14 POPULAR FIELD BOTANY. 
_ The dZossom is arranged on the stalk im various ways. An 
umbel is formed by a number of stalks proceeding from one 
point, as in the Cherry; and it is a compound umbel when 
each ray of the umbel is itself umbellate, as in Parsley. A 
spike is when all the flowers are scattered along a stem, 
having no stalks themselves, as in the Plantain. In a raceme 
the flowers have each a separate stalk fixed to the main stalk, 
as in the Currant. A scape is a stem arising from the root, 
bearing nothing but flowers, as im the Hyacinth. 
A flower, if complete in all its parts, consists of a calyz, 
corolla, stamens, and pistils. 
The calyx is a whorl of small leaves which are either 
separate from each other, or growing together in the form 
of acup. It is always on the outside of a flower, and gene- 
rally green, assists in protecting the more delicate parts of a 
flower, and often guards the seed when the petals have fallen 
away. Itis either inferior or free, superior or adherent. 
In the former case, it is below the seed vessel, and grows 
free from the pistil, so as to leave the sides naked; and in 
the latter, it is above the seed vessel, and is united to the 
surface of the pistil, as in the Apple, where, after the fruit 
is gathered, the dried calyx may be seen at the top. In the 
Strawberry, the calyx is inferior, being below the fruit. 
