancli only, immedi- 

 ately under the pedicel. Sueli b^-anches, wficn in bud, are generally rolled back at tlie 

 top, Jikc the tail of a scorpion, and are thence caUcd scorpioid, 



a Thyrsus, or thyrsold^ when cymes, usually opposite, arc arranged in a narrow 

 pyrann'dal panicle. 



7o. There are numerous eases where inflorescences are intennediate between some 

 two of the above, and are called by dilTorcut botanists by one or the other name, 

 accordhig as they are guided by apparent or by theoretical similarity. A spike-like 

 panicle, where the axis is divided into very short branches forming a cylindrical 

 compact inflorescence, is called sometimes a spike, sometimes a panicle. If the 



closely 

 not on the main axis, but on a very sliort branch, thus, strictly speaking, constituting 

 a panicle. 



76. The catkins (amenta) of AmentaceT, the spadkes of several Monocotyledons, 

 tlie ears and spikelets of Grasses are forms of the-spite. 



77. Bracts are generally placed singly under each branch of the inflorescence, and 



"Under each pedicel ; bracteoles are usually two, one on each side, on the pedicel or 



^'lose under the flower, or even upon the calyx itself; but bracts are also frequently 



scattered along the braru'lies without axillary pedicels ; and when the diiferences 



between the bracts and bractcoles are trifling or immaterial, they are usually all called 

 oraeta, 



78. When three bracts appear to proceed from the same point, they will, on exami- 

 nation, be found to be really either one bract and two stipules, or one bnict with two 

 Drncteoles in its axil. When Uxo bracts appear to jn-oceed from the same point, they 

 ^'lU usually be found io be the stipnlrs of an undeveloped bract, unless the branched 

 of^the inflorescence are opposite, when the bracts will of course be opposite also. 



70. Wlien several bracts are collected in a wliorl, or are so close together as to appear 

 ^vliorled, or are closely imbncated round the base of a head or umbel, they arc collec- 

 tively called an Involucre, Tlie bracts composing an involucre are described under the 

 Jiames of leaves, leafiets, hrads, or scales, according to their appearance. Fhyllanes 

 3s a n.xdess term, lately introduced for the bracts or scales of the mvolucre of Com- 

 posilcB. An LiTolucei is the hivolucre of a partial umbel. 



80. When several very small bracts are placed round the base of a caly:t or of an 



