OF THE INFLOllESGENCE. 181 



diffusa^ a lax or spreading panicle, as in Sti.vifraga 

 umbrosa, t. 6()3, so frequent in gardens under the 

 name of London Pride, and S. Geum, t. 156], but 

 particularly in many grasses, as the common culti- 

 vated Oat, 3.nd Jve?ia stf^igosa, t. 1266; in this 

 tribe the branches of the panicle are mostly semi- 

 verticillate ; see Aira aquatlca, t. 1557, A divari- 

 cated panicle is still more spreading, like those of 

 Prenanthts 7?iinYdis, t. 457, and Spergh'la arvensisy 

 t. 1535 ; the last being dichotomous or forked. A 

 dense or crowded panicle, coarctata, is observable 

 in Milium lendigerum, t. 1 107, and Agrostis stolo- 

 niftra, t. \5^% but still more remarkably in Phkum 

 paniculatuin^ t. 1077, whose inflorescence looks, at 

 first sightj like a cylindrical spike, but when bent to 

 either side, it separates into branched lobes, con* 

 stituting a real panicle. 



Thyrsus, /. 1 4 1 , a Bunch, is a dense or close panicle, 

 more or less of an ovate figure, of which the Lilac, 

 Syrlnga "vulgaris, Curt. Mag. t. 183, Tussilago 

 hijhrida and Petasites, Engl. Bot. t. 430, 431, are 

 examples cited by Linnaeus. 1 presume likewise to 

 consider a bunch of grapes, Vitis xiniferay as a 

 true tliyrms, to the characters and appearance of 

 which it correctly answers. Its ultimate terminations 

 are sometimes obscurely umbellate, especially while 

 in blossom, which is no objection here, but can 



